Why Fabric’s Closure Will Affect the Entire Dance Music Community
At 1am GMT this morning, the dance music industry learned of the fate of one of its most cherished clubbing institutions. London’s Fabric was to have its license revoked and be closed with immediate effect. After a seven-hour-long, emotionally charged debate between the club, local police, leading industry figures and fans, the authorities determined that “searches [at the club] were inadequate and in breach of the license.” And that was that. Fabric was gone, and a lot of questions are being asked about where that leaves the dance music industry—not just in London, but around the world.
Fabric found itself under scrutiny after two young men, each age 19, died after attending the club earlier this year. As is the case with most dance music deaths, drugs were involved, and the club was targeted by the London Met once more (fabric successfully appealed against court-ordered sniffer dogs and ID scans at the door two years prior). But this time, the Met were armed with a salacious undercover report from an officer that, despite not detailing any drug use specifically, lambasted the club for its lax pat-downs at the door and clubbers displaying symptoms including “sweating, glazed red eyes and staring into space, and people asking for help.”
The backlash against the decision from the dance music community has been considerable, with over 150,000 people signing a petition to keep the club open, and London’s new nightlife-focused mayor Sadiq Khan even weighing in with support for the venue. Tim Sheridan, a prominent dance music journalist and DJ, submitted a statement to the Islington council, stating that “fabric is, simply put, one of the most well-run and high-profile venues in the world. An attack on them is an attack on all of us who work week-in, week-out under prohibition to make a safe space. We are here to help, working under near-impossible terms, to stem an unstoppable tide.”
You may have heard or seen this situation unfolding and wondered why seemingly unaffected people around the world care so much about a nightclub in London. The reason is that this is a sad and unfortunate trend happening all over the world, and fabric is arguably the biggest scalp claimed by those who want to derail our scene.
Under the guise of keeping the public safe against the dangers of drugs, the authorities in the UK have removed a venue that had one of the best reputations for safety and implementing industry-wide best practices. The notion that closing fabric is going to reduce the amount of recreational drug use in London is ridiculous, and clandestine dance music events will surely be on the rise as a result of fabric’s absence. Where are all of these DJs going to play, and 2,500 clubbers going to dance? One thing is for certain: A clandestine warehouse party is a significantly sketchier environment than a revered club like fabric.
booking agents are very busy today, re-scheduling Fabric gigs to dodgy warehouses across London. that’s an actual fact. #FabricReview
— Barker (@samvoltek) September 7, 2016
Mark Lawrence, CEO for the Association of Electronic Music, wrote on the AFEM Facebook page this morning: “The closure of the venue will not reduce the consumption of illegal drugs in London and is likely to place those that choose to consume at a higher risk by driving clubbers to unregulated events or less well equipped venues. The inconsistency of approach from UK Police Forces towards drug policy now requires an informed national and strategic position.“
We as an industry know that harm reduction works. Education empowers people with caution, while pill testing—a controversial element of the harm reduction conversation—has been shown to safeguard clubbers against bad batches of drugs and inform people of “safe” dosing. The likes of Mark Lawrence, Fiona Measham, B. Traits, and Dede Goldsmith have all presented compelling arguments against the current trends of blanket prohibition. But authorities don’t seem to be listening to us.
I had some drugs I was going to take on Sat at Fabric, but now it is closed so I will throw them down the toilet and never take drugs again
— Jon Hopkins (@Jon_Hopkins_) September 7, 2016
There is some speculation that an ulterior motive fueled the authorities’ targeting of fabric specifically: gentrification. Given the global trend of nightclub closures—particularly in London—it shouldn’t be overlooked. Every major club scene is being crippled by gentrification. Berlin, seemingly a bastion of lawless clubbing perfection, has been battling the influx of moneyed yuppies coming into its cool neighborhoods for years. Manhattan hasn’t had a good club for a couple of decades, while Brooklyn (specifically Williamsburg) is already becoming too expensive and prone to noise complaints for aging hipsters. Sydney has some of the most draconian laws against nightlife this side of Pyongyang, while the gradual influx of money into Ibiza has changed the island immeasurably in the last two decades.
fabric’s story is a particularly chilling one. The club reported that 250 jobs are to be lost, big and emerging underground DJs lose a key stop on the circuit, a fabulous mix series is no more, and clubbers have lost a space that many consider imperative in their formative clubbing years. London has killed another of its cherished venues (see the End, Plastic People, Dance Tunnel). Dance music globally has lost ground in an ongoing battle to protect our scene and safeguard our fans.
As the Beastie Boys once said, you gotta fight for your right to party. You need to arm yourself with knowledge about harm reduction and support the people fighting the good fight. You have to become familiar with the drawbacks of gentrification and what it is doing to our nightlife scenes. We have come under these assaults in the past, but there has never been a more connected global community of clubbers than there is today. We can unite behind causes that are important to us and make our voices heard as a scene.
It’s time for everyone to get together, dig our heels in, and defend the dancefloor.
You can read fabric’s official statement on the club’s closure here.
