UK Decay

[NICK SWITCH]

Hiya All

Great website. I think I was about 14 when I first saw UKDecay,
definitely one of the most original and influential bands of
their time. Spon's amazing guitar sound was an influence to many
bands that followed.

To hear 'For Madmen Only' and 'Werewolf' remastered onto CD would
sound fantastic.

Thanks to all who have posted messages regarding The Switch Club,
it's nice to know we played a part in the forming of friendships
and relationships. I made so many friends myself over the years
due to The Switch Club and even met my wife there.

The Switch Club started around 1983 at the Elephant & Tassel (now
Bar Aqua) and only finished three years ago at Mirage in Mill
Street (now a Thai Restaurant & hotel) ? That's progress for you!
Also taking over clubs in Cambridge, Northampton, Oxford, London
and few fields in and around Bedfordshire. So 18 years for a
club isn't bad really! And no it didn't make me a millionaire!!

My DJ-ing partner Bernie now lives near Colchester and I am sure
he would echo my thanks to all who attended and made The Switch
Club what it become over the years. Some even frequented it from
start to finish!!!

Many thanks

Nick Switch

[werewolf]

Hi NICK Welcome!!
We new you would eventually find us and its great
to see you here.

Thanks for the compliments on the website, its an ongoing
proccess of developement as we 'sow-in' al the 'threads'.

The work you and Bernie did over those eighteen years or
so both in Luton and the rest of the UK, will remain a
pernament feature in many folks memories.

The 'Switch club' was ahead of its time in bringing
underground music and i guess what was to be commonlly
known as 'Goth' to the then, 'Post-Punk' culture in and around
Luton.

A welcome release from the darkest days of Thatchers Britain
in the middle eighties, it some how seemed cool to find oneself
dancing to 'Marc Almonds 'Soft cell -you now the tune i mean!

Anyway best respects to you! we were suprised that 'The Switch
Club' only finished 3 years ago! ( how about an anual re-union?!)


Perhaps we will see Bernie soon!?
Many thanks to you mr Nick Switch

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[Neil]

I was a regular at The Switch in its Elephant and Tassell phase, conveniently timed, if I remember correctly, for Thursdays when we all cashed our giros. I remember dancing to lots of Spear of Destiny and Theatre of Hate, and also the last record usually being 'Tequila'. I DJ occasionally myself now and only last weekend played that track at the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley (South East London). Never fails to get them going...

[Neil]

There was also an occasional club called 'The Gathering' at Strokes (1984) - was this also Nick Z and Bernie before 'The Switch' started?

[Leigh M]

Me and Donna loved our Thursday Switch nights. We're both settled with two kids each and still occassionally hanker after our Switch nights. Have a Switch re-union! Go on you know you want to.

L

P.S. Glad to hear you and Bernie are happy and well, but please tell me that Bernie isn't really an estate agent !!!!

[nephilimbabe]

So, if you can remember all these bands….

The Sisters Of Mercy, The Three Johns, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Gene Loves Jezebel, Godfathers, The Cult, Bauhaus, Soft Cell, The Cramps, Christian Death, B52's, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, All About Eve, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Love & Rockets, Theatre Of Hate, New Model Army, The Mission, Japan, The Flowerpot Men, The Fall, Alien Sex Fiend, Human League, Fuzzbox, Lords Of The New Church, Xmal Deutschland, Cabaret Voltaire, Getting The Fear, World Domination Enterprises, James Ray, The Bolshoi, Jesus & Mary Chain, Skeletal Family, The Cure, Spear Of Destiny, March Violets, Danse Society, Into A Circle, Virgin Prunes, Salvation & Specimen

…and if you still have the will to be weird, then you need to get your arse down to -
The Coven @ The Oddfellows Arms.
Dunstable Place, Luton on Saturday 14th August.,
(and for those that haven’t ventured out yet, we’re the only gothic/industrial club this side of London, and have been going for over two years.)

All the above bands hold a special place in my heart and are strategically mixed between the newer bands of today’s alternative genre, and I’m the nearest you’ll ever get to hear these songs in public again!!

So, let’s reiterate......
The Coven @ The Oddfellows Arms.
Dunstable Place, Luton on Saturday 14th August.,

FREE ENTRY 9pm - 10pm
£3.50 10pm - 11pm/ £5 After

The best mix of gothic/Industrial/EBM/80's & supported by Goths from Bedford, Hitchin, Watford, London, Hemel Hempstead, St. Albans, Harpenden, Milton Keynes, Dunstable, Bristol to name but a few.

EVERY SECOND SATURDAY OF THE MONTH

Follow the link for more info:-
http://www.vamp.org/Gothic/Club/1161.html


Nephilimbabe –X-

[Guest]

Heh! I'll be there ya wierdoes!!!! Have my favorite track ready (YOU know the one!)

[tonyhippy]

Guest! Pah! That was ME!
_________________
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve immortality by not dying.
http://www.tonyhough.co.uk

[Nigee]

I went to the Switch at ET from 1984 onwards, and sorting through some stuff the other day I found that I still have my old membership cards. I moved away from Luton in 1988, so I missed seeing much of the club in its later incarnations, though I do remember coming back to visit and going along to Mirage sometime in the early nineties.

I remember also, all too well, getting done over on the way home by an unpleasant man with a half-brick and three mates who objected to my fashion sensibilities. This would have been in 1989 I think, when I popped back to Luton for a week and checked out the 5-0 club. Dressing in black, crimping your hair and spraying it with the contents of one of those big fucking tins of Boots hairspray somehow always managed to cause offense to beer monsters.

But that aside I had many fun and wild times and met some great people, some of whom are still mates of mine 15-20 years on.

The many house parties are worth a mention too since we usually found out about them by word of mouth on Thursday night without going through the tedious formalities of actually being invited by the hosts. (Including the Pomfret Avenue ones, the Devon road ones and.. ahem, the legendary affair hosted by myself, Did and Jon Simpson at Christmas 1987 in Birdsfoot Lane - drink, sex, drugs, vomiting, complaints, ambulance, strange stains, fighting etc etc)

So thanks to Nick and Bernie for putting on a good show. Those years made me the sane and well-balanced person I am today and saved me from having to wear pringle sweaters and go to Tropicana Beach. Sad to say, though, I can no longer drink 10 pints on a Thursday night, go to bed at 3.30am and get up the next day and go to work.

[duncan disorderly]

Go on Go on Go on go on
go on get a switch club reunion on i would like to go.I can only remember the elaphant ones from my sisters regurgiotations but i went to thew five o club once to see Ozric #Tentacles and had a mental night .shitty place Luton on the whole though , idid have a lot of shit about my appearance there from shitheads,some didnt like dreadlocks ,some didnt like white people ,some didnt like the combination and a lot of them dont like anyone.
i was quite surprised to find that they were still going on up Mirage until a few years ago !well i missed out there then i thought it was a trendys niteclub so go on get it back on