Imagine
opening a club from scratch. It must
take a lot of effort. Promotion and
marketing takes time and money. Promoting
it enough at least to break even. But
you believe in it. You know there are
others out there like you. Who like what
you like. You believe that if you build
it, they will come. (Yes I stole that from Field of Dreams but it fits.)
Now
you know you have a USP. You want to
make it so that nothing after 1983 is played. But hold on – there was a lot of naff music in
the 70’s too – we can’t possibly listen to ‘The Pina Colada song’ or ‘Shaddup you
face’. Let’s build a club on a theme of
The Blitz Club. Brilliant. We know the period in time the music comes from and
now have a genre too. Plus a good dose
of Bowie will always help attract like-minded people.
The
truth is I don’t know how David Wright first decided how to build Only After
Dark, but this weekend we celebrated its 6th birthday. It has gone
from strength to strength and changed venues to accommodate more and more people
to the point it has started to reach capacity and had to turn people away. This
can only be down to the dedication of David, Sara and Sam who regularly make
this my ‘go to’ club.
So
how do you celebrate six years of great music, diverse fashion and new
friendships? You invite the original DJ
from The Blitz Club to DJ there. Rusty
Egan is a legend and of course knows his music. He is the perfect choice for this celebration.
And what a celebration it was!
It was
full of Bowie, Soft Cell, Roxy Music and many many other fabulous songs that
kept the dance floor full all night. And
Rusty found time to meet everyone, pose for photos and chat to the Darklings. It was a fabulous night and a very great way to
celebrate six wonderful years.
The Darklings
are some of the most wonderful people I have ever met and it is always lovely
to meet up again, especially as I live 80 miles away. And I am not the only one who travels. People come from Scotland, Peterborough and
yes even The Netherlands! Now that is a
sign of a success!
Where
do we go from here? Well I don’t know
but all I know is OAD is for me. I have
even been made an honoury Brummie because I spend so much time in Birmingham
now. Its success
it not just about the music. It’s not
just about wearing fashion that I have no other opportunity to wear. It’s about friendships . It about the people. May the world always be full of Darklings. A huge thank you to David, Sara, Sam and
everyone who makes OAD what it is. Long
may OAD continue to thrive and grow. 
Thank you Jasmine, and very much appreciated! :) x
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