Music
30 years of Sub Club, a Glasgow institution
As it enters its fourth decade, Jackmaster, Denis Sulta, Jasper James and Subculture resident Harri pay tribute to the club’s unique vibe.
2017 marks three decades of 22 Jamaica Street being more than just an address. Founded in 1987, this 410-capacity venue has become something like a second home for many of Glasgow’s music fans.
In part, Subbie’s good reputation has been built on the shoulders of its residents. Harri and Domenic, the duo behind Saturday’s Subculture nights, have played the best in house every week since 1994 – the longest continuous club residency in the world. Every Sunday from 1997 to 2010 it was the turn of JD Twitch and JG Wilkes of Optimo (Espacio), famed for their eclectic mixing of any genre, from techno to industrial to post-punk, while other Glasgow labels like Numbers and Slam have been a regular presence. Electronic music culture moves quickly. But Sub Club’s success hasn’t been built on gimmicks. As Harri puts it: “Glasgow’s electronic music scene hasn’t changed in all the time I’ve been playing. Young – and some older – people drink, dance and celebrate life.”
Glasgow's Sub Club boys
© [unknown]
Jackmaster DJs at a Numbers party, 2011
© Numbers 2011
Jasper James
© Polly Petrova
Sub Club has also been home to the city’s current crop of local prodigies – Jackmaster, Jasper James and Denis Sulta. Jackmaster first started going to Sub Club at the age of 14. “I used to go to what we called the unders, when the edgiest thing you could get away with was smoking a cigarette and buying a lassie a lemonade,” he remembers.
A fire in 1999 led to rebuilding complications that closed Subbie until 2002. “By the time it re-opened I had just turned 18 and started going again and it was magic. All the best DJs from the US were in and out of the club every week but it didn't really resonate with me how important the club was globally until a few years later.”
Once I got a taste of the Saturday night, I was totally hooked and went there religiously
“Growing up, Subbie was everything to me,” echoes Jasper James, who is genuine Sub Club family – he’s the son of Subculture resident Harri. “I’d been in as a little boy, but just in the day while my dad collected his wages, and always imagined what it would be like full of people. Once I got a taste of the Saturday night, I was totally hooked and went there religiously… that was kinda my church to learn, absorb and take everything in. I went off to Uni in Dundee and would travel back every weekend just to go to Sub Club.” (Around the same time, James started producing, and one of his tracks found its way to Optimo, who released James’ debut EP Sneaky in 2014). For such a regular, you’d expect James to take a Sub Club show in his stride. But, he says, it’s quite the opposite. “When I’m there, I know I really need to perform… I definitely sink a few shandies before those gigs.”
2017 has been a breakthrough year for Denis Sulta, the Glasgow DJ who Resident Advisor called “house music’s next big thing”. He also credits Sub Club as a formative experience. “It was the first proper slice of good electronic music that I had ever experienced. Memorable moments include seeing Virgo Four live for the Rubadub Birthday and my first night as an iAM PR for Japanese Popstars. I really cut my teeth in Glasgow as a DJ at i AM in Sub Club.” He’s not the only DJ to talk about Sub Club in family terms: “I feel very proud to be part of such a colourful and exciting collective of artists.”
Denis Sulta crowdsurfing at Dixon Avenue Basement Jams
© Courtesy of Denis Sulta
Sub Club was the first proper slice of good electronic music that I had ever experienced
Thirty years on, Sub Club is still going strong. The club has marked its birthday with a year of parties, including the first UK live show in 20 years from Larry Heard, aka Mr Fingers, at the nearby Barrowland Ballroom and, of course, an all-nighter from Harri and Domenic.
“The legacy Harri and Domenic have built will exist forever,” says Denis Sulta. “On print, in pictures, online, but most importantly, in the memories and moments they have created in that crazy basement under Jamaica Street. I can only dream to achieve what they have over the years and am so grateful to be playing beside them.”
As for the future, Harri is taking it in his stride. “There aren’t many weekly residencies left in Glasgow, let alone the UK, so who knows? I’m sure it will be fine though – time marches on!”
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