Alternation began life on Friday 18th February 2000. It was created by DJ Jesse James and the boy Flicker as a means to alleviate the boredom of a sadly lacking local 'alternative' scene. Originally located in the upper bar of the former Firkin pub, the aim was to provide quality free music, every friday night, alternating (geddit?) between live music and a club style event. The first 6 events were rammed to say the least (150+ people in a 110 capacity). In June, after 15 events, Alternation left the Firkin and took a two month sabbatical.
In July an addition was made to the team with Kickwit coming on board. Later in the same month came the first Alternation at the clubs new home, The Kambar. Moving here meant that the club could stay open until 2am and increase the capacity to 200 people.
October saw the first Gig outside the Firkin. As a bit of a coup, Alternation managed to book Michael J Sheehy, formerly with Dream City Film Club (DJ JJ's favourite band), and Underdogg. Described by all who attended as one of the gigs of the year, it was a truly marvellous spectacle.
In August 2001, Alternation spread into AlternationMusic (as it is now) and a second clubnight each month was born under the moniker 'A2'. Intended to be that bit more musically daring than the Alternation clubnight allowed for, A2 started out with a slightly heavier theme and a little less of the indie spirit than its sister club. Continuing the alliteration that litters AlternationMusic, A2 was liquidated after 8 nights to make way for Alternation to cover another Saturday slot at the Kambar.
In June 2002 Alternation teamed up with Panic! to produce the biggest indie / alternative club seen at The Junction in Cambridge. The debut of the Bedazzled night was considered by all to be a huge success and the club became a regular monthly event. Bedazzled had proven to be a great success with both local and not-so local Indie and Rock clubgoers. In October 2002, the reputation of the regions biggest Alternative clubnight was sealed by the guest appearance of Indie Legend Radio 1's Steve Lamacq. The Upstairs room was opened as a "chill-out lounge" and with audience figures rising, bands were brought in to occasional clubnights with appearances from The Caesars and Shanghai Nobody (Siobhan Donaghy). December 2002 saw a Bedazzled Christmas Eve event and the club continued to run until March 2003.
January 2004 saw the Alternation club achieve one of its founding aims by having a Saturday night at The Junction. Running as a one-off event, the night sold out the (reduced) capacity of the venue and has been hailed by many as one of the finest nights ever, albeit rather rammed and hot! There are plans afoot for Alternation to return to The Junction at a later stage once the redevelopment work has been carried out on the venue.
February 2004 saw one of the founding members, Matt aka Clint Flicker, leave the fold to return to normal sleeping patterns. 4 years of late Saturday nights and cold flyering had finally become enough, leaving a core of DJ Kickwit and James Alternation to run the show. Since this time, most of the Alternation clubnights have been sell-out events with queues often stretching down the road.
One of the aims of Alternation from its first conception was to try to contribute to the local scene. This website is one side of this and from its conception Alternation has trained and/or given DJing experience to numerous people from the area... and shall continue to do so. The gigs have given numerous bands Cambridge debuts. Album/Single launches have become an occassional feature, with artists such as Turbonegro, Inspiral Carpets, Relaxed Muscle, Super Furry Animals, The Libertines, Bush and Drowning Pool having pre-release playbacks with prize giveaways of CD's, T-shirts, Posters, Videos and other merchandising. We have given away tickets to see major artists in Cambridge through running competitions via this website and our mailing list.... a nice bonus for the club-goer!
And so to the future.... Well one thing's for sure... There's nothing predictable about these boys!!