September 1994 — The Closing of Penthouse

DJ Volodya:
«The explosion of the Moscow club scene happened in the middle of 1994. By that point a core of Russian DJs had already emerged who played really decently — me, Chernorot, Spider, Fonar. Yozh and Zmey were becoming popular. The Petersburgers, Voron and Gabriel, settled in Moscow for good, since they realised that the real centre of the movement was here. Around this time new promoters appeared in the city — Timur Mamedov, Vanya Salmaksov, Zhenya Zhmakin with his Mondays at Manhattan Express. Slava Finist played there as resident, and Fish, Spider, myself and Vorontsov performed actively too.
This was the real beginning of the club scene. Flyers appeared, clearly stating who was performing, where, when and why. Personalities appeared. Meaningful, conceptual parties appeared, each with its own idea and its own unique design. I remember we used to hang cages of white rats in Penthouse, set typewriters up everywhere, reshape the space, carve up the club — in short, we had a blast.
And then, in September 1994, out of the blue, Penthouse closed. For a rather idiotic reason: their lease had simply run out. It was their own fault — they'd just forgotten to renew the contract in time. We were left without a roof over our heads.