Entropy

We need to go back to early 1991 to focus on another club that was created around the corner from Shelleys called ‘Entropy’. Fridays in April 1991 saw Entropy open its doors for the first time. Stoke promoters Gavin Donellan and Darren Birch started the night and installed Daz Willot as the resident DJ immediately. The Entropy team were on the ball and saw a gap in the market of the Stoke on Trent dance scene. They knew that a genre commonly known as ‘House music’ was being played at Shelleys on Fridays by Sasha and Co., so they decided to stage a night that cultivated a harder sound with a faster tempo, which we now recognise as Old Skool Hardcore.

Whistle Posse!!!!!

Entropy began life in the small room at the back of the Longton Leisurebowl and the capacity was no more than 300. Gavin and Darren knew that this venue was suitable to stage such nights as it had previously been the home of Introspective as mentioned earlier at the top of this page.

The Original Homeboy

With Daz Willot installed as the resident DJ from day 1, the increasing popularity of Entropy over the coming months meant that the venue was quickly outgrowing itself. It was obvious that the club had to relocate in order to move onwards and upwards. As it happens, Entropy didn’t have to move very far and actually managed to stay in the same building. The Longton Leisurebowl as a whole was a massive venue as it was housed above Longton Bus station. The room next door to the one that Entropy and Introspective originally occupied was converted from a snooker hall into a new, bigger, main room, with the old room becoming the ‘chill-out’ area which worked well.

This re-fit took place in the September of 1991 and Entropy cruised along nicely for the next few months growing from strength to strength with the announcement of possible all-nighters and the organisation of outdoor raves at other venues in the Midlands. Entropy’s all-nighters were called ‘Dancenation’ and they held two successful events, one at Speedkarting in Warrington which was a sell out 10,000 and one at Weston park, south of Stafford.

What are you, on drugs?

However, March 1992 arrived and Entropy sadly struggled to renew its entertainment license after several reports of drug abuse combined with an ecstasy-related death of a man from Leicester in the November of 1991.

The Entropy team soon realised that as a result they were going to be unsuccessful in renewing their license for the Leisurebowl so they moved Entropy out of there and into Shelleys on Fridays. ‘Entropy at Shelleys’ ran for about 2 months with Entropy at Shelleys in the Friday slot and Amnesia House at Shelleys on the Saturday. The Entropy Friday nights came to an end in early May 1992 due to the arrival of a new kid on the block, Club Kinetic.