New book on the history and future UK the clubbing scene.

“We don’t want more unaffordable flats. We want somewhere to dance…”
Since the dawn of time, humans have had the urge to come together and move to music. It may have started in caves but these days it happens in clubs often found in the shady corners of our towns and cities.

Or at least it did until these places began to march to the beat of property developers rather than DJs. In London in the five years to 2016, half of the clubs were lost while a further quarter have been removed in the devastation of Covid. So what now?

At this critical moment, ‘Out of Space’ plots a course through the spaces and unlikely locations club culture has found a home. From Glasgow to Margate via Manchester, Sheffield and unlikely dance music meccas such as Coalville and Todmorden, it maps the key cities and towns where electronic music has thrived, it currently dances and the spaces it might be headed to next. It also explores how urban landscapes have acted as a home for other shades of club music too such as pirate radio, dance music festivals, soundsystem culture and more.

As our lives become increasingly digitised and real estate more valuable in the 21st century, it looks at the new clubbing models emerging to anticipate the future relationship between the shifting politics of space and sound. Rather than an epitaph, this is a rallying cry and celebration of the club’s resilience based on a lifetime of getting wide-eyed inside them.

“Out of Space’ explores the relationship between our cities and club culture, how it has evolved and the future. A key question I’ve asked artists, DJs, promoters and club owners is whether a place can still influence the sound that comes from it. Or has the internet and online world blown up any of these distinctions?” - Jim Ottewill