House Clubs and Househeads

by Sally Sommer

In a city that has instigated hostile laws to control the actual clubs, Underground clubs are defined more by what takes place inside. Underground clubs (as the name suggests) seek to stay under the radar. If someone wants to find the best club party, they have to actively seek information about when and where that might be occurring, which heightens the aura of being secretive and exclusive to a special group of people.  Ideally, the clubs locate in non-residential, light-industry districts, hoping that gentrification does not invade the neighborhood and push them out -- which is what happened with David Mancuso’s famous “Loft” on Spring Street in lower Manhattan’s Soho district.  From the outside, Underground clubs look unremarkable and anonymous. There are few if any signs, no visible addresses, no fancy lighting, just a couple of black doors.  What makes them recognizable is the barely discerned bass thump penetrating the brick walls and the loose cluster of people in front of the doors.  The club may open at 10 PM but it stays empty until midnight or 1 AM.

In NYC, and this is true for many clubs in America’s big cities, different nights are dedicated to different crowds, with music and dance specifically catered to their particular tastes. Instead of having loyalty to one particular club, Househeads seek out which “party” to follow.  “Parties” are fluid events whose organizers/promoters throw special House-music and dancing nights hosted by well-liked DJs. Dancers also shift and navigate through a series of clubs on a single night, staying in one place until it closes or they get bored, then they move on to another club that stays open later or has a better vibe. Of course, every Clubgoer would love to have a consistent place to go with a great sound system. But, since the reinvigorated enforcement and re-positioning of restrictive NYC club laws in the 1990s, clubs are constantly harassed, forcing the party to move around. A dedicated Househead has to be in, and stay in, the loop to know which party is happening on which night. Parties do little advertising beyond the internet, FaceBook, word of mouth, and maybe some postcards or fliers handed out on the sidewalks. Within the hierarchy of Underground-House clubs, there are different levels of visibility. Serious dancers tend to patronize the lesser-known and less visible spots. In NYC, hard-core house dancers keep away from the heavily publicized clubs, which claim to be “underground” but which the real House dancers consider too “touristy.”  “Touristy” means that club attracts a non-dancing crowd that chooses a club because they believe it is “in” rather than knowing it is a great place to hear music and dance. 

An important part of the Underground-House rite of passage is the body check at the door -- emblematic of cleansing, of releasing weapons and the combativeness of the streets before entering the safe haven.  “It means I come in peace.  I am open to what the DJ has to offer me” explains Archie Burnett (Burnett, interview, New York City, July 31, August 1, 1993).  This action formally separates the outside from the inside, demarcating the secular from the sacred, marking the transition from a secular-temporal space to that magical club space that is not restricted by outside time and boundaries.  After the frisking, the person passes through a metal-detector arch, or enters a poorly-lit foyer or darkened hallway, and through a set of doors in order to reach the inner sanctum of the dance floor. “That’s when I begin to smell the familiar smells of reefer, sweat, and feel the heat.  The bass drums flutter in my stomach like butterflies and I am about ready to jump out of my skin” (Burnett, interview with author, July 31, August 1, 1993).  Inside, the outside world drops away. One crosses into a place with different codes, rules, judgments and games, entering an environment that is acoustic, olfactory, and tactile.

Once inside, the bass vibrates and resonates in the sternum.  On the floor, strobe lights pixilate space and action, light cones probe the darkness and whirling light-flecks reflect off mirrored balls to produce visual and physical disorientation. Perceptual modes shift as the person begins sensing with the skin and seeing in the dark. Everything is in motion. The only way to get balanced and centered is to move your feet.  House music is produced and EQ’d to be listened to with the body. The person is acknowledged and recognized not by their name but by how they move.  The language is physical and identification is made the physical markers put into play by a set of highly personalized motional styles. “Can you feel it?”