Heads High

Yep, you heard right. The chorus of voices online are all singing in unison. London’s Plastic People is currently the focus of a Police campaign to close it’s famous grey doors permanently. It’s only right I add my voice to the choir of resentment because I, like so many others, have a special place for the club in my heart.

My relationship with the double P begins way before I could even pass for being old enough to step through it’s doors. Walking past it’s original Oxford Street doorway on my regular weekend pilgrimage to Soho’s record emporiums. Even then, the tacky sign and unique flyers (I was a huge flyer fan) was enough to raise mental enquiry. What was it like in there?

I never did find out, but I more than made up for it when owner Ade packed up and went east in 2000. From then til’ now, I’ve seen some of my most respected DJs and bore witness to the best basement sessions, REAL basement sessions, I have ever been to.

This move to stop Plastic’s flow comes as no surprise. I am in touch with the handful of black-owned establishments in Shoreditch and all of them share tales of hard times when it comes to dealing with the powers that be. Not to say that this is merely a question of race however. In these times, those offering an alternate path, those who aren’t in the business for the money, or trying to blind the people with PR and spin pose a threat to the creeping machine of national order. Some of us may feel it more than others, but our presence on Plastic People’s dancefloor is in truth a statement of resistance to the deconstruction and realignment of the entertainment industry in the past two decades. Sounds extreme I know, but look around you next time you’re on a night out and tell me where else you can find Ade et al’s dedication to the things that truly matter.

Police have placed a notice outside the club citing their intention to revoke their license for:

1/ PREVENTION OF PUBLIC NUISANCE
2/ PREVENTION OF CRIME AND DISORDER

Clearly, to anyone that has been to the club, these are both flimsy and to be honest, outright ridiculous claims. Of all the venues in Shoreditch, Plastic People’s clientele are some of the least likely to contribute to either of the above. Surrounded by venues spewing out drunken, drug-addled punters, Plastic is an oasis….the only club in the area where people come for one reason and one reason only: the music. The police claim they have found evidence of cocaine usage in the toilets and DJ booth. Although the latter is hard to believe, show me a club with no drugs in it, Cocaine or otherwise. The PP crowd is one of the least drug heavy, best behaved I’ve seen – and believe me, I’ve been to a lot of clubs.

Anyway, enough ranting. Their doors aren’t closed yet. join the FaceBook group and stay-tuned to find out how you can help stop this from happening. If Plastic goes, where will we have left? House/warehouse parties have already suffered the clampdown and there is not one venue I can think of that has the same quality control as Plastic People. Local authorities have already managed to herd anyone who wants to listen to anything but the commercial dirge into one East-Central postcode, lets not let them go further and extinguish the few flames we have left…

UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO ADD YOUR NAME TO THE SAVE PLASTIC PEOPLE PETITION