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Monthly Archives: December 2016

Judder’s Final Lap

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So, as our final Judder of 2016 disappears into the hazy hungover past, we look to the future, and have an announcement to make:

2017 will be the last year for Judder.

One final lap around the sun will conclude 14 years of genre-beding clubbing that has seen us push the boundaries of what a club night could be. We’ve had hundreds of themes, and seen thousands of incredible costumes in response. We’ve added burlesque dancers, magicians, stilt walkers and fire breathers, filled the venue with smoke, lasers, projections and sweets, and shared the decks with DJs from 65daysofstatic, Pigface, Lab 4, Untraviolence and Nasenbluten as well as leading lights from the UK alternative & industrial scene too numerous to thank individually.

I’ve just counted, and we have run no less than 175 Judder nights to date, not counting takeovers in London, Bristol and Gloucester, or my guest DJ slots all over the world. I’ve personally met and made friends with some talented musicians and enthusiastic music fans who will continue to inspire me and highlight all the brilliant and exciting music that continues to be made to one side of the mainstream.

It was never our plan to run Judder for this long, and we were always expecting some young whipper-snappers to take over from us. Whislt we’ve seen night clearly take, er, ‘inspiration’ from Judder, none have managed to capture our unique sense of anything-goes party mayhem, and in particular, the incredible friendly atmosphere of our nights that come from creating a happy little bubble where you can get dressed up or down, and go out & be someone else for a few hours. All of this has been made possible by the people who have come to Judder over the years, had a good time, and sung our praises up and down the land. It’s because you’ve told everyone about our oddball little monthly night that we’ve been able to get away with it for such a long time.

But over the years, our regulars have got older, moved away, had kids, adopted unusual and demanding pets, bought homes in need of renovation, and taken on jobs that aren’t compatible with nursing a 2 day hangover. We’ve seen a change in the way people attend clubs in the dozen or so years that we’ve been running Judder, and it can’t have escaped the attention of anyone of drinking age that a lot of late night venues are starting to disappear as clubbing seems to make way for late-night drinking in pubs or staying at home with a few cans and Netflix. And at my age, I entirely understand that – I wasn’t yong when we started Judder and I’m 14 years older now.

It’s worth saying publicly that we’ve had a brilliant partnership with the 2 Pigs over the years too, and they let us get away with so much in the venue that most other clubs simply wouldn’t allow – it’s been a significant part of what has made Judder feel special, being able to spend days decorating the venue for Halloween, Christmas, or any of our other crazy themes throughout the years. Judder wouldn’t really be Judder anywhere else.

There will be many that I expect will be saddened by this news. All I can say is that it would be lovely for you all to come out and make the most of our peculiar anomaly of a night before we get to this time next year, book yourself a babysitter, dog-sitter, komodo-dragon-sitter or whatever for the night, party like you used to in the olden days and remind yourself what Judder was. We’ll be bringing down all of the decor and costumes that we’ve got in storage for you to play with, and let me assure you that it will make for one hell of a dressing-up box!

We don’t intend to go gently into that good night, but to add the loudest, happiest, most ridiculous epilogue to the legend of Judder – and we really want everyone who has enjoyed our night to be a part of our last hurrah.

See you all in 2017, yeah?

Lee Chaos
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