How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Illustration — The Phoenix, Marylebone How Does It Feel to Be Loved? (often abbreviated to HDIF) is a London-based nightclub which predominantly plays indie pop, Northern Soul and Motown music. On the club's website, founder Ian Watson explains: "We love pop, we love guitars that jangle, we love foot stomping melodies and huge choruses." The club's name is taken from the lyrics to The Velvet Underground song "Beginning to See the Light".
How Does It Feel To Be Loved?

Ewan Munro from London, UK · Phoenix, Marylebone, W1 Uploaded by Oxyman · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Founded
- 2006
- Headquarters
- United Kingdom
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — The Phoenix, Marylebone How Does It Feel to Be Loved? (often abbreviated to HDIF) is a London-based nightclub which predominantly plays indie pop, Northern Soul and Motown music. On the club's website, founder Ian Watson explains: "We love pop, we love guitars that jangle, we love foot stomping melodies and huge choruses." The club's name is taken from the lyrics to The Velvet Underground song "Beginning to See the Light".
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for How Does It Feel To Be Loved?. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
In this article
History
History
Watson, a former Melody Maker journalist, began the night in April 2002 at The Buffalo Bar in Islington. HDIF takes place on the third Saturday of the month at Signature Brew in Haggerston, east London. Over the years, HDIF has taken place in a variety of venues in the capital, including the 100 Club on Oxford Street, The Phoenix on Cavendish Square, The Canterbury Arms, The Windmill and Jamm in Brixton, Buffalo Bar in Highbury, The Grosvenor in Stockwell, Nambucca in Archway, The Shacklewell Arms in Dalston, The Crypt in Camberwell and the Montague Arms in Peckham. It ran from 2003 to 2015 at the Canterbury Arms, and was "Brixton's longest running indie club night". Press for the HDIF has been extremely positive. "Legendary indie club," said the NME. "Much-loved indie pop institution," wrote The Quietus. "With a decade of great nights under its belt How Does it Feel to Be Loved? is one of London's most enduring and influential underground indie get-togethers," said Flavorpill. "A speakeasy for anyone who suspects that their life is one big Smiths song," declared Big Issue. In January 2015, it was named one of "London's best indie nights" by Time Out.
Notable DJs
Notable DJs
Guest DJs have included: • Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch • The Smiths producer Stephen Street • The Wedding Present's David Gedge • Camera Obscura singer Tracyanne Campbell and bass player Gavin Dunbar • Felt singer Lawrence • Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake • Dexys Midnight Runners singer Kevin Rowland • Dan Treacy of the Television Personalities • St Etienne's Bob Stanley • Jon Slade of Huggy Bear/Comet Gain • Darren Hayman • Paul Court of The Primitives • The Clientele singer Alasdair Maclean • Amelia Fletcher of Talulah Gosh • Theaudience founder Billy Reeves • Chelsea and Everton footballer Pat Nevin • The Pains of Being Pure at Heart • Jeffrey Lewis HDIF started running online Virtual Dance Parties in March 2020, with a DJ set streamed to mixlr and to a VR recreation of the Canterbury Arms hosted on Altspace. The following have DJ-ed at the virtual dance parties: Stuart Murdoch, Stevie Jackson and Chris Geddes of Belle & Sebastian, Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields, Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura, Jeffrey Lewis, Elizabeth Morris and Bill Botting of Allo Darlin', David Gedge of The Wedding Present, Amelia Fletcher of Talulah Gosh and Heavenly, Helen Love, Bobby Wratten of The Field Mice, Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Estella Adeyeri of Big Joanie, John Dwyer of Osees, comedians Josie Long and Stewart Lee, The Lovely Eggs, Huw Williams of The Pooh Sticks, Gail O'Hara of Chickfactor, Kip Berman of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Manda Rin of Bis, Martin Phillipps of The Chills, Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub, Lloyd Cole, Duglas T Stewart of BMX Bandits, Wendy Pickles of The Popguns, Darren Hayman, Black Francis of Pixies, Beth Arzy of Jetstream Pony, Robert Lloyd of The Nightingales, Franic Rozycki of The Wave Pictures, Stephen McRobbie of The Pastels, Liz Stokes of The Beths, Ian Parton of The Go! Team, and Sean Tollefson of Tullycraft.
Live shows
Live shows
Since July 2005, HDIF has promoted live shows under the HDIF Presents banner. Bands featured have included: • Sambassadeur • Language of Flowers • Saturday Looks Good to Me • Lucky Soul • Fanfarlo • The Gresham Flyers • Darren Hayman • Tilly and the Wall • Fosca • Irene • I'm From Barcelona • Butcher Boy • Brontosaurus Chorus • Allo Darlin' • This Many Boyfriends • Cats on Fire • The Band of Holy Joy • A Fine Day for Sailing • White Town • Standard Fare • Shrag • Veronica Falls • The Lodger • God Help the Girl • The Popguns • The Pooh Sticks
Label
Label
In September 2006, HDIF's spin-off record label was launched with the release of the 19-track compilation The Kids at the Club and featured many of the acts who had played or DJ'd at HDIF nights. The label has since gone on to release albums by Butcher Boy, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Antarctica Takes It!, Cats on Fire and Pocketbooks. In June 2010, the first HDIF Podcast was recorded. Featuring songs played at the most recent club night, it featured the club's trademark mixture of indiepop and soul. In December 2010, HDIF was part of the line up for Bowlie 2, the music festival curated by Belle & Sebastian. In July 2011, the anthropologist Wendy Fonarow cited HDIF in her Indie Professor column in The Guardian. Discussing the differences between American and British indie music, she commented: "Indie is the diminutive of independent and often has names that are self-conscious, small and innocent: Sarah, Heavenly, Postcard, Fierce Panda, Mute or How Does it Feel to Be Loved?" From 2011 onwards, HDIF has been part of the line up for the End of the Road Festival, playing two sets: one in the afternoon for children at the Forest Disco, and a late night one for adults. Elizabeth Morris of Allo Darlin' stated in an interview in the 2011 End of the Road Festival programme that the band's initial ambition was to have one of their songs played at HDIF. She later revealed: "This club inspired a lot of our songs, including 'Dreaming' and 'Polaroid Song'." After a break of three years, the HDIF label was revived in 2013, with the release of the debut album by Haiku Salut, titled Tricolore. The label released Haiku Salut's second album, "Etch and Etch Deep", in 2015.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself. It is also recorded that how Does It Feel To Be Loved? Is recorded from 2006. It is also recorded that how Does It Feel To Be Loved? Is associated with United Kingdom.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United Kingdom
Named but not plotted · 1
How Does It Feel To Be Loved? is associated with United Kingdom.
Country
Catalogued output
Publications and programmes
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. It is also recorded that how does it feel to be old? / by E. Institutional cataloguing adds that the ancient Egyptian coffin texts / [translated and edited by] R.O. Die alt-ägyptische Chirurgie: Die chirurgischen Abschnitte der Papyrus E.
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 4 catalogued sources across 4 independent registers. The registers consulted are Wellcome Collection, National Library of Medicine, Wikidata and Wikipedia. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
43,111 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Houshang ZarifPerson
- Houshyar KhayamPerson
- Houston PersonPerson
- Houston StackhousePerson
- Howard AlbertPerson
- Howard AldenPerson
- Howard ArmanPerson
- Howard ArmstrongPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with How Does It Feel To Be Loved??
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.