LowLife

What you'll hear

Sisters, NMA, VNV Nation, Cult, Cure, Swarf :), Covenant, Peter Murphy, Prodigy, Rob Zombie, Manson, Rammstein, NIN, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, 80's cheese.

What you won't hear:

Metallica, AC/DC, Sum 41, Linkin Park, Motorhead, Nickelback, Foo fighters

Musical accessibility

Good, high if this is your scene. More variable early on, all well dancable by 11:00 or so though.

Dancefloor humour

Wuthering Heights, Einstein a Go Go

Online - Website and Forums

Not exactly a forum, but you'll find a lot of regulars around the Brightongoths community on Livejournal. The club also has its own website.

Venue

The Jazz Place, Ship St, Brighton. Right in the heart of the town, Ship St leads from North St down to the Seafront (heading down North St from the clock tower, turn right at the first set of lights). Look for the blue 'Jazz Place' sign, and head down the stairs into the basement (below 'Smugglers').

A typical night

This is not a night where you can lose yourself in the crowd. The capacity is probably less than 75, and unless you grab one of the dark corners early on you're going to find yourself in close proximity to the same people time and again. Which is not a problem, as they're a lovely bunch even if some of them look pretty damn scary from time to time. Most of them already know one another though so if it's your first visit you might feel a bit of an outsider in such a small club - especially as it's been going for many years and so has formed its own unique character. Make an effort to talk to people though and you'll soon be sucked in, assimilated, and find yourself obsessing about how long it is till it's next on.

In the earlier part of the night, before 11:00 or so, small knots of people continually form and dissolve as the regulars catch up with the latest gossip, comment on outfits, swap make-up tips and so on. However, it being such a small venue, you'll never be far from the speakers, so conversations involve leaning close together and shouting for the most part. There'll usually be a smattering of students too, trying out the club for the first time (but as it's not a club that caters to the mainstream though, most will decide it's not for them).

There won't be much dancing going on at this point, since unless you're a scene DJ, you may not recognise much of the music. It soon gives way to he better known stuff, probably leaning a bit more towards the goth and away from the rockier stuff compared to Nightshade (you're still going to hear the likes of Rob Zombie, NIN and Rammstein though). As a rule, by 11:30 the dancefloor is heaving but bear in mind it's pretty small so it doesn't take many people to pack it out.

The crowd tends to thin out about 1:00am or so, it being a Thursday night - the hardcore lot will be there until closing time though (at 2:00am), and there's usually a handful of people dancing right up to the end.

Dress Code

None enforced, if this is your scene you'll be able to get by in anything. That said, regulars all have their own style and diversity is positively encouraged. There will be many exotic creatures of the night draped around the place. However, you won't feel out of place in anything black, and no-one's going to hassle you whatever you wear (well, it's probably not the place for hardcore fetish outfits but apart from that, go ahead and express yourself!).