IT'S summer 1996, and a small but suave coterie of lounge lizards gather every fortnight at McGrattan's restaurant in Fitwilliam Lane, to experience the ultimate in laid back chic and relaxed retro. On these balmy Thursday evenings, the punters try to keep cool in their polyester shirts, swaying their hips and clicking their fingers to the smooth, syncopated sounds of Pizzicato Five, Lalo Schifrin, John Barry and Tom Jones, while ultraviolet light beams down on the leopardskin backdrop. Bored with largin' it up at the tacky techno clubs, these born again sophisticates are slipping into something more comfortable, where sitting down isn't looked down upon, and the atmosphere, is less E and more G & T. With a twist.
This is the Ultra Lounge, Dublin's only "loungecore" club, where the feeling is groovy and the chairs are smooth and velvety. It's a new spin on the old 1960s cocktail lounge idea, a chrome and formica fantasy in which James Bond meets Barbarella while dancing to the jazzed up sounds of saxophones and Hammond organs. It's not an easy listening club, according to Martin Thomas, who, along with Fergus Murphy and Brian Nolan, runs Ultra Lounge with an enthusiast's attention to detail.
"Easy listening is your Andy Williams, Burt Bacharach and Ray Coniff & His Orchestra," says Martin, "It's considered cheesy listening and kitsch, while Lounge is the more serious side. It's Atomic Pop and British Big Bands crossing over into rock and roll. Lounge is Laurie Johnson, Tony Hatch, Lalo Schifrin, it's Hammond organs, mood synthesisers and jazz and funk."
Martin reveals that German musical pioneers like Peter Thomas, Manfred Hubler and Siegfried Schwab were instrumental in getting lounge music into the bachelor pads and cocktail bars of the world, and he credits Japanese modernists like Pizzicato Five and United Future Organisation for reviving interest in this eccentric, experimental style of sound. He also praises British DJ Norman Cook for keeping lounge alive via his current project, the paradoxically titled Fat Boy Slim.
Not that Ultra Lounge is an entirely kitsch free zone, and the house band, Clint Velour & The Mondo Exotica Big Band play such standards as So You Know The Way To San Jose along with tunes from Jesus Christ Superstar, and even an unlikely version of The Sex Pistols' Anarchy In The UK. But, apart from the odd psychedelic tune by Leonardo Nimoy, Ultra Lounge takes its music pretty seriously wanted to do a lounge club before anyone else could do it wrong and make it completely cheesy," says Martin.
Ultra Lounge evolved from Strictly Fish and Strictly Handbag, the two other Dublin clubs which Martin, Fergus and Brian run. "The elements were there in Fish and Handbag, with The Kandy Tangerine Man playing stuff like Joe Dolan and children's songs - the kitschy end. Out of that there was a cooler side, and it was just a question of taking the sophisticated end and refining it."
The club has now moved from its previous home in McGrattan's to its new pad, the Da Club in Clarendon Market, and last Thursday's opening night was filled with smoothies and sirens, dressed to chill and rarin' to go go. By the end of the inaugural evening, everybody was well and truly shaken and stirred.
Martin describes the crowd as young, professional, stylish and with a good sense of irony, which you'd need if you're going to dance to a mix of serious lounge and tongue in cheek cabaret. He refutes the misconception that clubbers just want to pop pills and wave their hands in the air, and he also rejects the "white label" mentality which says every tune has to be brand new and hot off the pressing plant.
"Just because we play a lot of 1960s music doesn't mean we're not progressive. It doesn't have to be contemporary to be progressive."
SO is Martin a crusader for lounge music in the 1990s? "I want people to listen to it and dance to it, and I wouldn't like to see it pigeonholed into easy listening or cheesy listening. We play modern Japanese bands back to back with British big band music, and the only thing they have in common is the fact that they all have a melody and a beat."
What really sets Ultra Lounge apart, however, is that punters can interact in a relaxed, sociable atmosphere, free from the anonymous house music herd. The club has attracted its own regular clientele who take the trouble to dress up, arrive early, and meet their friends in a laid back, paranoia free atmosphere.
"It's a good environment to meet people," confirms Martin. "The mood is always good, the music is sexy, and the sense of irony makes people relax."
Ultra Lounge continues at the Da Club on December 5th and 19th, but the club's capacity is so small that lounge lizards should get there early to ensure a soft, upholstered seat. Martin is reluctant to turn people away, but he is also aware that too big a crowd might spoil the ambience, and if demand gets too great, he may have to resort to a membership policy.
"There's no point in having a lounge club if everyone is crushed together and nobody can find a seat," he concludes.
So strap on your cocktail dress, join the new jet set and come fly with Ultra Lounge. Your seat's already booked.
