In just a matter of days, Ibiza's clubbing nation will be taking a heady plunge into the explosive dance days of decades past. Crashing head first into the authoritative, raw years of the Second Summer of Love with Dance 88/89 at Sankeys, we'll be in for a rush of acid house horsepower and liberal Balearic beat.
A personal artistic project from Sankeys' club owner David Vincent, he's taking aim at paying homage to the pure years, when overriding British law became the only way to rave. Police crackdowns pushed thousands of unified raveheads into the countryside and hunting out spontaneous gatherings on the M25 London orbital motorway became a way of life, until the 1994 Criminal Justice Act drove the glass-eyed threat to the nation's youth back into clubs.
Now clubbing is a permitted lifestyle and we're no longer defying the system to party hard to waves of vilified beats. Dance music has changed and while some veterans of the early rave days continue to lead the way, the large majority of Dance 88/89's bookings have since passed the baton to the beat makers of the moment. All of this makes Sankeys' mid-week movement all the more powerful, as rarely have we seen such a unified gathering of dance music originators ready to appear on the same soil for a running period of 19 weeks.
Lifting the curtain on Wednesday 25th May is a five-man pack of masterminds geared to reinstate an element of the unique atmosphere that defined those years. It's an element that can be surmised as a feeling; a euphoric reaction to being free from realities of the outside world and not knowing what would come next, or where you'd end up.
Ditch the phones, disconnect and dance.
DJ Alfredo: Dance 88/89 resident
Without Alfredo Fiorito dance music culture would be a completely different beast. He's as important to dance music's global domination as the house and techno exports from Chicago and Detroit. Hailed as the Father of the Balearic Beat, which by definition means a musical style that adopts a mantra of anything goes, he's an Argentinian exile who landed on the White Isle in the early ‘80s, fell in love with the place and never left. By chance, he was handed the keys to Amnesia, put in charge and was the main man, playing seven days a week, for six or seven months in one sweep. He bound people of all persuasions and denominations and in 1987 his potent potion was discovered by British DJs, Paul Oakenfold, Johnny Walker, Danny Rampling and Nicky Holloway. Mind-blown by their trip, the four DJs disembarked their return flight on a mission to carry on the party and rather accidentally, Alfredo and his eclectic Balearic beat became the catalyst for the untamed rave years.
Catch Ibiza's Balearic beat bulwark every week from 25 May to 28 September.
Bushwacka!: Dance 88/89 Resident
Matthew Benjamin is one half of the now defunct duo, Layo and Bushwacka! and also the man behind Just Be. While paired up with Layo, they explored just about every genre of music known to mankind, set up world renowned club, The End, with Mr.C, and left a legacy behind with their ground-breaking productions, including their classic track ‘Love Story'. As a solo artist, Benjamin's output is exalted, with the release of six albums, the production of over 120 remixes and 160 tracks for labels such as XL Recordings, End Recprdings and his own labels, Olmeto Plank and Oblong. His history with Ibiza dates back to 1989, when he first trialled the decks at just 17-years-old and fast forward to 2013, he was inspired by a cold day in London on the way to the shops to pick up a carton of milk, to uproot to Ibiza. From holding a longstanding relationship with Ibiza to having played a role in the formative years of dance music, he's in pole position to represent and rekindle the rave and acid culture on an island he knows so well.
Bushwacka! will be on the selection spin every week from 25 May to 28 September.
Danny Rampling: Guest DJ
In 1987, Rampling was in Ibiza for a second time on a boys' holiday to celebrate Paul Oakenfold's 24th birthday with Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker. On their first night at Amnesia, Rampling reflectively recalls that they were changed; Amnesia was an epiphany. He was in total and utter awe of DJ Alfredo's eclectic mixing and felt that a deeper, spiritual energy was activated in the experience. Rampling returned to the UK knowing that they were onto something big and fed his hunger to bring a sense of Ibiza clubbing to home turf with the opening of London's Shoom Club. Shoom turbo-charged the rave revolution by becoming a launching point for acid house culture. It was the first club to adopt the famous smiley logo that would become synonymous with acid house and for a majority of clubbers, it was the first London club to wrap-up acid house as a full package. Rampling has stated that it was like a religious experience and DJ Terry Farley backed it up by describing Shoomers as Rampling's disciples. Regulars to the club were so consumed by the Shroom experience that many of them soon either lost their jobs or created new ones, so they could full embrace their new lifestyle. Shroom aside, he's had a long and rich career as a DJ and producer, with multiple awards and millions of compilation albums sold worldwide.
Mr. C: Guest DJ
The British DJ, producer, label owner and promoter emerged as a pioneering force in the house music scene in 1987 and has continued to be an authoritative figure in the global dominance of dance music. He was one part of psychedelic band, The Shamen, which became one of the UK's first longstanding bands of the rave era with breakthrough singles, 'Move Any Mountain', 'Hyperreal' and 'Make It Mine'. He founded the techno and house label, Plink Plonk, with Paul Rip (of the Clink Street parties) which released music by himself, Matthew Bushwacka B, Derrick Carter, Luke Solomon and Stacey Pullen. In 1995 Mr. C and DJ Layo opened London night club, The End, which completely changed the face of clubbing in London and across the globe. During its tenure, life it held residencies by DJs such as Fatboy Slim, Roni Size, Mr. C, Layo and Bushwacka and club nights like DTPM, Subterrain, Twice As Nice and Trash and founded its own label End Recordings. Ibiza regulars and locals might be familiar with his Superfreq residency which was first launched at The End in 2002, before being exported to the White Isle across six seasons and eventually finding a regular home in L.A., where the outspoken Buddhist DJ now calls home.
In addition to the opening, Mr. C will also play on 20 July, 10 August, 31 August and 28 September.
Nicky Holloway: Guest DJ
Once labelled “a prototype of the superstar DJ”, Holloway is another UK figurehead who's part of the famous four alongside Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling and Johnny Walker. The DJ and producer was also sent into a euphoric headspin by DJ Alfredo's prerogative to mix Chiacgo house tracks with Kate Bush and Queen. He's spoken fondly about the defining moment that him, Oakenfold, Rampling and Walker stood in the pool of their villa holding hands after their first night at Amnesia “like a load of wallies” with shared visions of pushing the future of clubbing in the UK. His re-written ambition began with the influential Trip & Sin at London's Astoria, which brought in 2,000 clubbers every weekend for two solid years, giving the likes of Dave Morales, Todd Terry, Kevin Saunderson, Wam Bam and Derrick May their first taste of this growing scene. In 1990 he took house back to the underground with the opening of the Milk Bar in London, which boasted residencies from Darren Emerson, Danny Rampling, Paul Oakenfold, Dave Dorrell, Lisa Loud, Brandon Block and Pete Tong. Later, in 1992, he opened a Milk Bar in Pacha Ibiza and across the island in San Antonio, which ran for a couple of seasons.
