Scotland has a proper techno history and most of it did not happen in the places you would expect. The North East is not Glasgow and pretending otherwise helps nobody.
Small Rooms Are Not A Downgrade
A hundred people who actually want to be there beats a thousand who wandered in. Small rooms are also more honest. There is nowhere to hide behind a light show, which means the music has to hold it on its own.
The Sound System Decides More Than The Lineup
You can put the best selector in the country in a room with a bad rig and it will be a long night. Low end needs somewhere to go. If a venue has taken the system seriously, everything else is fixable.
It Builds Slowly Or Not At All
Scenes outside the cities are built by the same twenty people turning up repeatedly for a couple of years. There is no shortcut and no viral moment coming to rescue it. That is not a complaint, it is just how it works.
