Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › party scene’s "political" focus?
I personally don’t have transport. I rely on mates for lifts and stuff and it’s not always easy to drive to other areas. We do keep talking about checking some other places out though.
To be honest, it’s not the parties. There are some good parties round here.
I think I just miss how I used to feel about a parties. A lot of the friends I used to have in the party scene are now of the same attitude as me and lots have moved on. Rigs I used to love and party with have gone and we don’t hold parties ourselves anymore. Just seems too much competition and rivalry to even bother. Guaranteed if you do a party there will be another 2 parties on the same night not too far away splitting people apart. Then for the next few weeks you’ll hear people debate the merits of each party and choose which one was the best.
Plus dealing with the police isn’t the same anymore. They have to put up with shit from other rigs all the time so now they aren’t really prepared to listen. It’s fight back in numbers or lose your rig, and I’m really not down with that sorta crap anymore.
Maybe a year down the line I’ll be thinking differently. Lets hope so. The music and the parties have been a big part of my life for 15 years in one way or another. I’ll always love the music but at the moment I’m just an observer as far as parties are concerned.
Before anyone suggests trying to get everybody to join together… we tried that a few times. Sometimes it would be an up front no because they don’t wont to be seen to be partying with us as we aren’t part of the ‘club’ (long story), or they would say yes and then do another party somewhere else anyway.
we had this developing in the Thames Valley but it got better – ironically because of the clamping down!
As parties became harder to put on crews became a lot better at sharing spaces and buildings (even if they had differences over music styles) and if two raves go off on the same weekend they are miles away from each other at different ends of the region.
This IMO is better as not everyone has easy access to transport or can afford the not insubstantial costs of travelling hundreds of miles (also better for road safety). People are also more sensible about finish times and clearing up….
Even so one particular crew overdid one particular area and paid the price for it, and I have already mentioned on the other thread where trying to be “militant” eventually gets people. Its been tried before, either cops and locals push back, or the increasing acceptance of violence to solve matters means wannabe hard men start moving in.
None of this is a good thing.
If we are brutally honest with ourselves its becoming clear that crews are being forced back into licensed venues and if any more underground events are to continue we need to look at new ideas and tactics; the current way of doing things is not sustainable.
it’s funny that
it was the fun, freedom, self expression that got me into raving
then i felt that i was going to parties and they were too restrictive (either musically or it was all the same people doing things in the same way – a bit cliquey you might say)
so some friends and me started getting our own parties together
no music policy, no attitude
but then we found that people demand to be able to put you in a box (a techno/psy/house rig etc) or you get sidelined or not taken seriously
well forget all that
our parties will always be messy, raggamuffin, have live bands as well as DJs, we will never have security or know what time we will go home
there will be old people and children
and they will all be SAFE
arrrgh
bring on the springtime
Not actuly having been to a free party yet, the comments im reading are worrying (i wont be taking my misses untill ive been to a few!) and hopefull (people still care). I know people who go to London raves and say its very hit and miss. I left the (club)DnB secene back in 96 cos the the kind of violence/attitude you are talking about, but now its picked up again, havent seen a punch up in a few years.
?????? does the vibe need to be steped back from to lets things cool down ??????
so some friends and me started getting our own parties together
no music policy, no attitude
but then we found that people demand to be able to put you in a box (a techno/psy/house rig etc) or you get sidelined or not taken seriously
well forget all that
our parties will always be messy, raggamuffin, have live bands as well as DJs, we will never have security or know what time we will go home
there will be old people and children
and they will all be SAFE
arrrgh
bring on the springtime
this is pretty much what happens with the collective in our area as well (K32) – we have a very diverse music policy, our parties are still as open as they can be (we have not had to deploy security). Lots of people attend them and enjoy themselves and have never complained about the music..
they do finish at a mutually agreed time around Sunday afternoon but thats because some people have to travel 50-60 miles to get to the venue and people have normal jobs some of which also involve driving – its self preservation really, we don’t want anybody having a crash because of sleep deprivation!
Sorry Alex, hope it hasn’t put you off the idea.
I can’t speak for other areas but around East Anglia the parties are quite safe (unless there is a clash with the police… which seems to be happening more and more). Certain people are turning up that wouldn’t have come to the parties before, which means you have to be a little more security conscious with regards to your vehicles etc. Although that’s a shame (it didn’t used to be like that) it’s no different from anywhere else you would leave your car really.
The problem I have with parties round here isn’t violence, because you very very rarely see it unless OB are involved and I think this is how it is in most parts of the country bar London.
Saying that though, it still might be wise to check them out yourself to make your own decision.
you already live in “londonistan” and seem fairly clued up so I wouldn’t worry too much, and you should be fine bringing your girlfriend to most raves outside London.
Whilst (as in any large male-dominated gathering) some idiots may try harrassing girls this is not tolerated at raves I attend and people are prepared to do something about it, but not to the extent where there are punishment beatings and near lynchings as this is one thing that fucked up the London scene. just find someone who is part of the crew or behind the bar or mention it to a few other people and the idiots will be sent on their way.
This would be better than leaving your gf at home as she may get worried about you or annoyed she is missing the fun…
Things are already sorting themselves out because of the backlash from locals – those crews who do not want to lose their rigs or have people getting absos/ going to HMP are learning they have to put on low impact events which are still fun, and ensure the people who attend them are there for the right reasons.
the problems on our scene can be, and must be, overcome – this is otherwise one of the more positive weekend lifestyle choices and can’t be abandoned to all the other darkness going on in this world.
No fear!! it will take alot more than a few idiots to put me off… and if people who want to keep it going/make things better dont come and support, then we wont get anywhere. I believe alot of trobles in this country stem from the “not my problem” mindset….. We cant survive on our own, we need each other!
i find it realy sad that so many ppl just expect shit stuff to happen at parties, but again, i think this has something to do with the attitudes of some of the crews putting them on.
when i started in the 90’s the crews were part of a much bigger movement of social change. ppl were involved in the fight against the cja, the anti nazi league and an appalling transport policy. as this ended ppl moved on to free parties as a way of expressing this energy with things like the OK cafes in manc. ppl no longer build speakers out of shuttering ply from squats, now, thats sort of a good thing but the diy elemant has been lost and replaced with young boys wanting to have a big rig and play load music cos its cool, not knowing what the roots are (read “bass culture : when reggea was king” lloyd bradley if you realy want to know). what we have to realise is that as with techno, the free party scene that we know/knew has split into many differant types and unfortunately some are bringing a bad name to an already sketchy scene.
long live small happy hippy raves
(and boxes built from scrap wood! he he)
when i started in the 90’s the crews were part of a much bigger movement of social change. ppl were involved in the fight against the cja, the anti nazi league and an appalling transport policy. as this ended ppl moved on to free parties as a way of expressing this energy with things like the OK cafes in manc. ppl no longer build speakers out of shuttering ply from squats, now, thats sort of a good thing but the diy elemant has been lost and replaced with young boys wanting to have a big rig and play load music cos its cool, not knowing what the roots are (read “bass culture : when reggea was king” lloyd bradley if you realy want to know). what we have to realise is that as with techno, the free party scene that we know/knew has split into many differant types and unfortunately some are bringing a bad name to an already sketchy scene.
long live small happy hippy raves
(and boxes built from scrap wood! he he)
I’d suggest selecting better quality recovered wood (it can be found if you look carefully) but otherwise agree with everything you said.
we do need to reverse some negative aspects, such as the culture of violence and hostility and even if we are not accepted reduce the impact on others by better venue choices, timing and logistics.
Its got to the stage where I am a bit wary about this summer – last summer there were riots, ravers and cops got hurt (some seriously) and permanent conflicts were created in some areas, (often due to bad choice of venues which annoyed significant numbers of locals) as well as ravers settling scores at the parties via violence.
I hope this isn’t going to happen again this year, or it is going to be impossible to justify to the rest of society why these sort of events should continue. A commercial club where violence regularly occured would be shut down, so why should an unlicensed event which makes no obvious contribution to the local economy but creates extra problems be permitted?
i find this all over the place when what people should be doing of saying is lets all pull together and drop all this bullshit. i think that some poeple have a political focus and others do it cause they wont to get “mash up” and “funk the pigs”. me personly i party to have a good time and each time i see creative freedom which i belive should not be stoped. a party at the end of the day can not change the world to much but the people who party can if they get active. i dont know if this makes any sense. but hay its the most i’ve wrote on here.
for me it makes sense what you write 🙂
i am not english and i dont know your scene very good but i´ve realised what you are saying myself over there and via conversations with people.
freeparty doesnt make you a free person and you are not more free danicng in a club to good music or at a freeparty.
i dont agree with people that do parties just for fun but after all to mash themselves up in a way they could never do in a club. this mainly for me is the problem, cause freeparty attracts drugheads that dont have the idea of free cultural expression.
how ever you could do a party or do uncommercial art, play alternative music that would hardly exist if there was not freeparties to play them…?
thats for me the background and the reason why i am interested and attracted in. and this makes it as well to a matter of politic cause the moment you do it illegal, you do a crime for teh governments.
humans has always been in the need of expression, it is part of our nature. but looking our lifes it has become hard to express, to be a cultural being, to be active. we got educated to consume only and freeparties are one way still some of us can be doing things.
but as well in this scene you find the same hedonism and egoism and stupidity like you find in the “society” – thats fact !
i spent my time in this scene always going on and forwarding my ideas and for luckyness the likeminded always find and therefore idealism of people will never die. i dont waste much time anymore to convince people in a particular “spirit” or ideal i believe in. i just live it and surprisingly enough i always find people…more and more which actually have the same aims and ideas.
this scene gave me the base to find them, so i am happy and positive about it and even thou i think the “scene” need to be reeducated, education happens thru exemplify something through one´s own life and activity
🙂
Its not a good feeling to chip in and be negative too though i do agree with some of the ‘back in the day’ and slightly whistful, and confused, observations folks have put here.
Things have deffo got more sinsiter and a bit edgy the last couple of seasons. The surprise i feel is how i always assumed the free party secene was a constant; with about the same levels of criminality, enterprise, excitement, cliquey-ness and safety. It always seemed to me the pattern of boom and bust seen in other indoor and commercial dance music genres (the excitement of the birth of a new style or feeling of the music and the eventual degeneration into a drug fuelled frenzy of moronic copycat records) was curiosly absent from the free party scene.
Looking at the previous posts it seems a set of complex social issues!
I seem to notice there are less people at do’s who have been away abroad recently. At one time the free party scene had a quite proud international air. i meet less people just back from exciting places now it seems, with stories of dicsovering stuff. and less people invoved in a time consuming and intensive art/music/living projects.
possibly its just me being an old whinger. and ive heard some horrid stories from the ‘early days’ of gangsters and hards muscling in on idealistic parties for a quick buck. but there’s the disctinction, most of those stories are about outsiders to the scene muscling in. these posts seem much more sinister as much of the complaints are about crews, locals to party venues and bad minded hangers on. inside the scene.
all a bit of a worry….
stuff goes in cycles; the problems come and go
to quote a mate of mine:
” if we stop trying to do things the way we like them done and let others have their way thatt’s what we will end up with”
his point was as valid to this as what we were talking about then.
:question_ If we never educate younger partygoers or show them how it should be done how will they know any better? After all these modern parties are what they know. They cant remember being part of what we older folks experienced and are basing their judgement on what they believe to be true or what they have heard [especially what their mates have said…:alien_abd].
Until we challenge those beliefs at their roots this problem will never go away; we can waffle about it all we want but it isnt fixing the problem.
:rant: the problem is addressed by treating them as we would like to be treated and yes there will always be a*holes who throw it back in your face
[It does help to not end up with so many of them you feel swamped and have to exclude a huge chunk of folk from the next party; i say divide and conquer for this problem; they are usually pretty normal humans taken one at a time]
:rant: they are all scared of something, all looking to make a new friend or connect with someone ; to find someone who cares; someone who will listen to their problems/fears/woes; someone who will not judge them for being uncool/stupid/fat/slow/[insert whatever seems right] but care for them for who they are now:rant:
:group_hug the unjudgemental acceptance/ love/caring was what sucked me in to parties and its what i try to bring back to them; whichever way i do it be it legally or otherwise
so i take the time to speak to the folk when i have it; to check they are ok and dont need something; introduce them to folks they dont know and might like; just care about them [and i always feel that i dont do enough of this; that if i had just taken time to speak to x s/he might be dealing with it better]
:horay:everybody feels better when someone cares about them even if they hardly know them;
:rant:we need to show them how we want them to behave before they will know how it is done; you wouldnt expect a child to be born with table manners and you shoould not expect young ravers to be born with party manners
I havnt read all the threads so aplogies if i regurgetate any said information already! but as far as i can see the whole scene has changed just in thepast 4 years alone (well definately around norfolk anyway!) I have pretty much stopped raving in norfolk altogether as im sick of going to raves where all the organisers are preaching about peace love and unity, and not even understanding the meaning of it all! surely peace love and unity should be to everyone and everything….people and nature included, so why do brainwash and all their mini followers insist on putting on parties in the most inconvienient and inconspicous places? The younger generation of ravers only really seem to be interested in fighting the police and causing havok! NYE party was put on in the same place as they got gassed before, which is obviously them trying to make a point and say they are above the law, but they are not. None of us are. The law is a pain in the arse and we all have to woirk around it, butwe cannot fight it with fire, it needs to be fought with wit and intellegence, but unfortunately due to the copious amounts of ketamine being snorted intellegence is obviously something that is now lacked amongst new skool ravers! they seem to think by leaving your parents 10 bed mansion for a scummy squat, buying a few speakers, and snorting shit loads of K – its gonna create a revolution! im waiting for the day when all these people have to come round from their k holes and realise the world isnt their to hand them everything on a plate! Also the recent bank hol party was supposedly near a nature reserve…do these people not understand that animals are nesting and breeding at this time of year and need their peace otherwis you will end up with hundreds of abandoned eggs and new babies? It makes me a little sick to think that something i once beleived so much in has become everything i hate :get_you: . Peace x
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Forums › Rave › Free Parties & Teknivals › party scene’s "political" focus?
