If you’re a fan of The Old Queens Head in Angel, its sister venue – The Nest in Dalston – doesn’t disappoint with big names proving their worth weekly. We’ve never been before because, well, basically we’re just lazy bastards. But who wouldn’t bite the tiny bullet to go and see Dark Sky, Doc Deneeka and Chefal?
We headed down early and locked down our elbow room at the bar in preparation of the ensuing heave of fans that we expected in the relatively modest club. However, it never came; the Nest only opened its doors not long before Christmas, so still relatively new the scene the crowds haven’t found it yet. It’s a shame , since the names are there but it didn’t help that the volume on a system the equivalent of Fabric’s was kept at a militant level that us reviewers could quite easily talk over. A bit of prying got a little birdy to reveal that persistent noise complaints are holding back the club from achieving its full potential (sounds like a parents’ evening). But to be honest, all clubs in their infancy have to deal with that kind of bullshit, especially since the Pool Hall opposite had a ton of noise coming from it.
When we arrived Doc Deneeka had just started, who was over indulging a sparse crowd to the best of music. However it did start to fill up and he managed to get the punters to the floor with his mix of funky/electro, starting the evening off nicely getting the place suitably hyped for the rest of the night. We had the pleasure of interviewing him after his set and we can tell you that he is one funny bloke (chinwag sessions coming soon).
Next Up was the legendary Chefal (Chef), known for his ubiquitous skill on the 1’s & 2’s around the globe. Chef is one of the leading figures in dubstep which is an incredible accolade considering he does not have one release to his name, so naturally we expected a lot from the man in question.
And of course he delivered, playing a great mix of future, funky and dubstep producing banger after banger. A particular tune that always stands out, and has done for the past few nights we’ve been out is the French Fries remix of Amerie — One Thing, which comes out of nowhere every time it is dropped but always leaves the crowd happier than our dads at that roman spa they keep going to.
To play us out for the evening were the pioneers of the ‘future bass’ movement, Dark Sky. These guys get about, playing gigs almost every night of the week up and down the country (which is just as well because they probably have to split their pay 3 ways) and if you listen to any of their tracks you will see why they are in such high demand. When they started there was scenes reminiscent of a few hours before when anarchists hit the west end! OK, OK, not exactly, but sonically anyway, and the crowd was suitably hyped. Everyone in the room was eagerly waiting their new edit of a Nelly Furtado Song.‘Promiscuous Gyal’ is a vinyl only 140BPM banger which sets places ablaze every time it is played, and tonight was no exception.
This night, all in all, was a success – the club is a great little venue which caters for all kinds of people from the bar goer to the all night clubbing fanatic. The atmosphere in the place was amazing with friendly and helpful staff to boot; if they keep getting names in like this then The Nest will eventually turn into something much bigger (strains to fight off the urge to make a treehouse joke). Only issue was that the volume was turned down! I’m sure this is something that the management will endeavour to deal with in due course though.
