Clubs In Scotland In The 1970s?

[Bagasulph]

I'm writing a piece on the UK disco scene, and I'm wondering what was going on in Scotland at that time? Were there any clubs playing decent contemporary dance music? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Bagasulph]

So, there were no clubs in Scotland then?

[Guest souljack]

try www.scottishsoul.com

[Guest Una Scot-Oz]

So, there were no clubs in Scotland then?

Well we all had our own little "Soul Clubs" in each city. It meant we had somewhere to go every night of the week. Stirling, Bathgate,Falkirk,Edinburgh. We all supported each other's nights. Then there were all nighters thrown in every now and then, Aberdeen,Dundee, Falkirk. We also(in Falkirk anyway) "took over" some of the normal clubs as some of the guys DJ'd !

So yes there were plenty of clubs. Never on an Oldies night though, we were all there usually

[Guest]

When I was in the navy in rosyth used to go to a club in Dunfermline cant remember the name of it but it used to play a bit of northern mixed in with the current disco/soul stuff. Used to be near Maggies Hotel if thats of any help

regards

Ian

[FrankM]

I'm writing a piece on the UK disco scene, and I'm wondering what was going on in Scotland at that time? Were there any clubs playing decent contemporary dance music? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Pretty much the same as elsewhere. Scotland had major clubs in all of its cities and i presume there were differences between the cities and among the clubs in those cities.

It's a big decade to cover when in 1970 the major dance halls still had live bands through the Saturday Night Fever boom to the rebirth of clubbing through alternative nights by 1980. Most clubs played decent contemporary dance music but they'd been empty if they had not also played crap but popular current dance tunes and a sprinkling of decent stuff still popular from years gone by.

A minority of people would have placed "decent contemporary dance music" as their prime reason for attending a venue in the years of major changes to the licensing laws, the upgrading of sound and particularly lighting systems and expensively decorated clubs hyped to the hilt in the local press. Commercial Radio started in the seventies in the UK which meant you could actually hear dance music played more often on the radio and of course a significant number of presenters came from teh ranks of club DJs who in turn became more popular and better paid in the bigger clubs.

In Glasgow Ultrateque and Henry Afrikas, The Warehouse and a whole number of other clubs had similar playlists which contained every dance number that hit the charts as well as record company promos that sounded good and imports bought from specialist record shops. I'm sure the same could be said of most cities.

However there were a couple of clubs outside of cities which attracted punters to a guaranteed good night out. h eTop of The Town in Bathgate was one and there was another in the East Coast in Fife maybe that pulled in good crowds.

There are people better informed than me who could say talk about Clouds which played Northern at the start and end of a club night but I presume the usual mix of contemporary and older popular dance music in prime time.

BTW as souljack advised you'll find some info at SoulScotland including a link to Scottish Soul where you'll find some reminiscences from the period and the names of a good few clubs.

[Guest Una Scot-Oz]

When I was in the navy in rosyth used to go to a club in Dunfermline cant remember the name of it but it used to play a bit of northern mixed in with the current disco/soul stuff. Used to be near Maggies Hotel if thats of any help

regards

Ian

It wasn't "Waves" was it?

[Guest]

It wasn't "Waves" was it?

Either that or Night Magic/Tragic ... not. Though it had Thelma Houston (1989) and Edwin Starr (1985 and 88) when it was still the Kinema Ballroom (https://www.kinemagigz.com/1980s.htm). Anyone go there? Sprung floor, pre-war decor, balcony bar, bouncers in tartan jackets, manager out of a sitcom ... with the right promoter it could have been the Scottish Casino.

Edited November 27, 2008 by Jimmy Muffin

[Guest]

It wasn't "Waves" was it?

That rings a bell, it was in the mid 70's. Remember the first time I went there I told them I was a freelance writer for Blues and Soul and got free entry and VIP treatment ! Those were the days

regards

Ian