It really isn’t clubland’s best kept secret. The 2009 trend for ‘secret clubbing’ is fast becoming a major night-time movement, and one that everyone wants to be a part of.
Mulletover, the wacky London club night which turned four this spring, is a great example of how to rave ‘secretly’. Underground music promoters Rob Hives and Stuart Geddes had grown sick and tired of peers putting on super-glossy, super-pretentious parties with, in their minds, little or no fun.
Mulletover was the answer – a rave demanding zany fancy dress (comedy specs, fake ‘taches and, of course, 80s mullets…) but withholding venue info until the last possible second; a nod to the classic, old-skool days of clubbing when word-of-mouth led you to genius (and often illegal) warehouse parties.
These days, punters get their directions via text message and can buy £10 tickets in advance, via the official Mulletover website. But, still, here is a night pumping adrenaline, via a healthy dose of unpredictability, back into the capital’s club scene.
“The first party was due to take place at Fortress Studios off Old Street,” Geddes recalls. “The owners were having grief from the local authorities and on the week of the event The Fortress sadly was unable to host. We heard Rob [Hives] was having another illegal rave in Whitechapel; phone calls were made and it became apparent Rob had a spare room. We joined the party, got smashed and decided to do it all over again under the same banner.”
Mulletover might be bonkers but the music policy is real deal. Previous, distinguished electro-tech guests at venues ranging from car parks and train tracks to boats and mountaintops have included Damian Lazarus and Ivan Smagghe. Only this Bank Holiday Weekend Lazarus played alongside Crosstown Rebels, Anja Schneider and Berlin’s Mobile Records; at Mulletover’s acid-house-themed fourth birthday, this spring, A Guy Called Gerald was spinning Voodoo Ray, much to the delight of hundreds….
Geddes has pointed out before now that Mulletover wasn’t London’s only ‘secret’ club at time of launch; indeed, impromptu gatherings were already taking place at Dove Bridge Studios and Slack Alley. But, clearly, both his and Hives’ exciting, well-organised venture has taken things to the next level and, this year, a wider part of clubland seems to be taking notice.
In Yorkshire, for example, the Bradford Bignoise collective is starting to rock ‘n’ roll with clandestine dubstep, drum & bass, techno, electro and dirty house events; news usually leaks via Facebook’s Yorkshire Teaparty Association forum. Elsewhere, Bangface.com is throwing late 80s-style raves at venues up and down the UK, whilst Studio Warehouse (SWG3) drops cool off-the-radar shindigs in Glasgow. That’s not forgetting underground raves and festivals promoted by Luminopolis and Fish Seeks Bicycle; a sweep of even smaller events, too, is being regularly organised on clubbing forums like accessallareas.org and network23.org.uk.
On October 31, Mulletover will host a whopping all-night Hallowe’en bash featuring Lee ‘Tyrant’ Burridge, deep-down boogie crew Horse Meat Disco and New York house don (not to mention famous Studio 54 resident) Kenny Carpenter; to name but a few. It should represent Rob and Stuart’s biggest bash to date, and offer firm proof of just how far clandestine clubbing has come. That’s a secret well worth shouting about….
For more info, visit: www.mulletover.co.uk
