Dig out your Fred Perry polo shirt, tousle up that floppy fringe and get ready to pogo all night to the finest indie tunes. This Saturday (8 September), the O2 Islington is launching a new weekly club night for those who like their guitars crunchy and their basslines baggy.
DJ Carl Hill explains that Old School Indie hopes to be "somewhere where you can hear great tunes you know and just have fun without worrying about being cool or some goon deliberately pogoing on your feet all night. You'll hear all the big bands like The Smiths, The Cure, and Blur, but we'll also throw in soul, rock 'n' roll and a few synth tracks. Anything you might have heard down an indie disco of yore!"
Old School Indie is run by the team that brought us Feeling Gloomy, which moves to The Phoenix in Oxford Circus on the first Friday of every month. "I hope our old fans of Gloom will enjoy Old School Indie, and new people who were always put off by the tag of Feeling Gloomy," says Carl. "Anyone of a certain age who misses the indie discos of their youth — our crowd is a bit older and we like it like that." The dress code is casual and band t-shirts are positively encouraged — wear your favourite to jump the queue.
A new addition to the night will be a live slot for new indie bands.
The first Live @ The Old School night will feature sets from quirky North London Indie-Rock three-piece The Red Queens, currently taking the live band circuit by storm with their infectious bouncy tunes, and dreamy New Wave pop from D'Silva. Future live nights will include an evening of indie electronica with Depeche Mode tribute band Speak and Spell, and a jangly miserablism with The Smyths in January.
"This summer I've been to sell-out gigs by Blur, New Order and The Stone Roses," says Red Queens singer Darien Graham-Smith. "The indie scene is alive and well, and it's a real buzz to be part of something so enduring, not to mention so essentially British."
Old School Indie kicks off this Saturday 8 September, from 10.30pm to 3.30am at the O2 Islington (nearest tube: Angel). The first Live @ Old School Indie night takes place next Saturday 15 September. More info and tickets here. If you're in a band and would like to play, contact the team at [email protected].
