Loaded turns 1!

21 Jun 2012

Amongst all the RnB and house nights in the city, there are several club nights flying the alternative flag, with Loaded prime among them. Winners of the Time Out Best Alternative Night Award, we spoke to founder and resident DJ Andy Buchan to find out what's in store when the night turns 1 on June 29...

Happy birthday, how will you be celebrating?

We've got a 5 DJ line up for the 29th, including myself, Loaded resident Zahra, and very special guests and good friends Tristan, the 360 resident, Just Lance, the old Mahiki resident and Dan 'The Jackal' Partovi. We've gone for a Decades theme, so each DJ gets an hour to showcase the best indie and alternative tunes, starting at the 60s and ending with the best tunes from the last decade. We've also got loads of drink deals including free Sambuca on the hour, every hour, birthday cake, and we'll be showing films like Quadrophenia on our big screen. Basically, our formula is good music + good people + cheap drinks = fun night, and we'll be living up to that on Friday.

What have been the highlights so far?

There have been a few: the launch night was insane. We hit capacity by midnight, ran out of beer at 1am, and got to play everything from Aphex Twin to De La Soul, as wel as all the usual indie big hitters. We learnt a few lessons that night though, so we increased the bar staff, double stocked on beer and it's been flowing very well since then. Touch wood, we've been busy every night for the past 12 months, so big thanks to everyone that's come down and supported us. Another highlight was the 90s night back in March, the atmosphere in there was unreal, just bouncing.

What's the typical crowd like?

We have a pretty diverse spread to be honest, but it's generally a very cool and very clued up crowd. We get requests for things like 2 Door Cinema Club and Happy Mondays, which we love playing. It's a very friendly place, and so my single friends tell me, a good place to come down and meet people :-)

How would you convince a non-indie fan down?

We are an indie night - in that we play a lot of guitar-based music - but we're pretty open-minded. So 75% of the time it's indie, but we'll take in DnB, funk, 50s rock and roll, Northern Soul, hip hop, some breaks. If it's good, it goes on, and we've worked with a lot of amazing DJs - including co-founder Simon Allen - who have all ensured the night's stayed unique.

Who's your competition or which nights do you like in Dubai?

There aren't many indie/alternative nights, but Step On has been running for years now and play a very solid mix of no-frills indie and rock and roll. Further afield, nights like Dust, fellow Casa Latina funk and soul night Deep Crates and bass nights like Prism, audiOasis and Bassworx are wicked. People might complain that there isn't enough diversity in Dubai, but scratch beneath the surface and it's there. It might not be as good or as lively as your scene back home, but it's there, alive and kicking.

Fri

Jun