Review Of "Club Insomnia Soi 12 Bangkok"

[Tod Daniels]

Totally unofficial review of "Club Insomnia Soi 12 Bangkok"

(Sorry the post is long; I hope you’ll stick with it. )

Living as I have, for 5+ years now about 50 meters directly behind the building housing the new club, and in watching the construction from day one; I can say they dumped MILLIONS of baht into the construction of that place. It was literally mind wobbling to see the trucks every day bringing in the construction materials, etc. I mean TONZ of money went into that facility and from the inside it certainly shows.

Even though the 'real' entry to the club is on the back of the building (opposite the Sukhumvit side and, unfortunately for me, even closer to my apartment ) they did put up double entry doors and insulate the walls pretty darned well. Other then when they tested the sound system before they opened and had all the doors wide open, now I can't even hear the music in my apartment, or out on my soi where I sit.

Three guys who I met early on, chatted with briefly and who I imagine are the foreign contingent of the owners, certainly seem to be nice enough. Although it appears as of now there are a high degree of 'cling-onz' (foreigners who apparently do abso-tively posi-lutely nothing) except hang around in Insomnia t-shirts, trying to look important, .

The weekend of the grand opening I saw what could only be termed as “the obligatory thai silent partners” out in full force. They were older thai guys milling around in suits with their security around them. There was also a fairly large contingent of the Lumpini Police too.

Sadly, I couldn't even be bothered to go have a look for myself, as that kinda place is just not my 'cup 'o tea'.

However several contacts I spoke with who did go scope it out said it was much the same as the old Ministry of Sound (Soi 12 more than a few years ago), and to a lesser extent the Climax Club under the Ambassador or the old Nana Disco back in its heyday. They reported it was filled with middle aged tourists (punters), higher end gurls than you'd see on the streets and to a lesser extent some of the younger wanna-b-hi-so thais you'd be more apt to see out at the predominantly thai hang out spot; RCA. Then again their cover charge along with their choice of music doesn't particularly lend itself to being a 'customer friendly' club for your average "run-'o-the-mill-thai".

It was related to me that ANY conversation inside the club must be done with your mouth firmly pressed into the ear of whoever you're speaking to and carried out at a shout. However this is the norm rather than the exception to clubs of this genre.

I did send a couple of my thai friends in to scope it out. They both are A/V Sound System guys and work for a major international hotel chain (and who collectively have probably installed sound and a/v equipment in more clubs, hotels, bars, etc in Bangkok than you could shake a stick at). They reported back that Insomnia has a great visual set up, with incredible lighting, projection televisions, etc, as well as a very high end (especially for a club in thailand) sound system to boot. So if that sort of stuff floats your boat, it's well worth checking the club out.

Thankfully, at least to the hundreds of foreigners who live on as well as the hundreds of thais who work on my Soi, they're not choking us out by parking cars on the street like the Ministry of Sound did before. Evidently, Club Insomnia has cut deals with both Sukhumvit Plaza aka 'Korea Town" and Times Square for parking . For us, this is really good, especially seeing as their 'main' parking lot in front of the club has just 22 spaces. Sadly they did run a lot of the long time street sellers who sold there outta the parking lot and onto the sidewalk, (as well as two great soi dogs who lived in that parking lot for the last 4 years too ).

I spoke with some of the Insomnia thai staff who eat at the food stalls in front of my apartment gate and it would seem they brought up some of the seasoned people from the Pattaya branch to get the opening off the ground, and help train the new staff they hired on for this location.

In talking to the thais who live & work on my soi, (because that's where everyone here gets the 'real dirt' on anyone ); it would seem the 'money behind it' both has at least some connections and fairly deep pockets too. For now the wheels of progress seem 'well greased' and they shouldn't squeak overly loud for a while.

As far as I can tell, other than a few more middle aged punters wandering drunkenly out on the soi around my apartment gate at 3 or 4 AM, I don't see a whole lotta changes in pedestrian traffic from when that building was the Leader Price Grocery Store.

Time will tell if they'll make it, or if it'll be another flash in the pan like Ministry of Sound was. Remember when Ministry of Sound was going great guns, filled to capacity every nite, having international d/j's from hither and yon flying in to play music. Suddenly the foreign owners got on the wrong side of the wrong thai people. After four (count ‘em FOUR!!); 'lock down the building, line up every person inside to piss in a cup' type of drug checks in about a month, that pretty much drove their customer base away and eventually them into the ground as well.

At least for now the 'owners' will do what ever they can to get this club off the ground and have it do well. As I said, they seem nice enough, and I hope they succeed in their endeavor. Their Pattaya branch certainly would appear to still be doing great guns.

As An Aside; That 50's themed restaurant called the V-8 Diner seems equally well built and quite the flashy diner. It being open 24 hours a day may provide a place for people to eat 'american-ish' food after imbibing a little too much. I stopped in and perused the menu. Good varied selection and they're well in line price-wise with the other 'tourist oriented' eating establishments in the Lower Sukhumvit area.

Remember these are MY observations ONLY, and your mileage may indeed vary.

When in doubt, go scope it out yourself, certainly don't rely on my oh-so jaded take on things. ...

Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

[CarlBkk]

Hi Todd,

Opening nights are not great to go on long term - the obligatory thai and ex-pat regular partygoers turn up for a look. From what I heard they had to mix in with busloads of Pattaya clientele. Personally I don't think the nightlife market is big enough to take another club. Bed Supperclub and Qbar can hardly make it on the weekdays now, and even other ventures on the same soi couldn't hold on for long. I'd even guess that Club Culture and 808 are struggling. If it's sold as an afterhours place it might have some mileage (because there are no mid-higher end places open anymore) but my pessimistic view is already established. Ministry was great while it lasted. So was Mystique. Bed's getting greedy but survives from all the tourist press it generates from being innovative.

[Tod Daniels]

Seeing as their posted hours on all the signage and their flyers say they're open until 5AM; it would appear they are indeed going for that 'mid-price after hours' niche market which appears to be poorly exploited as far as foreigners (read as; tourists, or sex-pats) in thailand are concerned.

Of course, it goes without saying that the 'real' entrance is the back of the building and not on the front of the nearly totally blacked out building facing Sukhumvit, (although that 24 hour diner does have an entrance into the club and provides a good "cover story"; and the club also has a nearly unmarked entrance out front too )..

When I walked past on the way home Sunday nite about 12:30AM there were easily a hundred people out back queued (or what passes for queuing here ) waiting to get in as people came out. Then again, as you said and as I will paraphrase; 'a bang up grand opening doesn't necessarily make for a viable long term business plan here' .

It would appear from the "word on the street" that they had many less customers on Monday, and from what I saw, even fewer today. Although I gave up tryin' to count them about 30 minutes ago . So in reality, I have no idea of their 'real' customer count...

I was actually thinking of taking my 'clicker' out tonite and count them off. But, if the truth were to be told, I can't be bothered to sit outside the gate of my apartment for hours one end and count the people as they go in.

Maybe later they're busier, I dunno, and like they say here, I dun care too!.

As I have no financial involvement/interest with them; its just NOT my business; other than being the nosy foreigner on my Soi that I am

Edited November 9, 2010 by tod-daniels

[negreanu]

You sure are interested in Insomnia!

[atyclb]

Hip hop/ Rap places are not my cup of tea either. They did do a nice job decorating. Since the DJ set list is basically a CC of what you'd hear in any other similar club I cant say there is much innovation in that respect. If one is really bored then the Nana Liquid club has a live band that "duplicates the same rap/hip hop stuff" but occasionally plays some other genre music such as the much overplayed "zombie" rock song.

Once in a candid chat with one of the good english speaking Thai male hardcore Rap appearing singers from that club I was floored when he told me he has a huge admiration for the music and social-activism of U2/ Bono but Rap/Hip pays the bills.

[HardenedSoul]

I was disappointed when I popped into Insomnia. I guess they must've run out of dosh doing the place up cos they had a couple of moody Thai DJs playing this awful, soulless "dance" music at full tilt on a very high-spec but badly set-up system. Don't get me wrong cos I'm seriously into house music but this stuff was like the drivel you'd find on a cheap "Now that's what I'd call dance" compilation CD. The atmosphere was non-existent and the punters looked bemused. No doubt they'll tweak the formula but they really NEED to get on top of that <deleted> music sharpish especially when they're unlikely to get the kind of footfall outside the door that Bed Supper gets.

To my mind, given the resounding success music policy has helped make of Nana Liquid, there really is no excuse for playing formulaic dance. The resident DJs there play a warm, deep, tech house set that evokes a completely different reaction from the crowd. Liquid's busy every night without fail, drinks are reasonably priced, the bints really go for it on the dancefloor and the atmosphere's great and the joint doesn't shut till 6am.

[DP25]

To my mind, given the resounding success music policy has helped make of Nana Liquid, there really is no excuse for playing formulaic dance.

I always thought the success of Nana Disco was being directly across from Nana Plaza

[Monokuro]

I went there on Saturday night and was impressed.

The inside of the place actually looks like a real club that I'm used to from the UK - and the laser system is amazing

It has a real dance floor that isn't over run with tables (I hate that about RCA)

Sound is good but ONLY if you are in the middle "circle" - if you stand around the edge, it sounds pretty off - and as someone said, wherever you stand, you need to shout to be heard.

Aircon is very good, with no heat problems (though saying that, it wasn't rammed - so I can't comment how it would be when the numbers are up)

Drink prices are a little steep, but you can get a discount card for 100baht which gives you 20 (25?) percent off and works in the Diner too.

The biggest problem though (and perhaps I've just been naive before) was that it seemed that the majority of women there were freelancing, which really isn't my thing. We eventually found a group of girls who weren't (or at least that was their line) and partied with them for the rest of the night, but I suspect we were just lucky.

Oh - and the waitressing staff there are hot! Hehe ...

[HardenedSoul]

To my mind, given the resounding success music policy has helped make of Nana Liquid, there really is no excuse for playing formulaic dance.

I always thought the success of Nana Disco was being directly across from Nana Plaza

Getting people throught the door is one thing; keeping them is another

[mallyrd]

I don't understand why you call this a "Review of Club Insomnia Soi 12 Bangkok"

By your own admission you have not set foot in the club and you are relying on Thai friends as well gossiping with others to form an opinion.

[bkkjames]

I think Tod had been suffering from Insomnia?

[atyclb]

Like some Thai women commented on Facebook, I too was put off my the cigarette smoking everywhere. Usually upscale clubs have a smoking area or peple go outside for a few minutes to smoke.

[meom]

Seeing as their posted hours on all the signage and their flyers say they're open until 5AM; it would appear they are indeed going for that 'mid-price after hours' niche market which appears to be poorly exploited as far as foreigners (read as; tourists, or sex-pats) in thailand are concerned.

I guess being open until 5am means you can enter the club until 5am. Not sure when they close though. My understanding is that it goes on until way past 5am but we didn’t test this.

Together with a girlfriend I went there on 6 November and it was a great night out. When we entered at 11pm there was no queue at all and the place was barely alive but after midnight it started filling up quick and by the time we left at 4.30am it was packed basically.

Despite being packed there’s plenty of staff and getting drinks was pretty easy throughout the night.

The music and laser were ok to. At least for me it sounded pretty good although I did get the impression the music sounded a bit hollow further away from the dance floor.

Regarding other customers there was a wide variety. Some were dressed pretty nice and others (myself included) were just wearing shorts and flip flops which apparently was no objection when we entered unless the staff had more eyes for the girl I was with and overlooked my sloppy dress. Come to think of it that could be the case because after we’ve had our first drink she was taken aside by the staff and given a free membership card which was a nice gesture.

All in all we had a great time and I think the club has a future provided they don't get raided to often.

[HardenedSoul]

Not sure how much longer this joint's going to be open.

You know a club's having problems when they start dishing out flyers promoting drinks at THB99 "all night" as opposed to "until 12". Guess that trance fromage they insist on playing has been their undoing after all.