Every Wednesday from 5pm to 10pm at the 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna Street, San Francisco, Ca. [see event schedule for monthly Saturdays, one-off parties, and other well vibed events]
QOÖL (taken from press release)
One of the best clubbing nights in the world starts at 5pm. It’s called Qoöl, and it’s the original clubbing happy hour in San Francisco, if not the world. Every Wednesday evening Jondi & Spesh host a five hour club night at the now infamous 111 Minna Art Gallery. The music has a progressive theme, from progressive house to breaks to techno, trance and even drum 'n bass. Each dj plays a short 45 minute set, and the talent ranges from bedroom DJs to international superstars like Seb Fontaine, Scott Bond and Lee Coombs.
Qoöl began as function over form – in the early 90’s Spesh had bailed out of a high profile residency due to his refusal to play cheesy records (it was during this time that Jondi & Spesh produced their first tracks together), but soon missed the frequent djing. But with a full time job and production work on top of it, the time just wasn’t there. The solution? Play records once a week right after work at a nearby art gallery. With only 6 people on average milling about the space, Spesh was definitely in it just to hear the music with his own ears (it is worth noting that at this point, Jondi was questioning Spesh’s sanity). For months, Spesh showed up each week with his records, sometimes joined by other djs, and slowly the audience grew.
Nowadays, what began simply as a place for Spesh to spin tracks every week on his own terms became a place for hundreds of people to be clubbers on their own terms. The patrons of Qoöl, known as Qoölios, know what they want and religiously show up week after week to get it.
Qoöl’s most distinguishing characteristic is its vibe, a downright great feeling that builds into a contained fury of waving arms and ecstatic dancing every week. In fact its energy has been compared more than once to some of history’s most revered club nights. Most recently Jonathan Lisle of Bedrock had this to say of his encounter with Qoöl, “We walked in at 7pm on a Wednesday night and I had the same feeling I had when I walked into the Hacienda in Manchester 12 years ago and when I walked in Renaissance in Mansfield in 1992. The place was electric.”
Now in its 8th year the story continues. Look closely through your record box and you will find that some of Qoöl’s resident DJs have produced some of your favorite music on Bedrock, SAW, Renaissance, Bedrock Breaks, Kubist, Dorigen, and more.