take me home


HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE LOVED?
THE SMITHS SPECIAL
The Phoenix, Saturday July 21st

 

 

How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Saturday July 21st
The Phoenix, 37 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0PP. 9pm-3am. £4 members, £6 non members, £6 advance ticket. Advance tickets here www.wegottickets.com/event/442716. Membership is free from here.

The Smiths special.

"You can't change history. The Smiths stood for the marginalised and the disenfranchised, whether that was because of your sexuality, or your lifestyle, or where you were born, or your race. Everybody knows The Smiths were never about hate. I don't think of The Smiths any differently. Anything else, it's not The Smiths, it's something else. And that hasn't been anything to do with me for 30 years." - Johnny Marr, July 2018

We're drawing a line.

In April, Morrissey gave an interview in which he dismissed The Smiths as being a "great but simplistic time", and declared that his pride was with his solo work. Asked if he still listened to The Smiths, he replied: "No. It was beautiful, but it's gone."

So here's the line. On one side, Morrissey, his solo works, and the person he is now, abhorrent views and all. And on the other side, there's The Smiths, the sparkling guitar of Johnny Marr, and the poetry of a man who once believed "it takes guts to be gentle and kind".

If Morrissey wants to disown those songs, those words, then that's fine by us. They're no longer his anyway - they belong to the fans, who've kept them alive for decades now. Morrissey has no right to sully them and he knows it - which is why he's turning his back on them. Johnny Marr has been playing and singing more and more Smiths songs live, and it feels like he knows that his time has come to become their custodian. He'll keep them safe.

So we're doing what we always do in the summer - having a Smiths special. But this time we're drawing a line with it. No more Morrissey solo. Smiths forever. Please come and draw that line with us.

You can't change history. Anything else, it's not The Smiths.

 

 

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Don't forget that you can get the night tube home from HDIF at The Phoenix. Both the Victoria and the Central line, which serve nearby Oxford Circus, run all night.
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Membership is free and available here

Membership is free and registration for a membership card closes at 5pm on the night. Membership is not available on the night itself. All members receive a laminated membership card and are added to our mailing list. If you miss the 5pm deadline, you can apply for temporary membership. You won't get a card but you'll be added to the membership list for the night. Applications for the temporary list close at 9pm.

We play:

The Smiths * The Supremes * Belle & Sebastian * Dusty Springfield * The Magnetic Fields * Love * Orange Juice * The Ronettes * The Ramones * Aztec Camera * Beach Boys * The Cure * The Temptations * Velvet Underground * Felt * The Shangri-Las * Allo Darlin' * Otis Redding * The Field Mice * Dexys Midnight Runners * Camera Obscura * The Four Tops * The Go-Betweens * Tammi Terrell * Jens Lekman * Jonathan Richman * Le Tigre * Pat Powdrill * The Sea Urchins * Sleater-Kinney * Os Mutantes * Neutral Milk Hotel * The Left Banke * The Associates * Martha Reeves & The Vandellas

Reviews of How Does It Feel To Be Loved?:

"This hugely popular night knows there are few better ways to enter the new year than with a soundtrack of classic sixties soul and the most danceworthy janglepop and shimmering indie tunes." - Time Out

“A speakeasy for anyone who suspects that their life is one big Smiths song' - Big Issue
'Absolutely the best night in the whole of the world!” - The Guardian
“Much-loved indie pop institution” - The Quietus
“Legendary indie club” - NME
"How Does It Feel To Be Loved has, since 2002, easily been one of London’s best club nights. Its unpretentious and welcoming nature, often fuelled with everything from Belle & Sebastian and Orange Juice to Tamla Motown and Dusty Springfield, swipes away any negative connotations our capital has for being a cold, brutal and rather heartless place." - Music OMH
"With a tag-line of ‘From the Smiths to the Supremes’ it’s the music policy that shapes How Does It Feel To Be Loved?; indie-pop and soul draw a quietly hip bunch of revelers. Best of all they are just so friendly; no aggro or posturing here – it’s all crooked smiles and handclaps." - For Folk's Sake
"With a decade of great nights under its belt How Does it Feel to Be Loved? is one of London's most enduring and influential underground indie get-togethers." Flavorpill

HDIF Podcasts:

Throw a party in your living room with the latest HDIF podcast. The podcasts have a variety of themes - some feature songs that were played at the most recent club night, and some are new music specials focussing on indie pop.

You can listen to them here:

https://www.mixcloud.com/hdif/