New Residentclubber website now LIVE!

Woop woop!

At long last I can reveal that the Residentclubber website is back, and with a brand new look for 2024!

I've been working on this for the past few months, practically teaching myself to code again, and building the website from scratch from the ground up. The website was original engineered for desktops (it was 2001 when I started it after all), so it needed to be rebuilt for viewing on mobiles and tablets too. Hopefully everything is now up and running smoothly.

And what better way than to launch with new pics from yesterday's Cafe Mambo at Warwick open air festival, as well as a new Resident Grooves DJ mix of course.

The new look website will feature the latest news, including new DJ mixes, events and more, plus you can dive into the index of Residentclubber photos, with an archive that stretches from 2001-2012 and includes photos from nights out in Birmingham, Leamington Spa, Ibiza and more plus events like the Global Gathering dance music festival.

This means that this will probably be the last post on the blogspot, as I'll be posting the latest news on the website instead.

It's good to finally get Residentclubber back out into the wild again!

New look Residentclubber.co.uk website coming soon!

The original website (from 2001-2012), originally just a place to put my photos from nights out, was around before social media as we know it today, and so was designed primarily for desktops and never optimised for smartphones, which back then, were only just beginning to become more technologically internet capable.

After the website shuttered in 2012, the official Facebook page was the only place to see photos from the nights out. But flash-forward a few years later, and I wanted to bring back the website, over 20 years after I first got the idea for 'Residentclubber', with a more independent focus, something stand alone and less reliant on social media.

With a legacy of some great nights in the local nightlife scene, I'll be cracking open the Residentclubber.co.uk vault of the hundreds of photos taken over the years. 

Residentclubber was always about the photos from fun nights out, and with the forthcoming new and updated look, you'll be able to scroll an archive of photos from years gone by, as well as being able to keep up to date on all things Residentclubber; from our new Casa Discoteca pop up nights and my latest DJ mixes, to the latest news, features, merch and more.

From partying at some of the best clubs, bars and events in and around Birmingham, Leamington Spa and beyond, plus the odd jaunt over to Ibiza, and even our own Residentclubber party nights, prepare for a wave of nostalgia from nights and with friends that I'm sure will bring back a few memories of some very good times!

Stay tuned!

One Year On!

I can't quite believe it's only been a year since I decided to treat myself for my birthday and get myself a Pioneer DDJ-400 DJ Controller!

A nice bit of kit that does the basics, which was all I was looking for with the aim at getting DJ match fit again; relearning the skills I had over a decade ago from when I used to organise my own DJ nights in local bars (see this post for photos of some of the DJ's that guested at those nights). Unfortunately as I didn't have my vinyl or CD's anymore, but I still had the tunes I was buying digitally from the likes of Traxsource, Beatport etc back then just gathering dust on an external hard drive, it had to be the digital route and the Pioneer DDJ-400 was perfect for my needs.

This all began from starting a new day job during the Covid Years, and listening to various dance music podcasts / DJ mixes as I worked, and with the awesome new music I was hearing, I was getting slowly back into the groove again. It soon became an itch I had to scratch, and I wanted to don the DJ headphones again.

Not long after getting the DDJ-400, I soon signed up to Mixcloud, initally just to have a go and upload a mix for the Cafe Mambo DJ Competition after seeing it on their socials, I also started uploading some of my old mixes on my profile there too. The response to my old mixes were positive, so with my 'Resident Grooves' house music DJ mix series grinding to a halt at #192, I started recording new ones and posting them on Youtube and Soundcloud too. I also continued where I left off with my 'Fusion' Progressive House / Melodic Trance mixes too, after uploading the older mixes they cracked the Global Top 100 Melodic Trance chart on Mixcloud in consecutive weeks! I'm now posting 'Fusion' mixes on Friday's and 'Resident Grooves' on a Saturday.

So flash-forward to the beginning of 2023, and I scored my first live DJ gig since 2011; DJing at Cedric's Birthday Bash at Ronnie's of Warwick in January, and following that up with another gig at Ronnie's, warming up at Cedric Anderson's DJ night DISCO Ball in April - two quality nights and a pleasure to be a part of. I'm also so grateful for Cedric in giving me a chance behind the decks after so long away, it was so good to be back playing for the dancefloor again! Stressful (at least first time around), but so much fun!

Twelve months later after being away for so long, I'm so glad to be back doing mixes again, and back in love with the dance music scene again, especially with so much great new music out there. I can't wait to see what the next 12 months holds!

My Passion For DJing & House Music Has Been Reignited!

I've never had any of my DJ mixes described as 'beautiful' before, but I did the other day when a colleague at work came up to me and said she'd listened to one of my latest DJ mixes, 'Resident Grooves #211' to be specific, and described it as beautiful and admitted to listening to it at least a couple of times! I thanked her for her appreciation and told her that I had actually been out of the DJ game for 12 years and only got back into it again last year, to which she was surprised and replied that the music I play was definitely her jam and to never stop playing but to keep carrying on! I was left very chuffed!

It's comments like that, as well as the reaction after my first live DJ where several people I didn't know came up to me and said that they loved the tunes I was playing in my set, that spur me on, back continuing to do something I love again, if still a little bit rusty.

Back in the day, circa 2001-2011, I was very much into dance music; from trance, house and beyond, going to the big clubs, events and festivals like Godskitchen, Gatecrasher and Global Gathering, as well as my annual pilgrimage to Ibiza, which all inspired me to put on nights in local bars and clubs, get behind the decks myself, and of course, to create the Residentclubber website. But for one reason or another, life eventually got in the way and things fizzled out. 

But over the past couple of years or so, I'm loving House music again; enjoying listening to various podcasts and radio shows from DJ's and record labels and playlists on the music streaming sites. All this great new music I've been listening to pushed me towards getting myself a Pioneer DDJ400 DJ controller in early 2022 as a birthday present to myself, with the aim of creating DJ mixes again and in the hope of getting a chance to actually play out live in venues again.

Fast-forward eight months later, and I've revived my DJ mix series, 'Resident Grooves' - a blend of deep, vocal and tech house music and now up to show #214 - which I upload to Mixcloud and Youtube; and was even offered an hour slot behind the decks again for the first time since 2011, which I gladly accepted!!!

I may be getting on in years now, but I am feeling a new zest in life, as if something has awoken in me again, and my passion for music, and house music in particular, has been reignited! I can't wait to see where the journey takes me again!

20 Years Ago, The Friday Night Out That Would Change My Life Forever!

Friday March 30 2001.

A night out clubbing in Birmingham with friends that would end up changing my life forever!

The club was Godskitchen, the weekly dance music night held in an old warehouse-turned-nightclub in the Digbeth area of Birmingham.

Used to clubbing it to the retro and latest pop tunes in the local clubs, I was completely blown away once I stepped in through the doors at the Birmingham superclub. What I saw was a haven full of like minded clubbers, all getting sweaty to the best in the latest and best in dance music, being played by big name DJ's, with laser lightshows, dancers and more. If there was ever was a Heaven, this was it!

I had gone there the week before, but it was this night; with a headline DJ lineup of Ferry Corsten, Armin van Buuren (his debut UK appearance no less!), Judge Jules and Timo Maas, and broadcast live on Rapture TV, a satellite TV station that was on the Sky TV network at the time, that was to be the spark to the flame that would ignite my love of the club scene. I even got on the broadcast, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo towards the end of the night at 05:19:18!!! (Yes, that's me on the thumbnail, still going at it on the dancefloor!)

You can watch the whole 6 hour video of the night below or on my YouTube channel.

Friday nights would become a regular pilgrimage to Godskitchen, whether it was with friends, meeting up with the great group of new friends I'd met at the club, or even just on my own, I just couldn't get enough! And over the next few years, as well as going to various other club events (including the Global Gathering Festival at Long Marston and Gatecrasher at The NEC amongst others), I had the time of my life!

This all sparked the idea for Residentclubber, initially just somewhere to put photos from the nights out - way before social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Instagram etc, were around - and which would later spin off  into putting on my own dance music nights and even to get behind the decks myself and DJ!

The rest is history!!!

Celebrating 20 Years! Residentclubber is back . . . Sort Of

With 2021 being the 20th anniversary of the inception of Residentclubber, and the beginnings of my various adventures in clubland, Residentclubber is back, sort of!

After the website shuttered in 2012, the official Facebook page was the only place to see photos from the nights out. But I'll be cracking open the Residentclubber.co.uk archives of the hundreds of pictures taken over the years and posting them here, starting with where it all began back in 2001 at Godskitchen in Birmingham.

 

Be sure to check the blog as I'll be regularly uploading photos from the various nights out over the years that the website covered, as well as videos, and even DJ mixes by Residentclubber creator, Andy B.

From partying at some of the best clubs, bars and events in and around Birmingham, Leamington Spa and beyond, plus the odd jaunt over to Ibiza, and even our own Residentclubber party nights, prepare for a wave of nostalgia from nights and with friends that I'm sure will bring back a few memories of some very good times! And who knows, there maybe even be further adventures in clubland in the future!

Stay tuned!