ICONIC Glasgow nightclub The Cathouse is celebrating its (delayed) 30th anniversary today and our photos are bound to spark a few memories if you went clubbing there in the 90s.
Unable to hold the shindig last year because of Covid, it’s going ahead tonight as part of a weekend celebrating re-opening. Perfect timing for a dance down memory lane, we reckon.
Loud, edgy, boundary-pushing and not afraid to go where other clubs feared to tread, The Cathouse has been a legend in the city since it first opened its doors on Brown Street in 1990.
It moved to its current home on Union Street in 1997. To mark its opening, To mark its opening, fireworks were let off on the roof and the fire service thought there had been an explosion in Central Station. “They went nuts,” admitted owner Donald Macleod in an interview with our newspaper back in 2008.
The Cathouse led the way in hosting alternative club nights and power age rock and metal gigs for three decades. Its under-18s night, Voodoo, was hugely popular. Dress code? Anything goes, as our reviewer wrote back in the early days: “Anything from black rubber corsets to grungey jeans….”
Here are nine more things you (probably) didn’t know about The Cathouse:
1 Pearl Jam, booked before their Ten album made them superstars, honoured the booking and played to just 400 fans in 1992 for the sum of £300.
2 In 1994, Oasis recorded a live version of the Beatles’ I am The Walrus at the Cathouse. A vinyl copy of the track now sells for more than £500. At the same concert, the Manchester supergroup were supported by then little known band The Verve.
3 The manager of rock legends Kiss once threatened to sue the Cathouse for advertising an ‘official’ aftershow party when they played the SECC, only for the group, which includes guitar legend Gene Simmons, to turn up at the door of the Union Street club demanding to party.
4 Lemmy from Motorhead, Alanis Morrisette and actor George Wendt (Norm from Cheers) are just a few of the stars to have popped in for a drink. (Reputedly, Morisette left quickly when she was mobbed by fans in the ladies’ loos.)
5 This institution of Glasgow’s alternative scene has welcomed Anthrax, Black Stone Cherry, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, Queens of the Stone Age, Fall Out Boy, Halestorm … the list goes on.
6 Back in 1992, former Big Brother housemate Donny Tourette brought his band, Towers of London, to the Cathouse in a ‘whirlwind of tight leather, big hair and loud, party rock ‘n’ roll’ according to our reviewer. Swiftly turning the crowd into a singing moshpit, the band held nothing back, with Donny climbing up onto speakers, hanging onto a beam overhead and diving into the crowd.
7 In 2007, Friday nights at the Cathouse took a different turn. While DJs Barry and Billy sorted out the sounds on Level 1, on Level 2 Xfm Scotland’s Martin Bate played indie, emo and rock. “I try and keep people on their toes a wee bit, throw in stuff that might be surprising to a rock crowd,” he told our reporter. People seem to like it...”
READ MORE: Remembering when Oasis played Balloch 25 years ago...
8 Led Zeppelin tribute act, The Levee Breakers, helped The Cathouse celebrate its 17th birthday in 2007.
9 Legend has it that Marti Pellow of Wet Wet Wet was once a cashier at The Cathouse….
*What are your memories of The Cathouse? Get in touch to share your stories and photos.
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