It's the end for electro-disco club Computer Blue this weekend, and they're going off with a bang, hosting a gig from the awesome Dead Disco! Last time we talked about the Leeds trio they were unsigned, but now Warners have snapped them up and they're bouncing around LA writing their debut album with the fabulous Greg Kurstin. Busy on a regular night, we've no doubt the queues for the final Computer Blue will be very long, so prepare for a bit of a wait outside Bar Music Hall and make the most of the off license across the road. We spoke to DJ and promoter Fonteyn about what's made his clubnight so special!
Why did you set Computer Blue up?
I started throwing CB parties a long time ago (6 years and counting) with some friends when we were very young and pissed off with clubbing at that time. It was either drab student indie dives or Ibiza-style superclubs - a ghastly time indeed! We wanted to combine electronic dance music with SONGS & PERSONALITY and provide outsider kids (like ourselves) somewhere to go and dance and be fabulous. Of course we couldn't actually play at the time and we had no idea how to do it, but it worked...who knew?!
Who are your djs? What do you do in the real world?
Computer Blue IS our real world, ha ha! Well, I review electro/underground records for various publications and also release the occasional record. I also host a CB residency in Bergen, Norway and spin at various parties across Europe too! The club is run by myself and Marika, singer in synth-rockers Hotel Motel. We've had various dj line-ups over the years but at the moment apart from myself we have the infamous Jamie Winter (whom I originally maintained was a long lost German hiNRG dj, much to his chagrin!) and Milan, he of Meat Raffle club fame...
What's the music policy?
The original CB motto was electro-disco-pop and we've always tried to stick to this principle whilst still moving forward - we've gone through some interesting phases - synth-pop, Italo Disco, rave-pop, new-wave, sci-fi r'n'b, shoulderpad techno, even minimal! It's special because we don't care what everybody else is doing and we mix up whatever feels right at the time, so it's both unpredictable yet somehow manages to make sense...
And how are your crowd?
Beautiful, colourful and quite often totally ridiculous (in the best possible way)
Anyone famous taking a dance?
I'm usually too worse for wear at the time and then people ask me after: 'did you see who was here?!' I think there's been some cool fashion people but I'm oblivious to that kind of thing. We've had Pete Doherty but then hasn't everyone LOL! Oh we've had that actress, whats her name? The one in Minority Report...
What's your venue like?
We've had some quite unconventional venues in our time - first floor art galleries with floor to ceiling windows, bling-bling, diamante 'n' velvet basements under chinese restaurants etc. Most of which have been shut down by the dull authorities, but our latest, Bar Music Hall is totally legit eurodisco wonderland! My ideal venue would be some glitzy futuristic disco palace in 1980s Italy, but at the moment BMH serves us well.
What other club nights do you like going?
I like club nights that do their own thing, that have created their own world - Club Motherfucker and although it's quite fashion-orientated Boombox too. These days however I tend to go places to see specific bands or djs...
5 songs we might hear at CB...
The New Felix Da Housecat one, Future Calls The Dawn, also The Subs Fuck That Shit (Acid Jacks Fuck Shit Euro Style Remix), Eskimo Disco What IS Woman? (Fred Falke Man Enough Mix), there's a great white label called Cured which is a re-edit of The Cure's Lullaby that I cant stop playing and Miss Kittin & The Hacker's Hometown, plaus lots of bizarre old stuff like Dirty Cash by Stevie V or strange electro-disco tracks from the depths of the 80s!
And, it's the end of Computer Blue. What does the future hold?
It's been a total blast, but now it's time for something new. Stay tuned!
The final Computer Blue takes place this Friday at Bar Music Hall on Curtain Road, Shoreditch. Nearest tube stations are Old Street or Liverpool Street. Download a mix from Fonteyn previously broadcast on Ministry of Sound radio here.
