JG Wilkes and JD Twitch have announced that on April 25 they will put an end to their legendary and long-running weekly clubnight, Optimo.

They had this to say in a statement on the Optimo forum:

“The end is nigh….

“After 12 and a half years (or around 650 Optimos), we have, after a huge amount of consideration and many sleepless nights decided that Sunday April 25th will be the LAST EVER night of Optimo (Espacio) at The Sub Club.

“We have loved doing Optimo with all our hearts, but our hearts are also telling us it is time to call a halt to it. Playing at, organising and promoting a weekly night takes up an enormous amount of energy and there are so many other things we want to do that some of that energy is needed for other projects. We also need to get our lives and weeks back a little bit and take on new challenges and opportunities (we have to turn down an awful lot of opportunities by being committed to being in Glasgow every Sunday and being wiped out every Monday).

“We will continue to tour, promote and release music as Optimo but it will no longer be possible to hear JD Twitch and JG Wilkes dj at The Sub Club every Sunday night.

“However, it is not completely over. Twitch played at the Sub Club on Sunday nights for two years before Optimo started and was involved in a Sunday evening club for a few years before that, so it is hard to let go of Sunday night events in Glasgow completely. Twitch and Wilkes will continue to promote Sunday nights at The Sub Club under an as yet to be announced name. The new night will give a platform to the plethora of great djs in Glasgow, bring djs we love to Glasgow and bring live acts nobody else would bring to this city. Sometimes Twitch or Wilkes may play alongside them and sometimes Twitch and Wilkes will play together on a Sunday night but, without Twitch and Wilkes playing together weekly, it won’t and can’t be Optimo.

“Who know what this new venture will morph into but whatever, we hope that the anarchic spirit we brought to the Sub Club in 1997 will continue to prevail on Sunday nights.

“So, there are 7 Optimos left. Hopefully we will see some of you before the end. We absolutely intend to go out with a bang.”

Optimo is, or was, one of the most distinctive and iconic British clubnights of the past twenty years, and it played an instrumental role in breaking down perceived boundaries and oppositions between different musical genres, thanks largely to the selection skills of DJs Twitch and Wilkes but also their open-minded booking policy with regard to live acts. Over the past decade all of the following, to name but a tiny fraction of the whole, have played the club: Whitehouse, Four Tet, Felix Kubin, Michael Mayer, Annie, Richie Hawtin, Grace Jones, I-f, Throbbing Gristle, Delia & Gavin, Shackleton, Marshall Jefferson and LCD Soundsystem. The club’s remaining weeks promise sets from Jackmaster, Nurse With Wound and Matias Aguayo, among others.

Optimo the club will be sorely missed, but its cultural impact will reverberate for years to come.