New Haven is Ready for a European-style EDM Club

Last May, a wall-to-wall crowd of dancing bodies filled Stella Blues as DJ outfit Sunken Disco performed for their last time in New Haven. Bringing funk, house, trance, and techno to New Haven, the Sunken Disco events were wildly popular.

The last one, I could barely find room to dance.

Unfortunately, Sunken Disco consisted entirely of European citizens only living in New Haven temporarily, and, when they finished their work (I assume some kind of mad scientist thing), Sunken Disco died. (Or at least moved away).

But it got me thinking: There is an appetite for this kind of dance party.

New Haven already has a couple of popular dance spots which cover a few types of music. Bar is the go-to spot for pop and hip hop. Pacifico and Barcelona cover Latin music. Brother Jimmy’s covers pop music and fist fights between bros.

No bar or club specializes in electronic dance music, or EDM as its used as an insult.

(Actually, Van Dome might, but I have never been there out of principle cause of the name “Van Dome.”)

Yet New Haven is FULL of Europeans who work for Yale and you know what Europeans love? Dancing to techno until 4 am.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

New Haven Can Sustain an EDM Club (Maybe)

Okay, maybe not a full-time club. Certainly not anything open from Sunday to Wednesday. But perhaps a club from Thursday to Saturday. Or perhaps a currently open bar who is not doing great business could do EDM nights.

Okay, maybe like… one night a week.

I know Toad’s Place does some sort of “EDM” but it’s Toad’s Place and it’s gross and it’s full of undergrads and nobody wants that. Some say that the floors are so sticky that some people are still stuck there to this day.

But I honestly believe there is a strong appetite for a some kind of electronica-type dance club.

Listen, I get it. I know the allure of another hip hop club/Bar alternative is so strong and that’s why places like Russian Lady, Vanity, and Black Bear are thriving, right?

Perhaps it’s time to try something different. Perhaps instead of catering to 19-year-old Quinnipiac students wearing inexplicably little clothing in 4 degree weather isn’t the best business model.

Maybe it makes sense to appeal to people with… jobs?

Who This Caters To

Not only does an EDM-style club cater to the shocking number of European expats living here in New Haven, but it appeals to people like me as well: People who like dancing, but don’t necessarily want to be part of the twenty-something club scene.

I don’t mind dancing at Bar, but just the sheer number of grimey dudes hovering around weirds me out, and I’m not even a lady. It would be nice if there was somewhere to dance that wasn’t just about grinding on strangers and hooking up.

Of course, any club where attractive people dance is going to attract grimey dudes. It’s unavoidable. But at least I’d be listening to the pulsating trance I enjoy rather than “Engine No. 9” for the millionth time.

So… Now What?

Well now that I’ve established the possibilities, I assume some Intrepid Business Owner Who Definitely Reads This Blog will see the wisdom in my ways and start a Trance or Techno Night or something.

Maybe they’ll make me a VIP, I don’t know.

Or maybe we need one of the new venues to just do a regular European Electronica night or something. I don’t know. I’m here to criticize ideas, not come up with them.

Maybe State House gets some cool DJ’s from New York and it becomes a regular thing. Maybe Rudy’s. I don’t know.

I just know that Sunken Disco exposed a demand for a type of dancing/event that does not currently exist in New Haven.

Or, y’know, maybe we open four new escape rooms and seven new poke places. I’m not the boss of New Haven.

(Goddamnit, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.)

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