Yorky Corky
Yorkshire gets a well needed shot in the arm dancefloor wise as one of the legendary nightclubs of our time rolls out the red carpet, dusts off the glitter balls and says hello to superstar DJs. The venue has been restored to pristine condition, complete with a new sound system built by Void Acoustics and DirtSounds with the brief that the audio should be akin to a spiritual experience. The plot has also secured an 8am license for seven days a week, a capacity for 750 and a weekend music policy to die for.
Fridays are called Vibe – think Nu-Disco, Funk, Soul, Synth with people like Joey Negro, Norman Jay, Greg Wilson and Todd Terry. Saturdays check out Smile, get all happy bouncing around to pure House music with vocals smashing around courtesy of the likes of Tony Walker, Anton Bailey and The Magnificent Dance.
The Warehouse has, probably more than any other UK club, played a significant role in the development of dance music over the last thirty years. From the day it was built in 1979, it lead the way musically with Greg James designing and then playing on the legendary sound system. In 1980 when the then owner of The Warehouse, Michael Wiand, started flying over New York DJ’s such as Dan Pucciarelli from the Paradise Garage, these were one of the very first times (and perhaps the very first) that records had been mixed together in a club. Over the next few years various DJs made their names mixing the same disco/dance style – Greg James, Ian Dewhirst, Rockin Roy Archer etc – not to mention the bands that played The Warehouse such as Wham! and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The cloakroom of The Warehouse was managed by a young lad called Marc Almond who after hearing Dewhirst play Gloria jones’s Tainted Love went on to record his own electronic version under the moniker Soft Cell. Not content with bringing in acts to play the club’s owner set up Warehouse Records and signed acts such as Shannon before they were picked up by the majors. As the Eighties gave way to the Nineties and Acid House, DJs we love such as Sasha, Mike Pickering, Marshall, Graeme Park regularly graced The Warehouse’s decks at nights such as ‘Soak’ and ‘Kaos’. It was the time of bleeps and bass and local label Warp Records churned out underground hit after hit. Then, in 1993, the legendary night Vague opened and quickly became one of the UK’s number one club destination’s. When Vague shut its doors in 1996, it was quickly replaced by ‘Speed Queen’ which ran for ten years at the club collecting award after award for it’s fresh, tolerant and vibrant nights. In the last couple of year’s of its life, The Warehouse gave birth to two further huge brands, Asylum and Technique, which have gone on today to become well-established and respected nights. In late 2007 The Warehouse closed its doors. Many people believed the club would never open again. They were wrong. Over the last six months a small company run by a group of music aficionados has been finalising the details on a project that will hopefully see The Warehouse return to its former glory. Back with a bang, it’s not grim oop north is it?
