Best New Wave Clubs

[rewindmylife]

I grew up on Long Island and the place to go to dance to your favorite New Wave music was The Malibu! (It's in Depeche Mode 101, in case anyone has watched that recently.) The place was huge and there was plenty of space to do your thing or just hang out and listen to the music...they closed it about 4 or 5 years ago and there really hasn't been a place since.

Anyone else know of any place anywhere in the world that still plays great classic New Wave songs?? I'm just curious...and I want to know in case I ever venture out into the city it's located!

[Ollie Stench]

First Avenue is still the place in Mpls. The first Wednesday of the month some friends of mine put on "Rock Star" which originally started with the idea of playing 70's glam with a bit of early punk and new wave thrown in, but the majority of the playlist seems to be split fairly evenly into 3rds. Chris Bjorkland is the DJ.

Friday nights in the VIP room (a room off to the side of First Ave's mainroom) has some new Electro thing going on. I haven't made it down to check it out yet.

Ground Zero is still the hotbed for Goth, Techno and Industrial. Once in awhile they throw in some old Numan, Depeche Mode, Cure etc.

[Blaster]

Here's some of my memories!!
I also went to Malibu on Long Island. The Halloween Parties were fun. Other Long Island Clubs :

"Spit" was a slight notch above Malibu, but on most weekends initially it was not Spit, but "Uncle Sams" & played more mainstream dance music.
On the nights it was "Spit" the Uncle Sames lights were off, interior design changes, The front entrance closed, & the Rear entrance was lit up & became the "Front" of Spit, kinda cool.

"BeBop" was also a good scene in the early 80's. It was located on the lower level of "Escapes" disco. Upstairs was a disco, & Downstairs was also a large new wave club. The bottom was dark, & it was funny to climb the stairs to "visit" the well lit White Disco, & then back down into BeBop... I still have a postcard from Escapes advertizing a night that a relatively unknown "Madonna" would be performing there...

There weas also a club called "Reds" across from Spit for a while. It was OK but didn't last too long.

In New Jersey...
The Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove was a Huge club into cutting edge music of the time. It was a ballroom in the 20's & 30's. Many 80's acts played there.
Aldo's Hideaway in Lyndhurst was a small club but had a great music scene. I was actually there about 6 years ago & they still had a weekend night of 80's style new music. Don't know if they are still hanging on.
The "Soap Factory" in Palisades Park was a very Early new music scene club (78-80). It was actually a "Soap Factory" at one time. They started out as a disco in the 70's, & there was even a syndicated "Soap Factory Disco" TV show on for a few years. Clips from the show are still used occasionally on VH-1 & similar retrospective shows. I probably first got turned on to many then "unkown, import & independent" artists like Gary Neuman, New Musik ("Straight Lines"), Mi-Sex, The Rubinoos, The Records, Face Dancer, STIFF Artists, ect at the Soap Factory.

In NYC
There was Privates between about 1978-1980/81. It was a really cool Large club on the upper east side, & many artists would go there themselves. Revillos, Blue Angel & loads more were always at the bar or wherever.......

[Dave]

And what about Spize, a mainstay of Long Island new wave?! It's the place I heard music from the likes of Ledernacken, Time Zone, and Tones on Tail. Perfect size for a Shreikback concert.

Spit was great, but a little too mainstream (i.e., lots of Billy Idol). Not a surprise since, as you mention, it was a disco that wanted to make use of the premises on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Then there was Paris New York and the Mad Hatter... sorry, a bit off topic.

[Monimania]

Im From LI also, Spit(not Spit rocks), Spize, Malibu, 007, Reds, Be-bop (in escapes) also the Subway in queens, Thrush (later on) I went out every night of the week!!!

[Justj0hn]

Clubs I regularly frequent that still have somewhat of a new wave agenda mixed in with "gothic/industrial".

NY:(Saturday)The Batcave(Downtime).
The Pyramid for Re:Mission(Thursday)....which is now located at a rather impressive club called the Opaline.
Sundown(Friday)at Flamingo East.

NJ:QXT's(Saturday)in Newark
The Loop Lounge(Wednesday)in Passaic.
and yes, Aldo's Hideaway(Fridays)is still going strong.

I can't not mention the Melodybar in New Brunswick, NJ for "Savethewave" Tuesdays which I started attending in the early 90's and is solely responsible for exposing me to an inordinate amount of obscure punk/post punk/new wave bands. Sadly the Melody abruptly closed in '99/'00.

j0hn.......

[liquid engineer]

Hands down, the best NEW WAVE/RETRO club is NUMBERS in Houston, TX, it's still open and Friday and Saturdays are the best! #'s is HUGE, 2 levels and awesome obscure new wave videos and super cheap drinks! go to www.numbersnightclub.com and see for yourself! It's worth a trip down there!!

[Ollie Stench]

Early/mid 90's there was a club in DT Mpls called The Rogue that was the first place in these parts to do a "retro" night, called "Graffitti's Revenge" on Thursday nights. Really erally cool, I went every Thursday night for 2 years straight!

[Rob]

You have all mentioned some of the great clubs of Long Island. For me and many others it all began at LEGZ

[Rob]

Ok here's the way it was for me in the early 80's on Long Island ~ First was LEGZ on the weekends, Blitz on Tuesdays, Spit or Camouflage on Wednesdays, and sometimes Paris NY ....... And then there was always the city for after hours.

[Monimania]

Legz, I was way too young for that, but eveyone I knew went there, but I do have an old Island Ear with an add for Legz

[Hockeybird]

Legz started it all on L.I.

The Bondage babies !

I hired one of them to work at Paris NY on Tues. nights if anyone remembers that.

Since Paris was my club, I liked it the best....but there were some great DJs at other clubs I missed hearing a lot as I worked almost 7 nights for about a decade.

Slave was a great DJ who took over for me at Paris and went on to become one of the best. John from Thrush and 007 was great.

There are so many.

And don't forget the NYC hotspots, Dancatiria (sp), the Ritz....many others.

[rewindmylife]

so many clubs that I forgot about...Paris was great! I think I started going there after you left, Hockeybird, because I think I remember Slave...ahh, the good old days. Man, if I was rich, I wouldn't spend my money on 20 cars and 6 summer homes...I'd buy a building and turn it into a New Wave club.

[BHols]

I used to go RumRunners all of the time when it was called 'Heart Beat.' No one ever mentions Heart Beat for some reason. Who'd think Oyster Bay would be the place to go on a Saturday night?
I saw tons of great gigs there too. Modern English, Gene Loves Jezebel, Icicle Works, Book Of Love, The Ramones, APB, Dead Milkmen (in the middle of a huge snowstorm. They came on around 2.30 in the AM & I was one of something like 19 or 20 people that stayed to see them.)

Anyone else have any good Heart Beat memories?

[Hockeybird]

I was the DJ there...and hosted a lot of the shows you listed. I was not the host of the Dead Milkmen show....but I did get to work with them in Pittburgh when I worked at LIR's sister station WXXP.

Me and Rudeboy ! At Heartbeat and Lacache. We each worked one night at each place every Fri & Sat. for over a year back around '85.

RUDEBOY !

I still talk to him from time to time.