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.

2 good weekends and a horrible relapse.

Hello again sorry for my absence and neglect but I’ve been busy doing nothing. Well that isn’t entirely true I’ve had a few adventures and attended one or two very cool parties, I also admit to a bit of relapse of my marathon vow but for good reason…or at least I like to keep telling myself that.
Anyways since I last spoke to you I’ve been up to quite a bit. I made a return to Bangface which was pretty cool. It was one of the first nights there in a while where I hadn’t seen most of the line up: Drumcorps, Hecate, Krome & Thyme, and my absolute favourite Bong-Ra, and may I just say what a lovely amount of sheer violence and madness there was. Mosh pits all night, careless people leaving there beers for me to finish off, I was even at one point on the stage having a dance, kissing Bong-Ra and doing a bit of crowd surfing. There was even a ketted out bird who I managed to pull. It was a Bangface to remember and since it was also Sarah’s birthday we was guaranteed an after party also. Which itself was not to disappoint. It was a bit like a handful of Bangface’s finest people having a bit of a party, and since Bangface is the place where super friendly people, who know how to party, go to have fun, it was guaranteed to be an absolute winner. I don’t think I stopped laughing the whole time I was there. I did however have a bit of a pro-plus binge and start to be a bit moody and restless but I did manage to get a couple of hours of shut eye. I did however have a bit of a relapse as there was liquid going around and it was free. At first I wasn’t having the best of times. I hadn’t slept properly and was being really anti-social, I attempted at some kip with Lauren but just ended up being entertained by Sarah’s fantastically, trippy bedroom. I then had the greatest visual of my life, the kind where I’d love to have some artistic talent so I could draw it later. Although describing it won’t give it any justice just try and imagine an old school style, bald clown, doing a handstand on a skull, resting apples on his feet and spitting fire into my face with a torch. I pissed myself laughing for a few minutes, then decided to go downstairs and have a bit of a chat with everyone there. Looking back on it I’m really glad I did, as I had a right ol’ laugh with everyone there. By Sunday morning I concluded that was probably one of my best weekends in a long while.
After that fantastic debauched weekend it was half term, and just like every single half term before that where I haven’t had a job, it was a complete waster of time and I got nothing done, except get stoned, play football manager, argue with a bank and watch porn. However it was the weekend again that was to prevail overall. I went to Hidden for Terradisco. A night where several squat party sound systems got together to play a lovely bit of jungle, techno, breakcore and drum and bass, there was also some pretentious “industrial noise” as well but I kept well clear of that. It was pretty good, the highlight of the night was basically Remarc who played a cracking jungle set filled with classics, the fact it was pumping out of the mighty Disjunkt soundsytem was an added bonus. I did the entire night completely sober for once, until that was Pete invited me back to his flat for a bit of an after party, included in the party was Rich and Lee. I think now is a good time to point out that of all the wreckhead’s I have met, Lee, Rich and Pete are probably all in the top five, if not the top 3. So as you can imagine this was going to be my ultimate test. I passed out briefly but I awoke to find that their dealer had turned up and they had just shoved some DXM (Cracker Jack) under my nose. I didn’t see the point of turning back after that so I continued to take whatever they gave me, except however for the Mandy they had going around. I did however get to a chance to smoke DMT. Which to those of you who don’t know, is an incredibly strong hallucinogenic. Imagine all the intensity of a 12 hour acid trip condensed into about 10-15 minutes of wacky, realistic visuals and intensely bright colours. I didn’t get much of a hit out of what was left from the pipe but it did make the picture of the LEGO man on Pete’s wall walk out of the canvas and have a stroll about the room, another notable feature was his bathroom, which was completely white except for what seemed to be an extremely red shower curtain, similar to that of the little girls coat in Schindler’s list.
Despite the 2 horrible relapses over that week, I feel that my marathon training seems to be going pretty well. It is however just over 2 weeks away now, but I do have one slight problem with my knee, over the past few weeks it has been giving me a bit of jip and has only got worse, I should really take it easy a bit but I don’t want to lose my fitness levels, hopefully ill run it out and ill be fine. I will be absolutely devastated if I was to get injured this far into the game.
This weekend has all the making to be a classic, Braindrop on Friday and a possible trip to Bristol on the Saturday for a Wrong Music event; however it could all fall through due the money which I’ve been waiting for a while now probably wont clear and I may have a bit of work at the Carling Cup final on the Sunday but with all my dallying could of lost that as well. Will I make it? Tune in next week to find out.
Whilst on the subject of the birthplace of Skins, most of my readers will know that I think the programme is shit and I haven’t watched the last few series, although just before I thought I should update this blog I watched the most recent episode and I have to say I’m a bit angry that no one informed me that there is a lesbian storyline involving 2 fit jailbait tarts, one is half of two jailbait twins. Even if it is just for the eye candy and possible a few lesbian sex scenes, that could be tossing material and not for the poor story lines, acting, characters and unrealistic situations I may very well be watching a few more from this series. Even Doogle from Father Ted is in it so it can’t be all bad.
Well I think that’s about it really. Like I said before have a read next week to see how my weekend goes, could be a classic, could be an absolute disaster.
Anyway goodbye, god bless and thanks for having a glance.

Day raving and the BAFTA's

Hello again, thanks for those who may have read my last entry. I can understand that many of you may have found it to be tedious, drivel which it probably was, but then again I never said these were going to be exciting, although I hope in my next piece of thought on paper you get something out of it.
Last week was a mix of bollocks and good shit. The bollocks being snowed in for too long and just sitting down not doing anything, although I did read A Clockwork Orange (which by the way is bloody brilliant). I am now also temping as a nanny for a family in Kensington. I got the job by applying online, got an interview and now looking back on it must have been the only applicant they bothered to interview, because not only do I lack anything more then 3 months of experience in childcare, I also have a previous record for being a rascal. But the family are pretty safe and the kids aren’t little terrors, and I pretty much get to do what I do at home but get paid 8 pound an hour to do it, and there’s kids there to keep me entertained as well so it’s all good.
This weekend was pretty safe…On Friday me and Rosa attempted to go to the Rhythm Factory but we indulged in too much smoke and drink before hand and never got through the front door of the club, and in the end I ended up in their living room, making some lovely drunken conversation with Ian. The next day however we went to the Every1Sounds after party/day rave, which I have to say, was a cracking experience. Not only was it weird being all refreshed and sober for an every1sounds do, but also weird seeing all the familiar faces of parties in a club environment. The techno was thumping as usual, and although there was a bit of psy-trance going on, the tunes in general were all on top form. After finishing off a cracking Chris Liberator set, me and Rosa set off to pick up some more ammunition in the form of puff. The rest of my weekend was sat in their flat smoking spiffs and watching some shit TV with the odd little rant by either of us every now and then. It was all proper safe as usual and it was good to hang out with them lot again.
Now its time for a little boring rant of the week, on Sunday I watched the BAFTA awards, where as I expected Slumdog Millionaire took nearly everything, which is cool because it’s one of the best films I’ve seen in a while, and is directed by one of Britain’s most awesome directors, who I wish the very best of success at the up and coming Oscars. However the only shock of the night had to be Noel Clarke winning the rising star award, also in the running was Toby Kebbell (who both my vote and money was on).
Now those of you who know Noel Clarke will know that he wrote and starred in Kidulthood and directed, starred and wrote Adulthood. Both films are bloody awful depictions of youth life in London. Someone gets mugged every 5 minutes, the acting is as poor as a primary school nativity play, there is constant continuity and the film is filled with stereotyped characters, that you would move country to avoid if they were to actually exist. Toby Kebbell on the other hand started his career with a moving and very convincing role in one of the best British thrillers of our generation: Dead Man’s Shoes. He then went on to play Joy Divisions manager in Control and was the Rockstar in the latest Guy Ritchie film, Rock N’ Rolla. Which I haven’t seen yet. It was explained to me that no one would of heard for Kebbell and that’s why no one would vote for him, which is what made me feel the award which has made James Mcavoy a bit of a soon to be acting great, just a bit of a farse. Where as there was very little to gain from the Kidult and Adulthood films, all Noel Clarke can account for is a few appearances in Doctor Who and a full series of Auf Wiedersain Pet. Which I think you’d agree is a fairly average CV for any Actor/filmmaker. I do feel for Toby Kebbell because that award would of made people finally take notice of such a young and talented actor who has all the promise Euwan Mcregor had when he first went running down that street in Trainspotting. It feels like a great injustice for British cinema. However I did have to vote for Noel, because he came into our college once to give a talk and he said that if we voted for him he would come in again and let us hold his award, so I suppose every cloud does have a silver lining.

Not too much else I can think of at the moment that is bothering me, although next weekend looks to be a pretty one, so I will write down all gory details in this here blog. Be good to each other and God bless.