It's Saturday night in the old rail town of Crewe. It's pissing it down and cold, but already when I pull up to Tom's Tap and Brewhouse it is warming up. People are arriving from all over the country. Apparently someone came up all the way from Southampton for the evening. Tom's Tap is a hidden back street real ale micro-brewery that is one of the secret gems of this small industrial town. Laying on the other side of the tracks from the more mainstream venues like the renowned Lyceum Theatre and the newly refurbished Market Hall, Tom's Tap has always tried to offer something a bit different.
"Really pleased to have facilitated this. It was a cracking night. Stay tuned for the next one." (Sean Ayling, Owner of Tom's Tap and Brewhouse, Thomas Street, Crewe)
It was in this small venue that Strange Crewe was born. Simon Briggs, known for DJing at the infamous goth venue Slimelight and also a key player in the Exit the Gray events, decided to bring a bit of the weird and wonderful to Crewe just after lockdown. "It's been going for nearly 3 years now" he told me at the bar later in the evening. "It's just gone from strength to strength. It started small and now, I mean, look at tonight, it's packed!"
Tonight, in celebration of International Women's Day, the Strange Crewe DJ's are all be women. I was absolutely buzzing to be invited to do a set. Through chats on messenger and a bit of hanging out prepping, the four DJs for the night decided we would be the 'Queens of the Damned' and that our first night at Strange Crewe would be in aid of charity. There was no admission charge, we decided on pay what you want and the donations would go straght to local charities St. Paul's Food Bank and Cheshire Without Abuse, who support people suffering from domestic abuse.
Nexus-9, a regular at Tom's Tap said:
"There’s something really satisfying about being part of an event (Queens of the Damned) that raised £348.20 for two very worthy charities. The DJs (Nocturnelle, DJ McLeod, De Dancey, and Marina Red) absolutely killed it with a wide variety of music, considering they had a couple of weeks to learn the kit and a couple were completely new to DJ’ing, also worth a special mention was Siris Celeste who created some of the logo’s and controlled the interactive visuals." (Nexus-9)
I'd like to also slide in here a mention to Pod, who has been brilliant and supportive throughout the whole prep time. Patience is a virtue and the guy is brimming with virtue!!
Fun was had by all. Lots of dancing and, given all the Queens' diverse taste in music, there was a wide verity of alt music catering to all tastes within the scene. Rockers, punks, goths, emos, industrial and EDM lovers all had their share of time to dance or sit back with on of Tom's Taps great ales and enjoy the tunes.
Not long after the event, Sean posted this on Facebook:
"Really pleased to have facilitated this. It was a cracking night. Stay tuned for the next one." (Sean Ayling, Owner of Tom's Tap and Brewhouse, Thomas Street, Crewe)
Definitely stay tuned! Follow the embedded links for more details and get your arses down to Crewe for a bit of Strangeness!
Stephanie Marina Red ©️ 2024
Here's my set-list for those who may want to revisit some of the night, or heard something they liked but was unfamiliar.
Hungry Baby - Kim Gordon
I Wanna Be Your Slave - Maneskin
Kiss Me Girl - Hands Off Gretel
Can't Take You Anywhere - Skunk Anansie
Hayloft - Mother Mother
It's My Life - No Doubt
Karate - Baby Metal
Tommy The Cat - Primus
B.Y.O.B - System of a Down
Mis Barraqueras - Hora Zulu
Just One Fix - Ministry
Super Charger Heaven - White Zombie
Keelhauled - Alstorm
She's Kerosene - The Interrupters
One Eyed Girl - Hands Off Gretel
Celebrity Skin - Hole
Yes, It's F**king Political - Skunk Anansie
Bad Dance - Sleater-Kinney
Fast and Frightening - L7
Aisha - Death in Vegas (feat. Iggy Pop)
Here it is on Spotify