Glasgow Gets Gorgeous

Glasgow's resplendent Merchant City has long been the chosen destination for a top notch meal, some comedy or a few too many beverages, yet it has struggled to make its mark on the club scene. This is starting to change however, and change fast, with a number of key nights cutting their teeth in the area.

March saw the opening of new club, Byblos, with excellent bookings such as Smoking Jo and Jo Mills, while the refurbished basement at Blackfriars has recently thrown its hat back into the clubbing ring with techno nights such as Kube. This growing selection is to be further enhanced by the debut of established Ibiza night Filthy Gorgeous, as a sexy Balearic feel comes to Glasgow at Maggie May's.

The night is promoted by the enthusiastic Andy Everett and will feature the excellent Lisa Littlewood as resident. The night begins with two special parties before a likely monthly residency at the new venue on Glasgow's Trongate. Andy gives The Skinny a bit of background on it: "Filthy Gorgeous was started by Ibiza veterans Scott Martin (We Love Sundays at Space and ex Mambo resident) and Jamie Gittens (Orange Corner and Privilege World Tour resident) in July 2005, throwing workers' parties in Hush, one of the cooler bars in San Antonio. It quickly earned a reputation for being the coolest, dirtiest and down right messiest underground night on the island." This was followed by a winter of hosting parties throughout the UK, including back rooms at Pacha as well as a New Year gig on a beach in Mexico. This success then snowballed, as Andy explains further: "The guys were asked by Privilege to host the Coco Loco room for techno ace Mauro Picotto's popular Wed night Meganite last summer. This was hugely successful with both Scott and Jamie being nominated in both the 'Best Up & Coming DJs' category in M8 Magazine's 'Ibiza Dance Awards' and 'Best DJ' in the Duece Ibiza Workers' Awards 2006."

Despite the wonderful variety in the Glasgow club scene there is still a lack of good credible house nights and this is something Andy wants to set about changing: "There are a lot of good smaller nights happening throughout the city, but to me they're all getting a bit 'samey' with the same DJs and faces, and similar formulas of often quite predictable music. With Filthy Gorgeous, the music policy is just wrong wrong wrong, really dirty tech twisted house and electro with a few surprises along the way that shouldn't work, but in the right environment, with the right people, certainly do. Absolutely no pretentiousness, on the night there will be blow up dolls flying around, girls running about in tutus, stupid hats. We want everyone to make themselves look as naughty as they possibly can and get involved with the craziness!"

This promise of colourful madness is also backed by resident Lisa Littlewood: "I have been friends with, and a huge fan of, Filthy Gorgeous founder and DJ Scott Martin for years after some crazy summers together in Ibiza. His enthusiasm for the parties he runs and his eclectic musical style is infectious and I couldn't wait to be involved!"

The night's two bank holiday parties both have 5am licenses to guarantee nights of hedonism. With Lisa being complimented with the DJ talents of the Filthy Gorgeous residents, as well as future dates planned with the likes of Radio One new recruit Mistress De Funk, these are nights you won't forget!

Keep checking our listings for details at www.skinnymag.co.uk