Moshulu - Where does everyone go? - terrible music!

[Johnny Mac]

I went to Moshulu for the first time in a while on Friday.

Now,

Apart from the music being absolutely terrible for the majority of the night, I noticed that as on every other occasion i've been there lately everyone seems to leave/disappear/go out smoking all night/something else i'm not aware of around 1.30am.

Where does everyone go?

Or is it just the poo tunes driving them away?

It was like a morgue.

I wish I'd went to exodus.

[Ross]

that's sad....

[Guest Neutral]

but true.....

yeh exo is much better and busier - even than the priory(sometimes - tuesday) however the upstairs bar is too small

[Johnny Mac]

I just don't get it. The place was great for a while. There was a good mix of people and music and you always met people you knew and had a laugh.

Now it's only full of goths and metallers. The music is abysmal for the majority of the night. No-one dances.... and then everyone leaves early.

Just out of interest, is the Saturday night busy? I'll come along and try that! As I think i'll stick to exodus on a Friday from now on.

[french_disko]

I went in on a Saturday night once a couple of years ago - they played Bon Jovi and it made me unhappy.

[Chris]

I went in on a Saturday night once a couple of years ago - they played Bon Jovi and it made me unhappy.

They don't do that anymore, it's an indie night now. This makes me unhappy.

[Frosty Jack]

They don't do that anymore, it's an indie night now. This makes me unhappy.

Uh oh... I was considering venturing in tomorrow night. What sort of experience might I have? (i.e. what is indie?...)

[Chris]

Uh oh... I was considering venturing in tomorrow night. What sort of experience might I have? (i.e. what is indie?...)

It's Steven Milne DJing so it's not too bad, I'm sure he can post his music policy here at some point (in fact, here's a post that contains it:http://www.aberdeen-music.com/forums/gigs-event-announcements/45465-adventures-stereo-saturday-moshulu-10-30pm-till-3am.html). They still have the back room though I think so you can escape if you dislike the tunes.

The worst thing about Moshulu at the moment is the fucking disgusting state of the place, especially the carpet. Don't wear new shoes.

[Larsen B]

Moshulu really is gross! You struggle to move across the carpet and then when you step on the dancefloor you're skiting all over the place. The toilets are a mess and the whole place smells, especially the back room.

[Teabags]

I'm pretty much set on never going to moshulu unless I'm dragged there.

I'd rather sit in my mates drinking and farting than go to moshulu on a Friday or Saturday now.

[french_disko]

I'm pretty much set on never going to moshulu unless I'm dragged there.

I'd rather sit in my mates drinking and farting than go to moshulu on a Friday or Saturday now.

if you shit on your carpet then & played Bon Jovi then you'd almost recreate the Moshulu experience in your own home. A disease ridden toilet would make it even closer.

[Metarie]

I just don't get it. The place was great for a while. There was a good mix of people and music and you always met people you knew and had a laugh.

Now it's only full of goths and metallers. The music is abysmal for the majority of the night. No-one dances.... and then everyone leaves early.

Just out of interest, is the Saturday night busy? I'll come along and try that! As I think i'll stick to exodus on a Friday from now on.

The carpets are beyond a joke now.

I have to say I've not seen any goths or metallers in Moshulu on a Friday in ages, everyone seems pretty 'mainstream' for want of a better word. No one gets hugely dressed up anymore.

Saturdays are pretty busy, it's a strange atmosphere because Air Guitar is in the backroom which doesn't really go with the indie in the main room. But it works somehow...

I don't really understand how the place has gone so downhill with Barfly backing it, I would have thought they'd be all for gutting the place and starting from scratch.

[Chris]

I don't really understand how the place has gone so downhill with Barfly backing it, I would have thought they'd be all for gutting the place and starting from scratch.

Takes time to get everything in place I suppose. I imagine they're planning to give it a big overhaul at some point.

[TR!ΔNGL€ T€€TH]

I'd be interested to know what they plan to do with the carpet if they replace it. Good luck to anyone who has to remove it...

[Jeanette]

It's quite amusing though when you try to walk away from wherever you're standing and you are actually quite stuck! But then it's just disgusting...

And what's with the gadgets for the tills. It's just plain silly and takes more time to serve people!

[Flash@TMB]

I don't really understand how the place has gone so downhill with Barfly backing it, I would have thought they'd be all for gutting the place and starting from scratch.

Some chains take that approach, others don't.

They may be in a holding pattern till they see how the financials look. Most businesses of that size work on debt. The banking situation now, combined with rising beer costs (due to a bad harvest), makes it not a good time to increase borrowing.

Unfortunately Aberdeen has been subjected to this for as far back as I can remember (about 20 years). There were several periods where there was nowhere to go... as in nowhere that would admit us to their premises... after midnight. For a long time the best we had was a Mon/Thurs at the Palace.

Historically various larger clubs would only attempt the alt.rock thing as a last ditch effort if their initial aspirations as a mainstream place failed. To this end there's been:

The Venue. You'd have liked it.

The Ritzy / Bonkers / Palace, which over the years operated in difference rooms and on different nights, by different groups.

Ceasers Palace.

TJ's - think this is Bud Bar now.

Buskers - this had a Fri/Sat rock thing going in the dark days before it become Drakes. That was in 1997. It has to be said that 1996 and 1997 were something of a low point. I'm not sure if the old Drakes was on the go then, but if it was then unfortunately I didn't know about it. By this time we were reduced to visiting the metro where at least they played country.

The 4-5 years of Moshulu were like an unusually warm blip which exposed some rock between ice ages.

[Flash@TMB]

It's quite amusing though when you try to walk away from wherever you're standing and you are actually quite stuck! But then it's just disgusting...

And what's with the gadgets for the tills. It's just plain silly and takes more time to serve people!

Way way upstairs in the old, old, old RGIT union there existed a place called - wait for it - 'The Candlelit Lounge'. It was dark (most of the lights were out) and quiet so Stoners used to go their to smoke doobs. It was like being in a very big, dirty, and dingy flat with shite decor. It had sticky carpet tiles on the floor, each a foot square. They were those brown ones, so they probably even looked dirty when they were new in the 1970s. Anyhow I once attempted to cross the room wearing para boots. A carpet tile came up on each of my soles and stuck there. Some of you can possible envisage just how hysterically funny this was to 12 of my very stoned mates. One of them almost died choking in a pool of snot.

[Lemonade]

The toilets in Moshulu are fucking horrible, stinking, overflowing, and you have to wade through about an inch of piss every time you go it's gross. The carpets fucking horrible, the whole place is just starting to look dingy and dirty, it needs closig down for a bit of TLC, a paint job, a new carpet and a damn good clean in my opinion.

[Jeanette]

Anyhow I once attempted to cross the room wearing para boots. A carpet tile came up on each of my soles and stuck there. Some of you can possible envisage just how hysterically funny this was to 12 of my very stoned mates. One of them almost died choking in a pool of snot.

Hahahahaha. That is actually hysterical.

[Jeanette]

The toilets in Moshulu are fucking horrible, stinking, overflowing, and you have to wade through about an inch of piss every time you go it's gross. The carpets fucking horrible, the whole place is just starting to look dingy and dirty, it needs closig down for a bit of TLC, a paint job, a new carpet and a damn good clean in my opinion.

Yup... There's never any toilet roll in the ladies. It always smells and the lights hardly work either!

[Metarie]

Way way upstairs in the old, old, old RGIT union there existed a place called - wait for it - 'The Candlelit Lounge'. It was dark (most of the lights were out) and quiet so Stoners used to go their to smoke doobs. It was like being in a very big, dirty, and dingy flat with shite decor. It had sticky carpet tiles on the floor, each a foot square. They were those brown ones, so they probably even looked dirty when they were new in the 1970s. Anyhow I once attempted to cross the room wearing para boots. A carpet tile came up on each of my soles and stuck there. Some of you can possible envisage just how hysterically funny this was to 12 of my very stoned mates. One of them almost died choking in a pool of snot.

My dad told me about that place!

I can picture it perfectly, awesome

[Justin]

i thought when it was taking over by barfly it was getting refurbished??

[Jeanette]

That's what I thought too! But apart from... erm... what appears to be... erm... nothing having been done there aren't many changes except what the nights are called!

[Guest Giles Walker]

It's a good job hardly anyone reads this as this could be seen as bad publicity.

From what i have heard Moshulu is getting an overhaul pretty soon, as for the music, the differences between the two places seem to be that Moshulu plays a bit more of the electro end of indie whereas Exodus is heavier on the guitar end of indie.

Horses for courses.

I don't see what bitching about the music without even mentioning any of the songs played does to help anyone really.

The carpet is pretty nasty though.

[Rass]

Having spent quite alot of time in Moshulu over the past 3 n a half years i feel kinda compelled to wade in on this one.

Its a shame the state of the place, it really is, for the best part there's a fairly commited and hard working bunch of staff in there, i know people will have thier objections to that but it's true.

Trying to clean Moshulu is very like trying to 'polish a turd'. The place has seen alot of neglect over the years and it isn't a case of just 'cleaning it'.

The Infamous Carpet has been there for a decade, so no surprise it's in an awful state (plus it's a carpet in a nightclub.. come on!), we have had a carpet cleaner on it a few times, but it is alot like painting a bridge, if you did manage to make it over the whole thing (which would take over a week) the front would be sticky again by the time your done. The carpet IS due to be ripped up in the near future. When i was in for my meeting with one of the head honchos about 2 months ago they were in the process of basically rebuilding the Borderline in London from the ground up, after that they were refurbing one other venue down south, then it is our turn. Carpet up, toilets fixed up and i think a paint job may be on the way too. I dont know if the structural issues are going to be dealt with (like the fact the main area floor is covered in holes, or when 300 people jump on the dancefloor the bassment roof looks like an earthquake is hitting, but i'd like to think they wont just overlook major issues like these).

In all honesty, if it was up to me and money was no object, i'd gut the entire building down to the bare bones and start from scratch, the whole lot, pretty much everything as far as woodwork/electrics/plumbing (see dirty water feature on dancefloor every saturday) is ducked and hasn't seen any proper attention in years (ie stuck together with duct tape rather than professional attention). But that's never going to happen, ho-hum.

Just to address a couple other things mentioned, the new tills, yeah, they're a bit radical they do take a bit of getting used to as there's no main console to them. They do seem slower, but its just a case of geting to used to where all those ruddy barcodes are (particularly hellish in the bassment with the hundred odd back bar spirits and 60+ cocktails each with their own induidual barcodes) but it is "the fastest epos system there is"... apparently tis a steep learning curve but i'm sure it'll be second nature in no time.

as for bog roll, i dunno if it's the age group we seem to attract, but if you put bog roll holders up (which we seem to have to do on an all too regular basis) some fucker will rip it down, so you have to leave the bog roll beside the toilet, then some fucker will put it down the toilet, replace the bog roll, repeat happens and so on. I appreciate it just makes the place look bad, little things like that, but what can you do.

I'm sure its a case of the place looks like crap so why expect anyone else to treat it with any respect, but anyway yeah, thats why.

Oh yeah, and there's no goffs/metallers there anymore coz they're all sulking that we don't do air guitar in the front room anymore, (its still on in the back room incidentally) even tho it rarely broke the 200 mark on attendance.

Moshulu Sold Out, man.

Theres no real reason for the rant, but the place never has anyone stand up and say exactly what's going on, and i'm bored of reading about the carpet being sticky, yes it's appauling, and if it were just a case of twiching our nose and conjouring a new flooring out of thin air i assure you we would of done it ages ago. I just like everyone else cannot wait to have a cerimonial burning of the current carpet.

Anyway, not making excuses for the state of the place, it is horrid and sorely neglected We do regularly spend far too much on staffing by getting people in to scrub, but as you can see it's just a massive undertaking.

I can only hope after the promised refit that it'll be come a nicer place to visit and hopefully the attitudes of some of the punters will improve towards the place.

Cheers for reading