Ben UFO, Jyoty, Raji Rags, Peach, Lagoon Femshayma and DJ Pitch reflect on their first nights and favourite memories at Corsica, what made it special, and what club culture can learn from its legacy.

Corsica Studios has officially closed in its current form after 24 years, leaving behind a legacy far greater than its 500-capacity dancefloor. For many, it was a gateway into the very best of London nightlife – a space where new sounds, ideas and scenes took shape, many of which went on to define underground dance music as it exists today.

In its final week, we sent podcast host, creative and longtime Corsica fan Louis Blooey to speak with DJs about what made the venue so special. Their reflections echo conversations heard time and again in recent months. Whichever night people remember most, the same qualities stand out: the community it fostered over decades, its role in nurturing London’s underground, and its openness to experimentation. Above all, the club achieved this without gimmicks or pretension, just an exceptional, uncompromisingly loud sound system and a space that always put great music first.

“Corsica didn’t just give you a dark room and a notably aggressive sound system to escape who you were – it gave you the chance to meet others doing exactly the same thing,” Louis said. “Corsica offered clubbing excellence. No frills. Unmatched, impaling but crisp sound. Excellent curation that placed as much emphasis on the experimental as the tried and tested. Crucially, in a world of commodified communities – both online and IRL – it gave something that felt real and hopeful, setting me and so many others down an infinite rabbit hole of music and relationships that I’ll always be grateful for.”

Here’s what his interviewees had to say.

1

Raji Rags

I spoke to Adrian [Jones] on the closing weekend, and he said he just wanted to give people a space to experiment with Corsica. That’s always been true. I put on some of the early Boiler Rooms there, when it was still new. I’ve hosted CDR talks there, too. It sounds simple, but not many clubs actually do that.

Something that I also don’t think many clubs get is that you don’t need loads of stuff. You just need a dark room and a really good sound system. Corsica definitely got that right, to the point where it was so loud in there, and so consuming, I always felt bad for people who went without earplugs. But that’s part of the experience: it washed you, pummeled you with sound.

"Good things unfortunately can't last forever, but it's important that they last for as long as Corsica did. We need more of that if dance music wants to survive in a healthy way" - DJ Pitch
2

DJ Pitch

A time I forgot who I was at Corsica was at the end of 2015, at TranceParty. Evian Christ was playing, and it was around that Where Are Ü Now by Jack Ü, which was Justin Bieber, Skrillex and Diplo, had just come out. Evian Christ either played the original or a remix of it for that party, and they had all these extra bells and whistles for it – glitter cannons and a shit tonne of smoke.

I remember him playing that song and all this smoke coming out, all this glitter flying down, and just completely losing my mind for like two minutes. It was a semi-out-of-body experience. I feel like a lot of artists, if they want to do something like that, have got to go to a festival-sized venue or somewhere like Drumsheds. But with Corsica, people were able to do things in a small, intimate setting that still had really high production value.

It seems that now, if a club’s lucky in London, it can last for about seven years. Good things unfortunately can’t last forever, but it’s important that they last for as long as Corsica did. We need more of that if dance music wants to survive in a healthy way, particularly underground dance music. You need these institutions that can be around for ten plus years to make sure that there’s actually some kind of stewardship, and people who know what they’re doing to make it possible for new and young promoters to cut their teeth.

3

Peach

Corsica has been really formative for me. When I moved to London about ten years ago, it was one of the only places I went out to for a really long time. I started DJing at it as well. Parties like Coastal Haze, Find Me In The Dark and Make Me – I’d just rotate between them. It was an entry point for so many people, myself included. It holds such a special place in people’s hearts for that reason.

What they did right, and what they always did right, was the sound. The space itself never felt like it was trying to be anything more than a room with a good sound system in it. Sometimes you could hear the overground rattle above you, and that was great. The smoking area was no frills, it was literally just a wall with a fence. I think that’s the magic of it. It was unpretentious; it was never trying to be anything. 

It is sad and disappointing [for it to close], but also these things do need rebirth. We need the growth of new clubs, and we need space for new clubs to develop.

"The motivations behind the venue have always seemed to be rooted in music and community" - Ben UFO

© Chris Hoare

4

Ben UFO

It’s a special place for many reasons, but particularly because it’s been there through it all.

It’s a blank canvas with great sound in both rooms, and the motivations behind the venue have always seemed to be rooted in music and community.

5

Jyoty

My first ever night at Corsica Studios was about 14 years ago. I had just moved to London, and I lived very close to the venue on Kennington Lane. I don’t remember anything! And you know why I don’t remember anything? Because I had my first Magnum outside in the queue at Corsica. My new friend at that time, Jason, who is still a really close friend of mine, told me about this drink that I had to try out. I was 22 and broke, so I needed something that was going to get me lit. I had another one, and another one, and I went inside, and I don’t remember a thing…

6

Lagoon Femshayma

A formative, important time I went to Corsica was to see my friend Lil C play her first-ever Boiler Room in 2017, which was hosted by Ahadadream. It was such a fab moment for her, and we were all so proud. For it to happen there, in a club in South London, was very important. 

Not only was it a space in South London, which was where we are all from, but it was a space you could go on a Thursday night to see a free show like that, to go and support one of your friends and to be entering a musical ecosystem.

The last time I properly went there was for a huge Night Slugs takeover, and that to me felt like an embodiment of everything good about London and UK nightlife culture: incredible, cross-genre music by the best DJs and producers of the past 15 years.

It will be greatly missed.

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