Today is exactly 25 years to the day that I started a club night called Ramshackle. I got the name from an old Beck song and wanted to host a night that mixed indie, alternative music, with funk, hip hop and electronic bands like Faithless, The Chemical Brothers and Underworld.
The tagline Stompin’ Indie & Funky Shit was born.
It began life on 3rd May 1997 in a back room at Birmingham’s Sanctuary venue, now called The Institute. My good friend Carlton joined me as co-promoter. We had no idea what we’d just started! The main room was hosted by eclectic dance night Athletico, but Ramshackle quickly gained a reputation and moved into the main room.
I have so many amazing memories of those first years of the club, from having The Freestylers, Ozomatli or The Jungle Brothers playing live to having BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq as our monthly resident DJ.
The club continued to grow in popularity, with almost 2000 people attending every Saturday night, before we were poached by the newly opened Birmingham Academy in 2000.
At the Academy, we began inviting guest DJs and had the pleasure of having Kasabian, Ian Brown, Tim Burgess, Bloc Party, Snow Patrol, Happy Mondays, The Subways and more come and play.
Not long after we opened a second Ramshackle at Bristol Academy and that took off almost immediately. We added DJ Dan to help us run things in Bristol and soon had Zane Lowe join as a regular guest.
The Ramshackle flyers, designed by our good pal Steve Baker became collectables, featuring the Ramshackle characters that may or may not be based on real people!
In the years that followed, Ramshackle won awards for Best Club Night, became the UK’s biggest alternative night and we were even invited to DJ with Oasis at Wembley Stadium!
Oh, and remember our bar-b-q where we had Jarvis Cocker come and DJ? I remember him playing Waterfalls by TLC. Legend!
We made so many friends along the way and it was an incredible time in my life, filled with fantastic memories.
Years later, when I became a wedding photographer, I photographed a wedding of a couple who told me they met at Ramshackle. They named their top table after my club night. Amazing!
It’s hard to believe it’s already 25 years since it began. If you ever came to one of our nights, we hope you have some amazing memories.
I’m off to play Insomnia by Faithless very loud!
Much love x
Ramshackle was perfect for me as at the time my musical tastes were becoming more and more eclectic. So many good memories. I remember Ozomatli and their horn section marching through the crowd. Bez barely able to mix a record when he guested one night. Always jumping on the stage and giving it large at the front when you dropped Insomnia. Special, special times that I took for granted then. Wasn’t quite the same when it moved to The Academy, sadly.
Thanks for the memories, Steve.
So many fond memories of those years for sure. Nice to know so many still remember Ramshackle with good memories attached.