What makes a scene work? On a very long drive home this weekend, I was trying to figure that out while trying not to fall asleep behind the wheel (it’s easier to stay awake when you feel agitated). I’ve been to goth/industrial nights all over the world. Club nights and scenes in the states seem to work very differently from their European counterparts, and are always in some state of ruin and internal unrest.

But I’ve noticed that there are a few overlapping trends, in scenes that are still filled with potential life and more regular attendance:

1. If you have not infrastructure, you have no scene! — Or rather, the life of the scene is highly precarious. There needs to be actual physical ownership of a club/store by interested insider parties. Otherwise, you’re exploited by an indifferent third party, who reserves the right to pull the plug on the procedure the moment it isn’t profitable.

2. A large pool of DJs in constant circulation – Don’t think of it in terms of competition, but more in terms of circulation and dispersion. It becomes a lot harder to place blame on a single person for something going wrong. It also helps in covering a broader gamut of taste.

3. Someone jovial and over-extraverted needs to be in charge — Have you ever been to one of those highly-over priced restaurants, where the head-chef finds it necessary to hug you and memorize your name? Yes, it ‘s a bit creepy – but you start developing some strange moral obligation to frequent the restaurant. Well, club nights and concerts seem to go the same way. If there’s an extremely friendly guy in charge that finds it necessary to make you feel like it’s a party, there’s a better chance you’ll come back.