During a recent CLUB POLL we asked Seen Queen site visitors "What factors do you consider when choosing which club to go to?" We wanted to know what made clubbers choose CLUB X over CLUB Y. We received 1045 responses divided over 12 specific questions. Pollers could make several selections as we know that quite often a combination of factors are used when deciding which club to visit. The end results were not surprising to us as our web site is based around the 'number one 'factor'. Below is our analysis of those results. THE TOP 51. TYPE OF CROWDAttracting 19% of the vote, it is something we at Seen Queen wholly believe in. Fabulous clubs are full of fabulous people, hot clubs are full of hot people and twink clubs are full of...you guessed it...twinks.
This, however does not affect that clubbers want to hang out with like people. That is why clubs like Matinee & SuperMartXe are the leading gAylist clubs attracting the hottest of the hot, the hunkiest of the hunky and sexiest of the sexy. That is why you will only see some of those people only at those clubs and nowhere else. HARD ON's success is attributed to the fact it draws in fetish lovers. Coming from all walks of life, they share their lust and desire for leather, rubber, skins and so on. Similarly MEGAWOOF and XXL are aimed at Bears and this is their main clientele. Alternative club kid move towards Gutterslut than Salvation and the Latin posse love to groove at the big circuit like parties such as Rapido, SuperMartXe and Matinee. So no surprise there. Like attracts like! 2. DJ LINEUPIf clubs are the new churches then DJs are the preachers we go to listen to. Have the right DJ line up and you can have the advantage over another club. Promoters know this which is why there is always so much politics and bitching surrounding DJs. Many times DJs have been threatened with their livelihoods should they go and play at a competing venue. This does not do much for dynamic DJ line ups..and it compromises DJs means of existence, but coming in at 2nd with 16% of the vote...DJs are often the weapons on the front line of any club war.
When we go clubbing, apart from the 'hot totty', we factor in the music choices. Some DJs represent certain styles and since like attract likes...most clubbers will go to a club where they are more likely to like the music then not. What happens when the crowd matches our taste but not the DJs. There are in fact several of those clubs which will remain nameless (after all, it's all relative) but with 'TYPE OF CROWD being our number one choice, many of us will forgo the tunes for a hot piece of arse. Nowhere more can this be seen in a club where a popular DJ will often be forgone to hang out where all the hot boys are. 3. THE VENUEInterestingly, while the VENUE came in THIRD attracting 12% of the vote , the Venue's services (such as toilets, medic etc) came in much lower at 6%. From the results both LOCATION & SOUND AND LIGHTING are two major factors contributing to a venues Why do we love or hate a venue? It's public image? The crowd it attracts? The music? It all adds up. 4. SOUND & LIGHTINGIf clubbing is about the music, then Sound & Lighting is the fourth most important factor to clubbers, attracting 8% of the vote. If the sound is shite in a club...you will certainly hear about it! And news of a shit sound system can spread like wildfire. Bad sound and lighting does not help our drugs to work well, takes the boom out of a tune and you can 5.LOCATIONLocation, location, location. Hold a club outside the Vauxhall ghetto and you are doomed to failure? Well for 7% of you where a club is located is very important. Too far from home, the centre of town or from other clubs and you have an uphill battle to attract clubbers. We've all heard the chorus chanting 'queens won't travel'. Well it seems the 'hot gAylisters' will, as events like Matinee, Rapido and SuperMartXe have some of the hottest clubbing crowds around and they are all now outside the Vauxhall Ghetto. Some of those events may not be 'rammed pack' but we at Seen Queen have always been a believer of quality over quantity. So how far will a queen travel to go clubbing, or do the other factors come into play in considering location. Will you travel for a hot crowd and a good DJ line up? Recently it seems more and more are willing to escape the Vauxhall ghetto, but that is a certain type of clubber. Others go for convenience and will only go to clubs local to their home (it makes sense economically considering the cost of cabs). For us at Seen Queen we will travel to a club for hot boys and the right DJs...but there are limits to where we will travel, especially to areas where transport is difficult. |
AND THE RESTIt seems the Strictness of Security and Availability of Recreational Drugs are equal in our poll attracting 6% of the vote each...although some may say that one goes with the other LOL! The fact that the AVAIALABILTY OF RECREATIONAL DRUGS rated relatively low, yet everyone seems to be on them makes us think that perhaps not everyone is telling the truth or that they have easy access to drugs in the first place. This of course does not suggest that people will go or not go clubbing if they could not get drugs...just the availability of them. It could make an interesting poll itself! A CLUBS POPULARITY and the REPUTATION OF THE PROMOTER also came outside the TOP 5. Does this mean 'YOU ARE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST PROMOTION'? Considering the economic situation, the costs of clubbing seemed to be of little consideration to clubbers. While we often hear them moaning about the price of drinks, it does not come into play as a major factor when deciding which club to go to. Similarly door charges seems of little importance only attracting 6% of the vote. Perhaps most of our Seen Queen visitors are already on the 'guest list' being the gAylisters that they are. The full result of the club poll of WHICH CLUB can be seen below.
|
 |
|
| FEATURE: WHICH CLUB IS WHICH? | |
Aimed at the gAylist, Seen Queen only lists the clubs we can recommend to our peers; because we know these are the type of clubbers we want to hang out with. Of course, over time clubbing has changed and things are not as 'exclusive and as glamorous' as they used to be. Clubbing has made a fundamental shift from being Social to being a product that anyone can buy.
Some DJs are more popular than others. FACT. Whether this is because they are groundbreaking or commercial, hot or not, well marketed...a DJs popularity is made up of different factors and successful DJ line ups are made up of combing the right DJs in the right order. It's not rocket science, but one has to wonder why so many clubs get it wrong...and others get it 100% right.
popularity, and we are thinking that a Venue's reputation must be important. Some VENUES attract stigmas and promoters need to work very hard to overcome theses stigmas. How and why these venues attract stigmas are based on things like individual experiences and rumour and conjecture. AREA, for example, despite its major refit and amazing matrix ceiling was a ghost town to gayers until BEYOND bought it to the forefront of clubbing. Mention FIRE to clubbers and you will get two very distinct responses- either LOVE or HATE. Same with the Coliseum. 
turn a good night out into one moan fest. Promoters and club owners taken note. Although it must be said, at least on the sound front, clubs like AREA, FIRE, COLLOSEEUM, HIDDEN and BARCODE stand out. Both FIRE and AREA also have the distinct advantage of amazing and unique lighting.