Alex Lloyd comes over all excited at the prospect of two new alternative club nights.

I THINK I may faint with excitement. After years without a sniff of guitar riff on a weekend, York is getting not one, but two dedicated alternative club nights.

After the bands come off stage at 10.30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, Fibbers will transform into a rock 'n' roll disco until 2am. Punters who have been to the gig are entitled to stay for free.

This sort of set-up has been running in gig venues around the country for a long time, but York fans of band music have had to travel to The Cockpit in Leeds or Middlesbrough Empire to get their kicks on a weekend.

Promoter Bryan Stubbs is behind the new nights and says the relaxation of licensing laws had allowed the city to finally jump on this particular bandwagon.

"It's about time York had a weekend alternative to travelling out of town for good guitar based music. No offence to the other clubs in town but they've been ignoring alternative music for too long," he says.

"The album and singles charts reflect the fact people want to hear something other than what most of the big corporations are offering. Just this week the top ten has Athlete, Feeder, Chemical Brothers, Green Day, Keane, Scissor Sisters, Killers all firmly lodged there, with bands like Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, Razorlight and their ilk all selling tons of records too."

Fridays will be Up The Racket, billed as a "glamorous indie rock n roll disko". Bryan will be the resident DJ, joined by guests each week.

Saturdays will be an old favourite, Blackout, which has been running at Ziggys on a Tuesday for years with Bryan as main resident. He will be handing over DJ-ing duties to Lauren Lovell, with monthly guest DJ Yoghurt, who is a regular at the Camden Electric Ballroom in London.

With a tsunami benefit gig taking place at Fibbers on Saturday, all proceeds from this weekend's club nights will be added to the venue's tsunami appeal, giving a double excuse to go along.

And there's no dress code, so you can wear your trainers and jeans.

Up The Racket, Fridays, and Blackout, Saturdays, at Fibbers, 10.30pm-2am, £3 with flyer or NUS before 11.30pm, otherwise £5. For more information, visit www.fibbers.co.uk or www.haxed.co.uk

Updated: 16:04 Thursday, February 10, 2005