Six years of Boutique beats

This year, the club celebrates its sixth birthday but back in 1996, when it kicked off in the pseudo-Scout hut that was The Concorde, no one could have guessed how influential it would become.

The big beat sound was born from the ashes of a blend of musical styles known as acid, break beats and house in the world of up-and-coming, fashionable DJs.

While the spirit that fuelled the movement came straight out of the Manchester club scene of the late Eighties, a whole new sound was being inspired by young clubbers in a seaside town which was fast becoming one of the hottest nightspots in England - Brighton.

When bands like the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays fused indie and dance music for the first time, it inspired a generation of young people already hooked on acid house to seek out new beats.

One of those youngsters was Gareth Hansome. Another was Damian Harris, who runs Skint Records, and a third was Norman Cook.

Between them they would mastermind a new musical fusion that would symbolise the sound of the late Nineties and the spirit of Brighton itself.

It may be a coincidence that the latest film by British director Michael Winterbottom, 24 Hour Party People, was released in the same month as The Boutique's big birthday bash but the two are linked by much more than that twist of fate.

The film tells the story of Tony Wilson, the supremo behind the Manchester music scene that exploded in the late Eighties and crashed in the early Nineties.

Wilson was the secret midwife to some of the most influential bands of the day, from Joy Division and New Order to Happy Mondays and James.

He owned Factory Records and helped to launch the renowned Hacienda nightclub, which became synonymous with the youth movement coined the 'Madchester' scene.

The Manchester scene was always shot through with a vein of urban decay, violence and disaffection.

It was partly what gave the music its edge, and in the gangland-ravaged battleground of the Hacienda, it was ultimately what brought it down.

But big beat was from the start a sunnier sound. According to Gareth, the chilled-out, holiday feel of Brighton was central to the whole enterprise.

He said: "We have always been Brighton bonkers. We do things differently here. We are virtually an island, with the sea in front and the Downs behind. It gives this place a unique atmosphere you won't find anywhere else."

Gareth created the Big Beat Boutique, giving his friend Damian Harris the chance to showcase the DJs and bands on his record label, Skint.

One of those DJs was Norman Cook, Gareth's best mate and flatmate for three years and now, under his guise of Fatboy Slim, one of the biggest names in dance music the world over.

Gareth said: "We wanted to start a night without any rules. We wanted people to relax and let their hair down and not worry about a dress code, with the music as the central force. We wanted to perpetuate the spirit of acid house."

The trio first met congregating in dingy basements to hear legendary Detroit DJs at underground parties. But they wanted somewhere to invite their mates and start a party of their own.

Gareth was no stranger to organising parties. Now 31, he helped to organise his first rave in 1988 at the age of 17. It was at a secret location behind Cliffe High Street in Lewes on November 5, and it was called The Big Bang. DJ Carl Cox was on the decks.

Gareth started training to be an architect's technician with East Sussex County Council but as the underground scene in Brighton began to grow organically into something bigger, he threw in the day job to make a living as a club promoter.

The Concorde, which was originally at Aquarium Terraces off Marine Parade, seemed like an obvious choice to start their new club night.

Gareth said: "We picked it because it was small and tight and it wasn't a traditional venue. We wanted somewhere intimate with a basement feel.

"We were all like-minded friends that were excited about music and excited about hearing tunes that would rip your head off and make you go 'what the hell was that?'."

The first night featured Sean Rowley, fresh from DJ-ing on the Oasis tour, and Jon Carter, now married to Sara Cox.

Lola Sherry, 27, a windsurfing instructor, said: "I remember being there for that first night with a big bunch of mates and being totally blown away by the music.

"Fat chunky basslines were mixed with old Sixties samplers, funky disco riffs, blasts of guitar and hip hop breaks - it was mind blowing.

"Big Beat Boutique came along at a time when the dance music scene was becoming pretty stale.

"You could go to a house night or a drum and bass night or a hip hop night, but there were few clubs blending those sounds in an original and quirky way."

Gareth said: "There is a bit in 24 Hour Party People where Tony Wilson says New Order and Happy Mondays were sorted because they had this building where it all collides, where it's all allowed to happen organically.

"Suddenly we had this building, a building which evoked a certain atmosphere. Then with the DJs and the music and the drugs it all collided together. That is what it was all about."

Just as house music came from Warehouse in Chicago and garage originated at the Paradise Garage in New York, big beat was born at the Big Beat Boutique.

To many Brighton clubbers, those early days in the Concorde were part of a golden age. Lola, of St Michael's Place, Brighton, said: "The success of the Big Beat Boutique was not just about the music, it was about the atmosphere.

"That atmosphere was largely created by low ceilings and fish and chip shop finesse of the original Concorde venue. It was dark, dingy and smoky and we loved it.

"You would arrive knowing a couple of people and by the end of the night you would be hugging and dancing with the entire club.

"I can't remember any fights or aggro, just a load of happy people, inspired by music and dancing their brains out."

Norman Cook also remembers the early days with fondness. He said: "The first three years we were rammed at the Concorde.

It was more like a youth club than anything else. The official capacity was for 380 people but there would be queues round the block before the club even opened."

The DJ says there are parallels between the Hacienda and Factory Records and Big Beat Boutique and Skint.

"It is a mini-version of the Hacienda in a way. It came out of a record label and a group of people who didn't have a club to go to.

"Tony Wilson said in 24 Hour Party People that they needed a place to go. That is how we felt, so we made our own club."

Norman's early days as Fatboy Slim were bound up with his sets at the Concorde. The Boutique still feels like his natural home even now.

"I have a real fondness for The Boutique. It's just about the only place me and Zoe will go when I'm not working.

"The fact that the person who runs it was my flatmate for years and is now my next-door neighbour shows it's still close to home. I feel more at home there than anywhere else in the world."

Norman can pinpoint three specific stages in the history of The Boutique.

The night the Concorde closed in 1998 was the end of the underground era. Norman said: "That night, we smashed the place up. We deconstructed the club while we were playing, ripping up the walls and the floor."

Gareth still has a carrier bag full of tiles and wood panels from this final night that he intends to turn into collectors' item key rings.

For some clubbers, Big Beat Boutique would never be the same again. Lola said: "The venue changed and of course, the music changed.

"No club can stand still just because the original crowd want to recapture the best days of their clubbing life but many of the old crowd I know don't go to the Boutique anymore."

Around the same time as the Concorde was being bulldozed, Skint, Big Beat Boutique and Fatboy Slim hit the big time.

By 1999 Norman's album You've Come a Long Way Baby was number one. For Gareth, Norman and Damian there was an uneasy feeling the original no-rules spirit had been eroded.

According to Damian Harris, that period in the late Nineties when Big Beat Boutique was on everyone's lips was a blip.

He said: "We had to deal with Norman's success and we suffered slightly from the tourist syndrome. For a while we were media darlings, everyone was writing about us and I don't think Brighton had ever had anything like that before.

"We had coined a name for this music which we have been trying to get away from ever since."

Norman also looks back on that time with a bit of a shudder. He said the scene "went overgrown" at the time of his mix of the single Brimful of Asha.

"They were the Fatboy mania years. It got to a point where everyone was expecting me to pogo up and down and perform, waving my hands in the air and wearing a Hawaiian shirt. I was like a caricature of myself.

"This is when we were at The Beach, and we were like superstars. That was the big adulation phase.

"It was the home for big beat. But it's a shame the music went so horribly wrong. After a couple of years we all got bored with it. Musically we have gone back to basics. Everyone else started playing big beat and we switched back to house, just to be awkward."

After The Boutique found its new home at the Concorde 2 in Marine Parade at the end of 1999, the music and the style changed again - along with the name. What Damian called 'the blip' was over and the three main players began to find their feet once more.

The days of massive fame may be over, but the originators feel they have recovered the original underground spirit.

That pride in staying fresh, friendly and uncorrupted makes this year's birthday party a triumphant celebration of survival against the odds.

Unlike the Hacienda, which eventually closed and is now been turned into flats, The Boutique shows every sign of still going strong.

A tour of South East Asia and Australia is coming up with more plans for the festival circuit in summer and a regular residency at Heaven in London.

However, The Boutique's spiritual home will always be in Brighton. With Fatboy Slimheadlining at the Dome theatre complex on Saturday and Xpress 2 playing at the Concorde 2 on Friday, both the underground and mainstream facets of the legendary night will be represented at this birthday event.

Some of the original clubbers, like Lola, are still going strong. Others have discovered The Boutique for the first time.

As Norman says: "There's a whole fresh bunch of young people into it now. A load of 18-year-olds who were 12 when it first started. It's nice to still be here, still flying the flag."