Click to watch

a World in Action 30 minute program about raving in London in 1988……

Top British music critic Alexis Petridis accused David Guetta of provoking him to have a mid-life crisis this week, after he tuned in to the Radio 1 chart show ‘and ‘discovered to my mounting horror that everything sounded exactly the same.’

“Oh God, this is it, I thought: I’ve turned into my dad,” he admitted, “But on closer investigation, it became apparent that the chart did sound weirdly homogenous.

“Almost everything had a four-to-the-floor house beat,” he noted, citing Guetta as the man responsible, “Almost everything was decorated with synth noises somewhere between rave and trance, and had a hint of dubstep.”

His assessment struck a chord with the views of superstar trance DJ Jono Grant from Above & Beyond, who chatting to Mixmag last week, admitted being struck by the hordes of producers ‘including some of the bigger names’ jumping on the pop bandwagon.

“I’ve noticed that many smaller producers are seemingly feeling a bit lost in where to go with their direction, and are perhaps seeing artists like David Guetta having mainstream commercial success and saying, “I want a piece of that!, said Jono.

“For a lot of producers, they dilute what they are about because they are not David Guetta and don’t do what he does best. That’s not experimenting in my eyes, it’s panic!” he declared (Mixmag: http://bit.ly/vOieXm )

Guetta himself enjoyed another landmark week, becoming the first DJ to have his handprints immortalized at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in LA. In another sign of his total domination of mainstream celebrity culture, he also entertained Hollywood movie star Will Smith and his wife Jada at his Fuck Me I’m Famous party in Miami.

“They were hanging out all night (in the DJ booth) Jada and Will are huge fans [of Guetta],” an ‘onlooker’ reportedly told the New York Post.

“Jada broke out into a dance routine on top of the DJ booth — the crowd went insane.”

http://bit.ly/peHbp (Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a history of popular folly by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841: ‘”Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one . . .”; click here: to download the entire book; http://bit.ly/azZ4p3 )

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

click on the picture to donate

Producers of High On Hope are seeking personal donations to clear music rights for the award winning rave movie, to allow the gritty documentary to be released on DVD and shown in independent cinemas.

Contributors who donate £3 receive a secret link to watch the film in advance, while those giving £100 receive a name-check in the final credits, a DVD and 2 tickets to a private screening and after-party. Producers need to raise £30.000. (Click HERE to donate: http://www.highonhope.com/donate/ )

The fascinating film charts the inside story behind the rise and fall of the illegal late 80s acid house scene in Blackburn, via interviews with the core party organisers and footage from some of the legendary raves, which attracted tens of thousands each weekend in 1990 and 1991.

Spurning the ‘suited superstar DJs’ and the ‘people who carved careers, adulation and financial muscle out of the acid house revolution’ the film instead focuses on the largely anonymous individuals who helped create the scene, most of whom ended up prison for their efforts.

Chatting to Skrufff this week, filmmaker Piers Sanderson (a regular at many of the parties portrayed) admitted it’s been a struggle to find funds from traditional sources.

“One of the first problems we’ve encountered is that a documentary about the early days of acid house is considered a niche market; to a regular film distributor or funder it’s seen as having about as much appeal as a film about fly fishing,” he explained.

“Despite millions of people having an interest in dance music and its origins the distribution companies and film funds simply don’t understand this market.”

“Secondly we’ve included lots of old handheld video footage of the parties in the film and that fact, combined with that fact that some of the early interviews were filmed before I’d been to film school, means that it doesn’t have the polished aesthetics of a modern TV documentary. I have now learned to do things ‘properly’, he said.

“For a dance music audience though, the fact that we can see the parties and that original footage of it exists will actually be a great attraction to the film,” Piers added.

“They don’t care that it wasn’t shot by a professional camera man. They just want to see what it was like 20 years ago inside an illegal warehouse party.”

(London revellers taking on the authorities- and throwing an impromptu rave in Hyde Park, in 1994…..)

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): The film is primarily focused on the Blackburn raves, what kind of reaction has the film had from people in Blackburn?

Piers Sanderson: “It hasn’t been shown in Blackburn yet. Once the music is cleared that is where it will be premiered. Because of these licensing issues so far I have only been able to show it at film festivals and the closest was at Leeds International Film festival (the UK’s largest film festival after Edinburgh). There it won the audience award (beating the Kings Speech in to 2nd place) so as far as audience reactions go I could not have been happier.”

Skrufff: The film portrays the police in a pretty negative light; have you had any response from anyone representing the authorities/ cops?

Piers Sanderson: “When I started making this film 10 years ago I contacted the police and an interview with an officer who attended the parties was set up. We were just about to start when their legal department insisted that I agreed that they could have an editorial input. Obviously I said no way and the interview was cancelled. The guy I was about to talk to told me that the regular police actually loved the warehouse parties because it meant overtime every Saturday and there was rarely any trouble – unlike at football matches or legal nightclubs where there was always violence.”

Skrufff: What’s been the most unexpected reaction you’ve had to the film?

Piers Sanderson: “The international appeal. I have shown the film in festivals all over the world now and every time the audience has loved it. When I started making the film I wasn’t sure what people in the south of England would make of it, let alone in Russia, South America and the rest of Europe. It seems that the acid house mentality traveled the world. Every country had their own version of what happened in Blackburn and they can all relate to the story.

It is the same with the donations for the music clearance we’ve had so far. They have come in from all over the globe, even countries where it’s not been shown yet. I have had large donations from Japan and New Zealand, for example, and have not managed to get the film out there yet. That was unexpected and extremely gratifying.”

Skrufff: What’s stopping you from cutting a few tracks out and making it, say, 1 hour long?

Piers Sanderson: “That was my plan. The edit you have seen is the full-length feature intended for a large screen and big sound system. For TV I would have to cut down the long scenes of music and people dancing in the warehouses.

Skrufff: Anything else to add?

Piers Sanderson: “Once the music is cleared I will be taking the film on a proper tour. When it was screened in Moscow they had a secret location that you had to call a number to find on the night. I like the idea of doing something like that; in old warehouses, followed by DJ performing. This film works best in those types of environments and afterwards the audience is always up for a party.”

Click HERE to donate: http://www.highonhope.com/donate/ )

http://bit.ly/vNMLMA (High on Hope; trailer, Youtube)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Awakenings- click for more

“We’ve been around for so long that people know that they get value for their money with us. For our latest outdoor festival this year we sold out four months in advance. That was a new record for us and it for this summer it was the fastest selling out dance festival in Holland.”

Almost 15 years after throwing their first party at Amsterdam’s Gasworks, Awakenings has become one of the world’s most popular techno festivals, most recently attracting 35,000 to their latest outdoor bash, one of numerous events they present throughout Holland each year.

Tickets (including for 2 day events and their upcoming New Year’s Eve party) cost less than 50EUR, and as a cursory glance at any of the last 9 years of line-ups listed on their website shows, commercial compromise has never been on the agenda.

“How much of a temptation is it for us to book a David Guetta or Afrojack? No temptation at all,” event founder and Awakenings figurehead Rocco chuckles, “Awakenings is strictly techno!”

While the likes of veterans such as Jeff Mills and Joey Beltram are represented at every party, next generation tech stars such as Luciano, Egbert, and Joseph Capriati also feature prominently, fitting into a formula that’s simple but highly effective.

“The most important aspect still are our killer line-ups,” says Rocco, “Plus our state of the art visual show which includes the best LED, video, lasers, lights and indoor fireworks.”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff); What’s your assessment of the state of techno in 2011: how has it been affected by the worldwide recession?

Awakenings (Rocco): “Speaking for the Netherlands and particularly for Amsterdam, the state of techno is really healthy. There is a lot of local talent here but we can also listen to international techno DJs every weekend in the variety of clubs we have and then a few times a year Awakenings puts on the greatest of raves. You can see the economic crisis is having some effect and for the clubs it’s not always easy but we still sell out every single edition of Awakenings.”

Skrufff: What’s been the toughest experience you’ve had?

Awakenings (Rocco): “I’ve had a New Year’s event cancelled a couple of years ago because the owner of the warehouse made a mistake and didn’t apply for the license in time. That will never happen again.”

Skrufff: House and techno have dominated European club culture for well over 20 years now: how likely is it that dubstep, or some other new genre, could come along and sweep most of the old guard away?

Awakenings (Rocco): “We have dubstep parties and also most other genres you can find around here. It’s nice that the people can choose where they want to go.  Competition is positive and healthy for the club scene. We like to think that the techno scene will keep on being creative and putting out great music because that’s what it’s all about.”

http://www.awakenings.nl (Jeff Mills, Marcel Fengler, Matthew Jonson and Sandwell District headine the next Awakenings, on Friday November 25, in Amsterdam)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48NGtFhxas8 (Awakenings on Youtube 2010 trailer)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click for full party details

Leading Berlin techno collectives including Seth Troxler’s Visionquest and Salon Zur Wilden Renate are lending their support to an anti-capitalist event in Kreuzberg’s Gorlitzer Park this Friday (11/11) at which a sound system will entertain the assembled protestors.

‘We call our governments to stand by us and shift the world’s priorities from the ruling corporations to us, the people’, Freedom in the Park organizers Toi Toi declared in a statement issued this week, “We gather in Berlin, others are gathering in many other parts of Europe and the United States. Bit by bit we can change the world! Believe and act!” they urged.

Protestors are inviting to bring ‘signs, musical instruments, friends, lots of goodwill and confidence’ to the gathering which takes place this Friday morning at 11am.

“We need to prove to our governments and ourselves that we have the power to reject social injustice and reclaim our rights to be free human beings on this planet,” Freedom in the Park added.

“If we do not make a stand now, we will keep having huge corporate bodies controlling us with even more rules and regulations. If we do not make a stand now, our planet resources will soon be fully exploited by the greedy corporations and even our right to make a stand will soon disappear together with our right for prosperity & happiness,” they warned. (Facebook event details: http://on.fb.me/w58fSD )

The party’s concept fitted neatly into the strategy proposed by US visionary Howard Zinn who coined the concept of the 99% in his seminal guide to (US) society A People’s History of the United States. (http://bit.ly/ELbZx )

Describing the growing inequality in the 90s, the eminent professor painted a bleak, extremely prescient picture of society in his chapter ‘the Coming Revolt of the Guards’, of increasingly angry lower and middle class people totally alienated by mainstream political systems.

“There are other signs (of revolt),” the Professor noted, “the high rate of alcoholism, the high rate of divorce (from one of three marriages ending in divorce, the figure was climbing to one of two), of drug use and abuse, of nervous breakdowns and mental illness.”

click to read 'A People’s History of the United States' in full

“Millions of people have been looking desperately for solutions to their sense of impotency, their loneliness, their frustration, their estrangement from other people, from the world, from their work, from themselves.”

“Let us imagine what radical change would require of us all,” he continued.

“People would need to begin to transform their immediate environments-the workplace, the family, the school, the community-by a series of struggles against absentee authority, to give control of these places to the people who live and work there.”

“These struggles would involve all the tactics used at various times in the past by people’s movements: demonstrations, marches, civil disobedience; strikes and boycotts and general strikes; direct action to redistribute wealth, to reconstruct institutions, to revamp relationships; creating-in music, literature, drama, all the arts, and all the areas of work and play in everyday life-a new culture of sharing, of respect, a new joy in the collaboration of people to help themselves and one another,” he recommended.

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click for more on Orbital

Acid house pioneers Orbital have confirmed they are to headline a six date UK tour next April, at which they’ll be promoting their long awaited as yet unnamed artist album some 7 years after they officially split up.

Pioneering performing electronic music live at mega raves such as Glastonbury and Tribal Gathering in the 90s, the Hartnoll brothers became global superstar though quit in 2004 to pursue solo careers.

Five years on, however, they temporarily reformed to play a 20 year memorial gig at the Big Chill, prompting Paul to admit to having second thoughts about the wisdom of their decision to quit.

“I didn’t (miss being in Orbital) for the first couple of years but then it started building up,” he told the Times, “Seeing contemporaries you always used to be on bills with — the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, the Prodigy — still doing it, we started to say: ‘I used to enjoy that; that used to be a laugh.”

Speaking to the Sunday Times in the same year, he was even more direct, admitting his plans to hook up with Hollywood agents commissioning film scores was trickier than expected.

“Their attitude was, ‘I’m not getting Orbital. What am I getting?’  What do you do on your own?” he said.

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

“Loads of old ravers come come to our Fantazia parties still, I would estimate that this year’s events so far have been 50/50 old ravers to new ones. It’s amazing to shake so many hands of those that were there at the first events.”

Chatting to Skrufff this week as he finalized preparations for next weekend’s 20^th birthday celebration (in Trafford Park, Manchester) event promoter Charlie Fantazia remains infectiously evangelical.

“Fantazia past and present events mean a lot to so many people. It truly was the 2nd summer of love,” he smiles, “People met their present wives and husbands at the events and made lifelong friends at the 90′s raves.”

Click for details of Fantazia The Greatest Show on Earth’; takes place on October 8 at Bowlers, Trafford Park, Manchester

The power of the parties and the enthusiasm he recalls is immediately apparent from a quick Google search of Fantazia Youtube, revealing scores of Youtube clips of tens of thousands dancing, ironically like no-ones watching (http://bit.ly/BFDGH , http://bit.ly/tgHJ0  (http://bit.ly/oKm2kY ). What’s also more than clear is the diversity of the original crowds, with black, white, young and old ravers jammed in side by side yet clearly all comfortable. (Fantazia Donnington: http://bit.ly/nM9AvO )

“The 50% that are new to Fantazia or raves are privileged,” Charlie continues. “They are getting to see the friendly atmosphere off the raves of old. No aggression, just friendly happy people. Fantazia ravers really keep to that PLUR ethos, not the hoody attitude at other raves we have been to where the menace is palpable.

We encourage our ravers to go wild with their outfits and just wear want they want, you don’t get the negative snobby vibe that is associated with the superclubs.”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): It’s 20 years since you started: what’s the state of play with Fantazia today; what are you core priorities, what does Fantazia stand for?

Fantazia (Charlie): “We still love putting on parties and regularly sell out across the country including parties this year in Scotland, Stoke on Trent, Bristol and next week’s biggest (8th October) at the 4000 capacity Bowlers in Manchester.  When not organising our latest events we are doing DJ interviews, adding events reviews and generally continuing to make the Rave Archive section of our website the definitive source of information on the UK rave scene.

Skrufff: What’s your assessment of the health of British nightlife at the moment? How much has it been affected by the economic crash of 3 years ago and today?

Fantazia (Charlie): “From what we hear from other promoters and DJs, nightlife is on it knees in many areas. Attendances are down at events, they take longer to sell out and some established events have been cancelled altogether. Fantazia are more insulated from the problems because our audience is drawn from an older range of raver, they travel long distances and they perhaps have more disposable cash. Fantazia was born in 1991 at the height of the previous big recession and we survived that, dance music is cyclical in my opinion; it will be back, albeit a little leaner and fitter.”

Skrufff: How much attention do you pay to media driven trends- e.g. dubstep, new rave before that, electroclash?

Fantazia (Charlie): “We don’t, at all. We just call it all dance music and let the DJs play what they want. Dance music fits into a few sub genres but this constant creation of new subdivisions is bad for the scene, creating smaller and smaller niches and bad attitudes as people slag off other genres. How about just going out to dance and party?  Cut the bollocks, I say.”

Skrufff: You still sell ‘rave wear, UV, neon and clubwear & glowing/flashing stuff, fluffy boots’ etc; how much do these fashions actually change year to year?

Fantazia (Charlie): “I think people are cutting back on buying the full cyber raver outfit for the parties, plus of course the less parties the less people are going to need to buy outfits for them. We said earlier that we encourage people to express themselves and have fun. Neon is loud and vibrant and UV colours make you shine, why would you not want to wear some, it’s fun? Plus where else but a rave can girls wear clothes this sexy? Certainly not at a high street nightclub.”

Charlie?

Skrufff: The site says ‘Rave wear for men has never been as sophisticated at that for the ladies,” why not? Have you ever worn a white suit?

Fantazia (Charlie): “Of course I have worn one of our raver outfits, haven’t you? Rave fashion is like the high street, tons of choice for the ladies and a few for the men, perhaps we just aren’t as adventurous or don’t want to invest as much in our looks?

Skrufff: How did you manage to prevent gangsters from taking over Fantazia; I’m sure they must have tried?

Fantazia (Charlie): “We hired in good personal protection to make sure we were okay. It did not come cheap though and we would have preferred to have worked with the Police. The Police, however, worked to their own agenda and that was to try hastening the death of the big raves and moving parties into the all nightclubs like the Ministry of Sound.

Certainly some of the big rave companies including some of the legal ones were taken over by gun-toting gangsters and they did send us threats. If we had let them in an inch I think that would have been game over, but we always used reputable security companies and always did out best to stop dealing.”

Skrufff: How about the police: did you ever have to contend with mega police raids: or undercovers trying to infiltrate you?

Fantazia (Charlie): “No, we always had to co-operated fully with the Old Bill (police) on licenses and as such they were allowed to carry out undercover operations. It is a testament to our organisation that so few arrests were ever made at our parties. Certainly you would get a lot more on a Saturday at a football match or in say Cardiff City centre.”

Skrufff: In the article you also say how ‘a big ego brings us down with a bump’: what happened? Have you ever been arrested?

Fantazia (Charlie): “Personally not, but 30 VAT man did arrest some of the others over the company tax affairs. We were hardly Al Capone and the Chicago mob, but the government used every method they could to try to shut us down.  Were we any good with paperwork?  No, we were 20 year old kids at the time and more interested in putting on a party than checking the accountants were doing the job they were being paid for properly, (that’s changed now though)!

My advice to budding party organisers?  Don’t allow slick national journalists to get you talking about making lots of money. You almost certainly are not make much money when all the bills finish coming in and if you say you are- in black and white-even if it turns out not to be true, it’s going to cost you a fortune in time, efforts and legal fees to prove it.”

Skrufff: Looking ahead: how likely is it that in 20 years you’ll be celebrating your 40th? (with 60 something rave veterans getting out their glow sticks?)

Fantazia (Charlie): “God no, I will have a Zimmer frame by then. But I hope my 18 year old daughter Georgie does, she already does the photography for the flyer covers and dances at the parties, so hopes are she will keep the name up there for future generations. There were plenty of people in their 50′s at the events this year why not in their 70′s if they want to come.” d

Skrufff: The word ‘rave’ is still seen as a dirty word in the States; have you ever disowned it, or been forced to use different terms?

Fantazia (Charlie): “I think the Electric Daisy Festival is helping over there in Las Vegas. And I would love to see Fantazia at a future one of those, by the way. When we moved from putting on big raves to doing House Music compilations we did call them Dance Music not Rave. I guess that was a change of tack for us in attempting to reach a wider mainstream audience with out any of the illegal connotations that I guess rave parties had at the time.

From the huge sales of our House Collection series I guess we were successful in that reinvention. Since 2000 I think the term rave has become much more of a general description and we are delighted to once again be at the forefront of it, through our events and website.”

http://www.rave.org.uk/trumps/index.htm

http://bit.ly/l8y9wg (‘Fantazia The Greatest Show on Earth’; takes place on October 8 at Bowlers, Trafford Park, Manchester). DJs including , CJ Bolland, Dave Angel, Trevor Rockcliffe, Liquid, N-Joi, Slipmatt, Top Buzz and Shades of Rhythm headline. Click here for more details:

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

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