Optimo Espacio: Say Yes To One Last Excess

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Regardless of what stage of the grieving process you're at just prepare yourself for the best wake you'll ever attend, as Optimo Espacio gears up for one last dance

Feature by Chris Duncan | 30 Mar 2010

It’s not often the five stages of grief get a mention within this section. But when Optimo Espacio founders Jonnie Wilkes and Keith McIvor announced last month that their famous weekly Sabbath party would finish on 25 April, it suddenly seemed appropriate. Within hours of breaking the news via their website the reaction of shock and disbelief from their fanbase across the world spoke volumes about the kind of influence Optimo Espacio has had since it began in the Sub Club back in 1997. The kneejerk reaction of a pointless ‘Save Optimo’ Facebook group appeared quickly as some took the news worse than others.

The Skinny spoke to Optimo shortly before their plans to wrap up the night were made public. Staying safely outwith vengeful striking distance and taking time out of their extensive tour of Austrailia, Keith and Jonnie explained their reasoning behind ending the night. “It was a big, big, decision that involved many sleepless nights. We love doing the club but after 12 years of doing it weekly, it felt like the time was right to stop it and get our lives back a bit as well as having the extra time to devote to all the other things we want to do. Doing and promoting a club eats up an enormous part of our lives.” says Keith.

Keith continued, “I really don't know what the reaction will be. I'm sure that the very last night will be very emotional. I hope people will understand why we felt the time was right to move forward.”

The reality of the response was somewhat varied, with the posters on the Echatio forum, naturally, expressing their best wishes and sharing fond memories of various landmarks of nights gone past. Meanwhile fans further afield simply expressed their sheer disbelief at the news.

But perhaps the blow has been softened to an extent with the news that Twitch and Wilkes are still remaining fully creative, with a Fabric mix forthcoming and a new weekly night that will replace Optimo Espacio.

“To be perfectly honest, at this point we're not 100% sure what the new night will turn out to be like. We don't even have a name for it yet. When we started Optimo Espacio there weren't very many DJs we were into, especially in Glasgow. Now there are loads of fantastic DJs in Glasgow and we would like to involve them in the new night – although nobody has been asked yet. We will also bring DJs we like from around the world to play, as well as bringing live acts who may have the opportunity to play extended sets. Jonnie and I will of course still play from time to time, I think the format of the new night will reveal itself as it develops over time. But the original spirit and idea that it is a Sunday night out designed to be great fun, covering any type of music that we think deserves to be heard will no doubt prevail. It will be weekly, starting in May, who knows what will happen? Maybe it will be a nail in the coffin for Sunday night clubbing or maybe it will inject a fresh energy. That rests in the hands of the people who go out.” says Keith.

“We finished [the Fabric mix] just before we left for Australia. It is maybe the "straightest" dance mix we've ever done but it's still not that straight – it features tracks from Rheingold, Xex, Thomas Brinkmann, Crazy Cousinz, Basic Channel and Cumbia Moderna de Soledad, amongst others.”

So what have been some of the defining moments, records and live guests over the years that managed to make Sunday night clubbing not only acceptable, but essential and create the sound associated with Optimo?

“Too many to mention. I think the defining moment was realising that we did something that seemed to mean something to some people and the ensuing friendships and relationships that developed from that and that are still ongoing to this day. It defined a large part of our lives and that of a lot of the people closest to us, many of whom we would never have known were it not for the club. Defining records, again, too many to mention, I worked out in a bout of insomnia that over 25,000 records have been played at the club since it started. As for live acts, Liquid Liquid of course, Sons and Daughters, ESG, LCD Soundsystem, The Fire Engines, Isolee, the first time The Rapture played, Divorce, Whitehouse, Bush Tetras, Peaches (at Planet Peach, one of the venues that the night moved to when the Sub Club burned down), Grace Jones, Alter Ego, Opel Bastards...”

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Keith has drawn the line under one of his creations. As the founder of Pure in Edinburgh he has seen two of his projects go on to be hugely influential, even if Pure is not as well documented as Optimo Espacio has been.

“[Pure] was a little bit more straight ahead and emerged alongside the development of house and techno so that in the early days of it the music was literally developing from week to week. It had a very die-hard fan base. Crazily so! It was born at exactly the right point in time to ride the first wave of people in Scotland going out to hear and dance to loud electronic music in an intense environment for the first time in their lives.”

“The end of Pure was the absolute end and after that we all stopped working together. When Optimo the club ends, it won't be the end of Optimo. Jonnie and I will continue to operate under that name, tour under that name and promote under that name. The label and remixes and all the music will continue. It's just that Optimo as a weekly night where we both play in Glasgow will cease to be. We definitely intend to go out with a very large bang. Jonnie has a load of semtex stashed away especially.”

The countdown to what is simply being referred to as The End will be well underway by the time this issue prints, with only four more outings remaining before the much anticipated climax. In the Optimo press releases and on their website the same line crops up again and again: “It’s not over until the fat lady sings”, a clue as to what’s in store. It’s open to interpretation, a Divine impersonator being the most common guess but one with little or no basis in fact. Regardless of what the secret plans are for the final party, it’s certain to be one of those rare moments where a club actually manages to achieve the grand promises of an unforgettable evening that are so often splashed across flyers and posters by lesser nights.

Optimo Espacio, Sub Club, Sun 25 Apr.

Times and price TBC

http://www.optimo.co.uk