Rashers Tierney chats to Piers Sanderson. He’s the director of a documentary about the early 1990’s Blackburn rave scene that saw a generation find wholly new uses for warehouses in the hard hit North of England. The presence of Thatcherism hangs heavy in your trailer for your doc. Tell me what life up north was like under her Iron fist? Was rave a political response in a sense or more … Read More
#rabbleReels: All Those Flashing Lights
Acid drug dance cult – does it affect the brain in some way? We investigate. Filmed by World In Action in 1988, it really captures some of the moral panic around the scene. Fascinating to hear how Top of The Pops banned all records that mentioned “acid.” D-Mob’s anthem ‘We Call It Acieed’ was also on the receiving end of censure. The person that made the video for the tune … Read More
#rabbleReels: Jungle Pirate Radio Doc from 1991
Shibbity whoa…so this looks like a separate creature to the more circulated BBC feature. Much more pirate radio action packed in for punch in its 7 minutes. Watch out for the xenophobic auld one that fears jungle will ruin the cricket. Damn West Indians.
Watch Out! It Makes You Dance and Causes The Aids.
Fuck, synthesizers can breed? Learn the shocking truth of London’s new dancing AIDS craze. We came across this report while prowling around Pearse St archive last week. Interesting to note just how carbon copy a lot of this form of journalism is. England snorts a line and Dublin catches the headlines. The similarities with reporting on the head shop chaos springs immediately to mind. Written by Ces Cassady, it’s … Read More
It’s Time For…
A fireside chat with rave ledgebags Altern8… Here’s a great podcast with Mark Archer about the early days of faceless techno bollox and the rise of breakbeat hardcore. Even though it had only been two years, because the music was moving so fast people wouldn’t be playing it in clubs. Whereas now you can play a tune from ten years ago and if it still sounds good, it will fit … Read More
Pirate Powered.
Before downloads and smartphones, back when club culture looked forward and the Celtic Tiger was roaring drunk after a rugby match in Temple Bar, you had to get your musical fix by tuning into stations like Power Fm. This short profile is taken from Sampler, a short lived (but loved) sort of counter-cultural collage show on Bog 2. It gained some notoriety for broadcasting footage from the RTS riots. And … Read More
rabbleReels: A Short Film About Chilling
Nice work if you can get it… 1990 documentary about dance music culture, particularly that happening in Ibiza in and around Cafe Del Mar. A snapshot of the Balearic Ibiza clubbing and chilling scene before it exploded into the mainstream. A Short Film About Chilling is a documentary first screened on Channel 4 to coincide with Ibiza 90. The documentary provides a great insight to the Balearic music and nightlife … Read More
What Is This? Beat Girl.
Dublin’s never looked so exciting, the Workmans never so banging… This shit has tonnes of views. Tonnes. Set in London, but filmed in Dublin – it comes with a PR package that looks like it was vomited up by one of those websites that sells Stock photography to Youth Defence. Apparently it’s some sort of transmedia story telling gimmick, and there’s a few Youtube interviews with respected sorts like Donnacha … Read More
A Sound Crowd History
Who? Sound Crowd, that’s who. Irish rave legends give an interview on FM104. They’ve been on something of a revival lately, twenty years after being one of the biggest dance acts on the island. This is the first part of an interview they gave to FM104 on the back of their 20th reunion gig a month or two ago. Francois Pittion, of UFO fame and Mark Kavanagh are going up … Read More
Disco Liberation: Flikkers and The Hirschfield Centre
Rashers Tierney takes a trip down memory lane and hears how a little known community centre and disco not only laid the groundwork for an opening up of Irish sexual attitudes but also dragged our clubbing sensibilities out of the dancehalls.