I spent a large part of my adolescence cursing that I was born at the wrong time, in the wrong place. Going out on the town ever since I could sneak past bouncers, it seemed nothing could ever be as fun as the legendary clubs gone by. I wanted to watch Bianca Jagger ride into Studio 54 on a horse, see Leigh Bowery working the bin bag look at Taboo and dance with baggy-trousered boys wide-eyed on 80s ecstasy at the Hacienda. Try as I might, I would never be able to say, "I was there." Until recently, that is.
When BoomBox came rolling into town around a year ago, it had the pedigree of previous clubs Golf Sale and Family, and was just another east London hangout. For the first night, that is. Quicker than you can say Blitz Kids, club legend status suddenly seemed assured. How this happened is a mystery. Similar clubs blossomed at the same time - Foreign, Anti-Social, All You Can Eat - but none are on the radar of American Vogue, featured on the cover of London's Time Out and have thousands of club kids causing a road block round Hoxton Square every Sunday night.
Somehow or other, in just over a year, BoomBox has captured the global zeitgeist. As an occasional attender, I can vouch that it could be this generation's Studio 54. Freaks mingle with the fabulous (this club is as much about the outfit as the anthem) and the new gen mix with club legends Princess Julia, Wolfgang Tillmans and Philip Salon. The club has also boosted the careers of performance artists Jeanette and Johnny Woo and club photographer Alistair Allen, as well as giving misfits a place to head to on a Sunday night.
Richard Mortimer, BoomBox's promoter, is determined his club will down in the history of afterdark London. He has, so far, arranged for Bjork to DJ, seen Naomi Campbell get down on the dancefloor and persuaded Kylie Minogue to shimmy on the bar. He's also self-published a book (with the help of MAC Cosmetics) on the history of the short-lived club - complete with images by Tillmans and designer Katherine Hamnett. A CD is the next project. Released in collaboration with hip Parisian label Kitsune, it's affirmation that BoomBox is about more than men in frocks.
Whether or not BoomBox will join the Studio 54 and Hacienda elite is up for debate, but it will certainly leave a hole on a Sunday night when it closes its doors. Personally, I hope it does go down in legend. Then, finally, I'll be able to say, "I was there."
