Image: Kiera Jodie Lock
Warning: This club has intoxicating effects and may be habit-forming, do not operate heavy machinery while dancing to the tunes at Slimelight.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more altruistic and friendly club in London. If it looks like a subculture, smells like a subculture, eats, drinks, breathes like a subculture, then it’s Slimelight.
Slimelight has effectively been acting as the centre of the Electrowerkz solar system for a millennium. A brighter magnitude star that the other clubs orbit around, radiating a tremendous gravitational and musical influence, which has kept us returning there for over 33 years. Slimes, as it is more commonly known, is definitive of the London dark scene. Nowhere can boast as much history, common purpose and connection with the scene. All denizens of the dark scene and their acolytes feel safe there, it is a sanctuary created by a dress code, a culture and a community like no other. Regulars meet and greet the new faces and show them around, explaining the history, the floors and flaws.
Slimelight is a club that has mastered the art of intertwining the different sub-genres within the dark scene on separate dance floors, covering ebm, futurepop, dark techno & trance, industrial, goth, darkwave, post-punk and synthpop, to name just a few. You can glide calmly between the floors, and even if you have forgotten which floor does what and end up on the wrong one, you can still pull it off that this was the floor you'd always intended to be on.
Slimelight is a club that has mastered the art of intertwining the different sub-genres within the dark scene on separate dance floors, covering ebm, futurepop, dark techno & trance, industrial, goth, darkwave, post-punk and synthpop, to name just a few. You can glide calmly between the floors, and even if you have forgotten which floor does what and end up on the wrong one, you can still pull it off that this was the floor you'd always intended to be on.
Interview with Steve Weeks
 Steve Weeks | You first started DJing at Slimelight over 25 years ago, Mr. Steve Weeks Slimelight DJ, firstly I have to say what an absolute trooper you have been during the time of plague. As soon as lockdown started, within what seemed like minutes, you had put Slimes DJs online and then expanded it to include a bunch from America, and kept it going every Saturday. What I also found amazing is you converted your studio into looking like a domestic kitchen, very kitsch. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. You had your first DJ set at Slimelight over 25 years ago... how did it all start? |
I’d been going to Slimelight for a few years and was the vocalist in a local goth band who could often be found playing (quite badly) supporting much better bands like Rosetta Stone in the early 90s. Through that I knew most of the Slimelight DJs of the time such as Mak (rest in peace), Allen (who went on to found Torture Garden and is now back at The Electrowerkz helping to run the venue) and Scottish Mark. In late 1994 Scottish Mark decided he was leaving, knew that I had DJ’d at university and had very similar tastes to him, so he recommended me as a like for like replacement on the goth floor. That was when the goth floor was located one level up from what is now called the top floor. The rest, as they say, is history. I never expected to still be doing it over 26 years later!
What made you decide to take Slimelight online during Covid?I was away when Mak cancelled the first Slimelight due to Covid19 in March 2020, so ended up being one of the DJs who played the last weekly Slimelight. He then told me it would be postponed for the foreseeable future and the idea to see what I could do online popped into my head. Not Spotify playlists or recorded sets on mixcloud, but actual live DJing with video. I found the gaming site Twitch which I’d never heard of at the time, saw that some DJs were playing sets there, realized I had all the equipment I needed already, and set it up in my kitchen within a few days. I even bought a smoke machine! |  Steve on stage with DKAG. Image: Night Shark Photography |
I broadcast my first stream one week after the first cancelled Slimelight, and with Mak’s blessing subsequently expanded it into 2 Slimelight channels on Twitch representing our 2 usual dance floors where all the resident DJs started playing sets.
When we entered the first lockdown I set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help cover Slimelight’s running costs. The money raised also helped out when Mak passed away in December 2020. I still don’t believe he’s truly gone. He’s sorely missed.
Something I should add here is that we do plan to keep on running Slimelight Online livestream events even when clubs are back up and running physically.
When we entered the first lockdown I set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help cover Slimelight’s running costs. The money raised also helped out when Mak passed away in December 2020. I still don’t believe he’s truly gone. He’s sorely missed.
Something I should add here is that we do plan to keep on running Slimelight Online livestream events even when clubs are back up and running physically.
Image: David Hindley
Tell us all about some of the DJ's?
It would be remiss of me not to mention Emmerick Gortz given that he is my fellow band member in DKAG – he loves his dark and hard techno type sounds, but he’ll drop in some classic tunes too.
Francesca (Blackdeath 1334) has been at the club for many years, and she’s very much into the more niche areas of the goth, old school ebm, and industrial parts of the scene. It’s good that it’s represented.
You also have Uwe (aka Gassmann), Calum (Jo The Waiter), Marco (DJ Jester) and Stefan playing in their own unique way too. None of us play exactly the same music, we all have our own individual styles, and together we cover a huge cross section of the dark scene.
Credit must also go to Uwe for designing the Slimelight logo, and being involved in a chunk of the design work on the new flyers for the club.
Francesca (Blackdeath 1334) has been at the club for many years, and she’s very much into the more niche areas of the goth, old school ebm, and industrial parts of the scene. It’s good that it’s represented.
You also have Uwe (aka Gassmann), Calum (Jo The Waiter), Marco (DJ Jester) and Stefan playing in their own unique way too. None of us play exactly the same music, we all have our own individual styles, and together we cover a huge cross section of the dark scene.
Credit must also go to Uwe for designing the Slimelight logo, and being involved in a chunk of the design work on the new flyers for the club.
What band got you through lockdown?
I like a myriad of music, not just acts from the dark scene, and I’ve really enjoyed the live stream sets by a Japanese trance DJ and musician named Rinaly.
I’ve mainly been listening to DJ compilations rather than any bands. If I had to name some I’ve enjoyed playing then all of these would be on the list: Solitary Experiments, Ultravox, Hante, Umek, Grum, Sian, and Mr Kitty.
I’ve mainly been listening to DJ compilations rather than any bands. If I had to name some I’ve enjoyed playing then all of these would be on the list: Solitary Experiments, Ultravox, Hante, Umek, Grum, Sian, and Mr Kitty.
Image: Steve Weeks
How do you see the future of Slimelight evolving?
With Electrowerkz re-inventing itself as an alternative bar and restaurant 5 days a week, I can see Slimelight slipping into being involved musically on some of those days/evenings.
Moving to running Slimelight monthly also makes sense – it means we can run 3 or 4 dance floor events more often where we will theme the 3rd and 4th dance floors to particular styles and sounds. This will help make Slimelight more of a special event.
Clubbing has radically changed in the last ten to fifteen years: so many venues in the UK have closed down, and many scenes don’t attract the same numbers to clubs as they once did. I think it’s a case of adapting to survive.
Moving to running Slimelight monthly also makes sense – it means we can run 3 or 4 dance floor events more often where we will theme the 3rd and 4th dance floors to particular styles and sounds. This will help make Slimelight more of a special event.
Clubbing has radically changed in the last ten to fifteen years: so many venues in the UK have closed down, and many scenes don’t attract the same numbers to clubs as they once did. I think it’s a case of adapting to survive.
Any last thoughts on returning to Slimelight?
I’ve been reliably informed that the sound and lighting have been improved on each of the dance floors, thus I’m looking forward to playing some of the tunes which I’ve only spun online as loud as possible, and to observe the dance floor reacting in unison.
Image: Steve Weeks
The Symbiosis of Slimes is belonging, happiness, madness, and love. It is clear that over 30 years ago Mak and Dette created the most perfectly aligned dark scene/alternative club on the planet, which has captivated everyone from philosopher to fool.
To enter this place where the gloom is magnificent and even the club lights have black filters you will need to follow the strict dress code, but then they need the dress code to keep out the riff-raff, although looking like Riff Raff of Rocky Horror is obviously fine. You don't need to have the most outlandish look ever, but you will at the very least need black clothes and to look visually part of the alternative scene. Once in though, you should feel at home within minutes of breathing in the aroma of cheap hair spray and beautiful music.
To enter this place where the gloom is magnificent and even the club lights have black filters you will need to follow the strict dress code, but then they need the dress code to keep out the riff-raff, although looking like Riff Raff of Rocky Horror is obviously fine. You don't need to have the most outlandish look ever, but you will at the very least need black clothes and to look visually part of the alternative scene. Once in though, you should feel at home within minutes of breathing in the aroma of cheap hair spray and beautiful music.
Slimes members get 20% off food at The Electrowerkz Bar & Restaurant Tuesday - Friday and Sunday (excluding Pearl Necklace events) until 30th June and you can now become a member online, how fantastic is that!
Slimelight Official Facebook Page
Slimelight Official Facebook Page
Image: Uwe Lippold
Exclusive interview From our series 'The Face of Electrowerkz'
By Electroholic
