![You You You on stage at the Zap Club 18th April 1987](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/You_You_You_on_stage_at_the_Zap_Club_18th_April_1987.jpg)
The Fridge was a nightclub in the
Brixton area of
South London, England
South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...
, founded, in 1981, by
Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington, who had run the
Roxy during
punk music's heyday in 1977. The Fridge closed on 17 March 2010 and has no link with Electric Brixton which opened in September 2011 and now occupies the building.
History
The Fridge started in 1981, in a small club at 390 Brixton Rd, and later, in 1982, above Iceland in Brixton Road with a radical decor that included beat-up ice boxes and artificial dead cats hanging from its ceiling. Early guest DJs included Keith Barker-Main, later a lifestyle journalist and social commentator. It claims to have been the first British club to have such innovations as
video
Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...
screens
Screen or Screens may refer to:
Arts
* Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing
* Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry
* Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which m ...
and a
chill out
Chill-out (shortened as chill; also typeset as chillout or chill out) is a loosely defined form of popular music characterized by slow tempos and relaxed moods. The definition of "chill-out music" has evolved throughout the decades, and generally ...
lounge. The Fridge was 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
George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singer ...
,
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (singer), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (FGTH drummer), Peter ...
,
Magenta Devine
Magenta Devine (born Kim Taylor; 4 November 1957 – 6 March 2019) was a British television presenter, journalist and music promoter best known for presenting the travel programme ''Rough Guide'' and youth programme ''Reportage'' on BBC2 in the ...
, as well as
Marc Almond
Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...
and
Grace Jones, who also performed there. 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.
In 1984, as a result of increased popularity, the club moved to its final location: a converted 1913 cinema (The Palladium Picture House) formerly a roller-disco called the ACE on the Town Hall Parade.
Joe Strummer from
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
invested £5,000 in the new club. Andrew explains during an interview for 3:AM magazine, ''"what the club achieved since then -- its visuals laid the template for the rave scene, it's a look that's being copied across the world. There's been no recognition of course -- if a record is influential it's on vinyl for all to hear throughout history, but you can't really encapsulate a visual in the same way, people just take it for granted. Basically the look of modern-day clubs was started here in 1986."''
In July 1985, Czezowski and Carrington launched their own Record Company, Latex Records. located at the Fridge. Yvette the Conqueror was the first artist signed to the label. The label's first release was a single by Yvette the Conqueror, titled "The Boys Were There", produced by Iain Williams (from the bands
You You You and
Big Bang). Czezowski and Carrington also promoted many bands at the Fridge, one of which was the cult club-band
You You You featuring club promoter Laurence Malice, Karen O'Connor and Iain Williams. The band performed a sell-out concert at the Fridge on 27 March 1987, at which Czezowski had a huge white staircase built on the stage for the band to perform on. The show was filmed for Japanese television. Since then it has hosted a variety of club nights most notably
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...
(1988 - 1993) Daisy Chain (1987-1990) and Escape From Samsara (1995-2005).
Club Nights
Soul II Soul
Having moved from the
Africa Centre
The Africa Centre, in Cape Town, South Africa, is structured as a not-for-profit organisation whose purpose is to provide a platform for Pan-African arts and cultural practice to function as a catalyst for social change. All the projects it con ...
in 1988 Jazzie B's
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...
collective's weekly residency pumped out an eclectic mix of “Funki Dredd" – "A happy face, a thumpin' bass, for a lovin' race!" – themed club classics that combined British, Caribbean, American, and African influences helping cement club culture and laying the visual and musical template for the 1988 Second Summer of Love in the UK and Ibiza. A plaque now commemorates the collective's significant influence on the venue,
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, Mark Monroe 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,
Rich B, Rich P and Sean Sirrs.
Love Muscle's music policy was infamous for its uplifting, euphoric, predominately vocal, euro-club sound that often managed to be simultaneously camp and cheesy yet fierce and sub-cultural. Covering the styles of Handbag (Diva/piano/organ/Italo) house, '
Hardbag',
Eurodance, dance-pop,
progressive house
Progressive house is a subgenre of house music. The progressive house style emerged in the early 1990s. It initially developed in the United Kingdom as a natural progression of American and European house music of the late 1980s.Gerard, Morgan; ...
and
vocal Trance
Vocal trance is a subgenre of trance music that focuses on vocals and melodies. The subgenre came into existence in the early 1990s, when trance was still developing. Although many early trance records used vocal samples mixed in with the beats, ...
. Remixes and productions by the likes of Motiv8(Steve Rodway), Almighty, Hi-lux, Alex party, Dancing Divas, Matt Darey, JX, Amen UK, SASH, Xenomania, Paul Masterson and the Trouser Enthusiasts defined the club's sound. DJ Marc Andrews was famous for his pro-longed builds and playful layered mixing style - often teasing tracks that would be played later in the set.
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. During the period when Yvette (also known as Yvette the Conqueror) first hosted Love Muscle, Yvette, along with Laurence Malice (founder of
Trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
nightclub) were regarded as two of the most influential club hosts in London. After Yvette left the Fridge, Paul Bakalite 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
A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...
, reflecting its raunchy gay appeal.
Escape From Samsara
During the mid '90s, Friday nights were turned over to outside promoters playing
trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from the British new-age music scene and the early 1990s German techno and hardcore scenes.
Trance music is characterized by a tempo generally lying between 135–150 beats per minut ...
, 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 () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...
.)
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 is a subgenre of trance music which originated in Western Europe (Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands) in the early 1990s as the Breakbeat hardcore production community began to diversify into new and different styles of electronic ...
including very fast
Goa trance
Goa trance is an electronic dance music style that originated in the early 1990s in the Indian state of Goa. Goa trance often has drone-like basslines, similar to the techno minimalism of 21st century psychedelic trance (psytrance). Psychedeli ...
. 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
Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...
& 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
Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely react ...
clothing accessories,
chai tea
Masala chai (, ; Urdu: مصالحہ چائے, Hindi: मसाला चाय) is an Indian tea beverage made by boiling black tea in milk and water with a mixture of aromatic herbs and spices. Originating in India the beverage has gained worl ...
, 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. Escape From Samsara then went on to run every Friday night for a number of years at The Fridge with DJs such at Rubec, Tim Samsara, Darren Shambhala, Chris Liberator, Mark EG, Blu Peter and Mark Sinclair all playing behind the decks. Escape From Samsara became a world-renowned brand that was known for its extraordinary friendly ambience, non profit ethos, whacky performers, free bananas at the end of the night, stunning decorations, giant balloons, confetti drops and pyrotechnic shows. For many it was an introduction into an alternative lifestyle.
Return To The Source
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
Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...
respectively. Thereafter, Escape from Samsara was held every Friday at The Fridge.
The Fridge Bar
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.
Album releases
An embodiment of The Fridge's most revered night
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...
named "At the Africa Centre" for its original venue was released as a compilation album in 2003, mixed by
Jazzie B
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
The Fridge finally closed on 17 March 2010. The ''Love Muscle xx'' website was online until 2014 and played loops of the club's memorable tracks, starting with Bob Sinclar's ''Save Our Souls''.
The venue reopened in 2011 as Electric Brixton.
See also
*
List of electronic dance music venues
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mu ...
*
Superclub
References
External links
The Fridge website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fridge, The
Nightclubs in London
LGBT nightclubs in London
Buildings and structures in the London Borough of Lambeth
Electronic dance music venues
Tourist attractions in the London Borough of Lambeth
History of the London Borough of Lambeth
Brixton
Defunct LGBT nightclubs