Part 2: Folk to Rave

One night whilst lying in bed and living out the ritual of reading whatever book I was on at the time and listening to John Kennedy’s ‘Xposure’ show on XFM, a radio show which has had a profound effect on my listening and the gigs I have gone to. I’ll talk about that in the next paragraph, but I’ll carry on with the story for now… this particular evening on the live sessions was a London based lady of a bout 21 years at the time called Emmy the Great, and the first song she performed was a poignant yet beautiful tune called ‘Edward is Dedward’. I honestly think that this was the first time I’d properly listened to folk music and it sure weren’t the last. When I explored more into this London based music scene. Or “anti folk’ as it was properly, but not officially know. I never really liked the name because it had an elitist sentiment to it. Being that it wasn’t meant to be considered folk at all. But it had acoustic guitars and fiddles, and all the songs were stories so I can’t see how it couldn’t be considered folk.

Ah yea I’d like now to take a bit of time to give an over due thanks to the outspoken John Kennedy. Since I was discovering ‘alternative’ music post John Peel and pre Myspace (or atleast I wasn’t aware of finding music via this medium yet) John Kennedy was the music guru that was to help shape my music tastes. The Xposure show even to this present day is on Xfm at 10-2 on weekdays and like John Peel, or Mark Lamarr, John Kennedy will play anything of any genre he is given, providing it isn’t usually played during peek hours. It has been the catalyst for my music tastes and some of the artists and bands I heard for the first time include: Frank Turner, Bon Iver, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Florence and the machine, Mumford and Sons, Noah and the Whale, Joanna Newsom Jeremy Warlmsley, Willy Mason, The Teenagers, Laura Marling and even bands that I wasn’t particularly fond of like Foals, The Maccabee’s and Crystal Castles, aswell as endless amounts of great punk, electronica and digital hardcore. His nights at the Barfly were a monthly thing for me, and he was a lovely bloke who always took time to have a chat.


That’s the ode done with now back to the gigs. After the revelation of hearing a new genre I took it upon myself to go out and see it live. Unfortunatley though, none of my friends really liked it that much and I had to go to most of the gigs on my own, (My mate B however joined me for a few gigs) There was a few crackers that stand out for me. One particular being Noah and The Whale’ single launch at The Enterprise in Camden, with Laura Marling and King Charles as support, now I don’t know if any of you have ever been to The Enterprise, but your bedroom is probably bigger, so it was bloody packed, it was also the gig that made me lose a lot of respect for Laura Marling. After the gig I went to do my usual courtesy of saying ‘nice one’ to the band, but instead of a thank you back, I got a dirty look, to which I replied ‘charming’ which was met with a ‘fuck off’ reply. Laura you make some pretty nice tunes, but you’re a total bitch. One thing I found funny about that gig is that almost exactly a year later, Noah and The Whale, re-released that single and held a free gig at the much larger Roundhouse across the road.

Now you may be wondering why I keep mentioning Emmy the Great but don’t explain why she is so amazing, so here are some reasons… I used to chat to her online through the medium of Myspace (remember that thing) just about what gigs she’s playing and general music stuff, and then when I first saw her live at the Ben and Jerries festival after her set she took the time to come and have a chat with me and stuff, the same with all her other gigs as well. Even after her debut album came out and she got all-famous and that, toured round the world a couple of times and was probably able to quit her day job, she still recognized me and took the time to have a proper chat. But it was an invite to her E.P launch at The Macbeth that was to seal her as a proclaimed Queen of folk. She managed to put together a superb lineup which included Noah and the Whale, Mumford and Sons, Lightspeed Champion, Stars of Sunday League, Florence and the Machine (when her act involved her and a man with a guitar) and Slow Club, aswell as herself of course, there was also cake and E.P handouts, all for free! I look back at that lineup and wonder what the price of it would be today as pretty much the majority of it have gone on to be superstars.


I thoroughly enjoyed my time knocking around at folk gigs. It was all so very traditional, getting pissed in intimate venues with all the names on the bill, sitting on the floor whilst watching people perform, friendly and genuinely interesting people, classy birds and some truly inspiring music. There were very few downsides to it; sometimes the venues were too small, and I found people talking through some of the lesser-known acts really rude. It’s a shame that I now have to pay about 30 quid if I want to see these acts again, however Emmy still remains modest and is currently running a pledge scheme to release her new album off, which involves fans being able to pay a bit of money to fund the new album in return for signed albums, postcards and opportunities to be in the new video, and even a living room gig. It don’t get much Indie then that. These days however I am one of them ‘I liked ‘em before they were famous’ wankers, which I think is down to a lot of the bands having their albums get the studio treatment and lose its original rustic feel… However I think I may also just be a wanker.


On June 12th 2007 I think it was, I went to the Electrowerkz on recommendation from a geezer named Tree, that I got talking to there a month earlier “You should come to the Bangface nights here, if you like this you’ll love them”. At the time I didn’t think much of it, I didn’t know it, but that night was to be the night that I fell in love with raving. The loud repetitive music, the endless smiling, welcoming faces in the crowd, the drugs, the individuality of the people, the fact that anyone had the chance to get up there and play tracks to a roaring crowd, the sheer fuck offness of it all. I finally found what I was looking for in a music community. I remember me and Lauren taking our first great pill at The Mass and as a typicial 17 year old pill honeymooner would do, went round hugging everybody telling them that we loved them. Although it wasn’t until the following April that I was to consecrate my marriage with rave culture and electronic music, when the two of us went to the Bangface Weekender….
As my 18th birthday approached I was given a couple of options by my parents over what they’d get me for it. One being that they’d front the money for me and 3 or 4 mates from college to go to Amsterdam for a weekend, or they’d front the money for me and a friend to go to the Bangface weekender, looking back on it I’m quite glad I chose the latter. I found us a chalet space off the Gladtalk forum, and on pure faith hope it would all go through without a hitch. One of the main memories I have of that festival was me and Lauren both coming up off whatever pills it was we had boshed, walking through the chalets taking in the atmosphere and Lauren turned to me and said “this could be the best weekend of our lives” as hokey and gay as it sounds it actually was, and when I get nostalgic about that weekend, I think back and wonder what type of person I’d be today if I hadn’t of gone to that festival. I owe a lot to the culture for shaping me as I am, before I discovered the environment of taking drugs like ecstasy and speed and socilising with people I’d never met before, I was a social cripple who lived the lifestyle of a typical Smiths fan. Stuck in my bedroom not talking to anyone, partaking in nothing social at all (apart from the laughs that me and my old school mates would have). Infact I thought about who my friends were the other day, and I have to say that over 90% of them I have met through either Bangface or other kinds of raves, one of which I’m currently living with, and many of them I couldn’t imagine what life would be like if I weren’t mates with ‘em. All of this I owe to a geezer named Tree. Although its Bangface which I owe my main thanks to, the mash pits, the stupid signs and inflatables, the social melting pot, the epic line ups, the mash pits and to being able to literaly be carried across the dance floor is what made Bangface the best live music experience I've ever had, yea these days it may be 'commercially diluted' and Hidden is a bit of a shit venue, and all your mates dont go any more but I'll still call them nights out the best nights of my life.


I suppose I should fill part of this in with the greatest rave I’ve ever been to (apart from the weekender) had to be the massive ‘sofa-tek’, ‘squatwars’, ‘skumtek’ whatever you like to call it party back in September time I think it was, around 3 years ago now. I remember leaving work on Saturday evening and fancied a rave, so called the Every1sound party line as I religiously did back then. And was greeted by the message of “Tonight is going to be a big one, we have 30 rigs, a huge building…. This one is not to be missed” so obviously after hearing this I gathered up what friends I could and we was on our way. Over an hour of traveling to Acton via bus (which was filled with party goers, a ritual I always enjoy about finding parties) and the building just happened to be the BBC props building, but we didn’t know this at the time. Through the labyrinth of sofa’s, washing machines, lawnmowers and beds, there was a rigs beyond every twist and turn playing tunes from DJ’s from all over the country. Ofcourse to celebrate the situation I ploughed myself with a ludicrous amount of stimulants and wondered around for seemingly ages. I remember one of the main rooms which was from memory about the size of 2 football pitches (but I was tripping) and it had the Every1Sound rig occupying it in all its glory, looked a bit like the Berlin wall. In this room was also a huge pile of books which Lewis commented on the time “was photography” on the pile of books was people passed out, couples embracing, wasted people flicking through them, a few people collecting them… And then it happened, one of the Liberator brothers was on the decks and was playing that Dawn Penn track that everybody knows, this created a momentum of people swaying and singing along, then a huge drop into a heavy techno drum loop sent everybody into a dance frenzy, also prior to this Lewis had just heroically skinned a 12 inch joint which we took to the dance floor, and shared with everybody… it was the rave equivalent of a religious experience. When we left that party I said to the door man “best one yet” to which his reply was “plenty more better to come mate” unfortunately he was wrong, and whilst walking away from what was the best rave I would ever attend, someone through a microwave out a window. Lovely.

As it goes raving has been my favorite pass time in my short life, the friends I’ve made, the places its sent me, the music and the lifestyle have all made me who I am today. They were and still are the best days of my life, I think I’ll stop when I finished, but I know there will be that time when the 808’s and 303’s wont be the friends they used to be and to be quite honest I wont mind.