EDMers everywhere today shed a tear, as news came through that legendary London club Fabric has been shut down indefinitely.
We ourselves, having previously had our hands in the air like we just didn’t care, silently lowered our hands upon hearing the news, in mournful recognition of how much we did, indeed, care.
Fabric’s licence was revoked in response to the recent drug-related deaths of two teenagers. EDM heavyweights like Matt Tolfrey, Skream, and Lee Curtiss testified at a review of the decision earlier today but their efforts, alas, were to no avail.
We’re all for measures to make sure people have a safe time, but closing down an iconic cultural venue is a step too far. If you have a gander at the transcripts from the review, it’s clear that the authorities were pretty far removed from reality.
Committee chair asks if club would be safer if faster BPMs banned. Thankfully licensing authority says this is not enforceable #FabricReview
— Seb Wheeler (@seb_wheeler_) September 6, 2016
Yep – the committee chair wondered if it was possible to ban music with a high tempo. We haven’t seen attempted rhythm policing like this since Hitler tried to ban jazz syncopation. Not that we’d want to compare this decision to Nazism – it’s just that, well, the Nazis did try to do similar things.
As sad as this is, it’s sort of comforting to know that Australia isn’t the only place under assault by anti-party authoritarians.
Heck, pretty soon the whole world will be the town from Footloose.
