Just wondering if any know of any of the more alternative pubs, clubs and venues in Zurich, Bern and Basel?

Places like rote fabrik and the like.

in Zurich

try profitref, its alternative, depending on the day you can find dub/reggae and very good techno, minimal and deep house...ppl are very relaxed..

there is also another place, close to Langstrasse, its a house, next to a "not alternative" disco/pub named blin (or something like that) good music, alternative venue definetely..

Maybe I'm a bit of a noob on the topic.

But does Alternative refer to the Alternative Rock music scene,

or Alternative lifestyles etc.?

I'm thinking mostly of alternative music, just not limited to alternative rock.

El Lokal is mainstream alternative.

That heavy metal bar on Langstr, would that be considered alternative. Have been meaning to go in there despite my yuppy attire.

Although I'm not really looking at rock bars, stick em on the thread, I don't mind a bit of punk.

I think you meant 'Bling' and the bar nearby is the Mars Bar, which has regular live music. To complete the Triumverate, the Tessiner Keller opposite the Mars Bar is the best 'alternative' place for food in the area.

The Stray Cat bar at the end is good for bad boys.

Cyrus, help us out. What kind of music do you like? What might be my alternative could be your mainstream.

I did that the other week, wearing yuppy clothing, and the looks me and a friend got were basically along the lines of "You are not one of us, get the f**k out of here now"... borderline hostile. Never again.

The place looked like a true hardcore metallers place though, i've never seen anything like it. There were no casually dressed people there at all.

Must give it a look then

I love alternative bars too.

But when I use the word, I refer to the mid 90s onward sound.

The 'newer' alternative groups have great and really cool music and all, but it's all the lame hipster fans I can't stand. How did the 'alternative' crowd become the social snobs?!?!

"It's not the band I hate, it's their fans"--Sloan

Now I definitely want to go. Furthering on this and Chemmie's point, snobbiness can ironically be found in the cliques that were initially a rebellion against it.

In my personal case, my dress style has no correlation to my musical tastes, so I'm used to getting stared at or told off at places.

Think I'll organise a weekend drinks night at the Heavy Metal Bar.

I was trying to keep the thread general, and not just related to me.

I'm looking mostly for the places that play alternatives to house, top40, and school/wedding discos that seems to be the standard fair for big clubs and venues. If the venue puts on a wide range of nights, so much the better. Personally I'm looking more for the alternatives to the big dance clubs, so electro, techno, minimal, dub, dubstep, beats, nudisco, and a whole lot of stuff I don't know how to classify. Also, smaller venues who might be interested in letting me DJ.

In Zurich:

- Helsinki (right behind Banhof Hardbrucke)
- Bombay (near Langstrasse)

They're both great!

In Basel, the Hirscheneck. Often punk, but lots of other stuff, too. And a nice bar/restaurant upstairs.

I went to that rock bar on Langstr. http://www.altemetzg.ch with a friend who fits the part. I had people blatantly tell me that the girls there arn;t interested to talk to me because I was wearing a red T shirt ... haha Narrow minded people ... on the plus side, it was an interesting experience and I was even invited to the other lesser known metal head bar around the corner, the cactus which was kinda a cute looking american biker bar full of yet more metal heads.

Worth a look but maybe the sort of place to grab a quick beer whilst parsing by rather than spending your whole evening there. Although there was a crazy lady swinging flaming ball and chains about on the dance floor, that was pretty entertaining I heard a rumor that it will be closing down at the end of this year, it seems that the locals do there drinking at home and just go there for the music and to abuse anyone daft enough to enter without the appropriate attire. haha

I was in there a few years ago. Cracked me up to watch people headbanging while listening to a DJ.

Hmm Pirates in Hinwil is pretty good apparently, i used to live in hinwil but never went. You take the s9 straight through to hinwil from zuri which will take about 40 mins or you can take the more regular s5 to uster and then change and get s9 from uster to Hinwil.

Uster also has some cool bars, theres the Red Ocre which is an Aussie bar. hmm what else, I Love OXA but thats not really alternative but im sure if you go into the niederdöfli theres a tonne of nice bars and some clubs down there. Thats where i spent most of my time on exchange year, either that or by the lake drinking. even in winter, like a bum. lol

Ah, The Cactus. One of our favourite places. Very friendly place with hard rock (not heavy metal). They also have the tree trunk in the corner where people take turns trying to hammer a nail in (with the pointy end).

Classic joint. Straight out of a small town in Canada or the US.

Check out (as you probably know) Tillate and Usgang for what's going on. Um, there is new club, Ill see if I can get you info (a friend works there) and I think it might be what you are looking for (you might be able to play too).

The reason I asked to be more specific was to find out what you meant by alternative- it can have different meanings (well at least to me) as I previously mentioned and deffo is different to what Chemmie wrote.