CLUBS

When Marco Bernardi took the helm at Bristol’s Timbuk2, it signalled a change of culture at the club. “The previous management didn’t have a knowledge of electronic music,” he recalls. “The drinks weren’t right, the staff weren’t right, and a few of the nights just weren’t good enough.” Marco is on a crusade to bring world-class dance music to Bristol, most notably with flagship house and techno nights Das Ist and Ist Das. “I’m from Glasgow, where techno and electronica are much, much bigger than they are here. It’s easy to live in a city and follow suit, and go for a bass-orientated sound because that’s the Bristol sound – but that’s not my sound, and it’s my club.”

Marco’s sound – for the uninitiated – is thoughtful, soulful machine music. Under his own name and alter ego Octogen, he’s produced an impressive body of work for labels like Clone, Soma and Frustrated Funk. “I’ve never DJ’d much,” he admits. “I’ve generally played live, so that limited how many gigs I did. The three places I always wanted to play were Berghain, Fabric and Rex, and I think not playing all the time helped me get where I wanted to be.” He now lives in Bristol full time. “Yeah, I’m a Bristolian now,” he says in broad Glaswegian. “I can play BrisFest. I’m drinking cider!”

Marco’s connections have resulted in some inspired bookings, from big names like Marcel Dettman, Slam and Dave Clarke, to cult heroes like Intergalactic Gary and Newworldaquarium, but the soon-to-be-renamed TB2 isn’t a one-man mission. Promotions manager Jamie Harvey, who previously ran long-running house and techno nights Loco and Switch, has been involved with the club for six years. They met when Jamie booked Marco to play at Loco. “He’s just as much a lover of quality electronic music as I am,” says Marco. “And thanks to Jamie there’s always been house and techno here on a Saturday night.” It could be argued that Jamie’s nights provided the jump-off point for the club’s new-found focus, which is about to be made explicit with the change of name and new logos and signage designed by Crazylegs promoter Andy Musgrave.

Bristol has long been known as a bass- and breaks-oriented city, but Jamie and Marco both see signs of change. “House and disco have been bubbling under for the last few years,” says Jamie. “During the last year of Switch we started to see a lot of 19-, 20-year-old girls and guys dancing to house music, and they were properly into it.” Marco cites the success of Julio Bashmore, adding “maybe people are getting sick of that [makes noise like a pneumatic drill] wobbly, screechy bass sound.”

Whether that’s true or not, the TB2 ball is really starting to roll, with bookings coming up for The Advent (15 Oct), Alexander Robotnik (25 Nov) and Layo & Bushwacka (2 Dec), plus repeat visits from Dave Clarke and Marcel Dettman in the new year. “Once guys like Dave have been to the club,” says Marco, “it’s much easier to get other people you want. The only reason we can confirm Ben Klock for 17 February is that Dettman told him what a good time he’d had at Timbuk2.”

All this should be great news for anyone who takes their dance music seriously. “I’ve watched this place develop, and then struggle a bit,” says Jamie. “Back then it was run by business people, but now the DJs and music lovers are running the club.”

FOR FULL TB2 LISTINGS SEE WWW.TB2.CO.UK FOR AN ARCHIVE OF PREVIOUS SETS PLAYED AT THE CLUB SEE WWW.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/TB2_BRISTOL