On the Door in the Rave Era
Clubland UK is a story of violent men and the worlds they inhabit. At the height of the hedonistic ’90s rave era, Steven McLaughlin policed some of Blackpool’s busiest seafront clubs on chaotic nights, as the virulent dance and drug craze exploded onto the scene.
Steven McLaughlin on writing Clubland UK→
From the front line, he witnessed the dark underbelly of clubland culture and the predatory menace lurking beneath the smiley-face T-shirts, pilled-up clubbers and frantically waving arms. He saw people revel in it; he saw people excel in it; he saw people profit in it; and he saw people suffer in it. Because sometimes being ‘a face’ in clubland demands the highest price of all.
From small-town gyms to big-time steroid dealers, from martial-arts myths to back-alley fights, door wars and gang grudges in Britain’s gaudiest seaside town, Clubland UK is a story that takes the reader into a twilight world where testosterone, brotherhood, ego and a warrior mentality all collide in a bruising mess.
This book is a must-read trip into the dark side of the dance decade, a roller-coaster ride of pills and blood-spilling thrills, where agony and ecstasy co-exist in a blurred neon blaze.
‘If you’d enjoy an honest, brutally graphic description of life as a doorman on Blackpool’s nightclubs in the ’90s then you might find McLaughlin’s book unputdownable…In the pages you’ll learn of friendships formed, fights fought, temptations resisted and ‘hard men’…More importantly you will come to know McLaughlin himself.’
– C Munro, Foodbank Magazine
‘Steven warmed me as he applied his adventurous yet rational personality to another intense and occasionally insane world. His new book lifts the mystique surrounding the realm of bouncers. It’s a fascinating insight into the psychology of the men who work the doors and what they have to deal with in terms of violent drunk and drug-crazed punters.’
– ‘Shaun Attwood, bestselling author of Hard Time
‘You will find yourself grabbed by this book and drawn into a place you perhaps never knew existed…Steven McLaughlin is an important ‘no frills’ writer. Read this book.’
– AFN Clarke, bestselling author of Contact
‘Step back in time to the heady days of the 1990s and Blackpool’s clubland scene…For those of us for whom the ’90s rave scene passed by (I was too old), it’s a sobering account of the nightlife on your own doorstep. The hierarchy of the town’s doormen, the violence, the drugs and ultimately, Steven’s brave fight where he learnt some lessons and made his mark. This is an amazing story – read it, if you’re from Blackpool it will certainly strike a chord.’
– Andrew Mitchell, former Radio Wave presenter
