Once again we're back at The Rhythm Station in Aldershot. This time it's for Slammin Vinyl who were the big rave I went to the most when I actually did go raving. This was in part to do with the fact they were more or less the only big promoter still going for at least part of that period.
In fact Slammin Vinyl are still around today. They started off as a record label in 1992 and began putting events on in 1994. This was just the 3rd Slammin Vinyl and they had all been at this venue.
The last time I went to Slammin Vinyl around 20 years ago, drum & bass was in the main arena and the hardcore arena would feature some hard house sets too. At this event though there was just one drum & bass DJ in Hype and the rest were hardcore DJs.
DJ wise, 6 of the 11 DJs playing at this Slammin Vinyl also played at Hardcore Heaven 3 weeks prior and 4 of those DJs made it to the tapes from both nights with there being no Brisk tape from this night and no DJ SY tape from Hardcore Heaven.
On paper this sounds like there's not much difference between the nights, but when you look at the tracklist you find there was. Billy Bunter has the biggest overlap with 4 tunes played both nights, Dougal and Ramos have 3 and Druid has just 1.
Dougal and Druid have basically changed roles here. The Dougal set has a number of Scottish and Dutch tunes on it and the Druid set doesn't have any. The opposite was true at Hardcore Heaven. What is perhaps surprising is that Dougal plays the Paul Elstak version of "Life Is Like A Dance" as opposed to his own.
Billy Bunter also MC's on his set which is something I don't think I've ever heard him do before. It's the 7th time DJ SY has featured of the 10 raves so far, though 3 of them didn't have tapes of him. The only happy hardcore tape of a DJ not featuring at hardcore heaven is Vinylgroover.
The most featured tune of the night is "In Effect" by Red Alert & Mike Slammer which is played by all happy hardcore DJs with tapes except Dougal. This is perhaps no surprise given it's Red Alert & Mike Slammer who run Slammin Vinyl and the night is titled "In Full Effect".
Featuring in 4 of the happy hardcore sets is "Life Force Generator" by Ramos, Supreme & Sunset Regime. This tune made it's rave debut in 1995 and is very much a kick drum tune and therefore a sign of things to come.
In the Hype set there is one new for 1995 tune in "Sound Station" by Sound Station. In the hardcore sets these were the new for 1995 tunes:
J.D.S. - Higher LoveThe Vampire - TeknostormMidas - Imperial MarchMotiv-8 - All OverCheddar - Cheddar 2 (A)Sunset Regime - The Fire The TimeHixxy - JackattackBilly "Daniel" Bunter - The Way I FeelQuestion Mark - ???? (Volume 4)
Perhaps the biggest one of these tunes was "Higher Love" which appeared in many sets over the years. Another one of note is "Cheddar 2" which samples "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac. It had such an impact on me that every time I watched the Formula 1 on the BBC I would sing the "take me up" vocals over the theme tune.
Even though I went to Slammin Vinyl when they were one of the biggest raves at The Sanctuary and Bagley's, I would have preferred to have gone back when they were smaller in 1995 for the simple fact the music was better.
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