Where did the idea of BSL come from?

JD: When I used to go out clubbing in my mid teens in these dives in Liverpool and St Helens it used to seem impossibly dangerous and glamorous. Because of that whole youth tribes having to stick together thing, you'd hear loads of different sorts of music surrounded by loads of different sorts of people. You'd have punks listening to acid house and straight edge kids listening to goth, that sort of thing. At least I think it used to be like that; I used to drink a lot of Special Brew and may have romanticized it slightly. I basically wanted a club that would cut right through genre boundaries and maintain this air of glamour and danger. It's not that jarring though; you've got this real four-to-the-floor thing that links ‘Undercover Of The Night' to ‘Spellbound' to ‘NY Excuse'.

JT: I went to some of these places. The definition of the word “glamorous” is being stretched to breaking point here.

JD: Well, glamorous in that ‘nuclear sky-eye' Suede sort of way.

How did you get it started?

JD: I started planning it with the help of my flatmate Manish Agarwal who writes for MOJO and Loose Lips. He named it actually. It used to be called ‘Shack Up' after the A Certain Ratio song but he said that was a bit cheesy and started flipping through my albums and chanced across my frankly gigantic selection of Revolting Cocks records. And by that token the night easily could have been called Scary Monsters, The Lexicon of Love, Kenny Everett's The Worst Records In The World or Motown Chartbusters Volume 3. My main source of inspiration back at the beginning was Mr Simon Price and his Stay Beautiful disco. I met him when we worked on BANG together and he chided me for not collecting vinyl. After a few years of going to Stay Beautiful I thought ‘I love this club, I want one, and now that I've bought all of those Visage 12”s I can run one if I want.'

Do you take requests?

JT: You can ask, and if we've got it, and it fits in, we might even play it. We're also always paying attention to things people ask for that we don't have, and if we get asked for something enough, we'll probably go out and buy it. However, we are not a democracy, we are a benevolent disco dictatorship, and sometimes, you are just going to have to trust us.

Have you got any Madness?

JD: No. No we haven't. What we do have is really cool girls and dapper guys dancing to the cream of left field indie, synth pop, goth, acid house, new wave, electro, and our own bootlegs, re-edits and remixes courtesy of John T.

JT: There are plenty of other places you can listen to knock-offs of ‘Knees Up Mother Brown'. One of the best is in front of the mirror at home, taking a long hard look at yourself. When you've done that, use the same mirror to get dressed up and come along to dance to something good.

How did you get ready for the first night?

JD: Around the time of my birthday last year John T made me a bootleg of the Nume's ‘Cars' with Sir Mixalot rapping about ‘Big Butts' over the top of it as a present. It was hilarious but then we realised that he was actually onto something and then a couple of days later we offered him a slot. Pretty much since then it's been run by me, him and Maria (the shadowy svengali who oversees the whole operation and the lovely lady you'll see stamping your hands as you enter).

JT: Alas, I have been banned from ever playing “I Like Big Cars” at BSL. No-one other than me appears to be upset by this, mind you.

What actually is your music policy?

JD: We always say that we play music that slightly drunk and sexually ambivalent Cylon Raiders would listen to on shore leave. We don't actually know what this means but it sounds good.

How was the first night different from how you envisaged it?

JD: Well, we didn't have a six piece drum orchestra jamming along to the LCD Soundsystem records; we didn't have a string quartet playing David Bowie cover versions while dressed in baco foil; we didn't have men dressed as Cybermen leading the breakdancing. And we did run out of records with an hour left at the end of the evening. Luckily our mate Jeff Automatic turned up with his computer full of tunes to save the day. Which is why the first night is the one and only time you'll hear 60s ska at a futurist disco.

JT: We also weren't stood in a fearsomely empty room, with the Cybermen having to have a word with the baco foil string players for hassling us for payment when we were both clearly about to start crying. Which was odd, because most of our projected scenarios had precisely this outcome.

Have you got any drum and bass?

JD: God help me. Have you read the shortest verse in The Bible?

Who are the BSL family?

JD: Michael Gray is our new Third Man behind the decks, and will be appearing more and more at BSL and BSL-related events. All of our design, flyers and posters are put together by Mr Stuart Green; leading Cornish Independence freedom fighter. There are regular DJs Leo Lonergan and Diggedy Derek, Mr Simon Price, our co-founder Manish Agarwal, Jeff Automatic and last and certainly not least Jim Dyson the 7” King. Also we rely on our Super Flyer Guy Barrie the Painter and our film man Ben McCoy. Other affiliates include Niche Ian and Pisces Damien from Club Clique in Manchester . Also our friends Ginger Andy and Melissa have taken photos.

How come we haven't heard any of your bootlegs anywhere else?

JT: Each of our bootlegs is like a new member of the family, a precious child, a bonny new addition to the ever-growing brood. And the little fuckers simply cannot behave themselves, so they've been grounded until they learn to mind their Ps and Qs. We're not having them out ‘til all hours at clubs we've never heard of, with stupid clothes on and hanging out with the “wrong sort”. That's how it starts .

How can we get hold of them?

JT: Occasionally, when one of them has been extra extra good, we allow them onto one of our Mix CDs or downloads, which we give away for free, because we love you, and not in any way because of some cynical viral marketing agenda.

Why did you move to the Albany ?

JD: When I first moved to London I had the privilege of going to one of the Heavenly Social nights at The Albany. The Chemical Brothers were DJing. I don't remember anything about it but that is kind of the point really. Since then, I've been to too many brilliant nights at this legendary little basement club than I can list and we're still really excited about rocking the ones and twos here. Once, on Diggedy Derek's birthday I headbanged to ‘Ace of Spades' so violently that I fainted and fell into a bunch of people having a quiet drink.

Are you available to DJ parties and clubs?

JD: Absolutely. Get in touch with us via the contacts page.

Have you got ‘Bike' by Pink Floyd?

JT: Yes, I have, on a tape right at the back of my wardrobe under a black bin bag full of old clothes I must get round to taking to Oxfam. It's been there for a good four years or more.

Can I have a pint of Guinness and three Sambucas?

JD: I think you've had too much already. A guy who looks like Dennis Wilson just before he drowned and another one who looks like Chesney Hawkes' pissed uncle dressed like Kraftwerk frantically trying to cue up ‘Warm Leatherette' by Grace Jones and mop JD & Coke off a laptop patently aren't serving drinks. Ask one of the bar staff.

I'm a DJ, can I play at BSL?
JT: Maybe. We have a very strict aesthetic, and anyone playing at BSL has to work within arbitrary and totally unfair rules, imposed by us, which we might flagrantly break, but you can't. All prospective guest DJs are given the BSL ‘List Of Shame', which breaks down the kinds of records and bands that will never be allowed to darken our doors.

If you don't like the sound of this, it probably won't work out. However, if you are up for the challenge, get in touch via the contacts page, and either send us a mix, or invite us down to hear you play somewhere else. However, please bear in mind that we already have a lot of prospective guest DJs lined up, and we are very picky. And extremely lazy. So please don't take offence if we take a while to get back to you.

Bear in mind that we don't really care about DJ mixing “skillz” as much as we care about your having impeccable good taste and a cool outfit. Which will ideally be in the BSL DJ dress code of all black with red and / or white accessiories.

How much do BSL love us?

JD: More than you can possibly imagine. (Unless, that is, you request Phil Collins.)

JT: So much it hurts. And do you call ? Do you write ? You've got a heart like a stone, you have.