Arts Beat by Andi Argast
With the flip of the cross fader, and the cueing of a final record, an era of house music came to an end in Ottawa. Atomic, the nightclub on Besserer Street opened its doors in 1997. Now, after five years, the club is closing because of falling attendance and low profitability.
Personally, I did not like Atomic. I am not a big fan of house music, which made up the majority of Atomic’s musical talent.
Unlike many of my friends, I never went enough to get to know the bouncers or the door girl, or the bartenders, apparently a prerequisite if you wanted to be treated like a person. I found the atmosphere in the club a tense mix of snobbishness and sexual frustration.
When I did go, I went to hear a particular DJ, such as Ritchie Hawtin, who had signed a contract with Atomic, and could only play there. I went because I had no choice.
Despite this disparaging attitude towards Atomic, I am not happy to see it go. Although this may come as a surprise, I still considered Atomic a source of Ottawa pride. Unlike Montreal, or Toronto, which are practically meccas for house and techno, Ottawa has a small and non-committal electronic music scene.
People here seem to prefer staying at home and downloading live electronic feeds, to actually going out and involving themselves.
Atomic was the only venue in Ottawa that even came close to comparing to huge clubs like Sona in Montreal, or Turbo in Toronto.
Now that Atomic is gone, Ottawa clubbers have one less opportunity to hear their music.
It will be interesting to see how the remaining clubs in Ottawa do in the wake of Atomic’s closure. Will their attendance grow? Will club owners perhaps change venues to accommodate for the increase?
Certainly, as Ottawa grows, there will be more and more people seeking entertainment in a shrinking number of clubs.
The fact is, there are not many other clubs in Ottawa to pick up the slack. Generally, bars in the Byward Market combine cheesy top 40’s music with a dance floor smaller than my kitchen.
Atomic had two primary functions in Ottawa’s club scene: a venue for house music, and an after-hours club.
For house music, one can still go to Icon’s Velvet Fridays, or the Well, almost any night of the week. Velvet has been growing in popularity in the past year, drawing better known DJ’s and bigger crowds. The only problem, for some unenlightened folks, would be Icon’s regular cliental of drag queens. Unlike most of the remaining venues, Icon is also quite large.
The Well, on the other hand, is tiny. Although Subsonic Thursdays are still popular, the Well is simply too small to accommodate a large crowd. The bigger a DJ is, the more they cost, and if you cannot fit enough people into the bar to cover the cost of the DJ, then it’s not going to work.
As for after-hours clubs, there are very slim pickings.
One has the choice of either Illusions, or the Daylight Lounge. Neither of these places serves alcohol. They have an age limit of course. At the Daylight Lounge, you have to be 16 to get in. (Apparently they ID).
These places are essentially places for strung out raver kids to escape from the real world. Perhaps this is a slight exaggeration; the point is, neither are comparable to Atomic.
What does the future hold for Ottawa’s faithful fans of house music, and those who like to dance ‘til dawn in a relatively clean atmosphere? It is most likely that Atomic will eventually reopen, under a new name, and with a new look.
The club was recently renovated, an expensive move if the owners are planning to close the doors forever. The space the club occupied, which ran the length of the block between Besserer and Rideau streets, is large and centrally located.
In any other city, some musical entrepreneur with big plans would snap up this prime venue. But since this is apathetic Ottawa, we may be in for a long wait.