In recent days it has come to light that beloved Dublin nightclub The Twisted Pepper is set to close her doors for good this weekend. The unofficial epicenter for electronic music in Ireland’s capital city for the last number of years. It has welcomed talent from all over the world week in week out and its basement room has been the setting for more than one memorable night.
With so many of the When We Dip team hailing from Ireland it is safe to say that between those four walls our love for electronic music was shaped and molded to what it is today. Nights spent discovering new music that, without this simple club, we would not have had. People all over the city have the Twisted Pepper and Body tonic to thank for their trend setting booking of acts that they knew people needed to hear. Thanks to the pepper world class Dj’s were brought to our humble shores to share the message of the underground. Everything from house and techno to bass and dub have all rocked the foundations of this pillar of Dublin’s music scene. Needless to say most of the team here at WWD were gutted to hear this sad news, so we decided to take this opportunity to share our favorite and most memorable moments in the twisted pepper.
By far my most memorable night in the twisted pepper was my very first time seeing Maya Jane Coles play. It was in the main room in late 2012. I was relatively new to the electronic music scene, but had begun to frequent places like the pepper more and more after becoming tired of other clubs around the city and the music they were playing. Maya started strong and fast and continued with her classic brand of house and techno up until about half way through. When she went and dropped almost all of her remix of Florence and the Machines “Say my name”. Going from a strong 130BPM right down to what seems like snails pace was a major shock to the system but it was something only Maya could have gotten away with. Everyone kind of stopped dancing and looked at each other as Florence Welch’s harrowing voice rang out around the room. That was a moment I will never forget and by far my favorite moment. My memory is a little hazy but the guards ended up in the venue at the end of the night to close things down. That was the night that cemented my love of electronic music and the mighty twisted pepper alike.
Eats everything in January 2013 was a massive one for me. He played an amazing set of his usual brand of bass heavy house and even went and finished with a tweakin acid version of Josh Wink’s Higher state of consciousness and then renegade, by friend within and this was way before it started to get loads of radio play around in 2014. Absolutely cracking gig!
For me it was Benga in the basement around Christmas time 2012. That sums up for me exactly what the twisted pepper is all about. Dark, gritty and a damn heavy duty sound system. This was back during the days of Dubstep going through her peak times before mainstream America got their hands on it. The low down ceiling of the basement always created a really packed atmosphere even though it was this tiny room.
April 2014. Marcell Dettman in the basement and the don himself Zedd Bias in the main room. What a combo! Marcel tore the absolute roof off of the basement putting the low ceiling and the big sound system to use. His brand of Berlin techno always created such an intense atmosphere down there. Sweat pouring out of every single pore, rubbing off people all there for the exact same reason. Perfect. And just when you thought you were going to collapse you could go up to the main room to get down to Zedd bang out some of the finest of old school garage. He handed things over to Dublin’s very own Bobofunk at the end who closed with a personal favorite, “turn the page” by The Streets.
Joy Orbison back in maybe 2012 has always stuck with me as one of the best nights. It was a last minute decision to go and we arrived just as he was coming on. He must have played the first 5 or 10 minutes with the bass turned way down because then all of a sudden he dropped “Wade In” and the whole place shook around us. Anyone who has been down the basement knows the feeling of the floorboards vibrating underneath your feet when the Dj is going in hard. Nothing better and something I will always love.