• When did Optimo start??

Optimo was founded on Sunday November 28th 1997. It has always been at the Sub Club except for the 3 or so years of its life when the Sub Club burned down! Then we were very briefly at The 13th Note on Clyde Street, at Planet Peach on Queen Street for a year or so and at Mas on Royal Exchange Square for a year or so.

Often known simply as “Optimo,” the club takes its name from the eponymous Liquid Liquid song and 1983 EP title. JD Twitch and JG Wilkes (real names Keith McIvor and Jonnie Wilkes), the club’s founders and resident DJs, are also collectively known as Optimo and have toured in Europe, America, and Japan and released music under that name. Renowned for its diverse music policy, the club retains a reputation for adventurous innovation and hedonism. The technical side of the club has been written about in the Guardian. Twitch and Wilkes were described by Pitchfork Media in 2006 as being “one of the best DJ duos going right now.”