Atomic Jam is a
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...
event in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Its home is the §Q Club, a converted
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
Methodist Church
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
. The club, a three-storey red brick and terracotta Grade II* listed building with a distinctive tower, has a capacity of at least 1,500.
[{{cite web, url=http://www.birminghampost.net/news/2008/08/17/man-stabbed-to-death-after-q-club-event-in-birmingham-65233-21550766/, title=Birmingham Post - News - Man stabbed to death after Q Club event in Birmingham, publisher=Birmingham Post]
Overview
The event was founded in
Birmingham, UK
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands region, in England. It is the largest local authority district in England by population and the second-largest cit ...
in 1995 with the first event at the
Que Club
The Que Club was a music venue in Birmingham, England that was famous for hosting many well-known bands and club nights. As well as hosting famous acts, the Que Club became a centre for alternative culture, including the rave music scene.
The Que ...
,
Corporation Street, Birmingham
Corporation Street is a main shopping street in Birmingham city centre, England.
Though it has a distinct southern terminus – the junction of New Street, Birmingham, New Street and Stephenson Place, adjacent to the entrance of Birmingham ...
in August of that year.
Richie Hawtin
Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...
headlined the event.
The club continued at the Que Club every month until 2003, apart from a break in the summer, with the birthday nights taking place in August or September. In 2003, the Que Club closed, leaving Atomic Jam without a home. The event moved firstly to
The Sanctuary
The Sanctuary was a stone and timber circle near the village of Avebury in the south-western English county of Wiltshire. Excavation has revealed the location of the 58 stone sockets and 62 post-holes. The ring was part of a tradition of stone ...
in
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of central Birmingham, England. Following the remodelling of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is under ...
and then to the
Custard Factory
The Custard Factory is a creative and digital business workspace complex, including independent shops, cafes and bars, on the site of what was the Bird's Custard factory off High Street, Deritend, in the Digbeth area of central Birmingham, Eng ...
before its original venue was re-opened.
After 5 years, Atomic Jam's original venue the Que Club has reopened as the
Q Club. It was announced in early May 2008 that Atomic Jam would return to the venue in the last quarter of that year, and the 13th birthday event was held on 22 November 2008, and another event was held on 7 March 2009.
The 14th birthday will be held at the Q Club on 21 November 2009.
Music policy
The music at Atomic Jam is techno in the main room, advertised on the flyers as 'techno and beyond'. Big international DJs and live acts play, backed up by residents
Chris Finke and
Ade Fenton who play sets at different times of the night. The music always reflects the current trends of techno and the booking policy is a mix of new talent and big established acts.
Room two is drum and bass and dub step, sometimes hosted by Broken Minds and featuring the likes of
Grooverider
Raymond Bingham (born 16 April 1967 in Streatham, London, England), better known as Grooverider, is a British drum and bass DJ. He and DJ partner Fabio are regarded as "originators" of the scene. ,
Andy C
Andrew Michael Clarke (born 7 April 1976) is an English DJ, record producer and co-founder of RAM Records, a label in the drum and bass genre.
Music career
Early years
Andy C was a DJ in his own right but gained a strong reputation and more ...
,
Optical
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
, and
Jumping Jack Frost
Nigel Thompson (born 29 May 1967), better known as Jumpin Jack Frost, is a British Jungle music, jungle and drum and bass Disc jockey, DJ and record producer.
Biography
Frost was born in Brixton, London and, after a troubled youth, started to d ...
.
Room three has been recently
Room four is the
Breakbeat
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat ...
/
Electro room hosted by residents
Brothers Bud, which over the years has welcomed the likes of
Dave Clarke,
Radioactive man Radioactive Man may refer to:
*Radioactive Man (comics)
Radioactive Man is the name of several Supervillain, supervillains appearing in American comic book, American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first incarnation of Radioactive Ma ...
and
Billy Nasty
Billy Nasty (real name William Nastri) is a British techno and electro DJ and artist. He is a Guinness World Record holder for the first commercially released DJ mix.
Billy Nasty was originally a House music DJ.
His first residency was at the ...
dropping purist Electro sets.
DJs
Atomic Jam has introduced many of the major and minor players on the techno scene to its clubbers, and is renowned for the quality of its resident DJs. The current residents are Chris Finke and
.
;Selected list of techno DJs who have played at Atomic Jam:
*Cari Lekebusch
*The Advent
*Dave Angel
*Adam Beyer
*Joey Beltram
*Steve Bicknell
*DJ Bone
*CJ Bolland
*Catena Mundi (Lc ReVox)
*Dave Clarke
*Colin Faver
*Funk D'Void
*Richie Hawtin
*DJ Hell
*Oliver Ho
*Robert Hood
*Holy Ghost
*Nathan Gregory
*Ignition Technician
*Valentino Kanzyani
*Neil Landstrumm
*Chris Liebing
*Chris Liberator
*Derrick May
*Jeff Mills
*Joe Mull
*Billy Nasty
*OVR (Regis & James Ruskin)
*Gaetano Parisio
*Trevor Rockcliffe
*Rolando
*DJ Rush
*James Ruskin
*Daz Saund
*Ben Sims
*Slam
*Luke Slater
*Space DJz
*Speedy J
*Suburban Knight
*Surgeon
*Sven Väth
*Umek
*Claude Young
*DJ Skull
*Colin Dale
*Joey Beltram
*Gayle San
*Juan Atkins
*Tony Work
*Duncan Disorderly
*Rebekah
Live Acts
Over the years live acts have appeared at Atomic Jam, adding a more improvised feel to the music.
Eat Static
Eat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.
History
Merv Pepler and Joie Hinto ...
were the most regular of these, although they have been absent since 2003. Other live acts that have appeared are
Bandulu
Bandulu are a British electronic and reggae music group consisting of Jamie Bissmire, John O'Connell and Lucien Thompson.Cooper, Sean " Bandulu Biography, AllMusic, Macrovision Corporation The music often relies heavily on techno and dub element ...
,
Green Velvet
Curtis Alan Jones (born April 26, 1968), better known by his stage name Green Velvet, is an American disc jockey, singer and record producer. He is also known as Cajmere, Geo Vogt, Half Pint, Curan Stone, and Gino Vittori.
Early life
Curtis Ala ...
, Technasia,
Speedy J
Jochem George Paap (born 14 February 1969, in Rotterdam), known by his stage name Speedy J, is a Dutch electronic music producer based in Rotterdam. His breakthrough came with the release in 1992 of the minimal techno track "Pullover". He releas ...
and
Radioactive Man Radioactive Man may refer to:
*Radioactive Man (comics)
Radioactive Man is the name of several Supervillain, supervillains appearing in American comic book, American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first incarnation of Radioactive Ma ...
.
Special events
In 2002, Atomic Jam hosted an arena as part of the
Godskitchen
Godskitchen is an international superclub brand which is associated with dance music and organises events, particularly in the UK and US. The company used to run a club night of the same name at their nightclub AIR (nightclub), AIR, in Birmingham ...
Global Gathering, offering techno from 4 pm until 7 am. It is also part of Drop Beats Not Bombs which also operates at the Custard Factory. In the past decade Atomic Jam has held nights at The Depot in Bristol,
Turnmills
The Turnmills building was a warehouse originally on the corner of Turnmill Street and Clerkenwell Road in the London Borough of Islington. It became a bar in the 1980s, then a nightclub. The club closed in 2008 and the building was later demol ...
in London, the
Marcus Garvey Centre in Nottingham and at various universities around the midlands.
References
Techno