I’ve been asked to write a chapter for a book on Australian electronic music. I’ve got the chapter on the early-rave explosion of creativity in terms of local production. And it has had me thinking and reminiscing.
I was just reading some threads in a Sydney ‘old skool’ group on Facebook and had a sudden memory of seeing The Beloved play at the Phoenecian Club in 1990. That was the first proper ‘dance party’ I went to . . . Greta, my girlfriend at the time, and I were totally unprepared. Her sister, Renae, was a couple of years older and went to the Hordern parties of the time but didn’t really give us many hints as to what to expect.
We hung around in the carpark out the back for ages, then got up the courage to get in the door – they were using the rear entrance rather than the main front doors – in hindsight, probably because of licensing reasons. They came on around 3am and I think we stuck around for about 5 songs because we were knackered. I think one of the other DJs Jacqui O, played a couple of Happy Mondays remixes earlier on and a stack of Balearic and acid house which pretty much went over our heads.
It took another year till I ‘got’ it in terms of dance parties via a couple of indie crossover Madchester nights. There was a particularly crazy one I remember at the Black Market. Baggy pants and tie-dyed hoodies galore in 1991, then it was off into warehouses and abandoned buildings beginning with one of the Psychosis parties.
Ahhhh . . . The Sun Rising . . .