A flying start for nightspot

By Sergey Chernov

St.Petersburg Press


Night owls who like to party will be pleased to hear that a new dance nightclub has opened in St Petersburg.

The Nora (Burrow) Club is located in the same building as the well-established Gora Club which specializes in live rock concerts.

It is linked to the Gora but the style and musical approach is somewhat different.

Nora has been launched by the popular local band Dva Samolyota (Two Airplanes), whose danceable sound incorporates diverse influences, including African rhythms.

Throughout the last couple of years the group has often played Moscow's clubland, which seems to be more fully-fledged than St Petersburg's club scene. The new club is probably their vision of what an ideal nightspot should look like.

Despite the relatively hefty entrance fee, having the sufficient dough (up to $10) will not immediately guarantee you admission; you must have a special invitation from the band's members. If not, you will have to pass the "face control" at the doors.

"We don't want to let in men wearing jackets, with beeping telephones, who occasionally ask the DJ to lower the volume," said Anton Belyankin, the band's bassist. The wrong type of ties or leather trousers are also out.

The city's more established nightspot called The Tunnel is reportedly having problems with the law because of drug trafficking now, but Dva Samolyota insist that drugs will be strictly forbidden on the Nora premises.

When most clubs are closed on Monday, the Nora Club will be offering "chill-out" nights on that day, with trance and ambient music playing for people to relax to after the usual stormy weekend.

The biggest events will be on Saturday, when special thematic dance nights are held.

Unlike the other venues, Nora's personnel will not be driving customers out as soon as Metro starts functioning; you will be able to spend time inside until noon.

After several evenings of loud, electronic music, Sunday will offer a change with acoustic, unplugged concerts.

"Many musicians have good songs which could be sung with just an acoustic guitar," explained Belyankin. "And we don't want any headbangers here.

"Playing acoustic concerts is a forgotten tradition stemming from the underground apartment performances of the Soviet era," he added.

"Kostya Kinchev, Yuri Shevchuk and all the rest played like that all the time," Belyankin said, mentioning leaders of the now-popular rock bands Alisa and DDT.

However, the managers stress that the club will be organizing cultural events such as art exhibitions and film shows.

"Cultural programs are much more important for us than just dance nights," said Belyankin.

Security will be provided by the regular city policemen. "Even hooligans still respect the police uniform," said Belyankin.