Smoke machines were hardly a rare sight on the late 1990s/early 2000s clubbing scene.
What might have been slightly more unusual, however, is if the smoke came billowing out of a massive fibreglass dragon that sat near the DJ booth.
And that's exactly what you could expect from Newport nightclub, V3, at the turn of the millennium.
"It was as tall as a house," explains DJ Matt Kirke, who used to play his sets to packed out crowds at the venue.
"It had green eyes, and the smoke machine was in its nose - if you pumped the smoke machine, it would just breathe out all this smoke onto the dancefloor.
The 65ft dragon, called Pugin, was built in Carmarthen by Welsh artist David Petersen but Matt isn't sure why it was put in the club, the only reason he can offer: "It's a Welsh club, it was a massive red dragon."
He jokes: "It was a life-size dragon," adding it was "easily as tall as a two-storey house, and the tail went right over the room and over the DJ box and around."
"When a tune dropped, the smoke came out and the eyes went green, everyone was in awe of it.
"Obviously alcohol would make a difference - and God knows what else - but I think the dragon was such a huge part of the club."
The venue, on Stow Hill, offered a mix of music on different nights, from indie on a Wednesday to trance and house on the weekends.
Matt, 38, said: "I was part of building the club with the owner, and then I was a resident.
"Promoters came in and we all created something really special. It went on for a good two or three years."
Matt said that once the club had got going, it was always full - a capacity of around 500 people, he believes - and it was getting a big reputation, not just in Newport but further afield.
He said: "There were people there from London and Manchester, it was capacity.
"We had a guest DJ one week, I think it was Lisa Lashes, and because she could only make an early slot, the club was full by 10pm.
"It was always full, always rammed to the rafters.
"Faithless played there live, it was an unreal show; it was a live show, not a DJ set, they actually set up a stage for it.
"Some of the finest DJs of our time were in that club on a Saturday night, and there were people from all over the UK there."
Matt also recalls DJing after acid house DJ Farley "Jackmaster" Funk.
"He was the headline and my set was after his. He stayed for the whole of my set and picked up the microphone and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk was on the microphone on my set."
"He was bigging me up - my mum was there as well," Matt adds with a laugh.
Another DJ, Dean Nightingale, worked at the venue from opening to closure. He dug out some of the old pictures of the venue, the dragon and the DJs - which he says date back to around the year 2000.
Sam Dabb, who used to work for the DJs at the venue, recalled: "Wednesday nights when I wasn’t working; it was a 'Drop Your Pants' indie night and it was always brilliant."
She added: "Wednesday was indie/alt and then on Saturdays it was house music mainly.
"Loads of famous DJs played there; Lisa Lashes, Graham Gold and loads more."
And of course the dragon was a talking point.
"Everyone loved [the dragon]," said Sam, who now runs Le Pub in Newport. "We always got comments on it."
When asked what sort of comments, Sam said: "Generally, ‘look at that f***ng dragon'."
In 2009, Pugin the dragon was picked up by Steve Fletcher the founder and artistic director of a carnival company in Cardiff, SWICA, where it was kept in his garden.
Do you know where Pugin is now? Send an email to joshua.knapman@walesonline.co.uk
