Style & Substance(s)....... by Shaun Dangerfield.

The first time I saw the picture above it just seemed to sum up life in the black country, some could see it as hazardous gas/fumes but I understand it straight to be an acid haze leaking away from the grimy place that I so affectionately call home, spending a good majority of my life trudging through the murky streets with my eyes firmly on Saturday's confrontation's and the substance fuelled haze that followed until Monday morning it's what got me away from the gloom of the everyday life, lets face facts after a standard few days of putting up with work colleagues the kind of people you would avoid at all costs outside of work it does you the world of good to get out on the Thursday with a selection of the devils goods and dance your way through until 6am get home shower and join your colleagues for a much better view of them for the last day before the weekend without wanting to shove a few of them head first down the toilet.

But it's all good......of course.

Going back to the picture that's just what it made me think about, that and a club I so enjoyed for a good period of time...... Birmingham's Custard Factory.

Through all the factories and industry in the back streets of Digbeth, in amongst the local known haunts lies a square of goodness in the custard factory, at the front is the zellig housing offices, galleries and studios, and where the magic used to happen the Medicine bar and the birdhouse home to the kitchen bar and a few boutique shops by day, all of which surrounding what used to be a large pond in the centre with a bandstand, In the mid 90's I went there for bbq days and on the terrace various dj's would play you the best in Big beat, northern, funk, original breaks and beatrok, I've saw Jarvis Cocker dj on the terrace (and get booed for some shocking r&b efforts), witnessed Les rythmes digitales rip up the Medicine bar in a live take playing his promo efforts a couple of years before he released his revolutionary Darkdancer album, saw numerous Krafty Kuts and Wall of Sound nights before it all went too d&b and dub, and had genuinely some of the greatest nights of my life there, all relevant at the time and spent with some amazing people, happy (hazy) memories of chatting about various bread with Saul before realising that just maybe we had drifted too far into one, looking up at the stunning metal fabricated dragon that resides up the side of one wall you knew you were in good hands, as they emptied the lake and held the night throughout another highlight was watching yoda scratch his way through a Beatles break's medle with yellow submarine cartoon visuals which enhanced by mdma obviously made for stunning viewing and the first time I took my eventual wife to the factory.

Quite a lot of thought just to come out of that little picture above, but a small recognition for what was genuinely one of the best clubs in the u.k. which unfortunately in my humble opinion never recovered from the breakbeat and electro scene that swung its filthy route through Brum.

Here's to the memories.

Shaun