What is D-Railed?

In a few words, “D-Railed is the future!” In a few more words; “D-Railed is a new Hard Dance night already taking the small but growing student town of Loughborough by storm.”
After just one event, the launch party held on Fri Oct 10th @ Club Rapture, the big word around the scene is D-Railed!
“We wanted to start with a bang! And to do that we needed to grab the scene! With The Emporium’s ‘Storm’ propping up the Hard side of the Dance Scene in Coalville, and with the close of The Venue in Long Eaton, there seemed to be some what of a void in the area. Loughborough has never, in my life, embarked on entertaining Hard Dance. Birmingham has a huge, huge influence over hard dance. It is definitely the city to go to for some 150bpm 4x4! So for our launch night we brought in DJ’s from B2T, Shaft, Sundissential, and Shine, as well as a more local influence from Xstatic, Storm, Violation and Turn It Up!
But the branding wasn’t the total focus of the night, so much as the quality of the DJ’s playing and the music progression throughout the night! D-Railed will focus on quality and with us, the two clubbers we are, may we say it ourselves, we are in good touch with the clubbing community, and we know what Loughborough clubbers as well as the scene’s clubbers are after. We started with a bang, and we will continue.”

And, who are you?

DANNY LEE - “Well, if you’re looking for someone special, you’re in the right place ;-) Only joking! I’m Danny Lee, 25, from Loughborough, and the manager/promoter and resident DJ for D-Railed. After starting a small night at Rapture in the beginning of 2008, I felt certain things weren’t going to plan, and the potential was so much more, and with the help of my business/sanity saviour Sam, D-Railed was created.

I personally have been following dance music since I can remember and before I can remember! I got the love for the “Harder Kick” from the early days of Tidy Trax, Mohawk, Tinrib, but most of all the production master class of BK’s Nukleuz Blue, this sound is still evident in my sets today! Since then the love hasn’t stopped growing and I yearn for new quality Hard House. I have also been mixing since my friends and I first bought decks back in 1998, during the Trance boom! All I ever wanted to do was play my music to other people, whether it be to two mates in the bedroom or 2000 people in the club. I love this music, and I want you to love it too! This is my main drive behind D-Railed. I meet tonnes of people week in/week out in the hard dance scene, and everyone is as friendly as the last, and these guys and gals love the music, and I want to put music on for these cool people and have a great time. The last year has been huge for me, in terms of making myself known to clubbers and promoters alike, and getting sets at various clubs around the midlands, I have also been signed up to the massive new RAW8 International DJ agency, Shane Tate and I are representing Hard House for the UK. Keep a look out! There are some huge artists on this roster and I am hugely proud to be part of it. Going live next month.

SAM MEEKS - My name is Samantha aka “Cheeky-Sam.” I’m from the Peterborough area but don’t tend to spend much time there, as you will usually find me out and about at many different events all over the UK. I am the marketing and promotional manager for D-Railed.
My taste for clubbing started in August of 2005 aged 22, when my cousin took me to Storm, and whilst there I also got my first experience of Tidy! From that night I fell in love with the scene, since then and over the last 3 years, I couldn’t help but be there; Tidy Weekenders, Kiddstock, Transmission, Que Club re-launch, The Plug, SE1, Turnmills, Storm, B2T, Ibiza, etc. and that was just some of the bigger events. The larger events are always awesome, but my support will always lie with the smaller clubber/friendly orientated nights. Because, I see first hand the effort and passion that goes into running these events and the reaction of the clubbers with the atmosphere they create, can’t be beaten!
This is where my association with Danny came in. Early in 2008 I met Danny through a small Hard Dance night in Loughborough. I could see Danny had the ideas, passion and the vision to create a new innovative, original hard dance night. After several conversations it was clear with both our skills, knowledge and passion, we could make it work. D-Railed was born!
Back to myself. From an early age my friends were always listening to Spice Girls, Take That, 911 (what!) I on the other hand had no need to call the Take That Teen Suicide Line when they split up! As my music taste was Helter Skelter, Dreamscape, Commercial Dance and Trance. Years on my music taste progressed, to follow the ever growing Hard Dance sound we know and love today. Long may it continue, and I am proud to be able to give something back to the industry that has given me so much!

So, what is Rapture?

Rapture has been going for 2 years, under the ownership of former Passion resident and one half of MYNC Project Nick Correlli. Formerly Discoteca, Rapture is host to great music. Loughborough’s clubs predominantly cater for ‘Loughborough’ i.e. Cheesy Pop, RNB, Clubland style horror! But Rapture lays host to some of the biggest names in the House industry, in recent months the likes of Tom Middleton (Cosmos), Kate Lawler, Steve Mac, have made appearances for the Saturday night class that is “Asuca.” Rob Tissera has also hosted Kiss Da Funk, at Rapture. The club and it’s 500 capacity is modern and clean. The drinks are fair and the staff are fairer, and D-Railed and the clubbers are more than welcome! They too are excited about this new era in Loughborough’s slacking dance scene.

When is D-Railed?

D-Railed is a monthly event, held every 2nd Friday. 10pm until 5am

What makes you different from any other Hard House night?

Where do we start? I think to have anything near a half successful night, you need to start with a good following that the organisers and DJ’s bring with them. D-Railed already has a good following, and this helps towards a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. Some nights can be daunting and unfriendly, but with D-Railed you will no doubt come along with someone you know, who knows someone who knows someone!

Music is definitely the main focus. Compared with some events, D-Railed will chop and change the style we put on. A lot of nights focus around one style, and the danger with that is you hear the same tracks 2-3 times a night, every week/month. If you are a regular, in our eyes anyway, you want to hear new music, but you want your music to progress and change, hour to hour, month to month. We want to cater for everyone, and cover the whole spectrum of hard dance. No Pigeon Holes!! We have just announced our residents; I think that shows our intention.

It might be a slight cliché, but we love the music, and we are clubbers ourselves, so we do everything for the clubbers, we understand them and we have fun ourselves, as you will see at D-Railed, we party too. While making sure the night goes smoothly, we don’t take ourselves too seriously, we’re not backroom staff, we’re not Mr Moneybags, we want a good time.

Where do you see D-Railed in 2-3 years?

At Rapture. The Hard House scene is very fragile, we are a small community, and we need looking after. Small nights struggle to get off the ground. We are definitely past the glory days, but we are far from dead! I think the dying format of vinyl isn’t helping. When I was getting into mixing, hard house had such a good outlet with big labels and massive artists releasing track after track week after week, and you could pick them up at your local music shop, just like you could the latest RnB, DnB, or pop record. Unfortunately if the big labels aren’t making any money, they will cease. But that boom, has left a generation of hard dance lovers, and while losing vinyl and certain artists and labels, digital and the CDJ had spawned many, many more DJ’s and producers all wanting a slice of the action. Like I said, we need looking after and we need a club with patience and understanding, we need forward thinking DJ’s and passionate clubbers and good music. We are lucky, we have all these, and in 2-3, maybe more years, D-Railed will still be the quality/genre busting hard house night, we know today. We don’t want to get too big for our boots too soon. It’s easy to book big, headlining DJ’s and look good on paper, but a lot harder to cover their costs, and it could easily go wrong!

So, what can we expect for the coming months?

It’s exciting. We have so many ideas, and plans for future D-Railed events, and only once a month to put a party on. Without giving too much away, because that will spoil the surprises, every month will be different. Our next night – D-Railed “HARD” does exactly what it says on the tin. For me, (here’s a sneak preview) our December event – D-Railed “The Producer Series” is going to be the biggest thing we’ve done, and the most exciting. “The Producer Series” will be PART 1. So leaves it open for the future. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As for DJ’s, well the set up is already in place until next year. With just a few tweaks here and there. We are itching to tell everyone who we’re getting in, but that would just spoil things. Watch this space. ;-)
The feedback from the clubbers so far is immense. We have had nothing but good reports.
Also, along with the monthly event, we will be releasing a mix from one of our residents to coincide with the style/theme of the night. Find the latest one on our DSI homepage or get a hard copy from the night.

Well, we’ve heard from you, but what do other people say?

Garbo – Club Promoter
D-Railed is a fresh new night in Loughborough encapsulating every thing that is right about hard dance at the minute. Started for all the right reasons and with a great music policy. Loughborough has been screaming out for a night like this with its huge student market. I hope it continues to grow as I think the night has huge potential.

Lozzy B – Clubber
After going out in Loughborough and clubbing on the hard dance scene for the last 5 years, its a joy to finally have an event like D-Railed right on my and many others doorstep.
The launch night for D-Railed blew most peoples expectations with the quality of the DJ's that played and the rocking atmosphere!!
I hope that every attendee on the launch night raved to their friend about how good it was, then those friends tell their friends, and those friends tell their friends, and in the end D-Railed becomes the night everyone wants to be been seen at and every one is talking about!!
D-railed has the potential to become huge, the effort to promote is already there, the quality DJ's will appear month after month. All we need is a crowd of clubbers to grow and grow and D-railed will be set in history as 'The Hard Dance Event'

James Ellis - DJ
D-Railed is a great example of an exciting new night run by an enthusiastic team who are trying (and succeeding) to keep the scene alive and kicking!
Hard Dance clubbing has been in somewhat of a down-turn for a while now, with many of the bigger brands in the Midlands suffering, and numbers of clubbers dropping, despite some of the biggest headliners money can buy! It was refreshing to see such a good turnout in humble old Loughborough, not a town that has previously been on the map for hard house - until now!
It was also good to see a crowd which was 100% clubbers, hardly a townie or a chav in sight!
Danny had a grin on his face all night, which proves that he enjoys his role as chief promoter and resident DJ. All this on a friday night in a credit crunch climate too. So congrats to the D-Railed team, keep up the enthusiasm, the hard work and the quality DJ selection. I think even with tough times ahead the clubbers will continue to support the brand long into the future!

Dawson - Resident DJ
D-Railed is full of people with the right attitude, the right ideas and the atmosphere to back it up. As long as they keep this up the future is going to be awesome! When I saw the line up of the residents I was very excited to see all the different styles of hard house that will be played at D-Railed. Not just Bounce or NRG but Trance and Groove, everything I love about Hard House!
Booking some of the biggest names in the business as well as some of the best up and coming DJ’s and producers that our scene has to offer. Sam and Danny have got the perfect ideas on how a night should be!
Having secured their home at Rapture in Loughborough all I can say is that D-Railed will only go from strength to strength and I’m happy to be apart of it and all of their amazing events in the future!

Jimmy Dean - Xstatic & Storm promoter & Resident -
Danny & Sam have really put alot of effort into creating D-Railed and itis obviously paying off with the club being rammed on there launch night!I loved playing there and I'm sure there will be many more banging nights to come!

Awesome Dawson Regulars

Where can we find out what’s going on with D-Railed?

DSI of course. DSI, is the best outlet for clubbers and promoters. So join our group on DSI, D-Railed and keep up to date with all the goings on.

Also we have a group on Facebook, so join that too

Any final thoughts?

Yeah, get yourself to D-Railed ;) Loughborough Fair is on at the same time as our November event, so Fair, then D-Railed! Quality!

And here are our residents.