In 1994, I spent a few months in London sharing the house with my great friend Lesley Fraser and working for the Dutch radio station VPRO, interviewing artists and making reports on various scenes and festivals. During that time, I heard about a club night called Heavenly Sunday Social, held every Sunday from around 6 to 9 PM in a small pub in central London. It only lasted about 13 weeks and I managed to attend 5 or 6 of the evenings.
Why was it so short-lived? What started as a small gathering (with a max capacity of 300 people), organized by the people behind the Heavenly label, quickly became the talk of the town. At the end, 1,000 people were trying to get in. It just couldn’t sustain that kind of demand.
What made it so special? It was the mix of band members (Pulp, Primal Scream, I seem to remember :-) ) spinning their favorite records, with the same “headline” act every week: the Dust Brothers. They later had to change their name to the Chemical Brothers. This was the early era of Tom and Ed, playing their loud, chaotic beats mixed with acid basslines and hypnotic themes.
This was a total new sound, a total new energy. Each week was different, each week was more wild than the last.
The Heavenly Sunday Social remains one of the most unforgettable experiences of my musical life!
>>> Read this great article about the short story of the Heavenly Sunday Social
>>> Listen to the Chemical Brothers