PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE



Prologue Seventh Birthday

TimeOut Critics' Choice

The Scala, 275-277 Pentonville Road, London , N1 9NL



Seven years is a big anniversary in itself, but it's more significant that

Prologue is upscaling and really going 'live' tonight. This is the third

venue in its slow-motion King's Cross tour (after three years or so at both

The Cross and EGG), and the promoter is keen to

keep the night fresh, as much for the artists and DJs as the regulars.



Prologue has always been different though, choosing not to rely on big-name

DJs but to provide a platform for new talent and encourage its up-and-coming

resident DJs to experiment as they play debauched electro, twisted techno

and underground house.



Having three rooms to play with in all its venues certainly helps. The irony

now is that many of the DJs it first gave deck-space to have up-and-come and

are big names now, like Bedrock resident Neil Quigley (who first played here

in 2002) or Matt Tolfrey, head honcho of the leading techno imprint Leftroom

Records. The 'Kosheen DJs' don't play anywhere else (Harvey knew them years

before the band became successful) while it's also got the likes of Timo

Garcia, Paul Louth and AudioJack with plenty more coming through on the two

underground house dancefloors.



Tonight though, the main auditorium (and its brand new Turbosound system),

plays host to ProLive. Harvey first tried live performance in September and

aims to programme a mix of more established bands like Newcastle's

electro-rockers Viva City (who were signed to Kosheen's label after their

first Prologue date), Black Mariah ('atmospheric, attitudinal rockers with a

fondness for The Fall, post-rock and Primal Scream' says Time Out), Def By

Disco and singer-songwriter Susie Ledge.



'I could have carried on as it was but every now and again you've got to put

your club to the test,' he says. 'I'm even more excited by Prologue now than

when we first started.'



Dave Swindells, Mon Feb 4



NEW TO PROLOGUE?

Check you DJ Mags review of the night:

Clubbing milestones have been coming thick and fast of late. Yet for an

independent promoter in London to reach their fifth birthday – particularly

in such a fickle climate where fads and trends and shoddy door policies can ruin you overnight- it's quite some achievement. Even more so when you realise Prologue have done this largely without relying on big names.

Having launched in the winter of 2001 at The Cross, they quickly made a name for themselves by somehow uniting the glam IT crowd with the kind of people who need dragging (or more often than not peeling) from the dancefloor at 6am. Despite enjoying three successful years here, they made the short trip up York Way to The Egg back in 2004 via a brief nomadic hiatus that included Pacha and Canvas.

And so tonight they turn five- a party that is all the more nostalgic given

that we were among said reprobates who needed peeling from the floor at the opening. It also makes us wonder- with furrowed brows and a quiet sense of loathing- what exactly happened in between? For Prologue is the kind of place where time generally becomes meaningless, some foul and hideous rave vortex where you emerge several hours later (and occasionally days) none the wiser.

What has probably helped Prologue's longevity is the fact they are are not afraid to mix it up. While resident Paul Louth or the Kosheen DJ's are tripping everybody out downstairs with their techy bleepy acid house, the People Like Us trio are spinning soulful house to a roomful of scantily-clad honeys in stilettos. Indeed. It's that careful balance between

girl-friendly glam and downright rotten with bells on that is undoubtedly

the handle behind Prologue's success.

Those five years might have taken their toll personally (hangovers that last until Thursday, etc) but for Prologue, things really couldn't be healthier.