A MUCH-MOURNED music venue is to come to life again next Sunday when internationally renowned DJ and producer Will Atkinson launches his debut album in an exclusive stream.

The trailblazing trance producer has chosen Glasgow’s legendary nightclub, The Arches, for the event because of its immense influence on the music scene.

As well as attracting people from all over the world, the club played a significant role in Atkinson’s life from the moment he set foot in the club – now an events and food space called Platform.

Leaving his Orkney home to live in Glasgow was a big enough culture shock, according to Atkinson, but was nothing compared with walking into The Arches and hearing one of his own tracks, Enough Is Enough, being played.

“If moving to Glasgow from Orkney was an eye-opener for me, my first night in The Arches was a straight-up jaw-remover,” he told the Sunday National.

“That first moment I walked in and joined the notorious cloakroom queue I could not believe my ears when I heard one of my own tracks being played. Literally the first track I ever heard in this hallowed institution of electronic excellence was one of my own tracks.”

Atkinson said he could have left the club then as he thought there was no way the night could get any better but it did when another of his tracks was played later.

“I still get goosebumps thinking back to that life-changing moment when I walked in,” said Atkinson.

“I heard my track pounding out of the thunderous main arch sound system in a warm-up set from legend William Daniel. Then later on Eddie Halliwell dropped another one of my records.

“In those few hours I understood everything. I just got it. This wasn’t just a venue, a club or a derelict space used for raves. This was a mecca, a place of worship and education. And so back I would come week after week to worship and to learn, obsessed, addicted and driven by the sound of drums, basslines and 303s. I was part of it.”

In the years that followed he said he was “incredibly lucky” to play many “epic” shows in the venue and, like thousands of others, was completely devastated when it closed.

“I don’t think I ever got over that. It hurt me more than any girlfriend breakup, that’s for sure,” said Atkinson.

Another huge blow came this year when he was all set for the biggest summer of his career with a gig schedule he had always dreamed about and a debut album written. The gigs, of course, were all pulled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It was everything I’d ever wanted and to have Covid-19 pull all my dreams away was heartbreaking,” Atkinson said.

With no shows on the horizon for the foreseeable future he decided he had to think of “something special, something game-changing” to launch his album.

The stream will be broadcast at 4pm on Sunday, November 15, on Facebook and YouTube.