CPL - Brown Bagging It Forever

Managing to satisfy several different groups of people at once is bloody hard going. And, let's face it, exhausting. Juggling commitments to rockers, students, Goths, indie-kids and everyone else, Cathouse Promotions Ltd. (CPL), are the multi-headed titans of Glasgow nightlife, booking great bands, staging events and playing host to thousands every week in their many clubs.

The organisation was started in the eighties, with the original Cathouse in Bathgate the first venue in their portfolio. From a rock and punk background, founder Donald McLeod recognised the need for a club catering to the rock underground. Struggling against the prevailing trend, which was for acid house raves in fields, it was the start of an empire that now employs 500 plus staff, entertains around 1.25 million Scottish youths and serves over twenty million drinks a year. They have stamped their indelible mark on the very forehead of Glasgow's night-time entertainment market, an industry that itself has been instrumental in regenerating the city.

Now 15 years old, with the Garage approaching its thirteenth year- hence their frankly filthy slogan 'Thirteen years of brown-bagging it'- CPL is determined to push the envelope, with rockabilly, industrial metal, burlesque, indie, the odd bit of hair metal and almost every other genre you could think of catered for behind the doors of their clubs. On top of this, the bands and musicians they have welcomed to Glasgow reads like the Rolling Stone Encyclopaedia of Rock or, occasionally, Heat magazine. One of their most famous guests, Prince, came to play at the Garage, with a proviso forbidding the staff from looking at him. After taking the wrong entrance into the Garage and being mobbed by hordes of fans, the little purple love muscle chose to relax with a glass of champagne, poured by a confused barmaid with her eyes averted.

In the great tradition of Glaswegian Hospitality, Donald McLeod has also been personally responsible for upping sales of Aftershock to trendy young things, after pouring it down their necks at one of the many aftershow parties held at the Garage. Most excitingly of all though, Shabazz played at Cube a wee while ago, sung Somewhere Over the Rainbow and reportedly entranced an initially circumspect audience. Other gems include Rolf Harris, ever popular in Glasgow, being asked to sign a fan's enormous boob and the whole of Puddle Of Mudd allegedly arriving with venereal diseases so terrible that immediate medical attention had to be sought. Quite an interesting couple of decades.

Not content to rest on its comfy laurels, CPL continues to forge new ground in various exciting, original and occasionally barmy ways. Donald McLeod, the founder of CPL and Sunday Sun columnist, has already judged the Glasgow leg of boxwars at the Garage. A nationwide phenomenon, the competition involves armouring yourself with enough cardboard to house a tramp's banquet then charging headlong at your friends and enemies. The Cathouse leg was an extra-special, Glasgow versus Edinburgh (and the Studio 24 contingent) extravaganza.

Other exciting nights coming up are Slip it In, an evening of cock rock, the girls from Pretty Ugly (voted NME club of the week at Bastille) playing a night, a host of themed nights like the famous Playboy garage night and guest DJ slots in the vein of the brilliant Smiths night, which had a tribute band playing and Andy Rourke on the decks. Bandwise, they've booked Babyshambles, Lily Allen supported by hot young electro-spunks New Young Pony Club, a terrifying metal tour called The Unholy Alliance and many other gigs to be found on their website (www.cpllive.co.uk/site/giglist.php). On the barmy side of things, the newly refurbished Underworld club will be hosting an open mic Live Cabaret Session, called Smoking Gun, which will welcome any entertaining, rehearsed and legal acts on stage to compete for a hundred quid. Phew. There's tons more besides that.

To celebrate the Garage's thirteenth birthday, CPL are giving away thirteen scooters between now and the massive party, culminating in a scooter an hour lottery for the party goers. The Garage is now a space that is perhaps the most diverse in Glasgow, with rooms for the glittery pop-pickers, live bands and an indie-loft with residents DJs Paul Cardow and Mig from Nice'n'Sleazys. This pluralistic approach, which reflects Glasgow's own diversity, is key to the Garage and CPL's enduring success. Ever since its inception, CPL has strived to provide variety, safety and great atmosphere for its many guests, staff and performers. Now, as always, a major force in Glasgow's nightlife, CPL is still pushing the envelope.