The Home chain of nightclubs was initially started at the height of popularity of house music. The chain was originally called "Jacobs" until being bought out in 2015. The clubs are notorious for their "anti mobile phones" policy, where phones are confiscated before entrance, and when people breach this rule, a form of "punishment" is implemented. The two clubs were two of the largest nightclubs at the time in their respective countries, and were two of a number of dance music enterprises operated by the one company, including various other smaller clubs and the outdoor music festival Homelands.
The broader chain, including the Home Club in London and its outdoor events, eventually folded. Home in Sydney has continued as a successful venue and hosts many famous dance music DJs.
At its peak, the Home Nightclub chain included two large clubs in Sydney and London, as well as hosting the outdoor dance music festival, Homelands. The Nightclub chain was the dream of Ron McCulloch and Big Beats (Inc) who had intended for a broader worldwide chain of clubs, which included advanced plans for a New York club, as well as plans for clubs in Singapore and Buenos Aires and outdoor events held in various part of the world. The club is notorious for its no mobile phones policy, which comes with "punishments" for people who fail to follow the rules. [1] The idea of the clubs was that they would beam performances of DJs to each other, and have International events by transmission. The two clubs in Sydney and London were among the biggest Dance music clubs in their respected countries.
The Sydney Home Club was the first to open on 13 November 1998 by Antonio Zambarelli, Paul Collings, George Swanson and Ron McCulloch (Big Beat Australia) in Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour. [1] It is a purpose built nightclub, and with a 2000 person capacity it is one of Australia's biggest regular house music venues. The interior was designed by Ron McCulloch, and features a number of different spaces. The main dancefloor holds 700 people. [1] It cost A$10 million to build. [2]
The London Home Club (see full article Home (nightclub)) was a "superclub" which opened in 1998 in Leicester Square, in central London. It had eight levels, and cost £8.5m to build, after hard negotiations over building at the Leicester Square site. [3] [4]
Home in London was shut by police only after 2 years of operation. Its licence was revoked by police due to evidence of obvious drug dealing in the premises, flagged by an undercover police operation which discovered "open and serious Class A drug dealing and usage". [5] At this stage, Home London was owned by Big Beats Pubs and Club Empire, it being jointly owned by Mr McCulloch, George Swanson (the former Whitbread director), and Royal Bank Development Capital. [6]
The closing of Home London affected the Big Beats company, which then went into receivership. While the licence was reinstated, it was too late for Big Beat. Big Beat's Home nightclubs assets were initially contracted by the receiver, KPMG, to be run by the Mean Fiddler business. [7] The London club was then purchased for £20m by Mean Fiddler, owned by John Vincent Power. [8] However, Ron McCulloch, from Big Beat, then purchased the Sydney Home Club himself and moved to Australia [9] [10]
Sydney Home (now officially called Home The Venue) continues to operate as a successful venue, at the popular Darling Harbour waterside entertainment district in Sydney. In the early 2000s it incorporated the successful Pitt Street club Sublime which was started in the late 1990s, and run by Simon Page. Simon brought the three nights that were being run at Sublime, Beatfix, Cargo and Voodoo and moved its DJs (including Peewee Ferris, Nik Fish, Craig Obey, Bexta and Kate Monroe) into Home's Friday night. The Friday Sublime night has continued to run successfully since that time. After some arising family issues, Simon sold his interest to McCulloch. In 2005, McCulloch sold the club back to Simon page for roughly what he had purchased it for. [11] With the downturn from the peak of interest in dance music, and the return of an interest in rock, Sydney Home expanded into rock music in 2006, hosting bands on Saturday nights, then followed by DJs. [12]
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's Black gay underground club culture and evolved slowly in the early/mid 1980s as DJs began altering disco songs to give them a more mechanical beat. By early 1988, House became mainstream and supplanted the typical 80s music beat.
A 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 music scene when DJs played at illegal events in musical styles dominated by electronic dance music from a wide range of sub-genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, trap, break, happy hardcore, trance, techno, hardcore, house, and alternative dance. Occasionally live musicians have been known to perform at raves, in addition to other types of performance artists such as go-go dancers and fire dancers. The music is amplified with a large, powerful sound reinforcement system, typically with large subwoofers to produce a deep bass sound. The music is often accompanied by laser light shows, projected coloured images, visual effects and fog machines.
Jungle is a genre of electronic music that developed out of the UK rave scene and roots reggae and dancehall sound system culture in the 1990s. Emerging from breakbeat hardcore, the style is characterised by rapid breakbeats, heavily syncopated percussive loops, samples, and synthesised effects, combined with the deep basslines, melodies, and vocal samples found in dub, reggae and dancehall, as well as hip hop and funk. Many producers frequently sampled the "Amen break" or other breakbeats from funk and jazz recordings. Jungle was a direct precursor to the drum and bass genre which emerged in the mid-1990s.
Chicago house refers to house music produced during the mid to late 1980s within Chicago. The term is generally used to refer to the original house music DJs and producers from the area, such as Ron Hardy and Phuture.
The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England, which became famous during the Madchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records.
The Fridge was a nightclub in the Brixton area of South London, England, 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.
Balearic beat, also known as Balearic house, Balearic, Ibiza house or Ibizan chillout, is an eclectic blend of DJ-led dance music that emerged in the mid-1980s. It later became the name of a more specific style of electronic dance/house music that was popular into the mid-1990s. Balearic beat was named for its popularity among European nightclub and beach rave patrons on the Balearic island of Ibiza, a popular tourist destination. Some dance music compilations referred to it as "the sound of Ibiza", even though many other, more aggressive and upbeat forms of dance music could be heard on the island, such as Balearic trance.
Mobile disc jockeys are disc jockeys that tour with portable sound, lighting, and video systems. They play music for a targeted audience from a collection of pre-recorded music using vinyl records, cassettes, CDs, or digital music formats such as USB flash drives or laptop computers.
Helter Skelter was one of the longest running dance music promoters in the UK, which began organising megaraves in the early 1990s. Its largest-ever rave was "Energy 97 – The Carnival of Dance" in Northamptonshire which attracted 18,000 revellers. The electronic dance music featured at its events was characterised as "happy hardcore". By New Year's Eve 1999, its popularity had declined, as garage music clubs became more mainstream. It regularly held events at Sanctuary Music Arena in Milton Keynes until the venue closed in 2004.
The EndUp is a nightclub in San Francisco, California. Opened in 1973, the club is located at 6th Street and Harrison in the South of Market district. Known for its status as an afterhours club, the venue has hosted a variety of benefits and events during its time as part of San Francisco's nightlife community.
Heaven is a gay superclub in Charing Cross, London, England. It has played a central role and had a major influence in the development of London's LGBT scene for over 40 years and is home to long-running gay night G-A-Y. The club is known for Paul Oakenfold's acid house events in the 1980s, the underground nightclub festival Megatripolis, and for being the birthplace of ambient house.
Tribal Gathering is the original British electronic dance music festival that between 1993 and 2004 catered for different types of dance music cultures such as techno, house and drum & bass. After 18 years, Tribal Gathering returns in 2023 for a two-day event to celebrate its 30th anniversary.
Trade was a culturally important gay club night held at Turnmills in London founded in 1990 by Laurence Malice.
Quadrant Park also known as the Quad or Quaddie was a nightclub in Bootle, UK opened during the late 1980s to the early 1990s. and one of the most important in the UK at the time. and was known to attract a number of international guest DJs. The main styles of music played were Italo house and acid house, retrospectively it could also be defined an early Superclub.
Home was a music venue and nightclub located at 1 Leicester Square in central London. It was closed by Westminster Council in late March 2001 due to alleged evidence of open drug-dealing occurring within the club despite its famously tough door checks. The club went into receivership shortly after it was closed. It was part of the Home nightclub chain owned by Big Beats, including the clubs in Sydney and London, as well as the Homelands outdoor festivals. The decline of the club started earlier however due to Westminster council denying the club a 6am licence.
A nightclub is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a bar and discothèque with a dance floor, laser lighting displays, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who mixes recorded music. Nightclubs tend to be smaller than live music venues like theatres and stadiums, with few or no seats for customers.
Acid house is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesizer-sequencer, an innovation attributed to Chicago artists Phuture and Sleezy D circa 1986.
Peter "Peewee" Ferris is a DJ from Sydney. Ferris began mixing at an early age, being inspired by his older brothers Stephen and John who are also DJs.
Sean McLusky is a British music promoter, nightclub impresario and film producer.
Shoom was a weekly all-nighter dance music event in London, England, between September 1987 and early 1990. It is widely credited with initiating the acid house movement in the UK. Shoom was founded by Danny Rampling, then an unknown DJ and record producer, and managed by his wife Jenni. The club began at a 300-capacity basement gym on Southwark Street in South London. By May 1988, its growing popularity necessitated a move to the larger Raw venue on Tottenham Court Road, Central London, and a switch from Saturday to Thursday nights. Later relocations were to The Park Nightclub, Kensington and Busby's venue on Charing Cross Road.