Squat parties?

H

heva

Wild Horses
What do you lot think of squat parties in London? I'm curious what impression people outside the 'scene' have about squat parties in general. We've all had our bad experiences, but generally if there was one that interested you, would you be motivated/deterred from attending based on your impressions?

This is a bit of a vested interest post, because we're doing this dubstep squat party:

http://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?t=5317

with Kode9, Loefah and N-Type on 30th March... it will be a nice squat party, I swear it! But yea, just wondering what people think about them so I know what reactions to expect. :cool:

(I've been a lurker on this board since day one, just never had anything to post -- no spammer!)
 
E

Edward

+
I like the idea but am usually disappointed by the music - same old banging acid techno plus occassional punky/folky band.
I went to one in Hackney week a few months ago, the music was OK, decent techno stuff that I wasn't famiiar with plus early 90s rave.
I was just happy to know it's still going on after all these years.
 
B

boomnoise

♫
Looking forward to checking this one out. Dubstep could make it for me. usually the music / level of drug intake doesn't quite appeal to me.
 
M

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
I stopped DJing at squat parties when I dropped "Kerosene' by Big Black in a house set in front of about 600 people just as everyone was coming up, and the night ended with speaking in tongues and me severely questioning the power of the DJ and what it meant to do that to people.

I think in its present form dubstep is a benign enough music to make squat parties very good, and for the interaction - because of its very benign-ness - between different communities to be potentially mindblowing. Bring it on, that's what I say.
 
W

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
All the best parties i've been to have been in squats or not entirely legal venues. It's just alot harder put these kinda events on now for 2 reasons a) lack of empty buildings b) the 'darkness' who will invade and ruin everything if they think they can get away with it.

I'm interested in the new licensing arrangments with these TENs has anyone actually put on an event with one? Seems like if you find a space you could actually do it legally. You need to someone with a alcohol licensing cert. which doesn't seem too difficult to get. I know some of these nu-rave promoters were trying it down on Cable St.
 
M

mms

sometimes
wonk_vitesse said:
All the best parties i've been to have been in squats or not entirely legal venues. It's just alot harder put these kinda events on now for 2 reasons a) lack of empty buildings b) the 'darkness' who will invade and ruin everything if they think they can get away with it.

I'm interested in the new licensing arrangments with these TENs has anyone actually put on an event with one? Seems like if you find a space you could actually do it legally. You need to someone with a alcohol licensing cert. which doesn't seem too difficult to get. I know some of these nu-rave promoters were trying it down on Cable St.
Click to expand...

the darkness?
i want to put on some semi legal ie non bar or club events soon.
 
E

elgato

I just dont know
mms said:
the darkness?
Click to expand...

a general term for undesirable troublemakers i think, people who follow the scene but for the wrong reasons. bit of a dodgy term i reckon

but beef is the number one thing which puts me off squatting, ive been to a few which have gotten pretty grim. is there still a big problem in london with that?
 
straight

straight

wings cru
theres been a load of trouble here in manchester with free warehouse parties the last couple of years, mostly because of the police. there is a crew called 'missing in manchester' who used to put on loads of events in out of town buildings, large well produced events with serious sound systems and videos etc. there was one in a disused mental hospital with padded cells and stuff, quite dark but fun . what ruined these ones was a result of loads of scumbags started coming and trying to cause bother, in the end up the crusty organisers always had door heavies to make sure turds didnt get in. one night a load of guys got told they couldnt come in and they came back with about 50 lunatics who beat the crap out of all the innocent bystanders. the police came and it turned into a riot with the police turning on everyone. since then its been next to impossible to put on small events as the police have peoples phone numbers jammed befroe they even get going and sound systems get impounded. the peolpe who come to have a good time end up becoming cannon fodder for heavy handed trainee riot police, its quite sad.
 
H

heva

Wild Horses
Edward said:
I like the idea but am usually disappointed by the music - same old banging acid techno plus occassional punky/folky band.
Click to expand...

Yea, I hear that... thats why I've been pushing to do this party. The squat scene is so stuck in its ways sometimes and going to yet another party with shitty gabba/acid techno drives me nuts because it could be so much better than that. I was having this conversation with someone recently -- I guess there is something to be said for the free party philosophy and supporting musicians to DIY, providing a free platform for people to try music outside of the commercial music/club culture, but damn, capitalist-driven competition has its benefits if it means that musicians are motivated to make better, more interesting music spurred by being in the same 'game' as musicians that are better than them/get better crowd reactions/more gigs/etc. I feel squat party music/musicians tend to stay within their little bubble... big fish in a small pond... and never push themselves to see what else is out there in the wider electronic music world, and gain some influence or drive to do better from that.

Which is why I've been surprised and pleased that the squat party crowd has started to become interested in dubstep. Though even putting this party together, I faced some opposition from people thinking that a WHOLE NIGHT of dubstep would just be all night chill out music, and that you need the gabba/techno/etc to make a hype party. I want to dubstep crowd to come out and school the squatters about that! And the squatters to school the dubstep crowd, get them hooked on the free party spirit. :cool:

Though I wouldn't agree that dubstep is beneign :eek: , I do really believe its a great music for squat parties, the next gabba!
 
W

wonk_vitesse

radio eros
re: darkness - whatever you call'em it's up to you, this lot that have no interest in the music or vibe but come purely to hide in stairwells and corners to rob people and cause trouble. This got so bad a few years alot of crews gave up. The scum will travel for miles and even if they don't turn up at first will track a party down and come along later. As far as I know they're only really a problem with the big multi-riggers where everything is suitably chaotic.

as for music policy, we had across the board at our decibel breach/resonancefm fundraiser last friday, chinese folk songs through to tekno through to broken electro via speedcore. Great dubstep from DJ Rivalry, although the crowd got a little impatient. I'd say the nofixedabode crew who we work with are pretty broad in their reach as are hekate.
 
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H

heva

Wild Horses
mms said:
the darkness?
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Thats also why I prefaced part of my question with "we've all had our bad experiences..." -- no lie, there is sometimes trouble at squat parties. But its not a real problem at least with the crowd I hang out, squat and party with (and it does really depend on the crowd, whose soundsystem, etc). Even as a girl I usually feel safe and happy. Our party will be nice and sunshiney!

wonk_vitesse said:
As far as I know they're only really a problem with the big multi-riggers where everything is suitably chaotic.
Click to expand...

Exactly, very true.

Too bad about the Manchester scene, thats really harsh...

And I've been considering looking into TENs, I think I talked about it with someone once and figured out a way it could work for us... more that we thought it would be hilarious, if the police show up and we give them our legal event certificate. :D Its some nominal cost, too I think? £20? But I think you have to apply for one in the location a bit in advance, and since you usually don't get the building until a day or two before, it might not work. Anyway, be interesting to look into.

wonk_vitesse said:
as for music policy, we had across the board at our decibel breach/resonancefm fundraiser last friday, chinese folk songs through to tekno through to broken electro via speedcore. Great dubstep from DJ Rivalry, although the crowd got a little impatient.
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Rivalry is part of our soundsystem, and my housemate. :)
 
E

elgato

I just dont know
heva said:
Though even putting this party together, I faced some opposition from people thinking that a WHOLE NIGHT of dubstep would just be all night chill out music, and that you need the gabba/techno/etc to make a hype party. I want to dubstep crowd to come out and school the squatters about that! And the squatters to school the dubstep crowd, get them hooked on the free party spirit. :cool:
Click to expand...

i was involved in putting on an outdoor rave in bristol one time, and actually the most negative influence on the night was a large group of people who were heavily involved in the squat scene down there. they came down to see one of their mates dj (who my friend had let play as a favour), but then just started demanding that we play hardstyle and gabba, shouting aggressively at the dj to stop playing this slow shit etc. another couple of lads from a different group, who claimed to run parties in wales, just chanted techno techno techno demandingly at the dj whenever there was a breakdown

i know it doesnt account for everyone, far from it, but they were such a small-minded and nasty group of people that ive never felt the same about the scene since. i still love the concept, but i have no faith in it as necessarily a distiller of quality, open-minded people, and a generator of positive attitude and spirit

ive got a feeling actually that you guys did a party with my mates one time...joe and matt from Loophole?
 
H

heva

Wild Horses
blubeat said:
See Blackdown's post on that page - there it says 10th March which is DMZ 2nd Birthday...here it says 30th March?
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yea definitely the 30th... changed that! my mind was on the DMZ bash i guess :) i even had someone edit the posting for me... my friends need glasses.
 
H

heva

Wild Horses
elgato said:
ive got a feeling actually that you guys did a party with my mates one time...joe and matt from Loophole?
Click to expand...

I've only been been involved with Abacus for a short time, so I'm not sure. This is the first of our parties I've been really involved with... after the pleasant discovery, as I say, that my housemates were interested in the dubstep I was listening to. You'd be surprised, squatters can be pretty closed-minded but for whatever reason this music seems to appeal to the scene.

Also thats why we're plugging it as Dubstep Afterhours aka The Dubstep Squat Party... so that those who attend know what they're getting into, and come with an open mind!

Ketamine (or any drug)-taking is definitely not required. :cool: Just don't be too shocked to see it. And drink some coffee to stay up 'til the morning or you'll be branded a lightweight! :D
 
M

mms

sometimes
yeah ok i thought that was what you mean't and i know completley what you mean. Aggressive rude twats who exploit the fact it's not a lawful party by treating it as a place to hate. Yeah they're at alot of those places, or they hang around outside to rob folk.
 
M

Martin Dust

Techno Zen Master
Been to some shockers in London, shite Stay Up Forever washing machine techno but we play at squats in Sheffield and we've had a good time at them all.

At the last one we had 300 people jumping around in a barn, I was buzzing like mad after a 3hr set, really enjoyed it and that's what it's all about.
 
D

dubversion

Guest
I spent years going to and playing at squat parties - some of the greatest nights of my life.

At risk of sounding like a jaded old fuck, for the most part the heart has gone out of them. The ket has ruined them for me - a hypothetical warehouse full of several hundred pilled up happy people dancing to jungle and interesting techno and the like has been replaced by several hundred drooling fucking zombies dancing to joyless linear ket-techno.

The danger has increased not so much because of the crack etc but because it's so much easy to jack someone on ket - they can't look after themselves and their equally munted friends can't either.

The odd crew still pull it off - Hecate (great party last month), Tribe of Munt etc - but for the most part i can't be doing with the grief any more.

But hey - for most of the 90s they were the most fun i could ever have.
 
benjybars

benjybars

village elder.
any recent squat party stories??

are there still many of them? haven't been to one in aaages.

the one that heva helped put on (mentioned at the start of this thread) was quality.
 
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