On the desk were spare hats for those that had some how managed to forget the about the theme of the night.

Walking into the impressive main room I find banners, drapes and lavish lighting with a high raised DJ booth to the front of the room that any DJ would be proud of working behind. In front of that I see a huge raised bar to the rear and a very inviting raised seating and dance platform to the side of the dance floor.

Above the vocal lead house in the main room, I could hear the thumping basslines coming from the rear of the club and I let my ears guide me to the place that I love.

I was greeted by a mass of bodies bobbing to a bass line that shook through me and popped my ears. Composing myself, I see cheeky chappy Chad Lewis bouncing around in true Chad style by the booth greeting clubbers and getting snapped by a mass of cameras.

This room is his little baby and he has spent time ensuring that it packs a punch that delivers enough energy to wear out Keith Chegwin. As with the main room, the ceiling is decorated in glamorous red and white drapes and a good selection of lighting with more than enough seating around the outside of the dance floor.

Upon further inspection to the rear of the room I discover a black void. Without hesitation I poke my head in and find what only can be described as a seedy room for wrong 'uns. I'm not quite in the state to stay in this area of the club quite yet but there are more than enough takers seeking confinement from their own sanity!! Gods Kitchen Bad boy Micky Slim has just dropped his new mix of House of Pains "Jump" and like a knee jerk reaction I headed into the sea of revellers and started bouncing round like a adolescent fool….
A flying hour later it's time for a drink I think!

For a club on a Sunday night and in the heart of the city centre the prices were very reasonable £2.30(?)
a pint and a £1 a shot - back of the net! Ah, wish I hadn't drove now.
Even more surprising were the staff who appeared out of nowhere like lightening to serve me my drink
I less than a minute - relatively unheard of in club land!


After Micky stepped down, the home grown talent of Alex Schmitz was in the blocks waiting for the starters orders. Schmitz, another Birmingham DJ who is pushing the boundaries of electro house in the Midlands, did not disappoint - dropping one face melting tune after another. This talented individual is another household name in Birmingham and I'm sure, now that he has come into his own, it wont be long before he's in the studio and joining the likes of Funkagenda, Paul Thomas, Micky and Chad as another one of the Midlands massive to make it as a successful producer!

The crowd in the place where rocking, smiles and sweat all around is a pleasing site for Birmingham as a usual night out in Brum constitutes to "oops my heart rate has reached over 89bpm and I am beginning to feel a bit moist. Must stop moving and stand on the dance floor and have a chat." "Can you turn it down a bit I can't hear what you're saying"? The home crowd were doing DV8, Hat Club and Birmingham proud and creating an atmosphere that will be the talk of the town, for a few weeks at least. Chatting to a few of the locals it was apparent that 'Below' at the Rainbow was below par and as
a result DV8 was teaming with a mix of sex, glam and rock and roll fashion.

Schmitz passed the baton on to headliner Oliver Lang who I'm sure was glad he peeled himself off his sofa to take the Birmingham revellers to the next level. Oli didn't let us down and turned up the tempo and sent our worlds spinning with bad boy tunes that had had more bleeps and errrs than Pac Man on the Atari 2600.
The general dance floor consensus proves this is what everyone came for. For the smiles turned into huge grins and the shuffles turned into stomps. Oliver Lang's energy and presence behind the booth was very apparent and he kept the crowd going till the early hours of Monday morning.

Reality seems to have disappeared for most but not for me, I still have the drive home so I reluctantly say my farewells and head back south. DV8's new approach bringing in top quality brands such as Dusted, Smut and Hat Club is paying off. A once dark and depressive Birmingham on a Sunday night is now something to look forward to and the Birmingham crowd are starting to come round to the Southern way of thinking of 'there is no such thing as a school night' and 'sleep when your dead'. Remember when Radio 1 banned 'I cant wait till the weekend to begin' by Michael Gray from playing 1st thing in the mornings? There is a reason for that and that's because people really couldn't wait and started hitting it hard all week!!

I will certainly be travelling north to see what the next instalment of this marvellous and innovative club has to offer us clubbers next month. Hats off to the guys at Hat Club and DV8 and of course not forgetting the beautiful people of Birmingham!!

www.clubdv8.co.uk