Gay Bar, Gay Bar!

There once was a boozer in Angel called The Warwick. A few years ago we popped in for a Guinness one Saturday afternoon and asked if the jukebox was free - as in gratis, not 'is it available to use'. We were told it cost cold hard cash money. To which we (being cheeky chaps) asked them to put on a mix we'd recorded the night before; the mix went down okay and we blagged a gig after chatting to the owner, a fine figure of a man named Daniel. After a couple of infrequent gigs we got to know Dan better and grew to call him a friend. One day he gave us a bit of black and white photocopied paper with the address of a place on Ahmhurt Rd, Dalston on it and told us he was starting a night and it was going to be called Disco Bloodbath.

My gran could probably tell you what happened next, and unless you have been living under a rock (or maybe not living in London) then you should know too. In a nutshell, Disco Bloodbath went on to become one of the biggest and best nights in town thanks to their pink basement, excellent booking policy, loyal crowd and particularly the residents' excellent selections month in month out. The venue was aptly called Passion, now sadly defunct as a club space, having reverted back to being the Caribbean restaurant it happily existed as in its previous incarnation.

Perhaps less well known is that after selling The Warwick, Dan Bloodbath (as he is now commonly referred to) had been looking for a new venue to open. After searching high and low he has found the perfect place in the form of Dalston Superstore.

Located at 117 Kingsland High St, it is not so far from the hallowed dancefloor of Passion. It is an amazing space with a long upstairs bar, lit by an impressive skylight and with music courtesy of full DJ set up. While downstairs there is a basement perfectly suited to intimate late-night shindigs, one wall of which is painted Passion pink! Whether this new establishment will become Disco Bloodbath's new home remains to be seen, though I'd bet against it given the size limitations are outstripped by sheer disco demand. Last weekend it was host to a secret gig by Bugged Out's Erol Alkan which worked really well (for those who managed to get in!) this probably being a good model for them to follow.

The place is a massive success and really is a breath of fresh air in Dalston. [This is metaphorically speaking of course; the idea of 'fresh air in Dalston', an environment where vaporised chicken grease constitutes a % of the atmosphere, is surely a paradox.] Furthermore, in addition to catering for all matters of the rave, it is going to be a place where people can go for a coffee in the afternoon and Dan hopes to get a fully functioning kitchen up and running. Art installations and other creative quips are also getting the green light. Knitting club, girls?

Best of luck to Dan, (and Dan 2 and Mikki Matt); join the fan page on Facebook >here< and tell them The Cosmic Truth sent you to receive a half-price Screw Against The Wall!