Gatecrasher
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Gatecrasher (later Crasher) is a dance music event formerly held at the venue Gatecrasher 1, previously Republic, in Sheffield, England. Its organisers were Simon Raine, Simon Oates and (until 2004) Scott Bond.
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[edit] History
Gatecrasher was first held in Birmingham in 1993 in the 'engine house'. The night originally took its form from similar local clubs such as 'Fun', 'Wobble', 'Miss Moneypenny's' and 'Cream'.
The club later moved to Bakers nightclub on Broad Street, but became so popular that larger events were organised in other locations in and around the West Midlands.
The event relocated to the Leadmill in Sheffield, then Saturdays at The Arches, before moving to The Adelphi and then later, in 1997, The Republic, also in Sheffield. Gatecrasher bought The Republic in 1997.
The music style was originally mainly Techno and House oriented. At the end of the 1990s, Gatecrasher was instrumental in the rise of trance music. The superclub developed a cult following (Crasher Kids) who in turn developed their own style of fashion, identifiable by fluorescent clothes, dummies and spiky hair. Although this style of dress permeated UK dance clubs up to 2003, Gatecrasher began to discourage it from their club around 2001—2002, in an attempt to move the club more "up-market" and develop a following among a different audience. This successfully remodeled the image of Gatecrasher as perceived by the general public.
In 2002, the club night became a monthly event due to dwindling numbers and a general decline in the previously hugely popular trance scene. This was also the year that Gatecrasher London at Heaven started and attempted to emulate the success at the venue where city rival Sundissential were based 4 years previously. However unlike Sundissential who secured a Saturday night residency at the Aquarium in Old Street after a 8 month residency at Heaven, Gatecrasher's dismal door takings and attendance saw them depart London within a few weeks never to return to the Capital.
In 2003, the company rebranded The Republic and completely refitted it, renaming it Gatecrasher 1, as it was supposedly the first of ten new Gatecrasher venues around the UK. At the same time the actual club night was renamed 'Crasher', the abbreviated name already used by some of its fans before the refit. However, by late 2003; and reflecting a wide-spread decline in UK club attendances, the event was being held only on special occasions such as Bank Holidays.
In 2005, the company opened a new club in Leeds under the name Discotheque. This was originally planned to be called Gatecrasher 2, but over the years the brand name of Gatecrasher had been tarnished[citation needed] and the company felt the need to take a slice of action from the rising Funky House scene[citation needed].
On 18th June 2007, Gatecrasher One caught fire and partially collapsed. The nightclub was demolished and the optimistic press release from Gatecrasher had confirmed they would be returning to Sheffield. Investigations into the causes of the fire are still ongoing.
Since the fire at Gatecrasher One, Gatecrasher have held one-off events at the Magna Centre near Rotherham.
[edit] Spin-off successes
Gatecrasher has held several extremely successful large events including Summer Sound System (40,000 Capacity), Gatecrasher NEC (15,000 Capacity), Crasher N/Ice (at the Nottingham Ice Arena) (7,500 Capacity), Gatecrasher Sound System (Australia) and Fort Dance in Russia (40,000 Capacity). The promoters also ran a popular Gatecrasher night for one year at Eden in Ibiza during the summer of 2000 (This has been revived for 2006/7 with the award winning "Gatecrasher Ibiza Live" parties held once again at Eden (nightclub), San Antonio.
The Gatecrasher brand is well known throughout the dance music scene, mainly due to a large number of compilation CDs released on the Sony offshoot label INCredible. It has featured such editions as Black, Red, Wet, Disco-tech, Global Sound System and National Anthems.
[edit] Albums
- Gatecrasher Black, Released: 1998
- Gatecrasher Red, Released: Feb 1999
- Gatecrasher Wet, Released: July 1999
- Gatecrasher Disco-Tech, Released: Oct 1999
- Gatecrasher Global Sound System, Released: Oct 2000
- Gatecrasher National Anthems, Released: Dec 2000
- Gatecrasher Discotech Generation, Released: April 2001
- Gatecrasher Digital, Released: Oct 2001
- Gatecrasher Experience, Released: Jan 2002
- Gatecrasher Digital Trance, Released: April 2002
- Gatecrasher Resident Transmission, Released April 2003
- Gatecrasher Resident Transmission 2, Released May 2003
- Gatecrasher Presents Crasher Live in Amsterdam & Kuala Lumpur, Released: March 2004
- Gatecrasher Classics, Released: June 2005
- Gatecrasher Classics 2, Released: Nov 2005
- Gatecrasher Forever, Released: June 2006
- Gatecrasher Christopher Lawrence Live In Moscow, Released: April 2007
- Gatecrasher Immortal, Released: 3rd September 2007
- Gatecrasher Sheffield - Ferry Corsten, Released: 16th March 2008
- Gatecrasher Summer Sound System 2008, Released: 19th May 2008
[edit] Awards
- Night Life Awards 2005 "Discotheque By Gatecrasher Leeds".
- Web Site of the year 2005 "Designer David Ellis".
- Muzik Magazine’s "Club Of The Year".
- Ministry Magazine’s "Club Of The Year" and "Best Website".
- M8 Magazine's "Superclub Of the Year" plus "Event Of Year" and "Best Album".
- Disco International's "Event Of The Year".
- Mixmag's "Crowd Of The Year".
- M8 Ibiza Dance Awards 2006, Best New Night.
