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. 

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.

Slammin Vinyl @ The Rhythm Station, Aldershot 15/09/1995

 

DJ Vibes

We've now reached the end of an era. This was the last Slammin Vinyl event to be held at The Rhythm Station. Hardcore Heaven and Tazzmania also held their final events at The Rhythm Station the same month.

As I mentioned in the post about Slammin Vinyl @ Labrynth in August there was a single tape pack that covered 4 different events and it's inconclusive which tapes were from which event. I can however confirm the tapes that were definitely from this event were Vibes, Brisk, SY, Ramos and Vinylgroover.

From the tapes from this event plus those which definitely happened before this, these are the new for 1995 records:

Davie Forbes - Apocalypse Now

DJ Taz feat. DJ Fuckface - It's A Thing

Cyclopede - Can You Feel It

Sharkey & Dee - Dreamin

Ferocious - Get On Up

Sonicdriver - In Your Arms Tonight

DJ Pleasure & DJ Siren - Make Me Feel

Jee-Beat Squad - Follow Me

Jee-Beat Squad - You Make The Bass

Alchemist & Fade - Power Of Hypnosis

Gordon Tennant - Family Plan

Tim B - Tim Tim

DJ Taz feat. Fuckface - Come On

Sunset Regime & Billy Bunter - Clap To This

DJ Taz feat. DJ Fuckface - Bust Muttha

Billy Bunter, Rob Vanden and D-Zyne - Better Run

DJ Slam - Influence

Citadel of Kaos - Show Me Love

DJ Unity - Freedom

Love Nation - Alright

DJ Unity - True Unity

Cheddar - Cheddar 4

Bill & Ted - Seasons

D.J. Mix It - What A Feeling

Sunset Regime - Forever Young

Sunset Regime & Billy Bunter - You Make Me Feel

The tune of note in here is "Forever Young" by Sunset Regime. This laid the foundations for "Forever Young" by Antisocial aka Hixxy & Sunset Regime which was a big tune in 1996. 

In terms of the sets that were definitely from this event, the most featured tunes were "Toytown" by Hixxy & Sharkey and "Stars" by Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo which both appeared on 3 sets. Perhaps no surprise given how big the former was and the latter was riding high in the Dutch charts at the time.

The music has definitely gone more kick drum by this point but there are still breakbeats in there. 

This will be our last visit to The Rhythm Station but it won't be our last visit to Slammin Vinyl.

Slammin Vinyl @ Labyrinth, Dalston 18/08/1995

 

Jimmy J

We're now approaching the end of the first chapter of Slammin Vinyl. A week prior to this event was their penultimate event at the Rhythm Station. This week see's their first event at Labyrinth. Then in September we have their final event at the Rhythm Station followed by another event at Labyrinth a week later.

These four events made up the tape pack called "In Full Effect - The Final Tape Pack". The problem though is that it's not clear which tapes are from which events and I can't be 100% certain any of the tapes are from this event.

Basically all of the DJs on the tape pack who played at this event also played at least 1 of the other 3 events. The ones that could possibly be from this event are Seduction, Billy Bunter, Red Alert, Slam and Jimmy J.

One thing I can establish though is that if the Jimmy J tape is from another event then it's the one the previous week whereas the other tapes could be from future dates.

On that basis, these are the new for 1995 tunes:

2 Croozin' - Reach Out

Unknown Artist - Obscene Vol. 1

Jimmy J & Cru-L-T - I Want To Be Forever

2 Croozin' - Don't Hold Back

At a time when DJs are moving towards the kick drum, Jimmy J was the one was was sticking to the breakbeat. Even though I've posted his set by default of being the most likely tape to be from this event, there's a good chance I would have picked his set anyway.

As mentioned there was a further Slammin Vinyl at Labyrinth in September, but I'll be featuring the final one at the Rhythm Station when the time comes. 

Slammin Vinyl @ The Rhythm Station, Aldershot 30/06/1995

 

Jimmy J

We're half way through the year and making our 2nd visit to Slammin Vinyl at The Rhythm Station. It's actually the 4th Slammin Vinyl of the year but such was the choice of raves in 1995 we've had to skip a couple.

There's a first for the raving journey of 1995 so far, a Jimmy J tape. Jimmy J was my favourite DJ back in the day. I've not heard that many tapes of his compared to other DJs, but the ones I've heard have all been excellent and this one is no exception.

I mistakenly thought it was Jimmy J who ran Slammin Vinyl at the time. He ran the record shop of the same name but it's since become apparent the record shop was a different entity to the promoter. 

What perhaps appealed to me about Jimmy J over other DJs is he was the one who kept the breakbeats going the longest. The first Jimmy J tape I owned was from Hysteria 9 later on in 1995 and that always stood out to be more breakbeat led than the other hardcore tapes. There are 4 tunes which appear on both tapes which are:

Richie Whizz - Song Of Angels

Evoke - Runaway

DJ Desire - Sumaki

Happy Tunes - Sanctuary Of Love

All 4 are new for 1995 as are the following tunes on this mix:

2 Xperience - Sweet Dreams

Luna C - 5.5, The Hurricane

Elsewhere it's all happy hardcore DJs, though DJ Unknown does include some drum & bass in his set including the ever familiar "The Lighter" by Sound of the Future and "Hearing Is Believing" by MA2 which you just couldn't escape in 1995.

Also worth noting is the Ramos set where 9 of the 11 tunes on the first side of the tape are new for 1995 tunes which are:

Semtex - Bounce Alert

Bertocucci Feranzano - E-Motion

DJ Norman - Get Up And Dance

G.B.T. - Betta Run

G.B.T. - Skyride

UFO - Abduction

Supernova - Partizan

Speedloader - Guilty As Hell

Sunset Regime - Tribal Chant

There's plenty more new for 1995 tunes which were:

DJ Hixxy & Lady Trixxy - World War 1

Discofrisco & DJ Inferno - Get Down Everybody

Casio Brothers - Last Anthem

DJ Pooch - Live For The Future

Eruption - Drop The Beat

DJ Pooch - Volume 10 Side A

DJ Skorp & DJ Pila - Oohh God Damned I'm Great

DJ Paul Elstak - Boom Boom

DJ Ham - Let Yourself Go!

Eko - Be On Your Way

DJ Fade - Music Is My Life

Midas - Magic Tears

Saturnalia featuring DJ Vinylgroover - License To Party

Midas - More Hits Please

DJ Demand - Let's Go!!!

DJ Ham & Poosie - Thinking About U

Jon Doe - On A Chill Tip

Mr Hyde - Release Me

There are 2 tunes which are the most played of the night appearing in 5 sets each. There's "Disco Hardcore" by Seduction which has been doing the rounds for some time now. The other is "Now is the Time" by Scott Brown which is a bit of a surprise given it was around when we kicked off on New Years Eve 6 months ago.

As we reach the half way point of the year its fair to say we've seen a lot in this short space of time. We've seen the end of Carl Cox and Top Buzz. We've seen the beginning of Essential Platinum and UK Dance which in turn has given us landmark record "Toy Town" and Force & the Evolution cut down to Force & Styles. We've also had Vibes & Live Lee on tape for the first time.

At the same time the spirit of 94 lives on evident by "Now is the Time" being played a lot, DJ Unknown mixing hardcore with drum & bass records from 94 and Jimmy J keeping the breakbeat alive.

There's no doubt more to come and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the year brings us.

Slammin Vinyl @ The Rhythm Station, Aldershot 03/03/1995

 

magpie303 · Ramos - Slammin Vinyl - In Full Effect--6 Pack--1995

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 Love

The Vampire - Teknostorm

Midas - Imperial March

Motiv-8 - All Over

Cheddar - Cheddar 2 (A)

Sunset Regime - The Fire The Time

Hixxy - Jackattack

Billy "Daniel" Bunter - The Way I Feel

Question 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.