dont bother

Dukes is Dukes - for teeny boppers & jumped up wannabe gangsta lads who are sad enough to come down from London!
I worked there for 2 years... you'l find that 'most' of the girls who work there are only on the lookout for talent... so if your a girl, OR ugly, then good luck!! Also, dont be rude to them, because they aren't stupid, & they DO have the power to refuse to serve you!
Decadence is awesome on a Saturday...Dave Valentine is something else, but only if your into Electro/Funky House, so if your not... dont go in there! stay in Dukes with your Stella drinking 17 yrs olds!!

Nuff said :D

i dont feel safe goin out in those of places, theres so many fights :S

i meant safe musically

i meant safe musically

thats debatable! lol

i'm sure you know what i mean ;)

Don't really know what Decadence does on Fridays

funky house :*( lol mind you saying that im not a lover of it but on odd times i have enjpyed it in decadence on a friday the mixing is ok by p.s

In my experience of Essex and Suffolk as a whole these comments are echoed in every town. The main problem has been with the recent introduction of rent-a-crowd and the stubborness of DJ's. Everyone now has a click and DJ's tend to work within these clicks. Alot of nights set up will only use DJ's that are their friends and who are willing to bring everyone that they can phone, text or email.

I have been playing out for 9 years and a few years ago I fell into this trap of only supporting nights I was playing and sending multiple texts each week to get people along to Ministry etc.. who expect you to bring a big group of supporters with you.

9 years ago I was in a minority in the town playing at a few spots regularly with more or less the only other DJ's in town. Now there are more DJ's than punters in the town and every bar now needs a DJ as standard, which never used to be the case,and because of the nature of most businesses wanting to make profit they try and get whichever DJ is the cheapest and willing to bring his mates. Short term this works.

Now I tend to look for a fairly hassle free night most of the time, not too much effort as long as it plays good music. When I want a big night I have a proper look around and go further a field. If you had it on your doorstep each week it would become normal practice to you and would not seem so special after a while anyway.

Incidently 2Funk do hold a great night at 'the Bar' if you like your Funky house. Yes there might be the odd mainstream tune but at the end of the day you are not the only one in there.

wise words

there does seem to be a hell of alot of dj's about.

its also strange how dj's get paid. dj's at the more commercial bars will be on well over £120 for playing "now that what i call.....!" albums with the latest offerings from the likes of Justin Timberlake and 50 cent whilst having a beer and saying stupid stuff on the mic.
then you get other dj's from the other bars that are not so commercial. Still as busy but here Dj's are getting much less than £100. They would generally spend more money on music and more time practising than the commercial dj's but they get less reward.

BUT HEY!, THAT's LIFE!

Dukes has always been the main club in chelmsford, it's what people round here know!
go bars by the river , get pissed as you can, then stagger to dukes and carry on drinking in there.

I'm hoping that once Reds reopens after it's refurb that it's going to be somewhere to go without listening to JayZzzzz and 50pence...

Plus I am still awaiting my first STYLE evening..... Will be up soon Damo, hope it's all going well, I like the venue so I will be up once I am settled back into this country!!!

cool mate, let me know when your coming and i'll book you in!

I think that everyone is hoping that when Reds reopens it will cater for a different crowd to that of Dukes.

Fingers crossed that the management will see the market and take a gamble

They could have rebuild Reds the length of time it has been closed for!!!

They could have rebuild Reds the length of time it has been closed for!!!

maybe they are having cash flow probs as that place was so cheap im not sure how they made money "free to get in b4 11pm drinks 1.50 until 12am always had a good time in there tho when i went :*)

its also strange how dj's get paid. dj's at the more commercial bars will be on well over £120 for playing "now that what i call.....!" albums with the latest offerings from the likes of Justin Timberlake and 50 cent whilst having a beer and saying stupid stuff on the mic.

£120?!?!?!

seeeesh!

Dukes has always been the main club in chelmsford

apart from when zeus was taking 70k p/week

fucking mugs

ts also strange how dj's get paid. dj's at the more commercial bars will be on well over £120 for playing "now that what i call.....!" albums with the latest offerings from the likes of Justin Timberlake and 50 cent whilst having a beer and saying stupid stuff on the mic.

£120?!?!?!

seeeesh!

um its more like over £150 now for about 3-4 hours work!

£120?!?!?!

seeeesh!

um its more like over £150 now for about 3-4 hours work!

makes me sick that clubs r giving CRAP djs that sort of money!! - Especially wen i know a lot of really good up n coming dj's who r'nt gettin paid anything workin for hard house nites! :(

um its more like over £150 now for about 3-4 hours work!

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Especially wen i know a lot of really good up n coming dj's who r'nt gettin paid anything workin for hard house nites! :(

Its called supply and demand! There are no where near as many people in Chelmsford who would go to a hard house night as there are a commercial night.

One thing seems to have been missed in this whole thread. What is commercial music? Simple, its music that appeals to a large audience, hence a lot of people buy it and it makes it into the charts. If you are running any business you look to appeal to the largest client base you can and musically that is commercial. Its common business sense. Especially in a town like Chelmsford.

Strictly speaking though that is not true. Businesses look for markets and market share. If there are 1000 people into commercial (sorry to use that phrase) music and you have a 10% share of the market you have 100 people. However if there are 500 people into funky house and you have a 50% share of the market you have 250 people. So it's more about your market share, not largest client base. Although as Rich points out this is a pretty good place for a business to start.

Someones done Business Studies!!! :-D

I get what you are saying but if you are going on a night out for music you take a forty minute ride on the train to London, therefore most people going out in Chelmsford go out to get sh!t-faced and laid!

I went dukes last night it was full of 16 year old boys and girls i felt like it was nappy night.