Blueroom Mayhem: The MiniUP club review

“What on earth was going to come out of this anyway?”

Was the question on everyone’s mind.

The Mini UP looked like a run down shack, out of place in an era it didn’t belong to, in desperate need of a fresh paint job. It became pretty obvious as the sun set on Friday that maybe nothing was going to happen. After all, tiny clubs are never that successful. They always need more emphasis on interiors and sound just to make the experience worth while.

Somehow however, in the early hours of saturday something started happening….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The more Spray-Uzi worked on the exteriors of the club all through Saturday morning till late afternoon, the more we could see the direction of where the image of the club was going.The graffiti was a fusion of afro-urban influences; their own rendition of what a 90s warehouse club would look like if we had them here then.

It wouldn’t matter what kind of speakers were in the club, you’d probably be able to put an I-phone on loudspeaker and it’d still sound brilliant! Why? Because the club was made of thick corrugated iron sheets, listening to music there was like being enveloped in a room where the only claustrophobia you’d feel was the vibrations closing in on your skin. With the only window on the wall shut, all you’d remember is moving your feet and breathing to the rhythm of the songs playing.

“It was like everyone in the room was having the same conversation without having to talk at all, it was all based on the vibe of the movement,” says Carrey Ronjey.

The revellers of the night moves weren’t the only engaging thing, their looks were very interesting too. They were an eclectic mix of pseudo-hippies typical to festival scenes the world over but, with more styles of; bizarre dreads, outsiders in grungy looks, psychedelic colors and of course Ankara print splashed on everywhere.

If only that kind of style was on the walls or preferably Liam Brunner’s art work but, the feel good vibe atmosphere would do for that whole night.

 

In the end, it was every DJ’s dream as Jack Rooster puts it, ” It was so surreal, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, playing in such an intimate gathering where you can actually see whose enjoying your music, interact with the crowd and a place where the crowd is just having a great time.”

I just wish blue-rooms could talk, this would be a very different story.

 

Photos by Julia Mckay