The Fridge
Encyclopedia
The Fridge is a nightclub in the Brixton
area of South London
, founded by Andrew Czezowski, who had run the Roxy
during punk music's heyday in 1977. It was originally started in 1981, in a small club at 390 Brixton Lane, and in 1982 above Iceland in Brixton Road with a radical decor that included beat-up ice boxes and (fake) dead cats hanging from its ceiling. Early guest DJs included Keith Barker-Main, later a life-style journo/ social commentator. It claims to have been the first British club to have such innovations as video
screens
and a chill out lounge. The Fridge was undeniably at the heart of the early 80s New Romantic
movement, and booked such acts as Eurythmics
and the Pet Shop Boys
before they were well known and drew famous faces such as Boy George; Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Magenta Devine and Marc Almond and Grace Jones
who also performed there.
In 1985, as a result of increased popularity, the club moved to its current location; a converted 1913 cinema (The Palladium Picture House) on the Town Hall Parade. The Fridge became famous for its Africa Centre nights, playing hip hop
and funk
hosted by UK group Soul II Soul
. Since then it has hosted a variety of club nights most notably Daisy Chain (1987-1990) mostly dance music
, trance
and more recently mainly hard dance
.
The Fridge closed on 17 March 2010, and will re-open on Sunday 28 August 2011 as 'Electric Brixton', with the launch a gay club night 'Brava London'.
Love Muscle's original DJs were Marc Andrews and Gareth, who defined the night's music policy of uplifting commercial house
, and created a sound that was entirely unique to Love Muscle. They remained at the helm as weekly residents at the club for nearly 7 years, and were then joined and ultimately replaced by Mark O, Dorian and Sean Sirrs.
During the early years and again towards the end, the club played host to drag queen Yvette (Ian Hunter-Meek b 1950), a former buyer for Harrods, who gave stage shows containing strippers and live music. Paul Bakalite also hosted Love Muscle for a while (1995/96) and is remembered for his affable persona, meeting and greeting patrons in the Fridge foyer and handing out lollipops and novelties to sweaty revellers.
Due to falling numbers and the occasional drugs raid, the night was temporarily closed in 1998, but was soon brought back due to public demand. It never fully recovered however, and became increasingly infrequent during the period 2000-2002. The night was finally closed (ostensibly for good) in 2004.
Love Muscle returned to the Fridge on 31 December 2008 with the original promoter Andrew Czezowski and the exhilarating pyrotechnics and production effects the night was renowned for.
The night's name, Love Muscle, is a euphemism
for the penis
, reflecting its raunchy gay appeal.
, with a different one taking each of the four Fridays of the month:-
(If a month had five Fridays the "spare" one was allocated to a promoter, sometimes Pendragon who played a similar range of music to Escape From Samsara. Pendragon's parties at the Fridge were usually one-off events since their regular venue was the Theatre Factory warehouse at Tyssen Street in Dalston
.)
Of the four usual Friday promotions the two most popular and successful nights were Return To The Source and Escape From Samsara, playing mainly hard trance
including very fast Goa trance
. It is reckoned that these nights were among the first in the UK to feature what then became the trance music phenomenon.
Escape From Samsara - the name being a reference to the Hindu concept of Saṃsāra
- held its first event at The Fridge on 15 September 1995. Formed from the club Megatripolis
, they also held occasional events at the Brixton Academy & Bagleys in London; Spain, Morocco, Germany, Czech Republic, Egypt, Israel and Australia. The resident DJs at their events were Beamish and Oberon and there was usually a live performance by an electronic music artist or group, the most frequent appearances being by Cybernaut, Lab 4, The Secret and Audio Pancake. The upstairs balcony area was home to a market which sold fluoro
clothing accessories, chai tea
, etc. Also noteworthy is the admission and pricing policy where clubbers paid only £3 for entry (compared to the standard price of £10 or more) if they brought a "drum or didge
", thus encouraging punters to contribute musically and supporting those who could not afford the full price.
Like Escape From Samsara, Return To The Source also held occasional events at other venues such as the Brixton Academy and Bagleys. They booked a range of psy-trance
DJ's (or "deck wizards" as they were listed on the flyers
) with the resident DJ being Mark Allen. The resident at Science Fiction was Sid Shanti and at Otherworld they were Lol and Yazz.
Return To The Source and Science Fiction both relocated to different London venues in May 1997, moving to Bagleys in Kings Cross
and Cloud 9 in Vauxhall
respectively. Thereafter Escape from Samsara was held every Friday at The Fridge.
Although all the nights at The Fridge welcomed anyone, the Friday nights were aimed primarily at the straight community in contrast to Love Muscle which was promoted as a gay night.
The Fridge Bar, located next-door to The Fridge, was typically used to host an afterparty
on Saturday mornings, with DJs playing music to the small basement dancefloor. A hand-stamp allowed paying punters to come and go freely, some choosing to spend part of the morning in the Peace Gardens park situated immediately opposite the venue.
of Soul II Soul
.
Escape From Samsara released a total of three unmixed compilation albums between 1996 and 1999. The group Zen Terrorists and solo artist SBL (Silicon Based Life) also both later released "Live at Escape From Samsara" albums. The second CD of the debut album by Lab 4 consisted of a live set recorded at Escape From Samsara at the Fridge, too.
Return To The Source released a number of compilation albums and a few singles on their label of the same name. Otherworld released a trance compilation entitled "Dance, Trance & Magic Plants" on the Transient label in 1997.
It will not however be called The Fridge as the creators and original owners of 'The Fridge' Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington own the brand names 'The Fridge' and 'LoveMuscle' Omni Assets ltd have no rights to the use either of these names 'The Fridge' or 'LoveMuscle'.
Omni Assets have confirmed that they have absolutely no interest in what appears to be such a tarnished brand name and following the venues refurbishment will move away from dated brands such as 'The Fridge' and 'LoveMuscle'.
The website promoting this night stated, "Bringing together incredible new technology with an iconic image and cutting edge dance music, Brava heralds the start of a new era of London clubbing. It will need to be seen to be believed. The club will showcase equipment that has never been used in clubs before – altering reality before your very eyes and blurring the line between imagination and what you can perceive before your eyes."
"For the launch we are thrilled to announce Grammy Award-winning Peter Rauhofer is our star guest DJ. Peter has played out all over the world – from Hollywood, Rome, Paris, Ibiza and Madrid to his residencies in his home town of New York, where he runs his record label and club nights. Sunday 28th August at Brava will be the first time Peter has EVER played here in London – so expect something truly special."
"Electric Brixton opens its doors this autumn bringing back to life the iconic venue previously known as The Fridge and before that, The Ace. Currently being re-furbished to a high standard, where possible back to its original interior features with some twists for the 21st century."
"Electric Brixton boasts an amazing stage with unsurpassed sightlines making it the perfect venue for large scale club events, live music, television recording, private parties and special arts events. Across both floors the venue will have a capacity of 1,700 for club events and 1,500 for live shows. It will be the only mid-range music venue in Brixton and opens in an area with a long-established vibrant music scene, standing alongside Brixton Academy, Plan B, The Dogstar, The Windmill and many other live music pubs and clubs. Keeping Brixton at its heart Electric Brixton will be equally at home hosting avant-garde arts events as it is hosting straight up clubs, a new centrally located independent venue perfect for South London."
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
area of South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
, founded by Andrew Czezowski, who had run the Roxy
The Roxy
The Roxy was a fashionable nightclub on Neal Street in London's Covent Garden, known for hosting the flowering British punk music scene in its infancy.-Brief history:...
during punk music's heyday in 1977. It was originally started in 1981, in a small club at 390 Brixton Lane, and in 1982 above Iceland in Brixton Road with a radical decor that included beat-up ice boxes and (fake) dead cats hanging from its ceiling. Early guest DJs included Keith Barker-Main, later a life-style journo/ social commentator. It claims to have been the first British club to have such innovations as video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
screens
Projection screen
A projection screen is an installation consisting of a surface and a support structure used for displaying a projected image for the view of an audience. Projection screens may be permanently installed, as in a movie theater; painted on the wall; or semi-permanent or mobile, as in a conference room...
and a chill out lounge. The Fridge was undeniably at the heart of the early 80s New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
movement, and booked such acts as Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
and the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
before they were well known and drew famous faces such as Boy George; Frankie Goes To Hollywood; Magenta Devine and Marc Almond and Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
who also performed there.
In 1985, as a result of increased popularity, the club moved to its current location; a converted 1913 cinema (The Palladium Picture House) on the Town Hall Parade. The Fridge became famous for its Africa Centre nights, playing hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
hosted by UK group Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British group that was created in London in 1988. They are best known for their 1989 UK chart-topper and U.S. Top 5 hit, "Back to Life ".-Career:...
. Since then it has hosted a variety of club nights most notably Daisy Chain (1987-1990) mostly dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
, trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
and more recently mainly hard dance
Hard dance
Hard Dance is an umbrella term that refers to a group of Hard electronic dance genres which aren't hard enough to be classified as hardcore. The term usually includes genres such as Hard House, Hard NRG, Hard Trance, and Hardstyle...
.
The Fridge closed on 17 March 2010, and will re-open on Sunday 28 August 2011 as 'Electric Brixton', with the launch a gay club night 'Brava London'.
Love Muscle
Launched in September 1992, Love Muscle instantly became one of the major gay club nights in London, running every Saturday night for almost a decade. Famous for its uplifting music policy, raunchy stage shows and unique party atmosphere, the night soon attained international renown, regularly attracting clubbers from across the country and beyond every weekend.Love Muscle's original DJs were Marc Andrews and Gareth, who defined the night's music policy of uplifting commercial house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
, and created a sound that was entirely unique to Love Muscle. They remained at the helm as weekly residents at the club for nearly 7 years, and were then joined and ultimately replaced by Mark O, Dorian and Sean Sirrs.
During the early years and again towards the end, the club played host to drag queen Yvette (Ian Hunter-Meek b 1950), a former buyer for Harrods, who gave stage shows containing strippers and live music. Paul Bakalite also hosted Love Muscle for a while (1995/96) and is remembered for his affable persona, meeting and greeting patrons in the Fridge foyer and handing out lollipops and novelties to sweaty revellers.
Due to falling numbers and the occasional drugs raid, the night was temporarily closed in 1998, but was soon brought back due to public demand. It never fully recovered however, and became increasingly infrequent during the period 2000-2002. The night was finally closed (ostensibly for good) in 2004.
Love Muscle returned to the Fridge on 31 December 2008 with the original promoter Andrew Czezowski and the exhilarating pyrotechnics and production effects the night was renowned for.
The night's name, Love Muscle, is a euphemism
Euphemism
A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...
for the penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
, reflecting its raunchy gay appeal.
Return To The Source and Escape From Samsara
During the mid '90s, Friday nights were turned over to outside promoters playing trance musicTrance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
, with a different one taking each of the four Fridays of the month:-
- 1st Friday - Otherworld
- 2nd Friday - Return To The Source
- 3rd Friday - Escape from Samsara
- last Friday - Science Fiction
(If a month had five Fridays the "spare" one was allocated to a promoter, sometimes Pendragon who played a similar range of music to Escape From Samsara. Pendragon's parties at the Fridge were usually one-off events since their regular venue was the Theatre Factory warehouse at Tyssen Street in Dalston
Dalston
Dalston is a district of north-east London, England, located in the London Borough of Hackney. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
.)
Of the four usual Friday promotions the two most popular and successful nights were Return To The Source and Escape From Samsara, playing mainly hard trance
Hard trance
Hard trance is a subgenre of trance music that originated in Western Europe in the mid-1990s as the breakbeat hardcore production community began to diversify into new and different styles of electronic music, all influenced by UK hard house, happy hardcore and jungle/drum & bass...
including very fast Goa trance
Goa trance
Goa trance is a form of electronic music that originated during the late 1980s in Goa, India.-History:The music has its roots in the popularity of Goa in the late 1960s and early 1970s as a hippie capital, and although musical developments were incorporating elements of industrial music and EBM...
. It is reckoned that these nights were among the first in the UK to feature what then became the trance music phenomenon.
Escape From Samsara - the name being a reference to the Hindu concept of Saṃsāra
Samsara
thumb|right|200px|Traditional Tibetan painting or [[Thanka]] showing the [[wheel of life]] and realms of saṃsāraSaṅsāra or Saṃsāra , , literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other...
- held its first event at The Fridge on 15 September 1995. Formed from the club Megatripolis
Megatripolis
Megatripolis was an innovative, underground London nightclub created by Encyclopaedia Psychedelica editor and founder of the Zippie movement Fraser Clark, partner Sionaidh Craigen and partners JJ and Bugsy as well as later Tribal Energy and a great many others...
, they also held occasional events at the Brixton Academy & Bagleys in London; Spain, Morocco, Germany, Czech Republic, Egypt, Israel and Australia. The resident DJs at their events were Beamish and Oberon and there was usually a live performance by an electronic music artist or group, the most frequent appearances being by Cybernaut, Lab 4, The Secret and Audio Pancake. The upstairs balcony area was home to a market which sold fluoro
Fluorescence
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation of a different wavelength. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation...
clothing accessories, chai tea
Masala chai
Masala chai is a beverage from the Indian subcontinent made by brewing tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs.-Terminology:-Plain chai:...
, etc. Also noteworthy is the admission and pricing policy where clubbers paid only £3 for entry (compared to the standard price of £10 or more) if they brought a "drum or didge
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
", thus encouraging punters to contribute musically and supporting those who could not afford the full price.
Like Escape From Samsara, Return To The Source also held occasional events at other venues such as the Brixton Academy and Bagleys. They booked a range of psy-trance
Psychedelic trance
Psychedelic trance, psytrance or just psy is a form of electronic music characterized by hypnotic arrangements of synthetic rhythms and complex layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. It appeared in the mainstream in 1995 as with reporting of the trend of Goa trance. The genre offers variety...
DJ's (or "deck wizards" as they were listed on the flyers
Flyer (pamphlet)
__notoc__A flyer or flier, also called a circular, handbill or leaflet, is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in public place....
) with the resident DJ being Mark Allen. The resident at Science Fiction was Sid Shanti and at Otherworld they were Lol and Yazz.
Return To The Source and Science Fiction both relocated to different London venues in May 1997, moving to Bagleys in Kings Cross
Kings Cross, London
King's Cross is an area of London partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district located 2.5 miles north of Charing Cross. The area formerly had a reputation for being a red light district and run-down. However, rapid regeneration...
and Cloud 9 in Vauxhall
Vauxhall
-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
respectively. Thereafter Escape from Samsara was held every Friday at The Fridge.
Although all the nights at The Fridge welcomed anyone, the Friday nights were aimed primarily at the straight community in contrast to Love Muscle which was promoted as a gay night.
The Fridge Bar, located next-door to The Fridge, was typically used to host an afterparty
Afterparty
The term afterparty, after-party, or after party refers to a phenomenon in modern culture often seen in the hospitality or entertainment industries and among college and high-school circles in society, which involves a planned celebration following a significant event attended by guests associated...
on Saturday mornings, with DJs playing music to the small basement dancefloor. A hand-stamp allowed paying punters to come and go freely, some choosing to spend part of the morning in the Peace Gardens park situated immediately opposite the venue.
Album releases
An embodiment of The Fridge's most revered night "Africa Centre" was released as a compilation album in 2003, mixed by Jazzie BJazzie B
Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE , better known by his stage name Jazzie B, is a British DJ, music producer, and entrepreneur. He is a founding member of Soul II Soul.-Life and career:...
of Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British group that was created in London in 1988. They are best known for their 1989 UK chart-topper and U.S. Top 5 hit, "Back to Life ".-Career:...
.
Escape From Samsara released a total of three unmixed compilation albums between 1996 and 1999. The group Zen Terrorists and solo artist SBL (Silicon Based Life) also both later released "Live at Escape From Samsara" albums. The second CD of the debut album by Lab 4 consisted of a live set recorded at Escape From Samsara at the Fridge, too.
Return To The Source released a number of compilation albums and a few singles on their label of the same name. Otherworld released a trance compilation entitled "Dance, Trance & Magic Plants" on the Transient label in 1997.
Closure of the Fridge
The premises formerly known as The Fridge was sold on the 31 March 2010, to Omni Assets Limited, a live entertainment venue operator. The premises formerly known as The Fridge had operated intermittently in recent times hosting gay club events including Matinee, and a concert by Keane, on 12 May 2010. Omni has confirmed that it intends to close, refurbish and reopen the venue.It will not however be called The Fridge as the creators and original owners of 'The Fridge' Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington own the brand names 'The Fridge' and 'LoveMuscle' Omni Assets ltd have no rights to the use either of these names 'The Fridge' or 'LoveMuscle'.
Omni Assets have confirmed that they have absolutely no interest in what appears to be such a tarnished brand name and following the venues refurbishment will move away from dated brands such as 'The Fridge' and 'LoveMuscle'.
Electric Brixton
The venue was re-opened on Sunday 28 August 2011 as 'Electric Brixton' with the launch of a gay club night 'Brava London'.The website promoting this night stated, "Bringing together incredible new technology with an iconic image and cutting edge dance music, Brava heralds the start of a new era of London clubbing. It will need to be seen to be believed. The club will showcase equipment that has never been used in clubs before – altering reality before your very eyes and blurring the line between imagination and what you can perceive before your eyes."
"For the launch we are thrilled to announce Grammy Award-winning Peter Rauhofer is our star guest DJ. Peter has played out all over the world – from Hollywood, Rome, Paris, Ibiza and Madrid to his residencies in his home town of New York, where he runs his record label and club nights. Sunday 28th August at Brava will be the first time Peter has EVER played here in London – so expect something truly special."
"Electric Brixton opens its doors this autumn bringing back to life the iconic venue previously known as The Fridge and before that, The Ace. Currently being re-furbished to a high standard, where possible back to its original interior features with some twists for the 21st century."
"Electric Brixton boasts an amazing stage with unsurpassed sightlines making it the perfect venue for large scale club events, live music, television recording, private parties and special arts events. Across both floors the venue will have a capacity of 1,700 for club events and 1,500 for live shows. It will be the only mid-range music venue in Brixton and opens in an area with a long-established vibrant music scene, standing alongside Brixton Academy, Plan B, The Dogstar, The Windmill and many other live music pubs and clubs. Keeping Brixton at its heart Electric Brixton will be equally at home hosting avant-garde arts events as it is hosting straight up clubs, a new centrally located independent venue perfect for South London."