Dontstayin Spotter Review (apologies if it seems a bit drawn-out!)

As a DJ in a Bar in Chesterfield Town Centre who`d long since given up going to the Nightclubs locally, due to them either not playing much Dance Music or simply the attitude problems (Pint and a fight, a great Town Night) of many of the customers in them, I noticed with interest a lot of promotion for the new BluSky event around Town. Glossy flyers and posters, articles in the newspapers, and then I found the DontStayIn website a couple of weeks ago.

I know what the problems are in Chesterfield, and that is that anything not bang in the Town Centre has had trouble attracting support as a good chunk of `revellers` just will not try anything new musically or Venue wise, aimlessly following the hordes in search of Commercial or Cheesey Music and the cheapest drinks. DJing in the town myself, I know exactly how many people think. They go to the same places to hear the same music and drink the same drinks and see the same people standing in the same spot every night!

So, could BluSky work? I`d be a total hypocrite if, after hoping for so long that something independent playing good Dance Music would come along I didn`t go along to support it, especially when the people involved have spent so many hours and so much money promoting it!

I got our Assistant Manager to come along too, got to Erotica at 1.15 for the first time ever in this Venue. Easy parking over the road, and a friendly welcome later from the Doorman, in we went, to be greeted by a cracking Laser show, DiscoDown on the decks seamlessly knocking out a full range of House from Dennis Christopher to David Morales and (for those interested) Bar prices on drinks, not Nightclub prices. The first thing you could see was that people were there for the music. No attitudes, no shoving in at the bar, just a full range of people from all walks of life there for a good time without interfering with anyone else. Huge grins on the Dancefloor, applaudings for the DJs, excellent.

Jay (BluSky) then walked round with a pack of Mixed CDs for everybody there, making every single customer feel valued and welcome, which you just don`t feel often, if ever, in many Clubs, where you feel more that you are treated like Sheep! He then took the decks, playing a deeper groove to DiscoDown, and the contrast in styles between DJs kept everyone dancing, nodding heads (me), whatever! Both Jay and DD (the two DJs that were on whilst I was in, as we didn`t get in until late) played storming sets, with Breakdowns and Bass Drops in just the right places

I got some cracking photos of the event which are now up and online on site as well.

Later on quite a lot of people came in, and the turnout was very good indeed. The music was absolutely spot-on, the DJs animatedly whipping up the crowd (in total contrast to my own Paul Glazby-esque stone faced mixing!) the crowd all friendly and responsive to every tune, the bar service quick and efficient....I could go on but you get the idea!

Summing up, this was a real quality night. The music, the DJs, the crowd, the atmosphere were fantastic. For people in Chesterfield who want a Dance alternative to the mainstream, get along to the BluSky events. And even for those who may just be bored of the clubs, open your eyes and ears to something new. Dare to be different. Even for lovers of Trance and Hard Dance like myself, this was not lightweight Dance in any way at all, this was quality Music with quality DJs. Above all, everyone who went in was instantly made to feel a part of it all!

Count me in for the next one!

personally i'd rather go to a small club anyway. i like the idea that i'm part of a small, elite group

In my review I mentioned how welcome people were made to feel at BluSky, and how they felt a part of something. No attitudes, no wankers, and you can`t get that in a bigger place where it`s `Bums on seats` and offers so ridiculous to try and nail the opposition that they will only encourage one type of people, those that go for the cheapest beer.

In my review I mentioned how welcome people were made to feel at BluSky, and how they felt a part of something. No attitudes

and its true, we totally believe it.

have you ever seen our mission statement?

Yes. However, in Chesterfield putting things into practice isn`t easy, but certainly it had been on Saturday!

One of the new clubs last year started off promisingly music-wise and standards wise, and I did go in a few times, but then the price wars started and to cover this you have to get as many in as possible, which means music which is inoffensive to the majority and standards of the people let in and the dress restrictions were removed, which was the end of my visits as R&B and very commercial Dance took over once again, and little chavs piled in and the atmosphere soured.

So, it was a real change on Saturday to be in a club in town with nobody showing an attitude or interfering with anyone else.

thats the beauty of marsden street, its out of the way and the people who come have to want to be there. we are under no pressure to put bums on seats and no pressure to alter, adapt or change the music. we are free to do as we please and what pleases us is to play kick ass house for people who want the right music delivered to them!

I totally agree! A big room loses atmosphere and if attention is not 200% on the music, whats the point?? all faces looking everywhere, no direction......The Courtyard in Cream (Liverpool) used to hold about 300people and we'd wait until 12am before watching Paul Oakenfold deliver something special....to re-create something anyway near that feeling is what we endeavour to re-invent in Chesterfield and am sure the feeling is felt by others just the same way....

Weve been to Isis for a 6month residency, to Mojos and Zanzibar before residing in Marsden St and The Loft simply because they are able to follow their own rules and ideaology, different to those shown with the big clubs and are prepared to give us little guys the pig-up we need from the floor upwards into the club/bar scene. I love Marsdens because the people are great and although a massive challenge to turn the minds of people used to town centre venues, this offers something completely unique and naughty providing an exciting and entertaining atmosphere...

So we continue to diverse from the town centre mentality and create a new clubbing community giving local talent the platform to be creative and entertaining, allowing us to keep costs down, fun factor high, and allowing the people of Chesterfield to hear the music that they love, being played by the people they love playing it...simple really

people have already started to change their views considerably and its becoming very infectious, spreading out and finding those who want and deserve something to their musical and clubbing lifestyles, right here and available on their doorsteps.

we do indeed continue to diversify and change and alter and innovate and deliver new things. as you'll see when we announce the plans for the loft.

its all about keeping it fresh and interesting.

equally as important is keeping the integrity of what you are doing. its about having respect for yourself, the music and the clubbers. i personally refuse to play records that i don't love. if i did i'd feel like i was shortchanging the people and thats not fair. i can't expect anybody to have a good time if i'm not.

I`ll disagree slightly Steve. With a Town Centre Bar, with high overheads, rents and being tied to Suppliers for example on Drinks who charge a lot more than independent suppliers, you have to turn over a big wedge of cash. That`s why you do need to keep a part of trade from the Commercial/Circuit customers. It`s Ok for Free Houses or say places where you run an event in a Venue, and like I`ve said before, I cringe at some of the music I lay before 9.45, but it`s better to have two and a half hours music of Tunes rather than none at all!

i was speaking purely for myself. i understand that your position is different to mine

LOL you can always tell what time it is as before 9.45 there is no `head nodding` in the DJ Booth!

Your all right! i agree with Steve as I too only play what I love and what the crowd love but I totally understand your position Chris but hey already youve managed to sipher off the cheese & r'n'b and develop your own crowd just as we have....just think in a short while your crowd will have grown to cover your entire set times yey !!!

So many other DJs in town are not in the fortunate position as we all are but then again if they had started out on their own, from nothing, determined to deliver what you and the people love then hey who knows, a year on they could well be in the position that we are all currently in and certainly a big thanks to the owners and people who put a huge amount of faith in our mission.

slowly you're managing to get rid of the fromage and find the clubbers. wouldn't it be superb if you could play soulful, vocal house and make TP the official prebar for blusky, then at 10.30 you could go HH and trance tastic and boom it out then come back to erotica for some late night house!

Sounds good to me dude - certainly a viable chip of the ole diversity block and I love the idea.

Obviously some rules to consider but I'm all for something thats works for us all !!

The only problem is that the people that come in to join us do come in for harder music, by 8.30 they want it turning up a notch, even if it`s to Commercial Trance, and there are more swanky bars doing the Funky thing in Chesterfield (and with DJs with a better Funky knowledge and abilities than myself!).

We do have more plans for the music, ideally I want to make it House from 7.30 to 8.30, lighter Trance like PvD 8.30 to 9.30 and ditch the Scouse and NRG style tunes in this slot but we do need to keep the younger trade who like that sort of music at this time, (which is inevitable in a Chesterfield central Bar as we do have a huge whacking load of overheads, but when they stay in and get educated in `real` Dance it is worth it!), and then Trance and Hard Dance from then until the close...but we`ll have a chat about all our collaborations and ideas next week if possible!

I know nobody is nitpicking, and I stand and growl at some of the pre-9.45 tunes myself, sometimes wanting the ground to swallow me up, but there isn`t one Chesterfield Bar that would survive without some Commercial output sadly, but what I feel we offer after 9.45 is quite unique in a Town Bar on a weekly basis.

We are also considering refusing far more requests, as I`m personally sick of changing the set around to find that the person making the request cannot wait ten minutes and is then trotting off elsewhere just as I`ve cued it in, and I`m sick to the nines of explaining why Cascada is not Trance...and why we won`t play Micky Modelle!

We do have more plans for the music, ideally I want to make it House from 7.30 to 8.30, lighter Trance like PvD 8.30 to 9.30 and ditch the Scouse and NRG style tunes in this slot but we do need to keep the younger trade who like that sort of music at this time, (which is inevitable in a Chesterfield central Bar as we do have a huge whacking load of overheads, but when they stay in and get educated in `real` Dance it is worth it!), and then Trance and Hard Dance from then until the close

all a good plan but you need a bridge between house and trance otherwise the night won't flow so how about some electro? its commercial enough at the moment so the regular punters won't be too scared and the clubbers will love it. ialso think it'll make your life so much easier to get to trance

Yes, the bits I`ve played have gone down well recently, more so The Egg types (surprise surprise `Have you got the Car song?`) but it all depends on who is in.

It is never possible to fully set a time slot (the only one being the 9.45 cut off for anything that looks like it may have been near a Club Land album!)

Last night was a very quiet start for a Saturday so the Trance and NRG tunes went on earlier to get a bit of bouncing about.

Steve, you will have to join Jay and pop in one night.
It`s taken a long time to get people used to what we are doing, and even now, after a middle aged `Lady` turned violent the other week as I refused to play `Guns and Roses`, some people just can`t accept us not playing Cheese and R&B, never mind them knowing the difference between Dance genres!

A lot of `Hills Have Eyes` and `Pint and a Fight` people were out last night, and there was a LOT of trouble in Town, and I mean a LOT. It always seems to happen the first Weekend in the month, and does anyone know if it was Full Moon?

its because its pay week and probably dole week so all the 40 year old teenagers, power drinkers and 'hard men' are out in force. its not just chesterfield that suffers it.

as for set time i don't know the bar or the punters but if the 9.45 thing is set in stone then before that you need someone who has quite a varied bag with electro and house and possibly even a bit of very select bassline to keep the punters happy. you're going to have to take the initiative and work at getting the right crowd in.

i do realise that basically you have to play for the people but if you are smart enough you should be able to weed out the undesirable element that bit more effectively.

i'll come down with jay happily one weekend, in fact i'll make sure i'm in before erotica this month and have a good long look at whats going on. i might even be tempted to spin a few!

Steve, we`ll talk more if you can make Wednesday evening which was Jay`s suggestion for a meet up somewhere?

I think we all need to come up with ideas and also know where everyone`s situation lies. With no offence I`m going to have to explain exactly what the position is in Town for us, indeed for other venues and for having to make ends meet by playing for the Commercial crowd before 9.45. If we lost that, we would not be doing what we do later!

Until everything takes off and all those excellent people forced out of town return for all the Events people are working so hard to put on and realise that there is a Scene in Chesterfield, there are no instant remedies. You cannot just cut out a whole swathe of a customer base in a short time. We have to EDUCATE, not surgically remove!

We cut out the R&B Mulletts and Dollybirds by removing their music, and they didn`t spend anyway, crying when we used to knock off the R&B Crap and move to Dance, and it took time to build where we are now, to a position where competitor Bars send flyer people to stand near OUR doors.

That isn`t as I`m the World`s best DJ or anything else,far from it, we had technical gremlins last night again on the crossfader etc, but it is because of what we do and how we do it that I believe what we have done has been a success.

We`ll go through it all on Wednesday Steve!

Your right Chris, it has been a success, so far so good and to be honest this scene change has been trying to happen for a very long time. Take oakstock and grousefest for example... I was elated to hear something real and talented on my doorstep onec again in good company clapping to all the acts because they were simply excellent and FREE !!! I found it hard that 95% of people did not raise a hand together or encourage these brilliant back to back acts. They did enjoy the acts through packing the venues out but found it hard to express themselevs and that is what we are faced upon....changing mindset and getting people to open up and let it all goooooooooo.

Its simple really, ive noticed through touting on the streets night after night that more and more people are familiar with the brand and grow confident in our promises and are literally more and more on the brink of coming to an event because we openly invite and show a different view on their perception of a quality night out....looking after them 200% from the flyers on the streets to the CDs handed out at the end of a gig - once youve gained their confidence they'll soon make the correct choice and pass word around and become devout. Natural selection will siphen off a niche as it bonds together and grows stronger allowing the people who dont completely feel like it's their cup of tea, to simply stick to what they love elsewhere in town....


Weve all been there.......what made you go into bars/clubs whilst you were in a new town, city or country??.....basic psychology, commitment to deliver your promises & simple courtesy as explained in our mission statement.

And to be honest mate - youve been doing alllll of the above and we continue with our plan thus the reason why its working for you and us!

It's a while since I've frequented Chesterfield. Last time I was there the Livingstones was the old YMCA, Genesis and Liberties was still standing and Modjo was Time. Where abouts is Ertoica please?