Forever Sanctuary 2025

I'll start with the obligatory anti-Milton Keynes rant. V7 Saxon St may have cemented it's place in rave history but what a horrible road to walk down. 10-15 minutes after getting off the train I could still see the platform I'd just come from. Then every sign you walk past says Stadium MK 1 1/4 miles. Finally seeing the Marshall Arena where this event took place ahead you still have to walk half a mile across a car park to get there.

All in all it was 45 minutes between getting off the train and getting inside the venue. Given the last train was at 23:12 it meant no Scott Brown or Mark EG & M-Zone but I'm not overly concerned about the former and I saw the latter last year with MC Ribbz who I prefer to Squidgy B who was MCing for them this time.

The latest set I could see was the Force & Styles experience which is Force without Styles accompanied by MC Charlie B who would MC for them when MC Junior was in prison and vocalist Jenna. However I would of missed the last 15 minutes of a 40 minute set to catch the train, would this be worth sticking around for?

I bought an early doors ticket meaning I'd have to arrive in the first hour. With Ellis Dee in the 2nd room at 14:30 I was more than happy to do this. However at 14:30 there was no activity in the 2nd room. The technodrome wasn't due to open until 15:30 so my only choice was DJ Rap in the main room.

Some jungle classics such as "Renegade Snares" and "The Lighter" were played and lifted my spirits following that horrible walk to the venue. With no activity in the 2nd room still at 15:15 it seemed like Ellis Dee hadn't turned up so I saw out the DJ Rap set and stayed in the main arena for Ramos & Supreme.

The question was would it be the mid-90s happy hardcore or late 90s trancecore version that turned up. In the beginning it was just Supreme that turned up and he started with they Force & Styles remix of "Gotta Believe" which set the tone. Ramos did eventually turn up and was a good set which included "All Systems Go" by Force & Styles. I felt following this there was no need to stick around for half a set from half of Force & Styles.

Next up was Nicky Blackmarket & Brockie which I stuck around for. Again it was an enjoyable set and good to have some drum & bass following a hardcore set like it used to be.

Then we had Hixxy where the question was would it be a 90s Hixxy or a 21st century Raverbaby Hixxy. The start of his set suggested the latter so it was off to room 2 where Simon Bassline Smith was playing. Whoever I was seeing next I was only seeing 30 minutes of but with the main arena running behind schedule it was more 20 minutes. As I walked in I was hearing "Renegade Snares" for at least the 2nd time.

At 17:30 in the 2nd room came the moment I'd been waiting for, Jimmy J. He was my favourite DJ back in the day but by the time I started raving he was winding down before retiring to Spain. He's recently come back and at 60 years old now you don't know if this opportunity would come around again.

The only downside is that we didn't have the late great MC Ruff with him for obvious reasons and when "99 Red Balloons" dropped I was muttering some MC Ruff lines I'd heard him do to that tune on a tape I've listened to countless times. We got plenty of classics from both Jimmy J & Cru-L-T and Triple J and ended with "Follow The Sun". It was worth the 30 year wait.

Back out in the main arena tributes were being made to the rave scene figures who are no longer with us and that list of people seems far too long.

It was then Fabio & Grooverider who are still big names in drum & bass to this very day and I've heard they don't do requests. When they started the set with "Lock Up" by Zero B I could tell it was going to be a good set and it was. A mixture of breakbeat hardcore and early jungle made the set spot on.

Slipmatt & Dougal were on next and again it was a solid set with some 90s classics. The problem from my own perspective was the repetition of tunes we were now getting. Inevitable when everyone was doing an upfront set back in the day but with 13 years of the Sanctuary to cover hearing the same tune 3 or 4 times was a bit overkill.

With this in mind the question was how much longer do I stay? I knew Vibes & Live Lee would mix it up but their end of set time didn't align with the trains very well plus I'd seen them last year plus it was only a 40 minute set that may be even shorter given we were running behind schedule.

On next in the main arena was Breeze. It seemed almost inevitable he'd play the 21st century tunes as this was when he went from opening set DJ to headliner. Into the 2nd room I went to see DJ SS, again decent enough but playing some tunes I'd already heard multiple times that day.

Then the choice prior to Vibes & Live Lee was stay in the 2nd room to see Kenny Ken who I heard played modern rubbish including Becky Hill last year or go into the main arena to see the remainder of the Breeze set.

After 6 hours of being there I felt I'd got my moneys worth and thought sod it I'll go home.

Slammin Vinyl - the end?

It was recently announced that after 20 years the Westfest event later on this year will be the last. For the past few years it's been one of just two events Slammin Vinyl puts on with the other being Tranzmission. With no Tranzmission event being announced this year it raises the question: is this the end of Slammin Vinyl?

If so then it really is the end of an era. Even 20 years ago Slammin Vinyl and the events they took over were pretty much the only big raves from the 90s still standing. It's amazing that Westfest alone has lasted so long let alone Slammin Vinyl themselves who started putting events on in 1994. 

No reason has been stated as to why they are stopping. A lot of comments I've read suggest they shot themselves in the foot by making it too focused on drum & bass. I would argue that is likely the main reason they lasted so long. We've seen many genres come and go over the years but drum & bass has just gone from strength to strength in terms of popularity.

In the early 00s Slammin Vinyl would put on most of their events at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes. I was at some of those events myself. Then in 2004 The Sanctuary closed and Slammin Vinyl put on the last ever event there. I was tempted to go myself but I was no longer into the new music so decided against it.

Later on in 2004 they started putting on events in Shepton Mallet and a year later adopted the name Westfest. I never went to one because it was after my time and as the years went by the number of people I'd never heard of on the flyers would increase.

We're talking about 20 years of rave history here but the question is will there be nostalgia for those 20 years in the same way we have nostalgia for 90s rave nowadays?

If you look at music in general you'll have an artist who is big for a few years, then their popularity declines and they find themselves in the wilderness for a few years until the nostalgia kicks in and they find themselves back in demand.

Then you have bands like the Rolling Stones who have continued to be popular since their 60s heyday. But how many people go to a Rolling Stones concert to hear anything they've made in the last 40 years? Not many I would say, but that accounts for the majority of their existence.

Time will tell if we ever have Westfest type reunions in years to come. 

Peace, Love & Unity

In the last couple of months I've read numerous comments about DJ Danny Rampling. He's been quite vocal about his political views for a few years now but what caused an uproar was a particular event he was booked to play at and the political figures associated with said event.

Fellow DJs Marshall Jefferson, Roy the Roach and Bushwacka have spoke out in support of Danny Rampling whilst Slipmatt has given a nod of agreement to others who have stuck up for him. Additionally Slipmatt along with Ellis Dee and Fergus amongst others have also been booked to play at events that don't sit well with some people in the dance community.

On the other hand Mr. C has spoken out against him as have several other DJs/producers plus of course the fans of dance music, some of which used to like Danny Rampling but don't anymore. One of the points being made is that you can't be part of the house music movement and also support political figures on the right.

The official story of acid house is that Danny Rampling along with fellow DJs Paul Oakenfold, Nicky Holloway and Johnnie Walker went to Ibiza, took ecstasy whilst clubbing in Amnesia and decided to bring that experience with them back to the UK.

The the 2nd summer of love happened, people from all walks of life coming together and uniting at these raves. Football hooligans went from fighting each other to hugging each other and everyone was one big happy family.

Makes a lovely story, but was that really the case. I wasn't raving in the acid house era so I can't say for sure, but I can draw on my own experiences when I did go raving at the end of the 90s.

Obviously there are elements of truth to it and there were pilled up ravers who wanted to be everyone's friend there. At the same time a rave didn't exactly feel like a safe place to be and I'm talking about legal licensed events here. One of the first raves I went to made the news after someone was attacked there with a hammer. It's quite well documented about the violence you would get at raves when jungle became a thing, though I've also heard Billy Bunter say there were still plenty of incidents before those days.

When I was too young to go raving I imagined to be all about peace, love and unity. I also had the idea that it was the music bringing people together, not the drugs . If you think about it logically though, if the drugs bring people together then you'll separate again once you're off the drugs. If it's music or something else then why do you need the drugs. It's also worth noting that whilst many were on drugs there were still plenty of people who weren't.

Going back to the acid house days the story almost contradicts itself. Danny Ramplings event back then was Shoom and it was said to be notoriously difficult to get into. So on one hand you're free to express yourself, be who you want to be and you will be accepted into this rave community. On the other hand you need to impress the door picker to actually get into the club.

Acid house may have been about smiley t-shirts but by the 90s it was smart shirts and shoes and even then you weren't guaranteed to get into a house night. When I lived in Newcastle I used to go to Promise and Shindig and whilst I never got turned away myself I often witnessed people in the queue being turned away because of what they were wearing. 

At the end of the day you can unite with others through a mutual interest in the same music but the music isn't going to change your outlook on other aspects of life. 

There was a happy hardcore message board that's now long gone that was one of the most toxic internet forums I've ever seen. It had reached a point where most users had gone off the new happy hardcore and most of the activity was in the off-topic board where people were arguing about everything else including politics. In the end there was one user who had MC'd at a number of events who was making countless posts in support of the BNP. Hardly the peace, love and unity he would have been preaching on the microphone.

This is the point, when you consider the quantity of people who have had some involvement in the dance music scene as a whole, whether it's a DJ, MC, producer, promoter or simply a raver you're not going to all have the same views on everything, political or otherwise. The peace, love & unity was at best a night at a rave, certainly not in day to day life.

Forever Sanctuary

20 years ago The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes closed its door for the last time after 13 years of hosting rave and was demolished to make way for a new Ikea. Part of that same development was the MK Dons football stadium.

An event was put on this year by MC Magika in the Marshall Arena which is next to the football stadium called Forever Sanctuary. It's line up was DJs and MCs who played at The Sanctuary and the music policy was music from the Sanctuary years of 1991-2004. Once I heard about this it had sold out, but a 2nd date was added which I went to yesterday. 

Originally it was supposed to be 12pm - 11pm which for me meant just missing the last 10 minutes or so to make my train back to London. Then it changed to 2pm - 1am which meant missing a larger chunk of the event. Still plenty of hours there though.

One has to go back longer than 20 years since I last made the walk from Bletchley Station to The Sanctuary but I recall it taking around 20 minutes. There was a train getting in at 13:38 which seemed perfect for getting there for 2pm.

The train was slightly delayed and walk was much longer than expected. From the point of seeing Ikea to getting to the venue was 20 minutes in itself, a combination of navigating the Milton Keynes walkways to then getting past Ikea to then walk through the car park of a huge Asda and then through the stadium car park. 

We arrived just in time for Vibes and Live Lee to start playing in the main arena. Not too many people had arrived yet but it was still early. It was exactly the sort of set you'd expect from them and great fun. There was a bit of sad news though when Live Lee said that DJ Magical has passed away this week before playing "Rush Hour".

Next up was Ray Keith with just one of the Ragga Twins, the other was in hospital. The rave scene clearly not being the youthful scene it once was. Only caught the first part of his set but liked what I heard.

It was then up to the Technodrome to see Mark EG and M-Zone wih MC Ribbz. I loved those sets at Helter Skelter and anticipated the room to be busy. It was hot, but had enough space for everyone who wanted to see it. Mark EG is still as mad as ever and was a truly entertaining set.

Back down to the main arena to see DJ SS. He was playing The Prodigy when we entered the room but then went onto jungle and playing a lot of the tunes you'd expect such was "The Lighter". Slipmatt came on next, starting off in 1992 and then making his way up to around 1996. He inevitably played "On A Ragga Tip" and his SMD tunes, but later he played "Sunshine" which I'd forgot he'd made. All the DJs played that at the time, but I never liked it.

Next up was The Top Buzz Experience. The original Top Buzz was DJs Jason Jay, Mikee B and MC Mad P. Mikee B never returned to Top Buzz when they returned to the old skool circuit and Jason Jay sadly passed away recently. Behind the decks was Ratty, it was a great jungle techno set and Ratty was playing vinyl.

Then came Swan E with MC Magika who started with "Lock Up" by Zero B which got the crowd going. The set was a decent mix of anthems and more obscure records and it was quite possibly the set of the night.

As we were yet to go to room 2 we decided to go there next to see Dillinja playing jungle. I was thinking how good it was to hear jungle out loud without fearing for my safety given the trouble you used to get at jungle events.

Conscious that we'd have to leave earlier than first anticipated to catch our train we knew we'd miss the bulk of Mickey Finn and Aphrodite. The question was do we leave now or do we see Dougal & Hixxy before we go.

This depended on whether they were going to play 90s tunes or 00s tunes. From what I'd gathered, both were playing 90s the previous week. 

They began with "Elysium", a 1999 tune but was played a lot in the early 21st century. Then came "Fly Away" by Visa, another 90s record so I went to the bar to buy another beer. The moment I bought my beer was the moment they played a 21st century tune. Fortunately it was "24-7" by Eclipse, which is one of the tunes I like from that era.

Sadly they stuck to the 21st century from then on. Having paid £7 for my beer I was going to at least stay until I'd drunk that. The tunes I was hearing were a good illustration of why hardcore went shit in the 21st century. I did notice the room getting emptier too so I wasn't the only one who thought that. 

Once I'd finished my beer they were playing "Eye Opener", a 90s tune but what sounded like a 21st century remix. We then left. I guess you can't fault them for playing what they did, it was part of the history of The Sanctuary. It's just not my thing and the reason why I stopped going to upfront hardcore events in the first place.

Overall it was a good event and whilst the world has changed too much to truly recreate the 90s, it was as good as can be expected. 

The Sanctuary Milton Keynes

This summer marks 20 years since The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes closed its doors for good. The actual anniversary has now passed as it was in July, but I thought it would still be an idea to write about it.

The story of The Sanctuary begins in December 1991 when ESP needed a bigger venue than Milwaukee's to hold their raves as they were getting more popular. The Sanctuary had just been built for industrial purposes but fell victim to the recession. ESP owner Murray Beetson found a use for it by putting on raves there and Dreamscape was born.

In 1993 Helter Skelter started holding raves there too having also previously held raves at Milwaukee's. Several other promotors started using The Sanctuary too and it quickly became known as the raving capital of the UK. On New Years Eve 1994 Dreamscape 15 vs 16 was held and it was named like that because they also opened up the Rollers Warehouse next door to expand the rave even further. Helter Skelter followed suit in 1996.

As someone who wasn't quite old enough to go out to the raves at the time I started building up this idealistic view of the place. I'd get the flyers, listen to the tapes when I'd hear the whistles and horns and wished I was there. I also heard the MCs shout out to the Birkenhead crew many times, sounded like it was a great raving community.

When I was almost 18 I finally went to The Sanctuary. All I had to go off was a small snippet of a map on the flyer to find it. First thing I established is you don't got to Milton Keynes train station, you go to Bletchley. Once I got off the train I felt a lot more confident about finding it because pretty much everyone else who got off the train seemed to be going there.

One thing the flyers always said was "friendly security". Shortly after arriving in the queue I thought I dread to think what unfriendly security would be like. What stood out was a bouncer who looked like MC Magika barking orders at everyone.

Once inside I did find a few reasons why it lived up to its hype. Hearing the music out loud, having the DJs and MCs there in front of you, shaking hands with DJ Brisk once he'd finished his set (have since shook many DJs hands). Downstairs was big, upstairs was compact and each had their own charm.

One other thing that gave The Sanctuary it's character though was the fact it was a complete shit hole. At the end of the night I probably had just as much dirt on my trousers as I would have in a muddy field on a rainy night. There were also bits of ceiling that would fall down on you. 

When Helter Skelter held the Millennium Jam, all attendees got a free video about the history of Helter Skelter. On it, DJ Hype says how Milton Keynes is conveniently in the middle of the country which means its convenient for people from all over the country to get to, all the way from Manchester to London and that. Not so convenient when you move to Newcastle like I did.

It wasn't very convenient public transport wise when I lived much closer to Milton Keynes though. As I've mentioned, it was near Bletchley station. The trains from there go to London, but northbound they only go as far as Northampton. There was also quite a gap between the rave ending and the first train leaving in the morning. It was during one of these long waits that I once found myself in one of the waiting rooms with the Birkenhead crew. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

I did drive there once. The flyers did say secure parking available. Fortunately by this point there was plenty of information on the internet that taught me that cars got broke into pretty much every time there was a rave. It would also happen to cars in the B&Q car park across the road and to a lesser extent in the Tesco car park a bit further along. I therefore turned off one of the many roundabouts nearby and went into a residential area to park. On leaving the rave I saw some smashed car windows in the B&Q car park, but my car was fine so was the right decision.

By the time The Sanctuary closed in 2004 it had been some time since I'd last attended. A combination of not being into the newer music and moving to Newcastle being the main reason. I was still in my early 20s which felt too young to be strictly old skool. When I did go to The Sanctuary though, many of the other ravers there clearly weren't old enough to have gone when it first opened in 1991. 

Quite how many people there were who attended both the first and last event I'll probably never know. There were however 11 DJs and the first event and 6 of those played at the last one.  

MC Junior

After I made a post about Force & Styles recently I thought I should make a post about MC Junior. I can name a number of people in music who made a big impact in such a short period of time and MC Junior most definitely fits that category.

The first time I came across MC Junior was on a tape which taught me the guy who sang "Pretty Green Eyes" was also an MC. I'd heard other MCs sing along to the tunes or just sing randomly, but MC Junior would sing along to the tunes with his vocals on them and unlike other MCs he was actually a good singer.

One thing I liked about hearing him MC was the contradiction between his singing and his rapping. Whilst he was singing love songs like "Pretty Green Eyes" he was quite the bad boy MC with his rapping. He swore so much that some started calling him MC Fuckin Junior.

One of the great moments of him on tape was at the end of the Dougal set at Helter Skelter Strings of Life with Force & Styles about to start. He tells the crowd to "keep it fuckin down". Once the crowd quietens down he tells them to make some noise for Dougal. The whistles and horns blow and then Junior say's "he ain't that fuckin good". 

Although he'd been MCing for a number of years prior to meeting Force & Styles, the oldest Force & Styles tape with him on it that I've found is from United Dance on April 19th 1996. No "Pretty Green Eyes" on that tape, though it's not the complete set. It appears the first time "Pretty Green Eyes" was played at a rave was a couple of weeks later on May 3rd. 

In April 1997 we had the United Dance 6 album which had "Cutting Deep" on it, the last track Junior sang on for Force & Styles, so all the tunes with him singing on came within the space of a year. At some point between Helter Skelter String of Life in June 1997 and Helter Skelter Energy 97 in August he went to prison.

The first sign of him being released from prison was in June 1998 when he appeared on the flyer for Helter Skelter Human Nature. This was the first time his name was on a Helter Skelter flyer. However, when I received my Helter Skelter newsletter following the event it said that Force & Styles ended up not playing that night.

It was around this time I went for a period of not buying any new tape packs. I knew someone at the time who was into the rave scene though I always questioned whether he really knew anything about it and whether he just made stuff up. He told me later on in 1998 that MC Junior was on trial for murder but was then found not guilty.

I was skeptical about that story, after all he'd presumably only just got out of prison at the time. Also, in the likelihood it was a bullshit story it would have to be a not guilty verdict to explain why he would be MCing at future raves.

The first new tape pack I'd bought in a while was Helter Skelter Lost In Music in March 1999. I played the Force & Styles tape which began with Junior saying it was nice to be back and ended with Magika pointing out Junior had been away for a while. That's not to mention Junior mentioning his jail time in his lyrics.

This confirmed to me the story I'd been told had been bullshit because at the time he'd not yet got out of prison. As both me and this person weren't really friends and had since moved on to other things, I was no longer in contact with him to point out his bullshit.

What's considered the most legendary MC Junior moment was him MCing over "Braveheart" at Helter Skelter Nightlife in May 1999. Force & Styles said in an interview that he'd just got out of prison that morning, but they're getting their wires crossed because MC Junior was clearly there at Lost in Music and does quite a performance over "Braveheart" there. What's quite astonishing was that was just his 4th Helter Skelter.

He would appear at all the Helter Skelters in 1999 and the way I saw in the 21st Century was the Force & Styles set at the Millennium Jam with MC Junior.

As mentioned in the Force & Styles post, they went their separate ways at the start of the 21st century and as a result it seemed MC Junior had moved on himself. 

A couple of years later came the commercial dance versions of happy hardcore from the likes of Flip & Fill and Ultrabeat. One of those was "Pretty Green Eyes" but Ultrabeats Mike Di Scala was singing it rather than Junior. Then one day in 2004 I was in a pub with music channels on and the new Flip & Fill tune "Irish Blue" came on. Not only was this an original tune, it also had MC Junior singing on it.

I'd stopped following up front hardcore by this point so can't really comment on how active Junior was during this time. The next I heard of him was on new years eve 2011 when I was at Moondance, an old skool rave, and it was announce that MC Junior had sadly passed away that day. They played "Pretty Green Eyes" as a tribute.

Following that news I found out that his real name was Leroy Van Brown, something I'd not known before. This lead me to a news article from 1998 about a prisoner called Leroy Van Brown. On the day he was supposed to be released from prison he killed his cellmate with a single punch. He was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter and had his jail term extended as a result.

Suddenly the events of 1998 were making sense. He was due to be released from prison in 1998 and play at Helter Skelter, but that incident happened and so he wasn't released and could be a reason why Force & Styles didn't play that night. Then came the trial for murder this person told me about which turns out not to be a bullshit story at all. I just wonder how the fuck did he know given that even in this era of the internet it's not exactly common knowledge.

The impression Force & Styles gave of Junior on their podcast is that he was a loveable rogue and that what you hear on the tapes reflects what he was like as a person. That's good to hear.

All Night Raving

When I was 29 I made the conscious decision to stop going raving or clubbing all night once I turned 30. I didn't strictly stick to that rule though once I did hit my 30s, but given the number of years it's been since I last did an all nighter and the fact I'm now in my 40s it's safe to say those days are truly over now.

One thing that's helped is daytime events. They've allowed me to go out and see the DJs I like and get to bed at a reasonable time. 

In the last few days it's been announced that Westfest which is put on by Slammin Vinyl each year is going to be a daytime rave for the first time. Judging by the comments I've read this has not been a popular decision and there's even a petition that's been started demanding they make it an all nighter.

Tranzmission which is Slammin Vinyl's other main event has been a daytime rave for some time now, although it doesn't look like there's going to be one this year.

Westfest has been going since 2004. My days of going to Slammin Vinyl had finished by then so I've never been. I would have been in the right age group for it at the time but what can't say for sure is whether it's still people of my age going or a new generation. An 18 year old now wouldn't have been born when the first Westfest happened, a lot of people at the first Westfest would be over 40 now.

I've not managed to find a flyer for the first Westfest but I've found one for the 2005 event. I've heard of near enough every DJ on the line up. On last years flyer the only main stage DJs I'm familiar with are Andy C, Hype and Gammer. I've also heard of Wilkinson but he's very much after my time.

In the One Nation arena I've not heard of anyone and I've not heard of the majority of DJs in the other arenas too. This suggests to me that they're catering for the youngsters. The protests against it becoming a daytime rave also suggests that.

Why change it to a daytime rave then?

Before I went to my first rave I loved the idea of being up all night. In practice it was never as good as it sounded. It was knackering not just staying up all night, but catching up on sleep afterwards. If I could have anonymously picked whether a rave should be day or night I would have probably picked day but would never have admitted it. 

Another thing to remember though is that even back in the day not all raves were all night. At my first all night rave I remember how empty the place was by the last set. 

Don't get me wrong, there will be people who genuinely want it to be all night. Some will get older and decide it's no longer for them, some may carry on until they drop dead. To me though the logical way to stop people from growing out of raving is to put it on in the daytime. 

Rave was something I listened to in my youth the same way a youth of the 60s listened to the Rolling Stones for example. A lot of people who saw the Rolling Stones in the 60s will still go to see them in concert now and wouldn't look out of place there.

If the only way of seeing the Rolling Stones was to arrive at the venue by midnight and see them on stage at 4am, how many of them would still go? Not many I would imagine.

Now that Westfest is going to be all day will I go? Well put it this way, I live in London and Tranzmission is in London and I've never been. Westfest is a long way from London so seems highly unlikely. Judging by the line ups I would say it's after my time.

Dreamscape 21 @ The Sanctuary, Milton Keynes 31/12/1995

Force & the Evolution

A year ago I kicked of this series of posts with Dreamscape 15 vs 16 at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes. It marked the first time Dreamscape incorporated the adjoining Rollers into their events to double capacity.

Following this they did the same again at Dreamscape 17 vs 18 and Dreamscape 19 and then they hadn't their big outdoor event with Dreamscape 20.

For Dreamscape 21 they held their new years eve event at both The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes and the Royal Showground in Shepton Mallet. For the simple fact it's closer to where I grew up I would have most likely chosen the event at The Sanctuary.

The plan was to link of by satellite to bring in the new year, but it went spectacularly wrong. Each site saw in the new year at a different time. At my first experience at a new years rave I recall seeing my watch say midnight a few minutes before they counted down into the new year.

We've seen the end of an era for a number of things in 1995 and we're about to see the end of another era with this rave. It was the last ever Dreamscape as we knew it. There was a Dreamscape 22 planned in 1996, but Dreamscape owner Murray Beetson sadly died in a car crash prior to the event and the event was cancelled as a result.

Dreamscape did start again later on in 1996 and carried on into the 21st century and has existed in one form or another since, but this was the end of Murrays Dreamscape. 

The end of an era doesn't end there either. The tape I have posted is the Force & the Evolution one. As far as I'm aware it was the last Force & the Evolution set. After this it was Force & Styles who already had a few tunes under that name in 1995.

Clarkee played at both events that night, in the main arena at The Sanctuary and in the Tek No Prisoners arena at the Royal Showground.

Elsewhere it was the usual suspects playing, a mixture of hardcore DJs and drum & bass DJs. Dougal played the midnight set at The Sanctuary, so both Northampton DJs who were there from the beginning played a significant part.

That wraps up the raving in 1995 posts. On a personal level there will never be another year like it. If only I was old enough to have actually gone to the raves at the time.

Raving in 1995

 

Alchemist & Fade - Sweet Inspiration

Now we're in the penultimate week of 1995 I thought instead of picking a rave to visit from around that time I would do a round up of the year instead.

One thing that has been said numerous times about 90s rave was that everything was happening so quickly which made it somewhat difficult to take stock of what was going on.

27 years has now passed with plenty of records from that era now a permanent fixture in my head. We also have the benefit of the internet to inform us of what happened when.

Yet despite all of this I've still found it difficult to keep up with everything. I've also learned what a useful resource Rolldabeats is now it's no longer available. It helped me keep track of what records were new for 1995 which was useful for seeing how it was all evolving.

To give you an idea, during the period Rolldabeats was available which was the bulk of the year there were a total of 871 new for 1995 records. This does not include remixes or many records which still remain unidentified plus the music generally played in the technodrome etc which wasn't as easily tracked. 

That's not to mention the sets that aren't on tape or known releases from 1995 that don't appear on any of the sets or even records that just appeared at raves that did not feature.

I've posted one of the records that fits the latter category. "Sweet Inspiration" by Alchemist & Fade was in a set a mate who pretty much introduced me to all things rave did for me. Always thought it was a great record and somewhat surprised it wasn't played at any of the raves featured.

Loads of things happened in 1995 and its a year I have fond memories of. What I've discovered thanks mainly to Rolldabeats is the set that my mate did for me that introduced me to the new world of happy hardcore consisted mostly of Dutch records. I do therefore question whether that set would have had the same impact had it been mostly English records? We'll never know.

There is the temptation to carry this on into 1996 but I'm not going to. For a start it's been very time consuming, I've had as many as 16 tapes up to 90 minutes long each to get through some weeks. Another factor though is that the first Bonkers album came out in 1996 and I've already covered that.

I do have plans for another regular Thursday post next year, but more on that to come. In the meantime next Thursday will feature Dreamscape 21 to round off the year which was the final Dreamscape before the tragic death of the Dreamscape owner Murray Beetson.

Pleasuredome @ Fantasy Island, Ingoldmells 16/12/1996

As we head towards the end of the year and towards a big new years eve rave there's a couple of things that have come to mind. First of all we're going into a period that's the calm before the storm. Secondly I thought it's worth considering events I'd like to visit one last time but I won't be featuring on new years eve.

I have therefore gone for the Pleasuredome. This was the calm before the storm as they had a bigger new years eve event a couple of weeks later. At the same time though I always thought of the Pleasuredome at the time as being the 3rd biggest rave after Dreamscape and Helter Skelter, which may give a hint of which rave will feature on new years eve.

There's no tapes from this event so not much I can say on the music front. As ever we have Fergus, Rush, Stomp and Sound playing. Then on the hardcore front is Slipmatt, Brisk and DJ SY and on the drum & bass front is Hype, DJ SS and Easy D.

If memory serves me correctly this is the first rave to feature this year to have Easy D on the line up.

Helter Skelter @ The Sanctuary Milton Keynes 09/12/1995

DJ Vibes

This week we're at the 4th and final Helter Skelter of 1995. That doesn't sound like that many, but Dreamscape had only had 3 events in 1995 to this point and Helter Skelter had just 3 events in 1994 and 2 in 1993.

When I first tried to buy the tape pack for this event from Helter Skelter themselves it had sold out. Then in 1999 they mentioned in a newsletter that some of the older tape packs are back in stock so I tried again and succeeded this time. 

Had I managed to buy the times when I first tried there would be no doubt I'd have listened to it a lot, but by 1999 I was listening to lots of different music and as a result I didn't listen to this tape pack much.

This was the penultimate event to just use The Sanctuary without The Rollers and was geared more towards hardcore than drum & bass with Hype, Grooverider and Jumpin Jack Frost the only drum & bass DJs.

I've posted the DJ Vibes set which I feel is setting the scene for 1996. It features MC Live Lee which was the future of DJ Vibes sets. Also featured MC wise was Magika who was celebrating his birthday and Charlie B.

Unfortunately Rolldabeats which is my main source for tracklistings is currently not working so I'm unable to find the new for 1995 records or see which tunes are being played the most.

One tune I do know is new for 1995 from this night is "Hold Me Now" by The Highlander which appears on this set. 

DJ Destruction played at this night which was his final Helter Skelter. Not only that, but I've not seen any evidence of him playing any other rave after this night.

In the technodrome the Loftgroover and Music Maker sets are getting madder.

Just 3 weeks until the end of the year.

Vibealite @ Venue 44, Mansfield 01/12/1995

 

Brisk

Another rave and another end of an era coming up. This was the penultimate Vibealite event to be held at Venue 44 with the final one coming on Boxing Day. It had been the home of Vibealite since they began in 1993 and they had held at least one rave every month there since except for in January.

In an era where DJs sets were getting shorter in order to get as many names on the line up, Vibealite made a point with this event to buck that trend by giving the DJs 2 hours each.

I've posted the Brisk set which follows his usual first half Scottish/Dutch followed by the 2nd half of English records, just more time of each.

These are the new for 1995 hardcore records:

Wedlock - Reactor

Phoenix - Now (Who's In Control?)

General Noise - Dance Till I Drop

General Noise - Pump This Groove

Damage Inc. - I Feel Like Dancing

Re-Charge - Bumrush

Technotrance - D.E.A.

T3 - Gimme The Night

DJ Quicksilver - What Is A Beat?

Eko - Rush 'n' Roulette

Paul Elstak - Dont Leave Me  Alone

Anabaptists Of Munster - Singer Of Tales

Cut & Run - Lets Go

Temptation & Innersense - Hi N.R.G.

4 The Floor - Vol.11A

Unknown Artist - Beasty Peaks

DJ Gozzy - Vol.1B

DJ Seduction - Step To The Side

On this list, "Bumrush" by Re-Charge appears on the Brisk tape which is part of the reason I've posted it as it's a record I knew at the time but have only just discovered what it actually is. Didn't help by the fact I thought it was saying "pump up the sound".

Also something to note is that DJ Quicksilver in this list isn't the same DJ who had a hit with "Belissima" a couple of years later, it was an alias of Brisk himself. 

We also have "Don't Leave Me Alone" which was Paul Elstak's next big hit in Holland.

There's also plenty of new for 1995 drum & bass tunes:

Just Jungle - Listen Tune

Maldini - Daze

DJ Rap - Hardstep

Tribe of Issachar Feat Pete Bouncer - Junglist

Rude Bwoy Monty - Bastard

Bonafide - Superbad

Elementz of Noize ft. MC Det - Stick Up!

Cool Breeze & Steelie I - Finger On The Trigger

Paul Z - Yeah

No Questions - What Must I Do

Deependance - Broke My Heart

T.Power - Amber Light

Dope Skillz - Yo' Son

B Jam - Show Me

Sub Sub - Mo' Bass

Unknown Artist - Promo #7

With just 4 weekends of the year left it's safe to see each event featured from now on will be the last time it features this year, so it's farewell to Vibealite and Venue 44.

Dance Paradise @ Great Yarmouth Seafront, Great Yarmouth 25/11/1995

 

Druid

One of the eye openers of 1995 which I'm sure I've mentioned before is how often we come to the end of an era, or the end of the era is in sight. In the case of this particular event it's the penultimate Dance Paradise event as we knew it.

There would be another Dance Paradise in early 1996 before it would disappear until the end of 1997. At the end of 1997 they would make a brief return which lasted into 1998, but had changed their music policy to club music with a dress code to match.

One thing I did read about this event was that police search a large number of people which in turn lead to a large number of arrests and was covered by BBC and ITV TV crews. This may have influenced their decision to change their direction, obviously people would be just as likely to do drugs at these future events but raves had bigger reputations for that sort of thing than clubs.

There were multiple arenas at this event, but just the hardcore sets that made it onto tape. Not the first time this had happened at an event but I understand there was more pressure to pay royalties to drum & bass producers who's tunes appeared on tapes so some promoters thought it wasn't worth the hassle.

I've gone with the Druid set for the simple fact it was the first tape I listened to and deemed it good enough to post plus the fact I don't think I've posted a Druid set yet.

The 2nd half of the set is very much geared towards Dutch and Scottish tunes, but interestingly around half way through the set he opts for "Juicy Cuts Vol.1" by Juicy Cuts rather than "Love U More" by Paul Elstak i.e. the English version which is more or less the same.

These are the new for 1995 tunes:

D.J. Mix It - Just Take Your Time

Uranus - Flowed On A Vibe

DJ Ham - Is Anybody Out There

Scott Brown with Bass-D & King Matthew - The People Love It

DJ Force & The Evolution - Simply Electric

Sonicdriver - Standing On Top

2 Left Feet - Reggy's Nightmare

Billy "Daniel" Bunter - Voyage

The Vampire - Clap 2 This

Juicy Cuts - Vol.2

I don't ever recall hearing "Flowed On A Vibe" by Uranus before. It's a Dutch record on the Druid set and I like it. Another record of note is "Simply Electric" by Force & the Evolution. To my knowledge it was the final Force & the Evolution record and there was a new mix in 1996 which was credited to Force & Styles.

Elsewhere we have HMS and Clarkee playing back to back which is as mad as it sounds. Also a Dougal and Vibes back to back set which would no doubt have been the first set I would have listened to back in the day. 

Also a Mastervibe set where he features a few drum & bass tunes. I would say proof the 2 genres could still mix together at the time, but I've read in an interview that Mastervibe always wanted to play drum & bass but resorted to hardcore sets because he struggled to get drum & bass bookings so this was clearly a statement of intent.

Doncaster Warehouse @ Doncaster Warehouse, Doncaster 18/11/1995

  

DJ Demand

Early this year we saw Carl Cox bid farewell to the rave scene at Doncaster Warehouse. Now we're close to bidding farewell to 1995 I thought it was time to return to Doncaster Warehouse.

Just the one tape from this event which comes from DJ Demand, a DJ who appeared to play much more up north than he did down south.

The tape is just 45 minutes, but still time for 5 new for 1995 tunes which are:

Billy “Daniel” Bunter, Rob Vanden, D’Zyne - Movement

DJ Technotrance - The Y.R.S. Stomp II

Powerphase - Hi Time

DJ Demand - Party People

Clock - Everybody (The Visa Treatment)

The last one on the list is a hardcore version of a commercial dance record, with Clock and Visa both being names used by Stu Allan. In the week of Blur vs Oasis in the charts, the Clock record was the 3rd highest new entry that week.

I don't think we will venture this far north for the remainder of the year, but I haven't fully decided the remaining raves of the year yet so you never know.

Dance Planet @ The Sanctuary, Milton Keynes 11/11/1995

  

DJ Vibes

So far this year we've visited Dance Planet in Cornwall, Dance Planet in Birmingham and now we have Dance Planet at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes.

It wasn't the first time they'd held an event there, the first was in 1993 and was actually before the first Helter Skelter event was held there.

We've seen the end of an era for several things in 1995, but I would say this event was heading towards the end of an era for Dance Planet. This was their final event of 1995 and they had big plans for 1996 including a big outdoor event. That never happened though and they only did 3 events in 1996. They started a weekly club night in Wolverhampton at the start of 1997 but by February they were finished.

When I looked at the tape pack and it's track listings I saw there was a set from Carl Cox in there and he was playing hardcore. I thought did they manage to bring him out of retirement one last time to play a hardcore set. It turns out they didn't, it's a set from 1994.

The set I've posted is the DJ Vibes one because I just think it illustrates how the music has changed throughout 1995. The breaks haven't gone completely but it certainly feels more of a kick drum led set.

Most of the tapes are hardcore ones, just a DJ SS tape, a Mastervibe tape with a couple of hardcore tracks and a part Groovrider set provide the drum & bass.

As a result not too many new for 1995 drum & bass tunes which are:

D-Power - Beef

Apollo 13 - Wobble

Phyzix - Down Wid Da Lights

DJ Rap - I Can't Stop

Maldini - Wake Up Call 

Plenty of new for 1995 hardcore tunes though:

Ultimate Buzz - Rock Da Bass

Casio Brothers - Partytime

GSI - Power Up

Two Ruff - I Want You

Piano City Productions - Set Me Free

DJ Isaac & Pagan - Up, My Way

DJ Isaac - Pump Up The Party

El Bruto - Heaven

Ferocious - Listen To Me

Jack D - Get Down

JDS - Rock The Disco

Ultra-Sonic - Make That Move

Bill & Ted - Rhythm

DJ Ham - So Damn Tuff

Renegade & Static - Scotland Is Rockin

Force & Styles - Fireworks

DJ Demand - 31 Seconds

Force & Styles - Get On Up

High Flyers Feat DJ Fade - Take Me Higher

High Flyers Feat DJ Fade - Can You Feel It

DJ Ten - Turn Up The Music

Happy Tunes - Volume 7

Jack Speed - Everybody Here Tonight

The 4 Beater - Let Go

DJ Ten - Rock The Discotek / You Make Me Happy

One of note is "31 Seconds" by DJ Demand which is essentially a hardcore version of "Valley of the Shadows" by Origin Unknown. Not the only time something like that has happened, but it doesn't work for me.

It's the last visit to Dance Planet for the year, but not the last visit to The Sanctuary. More on that when the time comes.

Origin @ Brighton Corn Exchange, Brighton 03/11/1995

  

Pitse

Of all the raves featured so far this year, this is the one I know the least about. There's very little on the internet about it too. What I can tell you is it ran from 1994-1997 with several being held at this venue.

It's an all hardcore line up, though drum & bass does feature at other events. There are 6 DJs on the line up with 5 of them appearing on the tape pack, Vinylgroover being the only one not appearing.

Easygroove is one of the DJs playing and like his appearance at Slammin Vinyl & Tazzmania last week he features some drum & bass in his set as well as hardcore. The only new for 1995 drum & bass tune in his set is "Da Heads Ringing" by Cantankerous. Hardcore wise the new for 1995 tune he plays is "Let It Hit Em" by Slim & Hookey.

The set I've chosen to post though comes from Pitse. Who's that? you might be asking. He was a DJ from Brighton and Origin is the only event I've seen evidence of him playing at which he did a few times. I've also found out he sadly passed away in 1997.

It's a shame he never played at any of the bigger events as this is a really good set and has the bulk of the new for 1995 tunes in it. There's "You Take Me Away" by Midas & Vinylgroover and "The Renegade" by DJ Mystical. There were also 2 of his own tunes in the set which are pointed out by the MC, but neither have been identified to this day and were presumably unreleased.

Just one more new for 1995 tune appeared on the tapes which was "Free" by Nakatomi which appeared in the Dougal set. It would be a big tune in 1996 and Nakatomi would have even bigger success with "Children of the Night" before moving away from hardcore and giving the world the Vengaboys towards the end of the decade.

Slammin Vinyl & Tazzmania @ Hastings Pier, Hastings 27/10/1995

 

Easygroove

We're now into a new era for both Slammin Vinyl and Tazzmania. Both had now held their final events at the Rhythm Station in Aldershot. Hastings Pier was the new home of Tazzmania with the first event held with Slammin Vinyl.

The line up consists of a solitary drum & bass DJ with Grooverider and the rest of the line up being hardcore. The tape pack doesn't contain the Grooverider set though.

The tapes aren't entirely free from drum & bass though with the Easygroove set being a mixture of hardcore and drum & bass and this is why I've posted his set.

Quite a few new for 1995 drum & bass tunes appear on his set which are:

DJ Rap - Fuze 1+2

J'ia Francis - How Many Ways

DJ Sparks - Your Mind

A Touch Of Jazz - Between The Lines

B-Jam - Scandalous

DJ Phantasy - Just Waiting

Hardcore wise these are the new for 1995 records:

Druid & Heatwave - Music for the 90's

Druid & Heatwave - Round and Round

Phoenix - Who's In Control

DJ Psycangle - Smile, Fuck Up

DJ Supreme vs. Billy Bunter & D-Zyne - Outside World

Elation - The Anthem

DJ Ratty - Unknown Title

Dy-Sector - Free Your Mind

E-Logic - The Sorcerer

Marc Smith - Feeling

Diss Reaction - DJ Lan

DJ Creator & Shardy.L - Heaven Sent

Billy Bunter & D-Zyne - Rock To The Beat

DJ Sub-State - Boom!

DJ Psycangle - Parallel Worlds

Eye On Life - Got 2 Feel Good

Sensi-Tize - I Do

Party Animals - Have You Ever Been Mellow 

A couple of significant ones here. "Have You Ever Been Mellow" by the Party Animals would be a Dutch number one the following year.

Another significant one is "Smile, Fuck Up" by DJ Psycangle. It's an alias of Luna C, a man who keeps breakbeat hardcore going to this very day. This tune though was very much the Dutch sound. Given the success hardcore was having in Holland at the time I guess it made sense to make a record like this.

There are 3 tunes that make 4 appearance each across the tapes. There's "Toytown" by Hixxy & Sharkey, no surprise there. Also appearing 4 time is "Ride Like The Wind" by Billy Bunter & D-Zyne which was one of the big records of the time. Finally there's "Rock This Place" by DJ Chewy who may have passed away by this point, it was 1995 when it happened.

One of the surprises on the tapes was the appearance of MC Massive. He was resident MC at Helter Skelter and this is the first time I've known him to appear at any rave apart from Helter Skelter.

It's the final event of the year for both Slammin Vinyl and Tazzmania. From this point onwards Tazzmania would carry on at this venue with the odd rave elsewhere before calling it a day in 1998. Slammin Vinyl would find a new home in Bagleys the following year where they held most of their events for the rest of the 90s.

Hysteria 9 @ The Sanctuary, Milton Keynes 21/10/1995

 

Jimmy J

It was back in January when we did Hysteria at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes, but given how many raves were happening in 1995 it's taken until October to return.

There were 2 tape packs from this event, a happy hardcore one and a drum & bass one and I owned both. The happy hardcore one in particular brings back lots of memories making it difficult to pick a single one to post. There were 6 tapes in the pack and each one has a story.

I've decided though to pick my old favourite, Jimmy J. He was the hardcore DJ keeping the breakbeat alive as we head towards the end of 1995. I have to give the MC on the tape a mention too. His name is MC QC and appeared to just play a handful of events in late 1995 before disappearing and there is nothing I can find about him on the internet. If you listen to him though you'll understand why the bookings may have dried up. He just spouted random nonsense out of time in a weird voice. That said I've listened to this tape so much that I find myself saying his MC lines when I listen to the tunes featured individually.

Someone else I've found nothing about on the internet is DJ Degree. Anyone I knew who'd heard the set thought it was good, but this is the one and only event I've seen evidence of him playing at and he wasn't even on the flyer.

The reverse side of the Jimmy J tape is 15 minutes of Dougal followed by 15 minutes of Hixxy. The final tune of the Dougal set was "Toy Town" and the point the tape joins the Hixxy set is when he's playing "Toy Town". I do remember "Toy Town" appearing a lot in this pack, but "On Top" by A Sense of Summer was played an equal number of time.

Looking at the tracklisting of the Hixxy set I see something interesting I've not thought of before. The final 2 tunes he plays are "Happy Vibes" by Scotchman and "Hardcore Vibes" by Dune.

Speaking of Vibes, he also features in this pack. Unfortunately I didn't keep onto that tape long. A friend at school wanted to borrow it so I lent it to him. Next thing he's dropped out of school and I've not seen him since. No internet or mobile phones to keep in touch at the time.

The Seduction tape has a tune at the end which appears to be from a different set and uses the same sample as "Above the Clouds" by Sunshine Productions and is really good, but it's still not been identified on the internet.

The first tape I listened to in the pack was the DJ SY one and I have to say despite MC QC again in all his glory, this is possibly the best DJ SY set I've ever heard.

These are the new for 1995 hardcore tunes:

Eruption - Let The Music

Eruption - Don't Stop

Frenzy - Lets Work

Stripey J & Eff - Get’cha Some More

Dymension - Move Into The Rhythm

Eye On Life - Going All The Way

2 Xperience feat Cru L T - Never Give Up

Happy Tunes - Rush Me Tonight

Rebel Alliance - Flying High

Cartoon Capers - Dreema

Mixmatt vs. Rebel Alliance - Do You Love Your Hardcore

DJ Rush Gee - Innovator

I'd say the most notable of these is "Let The Music" by Eruption. I know that Eruption was quite prolific with his tunes, but I didn't realise he had so many in 1995.

Drum & bass wise we have 8 tapes, a sign that Hysteria was more about the drum & bass. I particularly liked the Brockie set, just seemed to flow very well. The Roni Size set is decent too, interesting how he played in the 2nd room and was yet to reach the heights he would go on to reach.

Plenty of new for 1995 drum & bass tunes too:

L Double - Rock Dat Shit

Hot Steppers - Volume 2

Bad Influence Ft. DJ Rush Puppie - Time & Time

City Connection - Impact

Smokey Joe - Smokin Hornz

Roni Size - Box Of Tricks

Serious Intent - Easy Dred

Mask - One People

The Outlaw - O.G. Call

Roni Size - Caspar

L Double - Music For The 90's

Bizzy B & Agent K - Original Gangster

P-Funk – Return Of The Funksta

D-Power - Self Control

Tarzan - Hold Up

Joint Venture - Sunrise

X-Clusive - No War Business

John B - Green

Special K - Deep In Space

The Essence - Intelligence

Keen - Vol 1 A

Decoder - 8 Tap

Concept 2 - Soon Come

DJ Krust - Angles

Roni Size - Dayz

Potential Bad Boy - Bass Rumble

Lion Of Judah - Set It

DJ SS (Ft. Mental Power) - Highly Recommended

Renegade - Tear Out

Dr Wootang - Wootang Re Lick

Benny Blanco - Remember Me

The Dream Team - Just A Little Hip Hop

DJ Krust - Not Necessarily A Man

L Double & Liccle D - Dubplate Special

Eternal Bass - A Piece Of Drum n Bass

45 Roller - Shotz

Clayton - Pot Fiction

Blackstar feat Top Cat – Champion DJ 

One again whilst "The Lighter" and "Hearing Is Believing" both appear, it's "This Style" by Shy FX that appears most on the tapes, appearing 7 time including a few seconds of the Hype set that can only be heard of the happy hardcore pack.

One of the MCs appearing at this night was MC Free & Easy. He's better known these days as Terry Turbo, the man who used to run One Nation. By this point One Nation had become a purely drum & bass event and even when happy hardcore DJs had previously featured you'd tend to get just 1 or 2 at a given night. 

Terry Turbo would also take over Dreamscape later on and drop happy hardcore from its line ups. Despite this, as MC Free & Easy he was MCing to happy hardcore sets at this night.

It does however remind me that One Nation is yet to feature in these posts so I'll try to do something about that before the end of the year. 

United Dance @ Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre, Stevenage 13/10/1995

 

Scott Brown

For the 4th time this year we're at United Dance at Stevenage Arts & Leisure Centre. No album launch this time though, the next United Dance album wouldn't be out until 1996.

The set I've posted for this event is the one from Scott Brown. He was seemingly making the vast majority of hardcore tunes coming out of Scotland but rarely ventured south of the border back then. As far as I remember this the first event featured this year to feature him aside from Rezerection which was in Scotland and where there wasn't a Scott Brown tape.

The burning question is does he stick to the Scottish and Dutch records or is he playing English records too? Well on the tape at least it's 100% Scottish tunes. Further to that, there's only one tune in he set that he had no involvement in making.

On the other side of the Scott Brown tape is Clarkee who's set is predominantly Dutch. 

Elsewhere on the flyer but not on the tapes we have Jason Jay & Mikey B (formerly Top Buzz). Both had moved onto the garage scene by this point whilst Top Buzz quietly disappeared, but this was confirmation they were no more.

There are more hardcore sets than drum & bass sets, but we have an equal number of new for 1995 tunes for each genre, though the number for each was a bit thin on the ground.

These are the new for 1995 hardcore tunes:

Force & Styles - Dancing Through The Night

Edit V - 2 1/2 Hours

DJ Ham - It Would Be

Cytronix - On Your Knees

Terrible Twins - Just Like That

GSI - Let's Rock

The Beatsquad - Miles Of Smiles

Lockjaw - Not Tonight

With no new album to promote there was perhaps less incentive to play newer tunes at this event. The tune that appears most on the tapes is "Harmony" by Force & Styles which was played 3 times, helped by the fact Slipmatt played it twice.

These are the new for 1995 drum & bass tunes:

B-Jam - Show Me

Dead Dred - Come On Baby

Gang Related - Big Time

Mental Power - Red

Shogun - Wind Dancer

Firefox - Buck Rogers

Skool Of Hard Knocks - The Stush

Daz - Identity

For one we don't have "The Lighter" or "Hearing Is Believing" as the most played tune. That honour goes to "This Style" by Shy FX which appears in 3 of the 4 sets.

There would be a further 2 United Dance events in 1995, but neither will feature due to clashes with other events. More on that when the time comes.

Helter Skelter @ The Sanctuary Milton Keynes 07/10/1995

  

Music Maker

For the 3rd time this year we go to Helter Skelter at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes.

As mentioned previously Helter Skelter made up the bulk of my tape pack collection in the 90s. At some point in 1996 I made my way onto their mailing list where I could order tape packs directly from them. There came a point maybe a year or so later that I decided to start backfilling my collection as opposed to just ordering the latest one.

Not all of them were available though and this particular event was one of those. Some time later Helter Skelter put on their newsletter they had some older tape packs back in stock so I tried again. This time I succeeded in getting all of the tape packs I order except this one, so I'm in new territory here.  

It was the main area tape pack I tried to get as opposed to the Technodrome one, yet the set I've decided to post comes from the Technodrome one.

The Music Maker was a DJ who pretty much only played at Helter Skelter in the Technodrome. His sets were basically anything goes as long as it was hard and fast. You would also hear the words "The Music Maker" frequently throughout his set. I found this typically crazy Music Maker set very enjoyable so decided this should be the one I post, particularly as we're unlikely to find him at other raves.

Also in the Technodrome was Brisk and I remember seeing that and questioning whether he played a techno set for the occasion. The answer is no, it's a typical Brisk set that starts with the Dutch and Scottish records and ends with the English ones and starts in typical Brisk style with "Jiiieehaaaa" by Diss Reaction. The music was more closely aligned in 1995, but what you'd hear in the main arena vs Technodrome in later years would be completely different.

The main arena was mainly happy hardcore with 8 sets vs 4 drum & bass sets. A notable thing about the previous 2 Helter Skelters was the lack of new for 1995 tunes. This time however there are many more.

These are the hardcore ones, many of which appeared in the Ramos set:

Happy Tunes - Fantasy

Juicy Cuts - Vol.1

Terrible Twins - Cained & Able

Love Nation & Justin Time - Music Is Ecstacy

Happy Tunes & Billy Daniel Bunter - Raging Desire

Suburban Delay - Regenerator

GBT Inc. - Burn Mother Fukka

Supreme, Sunset Regime & Mr. Hyde - Breakout

D-Zyne & Fury - Sing It

Ramos, Supreme & Sunset Regime - In The Place To Be

Ramos, Sunset Regime & Jammin - Nothing But Living

Hixxy & Bananaman - Forever

Highlife - Is This Happiness?

Alk-E-D - Home

Sonicdriver - Died In Your Arms

Eruption - Don’t Stop

Ultimate S.T. - Momentum

Genaside - Mutations

Suburban Delay - Alpha Buzz

The Beatsquad - Roll The Drum

DJ Waxweazle vs. Guitar Rob - Spread Your Wings

Jee-Beat Squad -  Rythum

Genaside - Nuclear

DJ Hixxy & Lady Trixxy - One Spliff

Hixxy & Lady Trixxy - Attitude

One of note here is "Juicy Cuts Vol.1" which is a reworking of "Love You More" by Paul Elstak. I would speculate this will be what we're hearing from now on as opposed to the Paul Elstak record in sets.

The most played record is "On Top" by A Sense Of Summer which appears in 4 of the 8 sets.

These are the new for 1995 drum & bass tunes:

Shy FX - This Style Relick

The Dream Team - Watch Out

The Ganja Kru - Bring The Horns

Missing - Rewound Riddim

Basic Influence - Still Waters

Souljah - Down With The Lites

Renegade - Eastern Promise

Lemon D - Wu Tang

Pascal - True Grit

Timebase - Funky

Ed Rush - What’s Up

Roz - U Can Be My Lover

Daz  - Liquidizer

Tango - Understanding

Dr S Gachet - Remember The Roller

Although we are seeing hardcore and drum & bass in the same arena, you do sense a bit of friction between the 2 scenes when Magika says they play drum & bass on Radio 1 but not hardcore and they should do because hardcore is just as big.

He had a point at the time, but I don't find it amusing in a way because I recall at a Helter Skelter in 1999 he said during a hardcore set that it isn't just about hardcore, it's also about drum & bass now. He's basically been a drum & bass MC ever since and has also since stated how he didn't like the direction hardcore had taken by the time he left. Again though he had a point.

One more Helter Skelter to go this year and I'm sure it will feature.