Golden eras of techno...

[Technologic]

1997

The Complex Islington.

Nuff said.

[wrong]

1997

The Complex Islington.

Nuff said.

wasn't that a 'universe' production too? i'm sure something moved there after club uk.. maybe final frontier?

[Technologic]

wasn't that a 'universe' production too? i'm sure something moved there after club uk.. maybe final frontier?

Certainly was. The Universe party was Voyager, but Eurobeat 2000 threw parties there as well.

I remember when the SUF crew were there, the Liberators did a live set, it was actually one of the last techno parties to showcase there (if i remember rightly), they announced over the PA that the place was being raided (it wasn't of course, it was part of the act), which freaked me out for sure but was a stroke of genius LOL.

Carl Cox launched Fact 2 there shortly beforehand, Gayle San, Billy Nasty, DJ Wag, CJ Bolland, Dave Angel, Dave Clarke, Jeff Mills and many more honcho's played there on a regular basis.

I remember tripping out on the mirror cealing on the second floor, i came to on the stairwell where the bubbles rose to the roof LOL, and the freaky projections they had in the chillout room, playstations, pool tables, arcades.

Now those were the days. When they closed that club a very important part of clubland was lost forever. Once that closed Escape From Samsara follwed shortly afterwards, two places that had a vibe like no-where else i've ever witnessed, have come close but never bettered.

[The Overfiend]

Limelight NYC
Function parties.

[speed-it-up]

Certainly was. The Universe party was Voyager, but Eurobeat 2000 threw parties there as well.

I remember when the SUF crew were there, the Liberators did a live set, it was actually one of the last techno parties to showcase there (if i remember rightly), they announced over the PA that the place was being raided (it wasn't of course, it was part of the act), which freaked me out for sure but was a stroke of genius LOL.

Carl Cox launched Fact 2 there shortly beforehand, Gayle San, Billy Nasty, DJ Wag, CJ Bolland, Dave Angel, Dave Clarke, Jeff Mills and many more honcho's played there on a regular basis.

I remember tripping out on the mirror cealing on the second floor, i came to on the stairwell where the bubbles rose to the roof LOL, and the freaky projections they had in the chillout room, playstations, pool tables, arcades.

Now those were the days. When they closed that club a very important part of clubland was lost forever. Once that closed Escape From Samsara follwed shortly afterwards, two places that had a vibe like no-where else i've ever witnessed, have come close but never bettered.

Yeah it was good in there.

Missed out on club uk, as I was living up North when that was going.
Orbit, Morley mid nineties was my golden era for techno.

After the Complex closed I started going to Immersion parties and got into the free party side of it.

[Paul Zykotik]

I remember tripping out on the mirror cealing on the second floor, i came to on the stairwell where the bubbles rose to the roof LOL, and the freaky projections they had in the chillout room, playstations, pool tables, arcades.

Remember when effort was made into making a club interesting? Projections, backdrops, things hanging from the roof, random shit like Lego and jenga, proper chillout areas with big **** off cushions etc etc. Tiny things really but they stuck in your head. Since the turn of the century it's just been one box after another, nothing makes clubs stand out anymore. It's not the most important thing but it added to the experience and helped it seem like less of the same old same old.

[Technologic]

Yeah it was good in there.

Missed out on club uk, as I was living up North when that was going.
Orbit, Morley mid nineties was my golden era for techno.

After the Complex closed I started going to Immersion parties and got into the free party side of it.

See i stayed in the club scene mostly, was still a regular at Eurobeat 2000, was never as good at the Mass tho, plus i was going Trancentral @ Pleasure rooms on a regular basis, Nuclear Free Zone, as well as the Lost parties & Retroverts/Split.

On a much more underground tip, anyone remember the Acid Bath?

Also frequented a few parties at the Dungeons, Hedfuk did a good party there, ha i went to their first party ever at the Standard in Blackhorse Rd, jeez, how long ago was that???

Haha, this is bringing back some wikkid memories!!!

Crazy days but wikkid fun!!!

[Technologic]

Remember when effort was made into making a club interesting? Projections, backdrops, things hanging from the roof, random shit like Lego and jenga, proper chillout areas with big **** off cushions etc etc. Tiny things really but they stuck in your head. Since the turn of the century it's just been one box after another, nothing makes clubs stand out anymore. It's not the most important thing but it added to the experience and helped it seem like less of the same old same old.

It wasn't just materialistic tho, it was the crowd too.

The vibe of people being sprawled out all over the chillout room, was like a human obstacle course, of course people were so ****ed they'd have barely any balance so people who were sitting down would hold their hands up and help them along their way, that's the kind of vibe it was, same with Escape From Samsara. You just don't get that anymore, sure you get ****ed up people, but instead of helping people they just stare and watch them falll over their mates, which admittedly can be quite funny but not in the spirit of it all if you ask me.

[davethedrummer]

Certainly was. The Universe party was Voyager, but Eurobeat 2000 threw parties there as well.

I remember when the SUF crew were there, the Liberators did a live set, it was actually one of the last techno parties to showcase there (if i remember rightly), they announced over the PA that the place was being raided (it wasn't of course, it was part of the act), which freaked me out for sure but was a stroke of genius LOL.

Carl Cox launched Fact 2 there shortly beforehand, Gayle San, Billy Nasty, DJ Wag, CJ Bolland, Dave Angel, Dave Clarke, Jeff Mills and many more honcho's played there on a regular basis.

I remember tripping out on the mirror cealing on the second floor, i came to on the stairwell where the bubbles rose to the roof LOL, and the freaky projections they had in the chillout room, playstations, pool tables, arcades.

Now those were the days. When they closed that club a very important part of clubland was lost forever. Once that closed Escape From Samsara follwed shortly afterwards, two places that had a vibe like no-where else i've ever witnessed, have come close but never bettered.

Eurobeat 2000 i think it was

[davethedrummer]

some golden ears of techno

[Technologic]

Eurobeat 2000 i think it was

Yes it was indeed! I remember it well(ish). Some guy nearly knocking water over the rig with some crazy arse dancing, wtf, i know the drugs were good back then but that was something else.

World war 303 had just come out at the time.
I was still wet behind the ears but the Complex was the first techno club i ever went to, was my birthright to it all really.

[BDC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRghD...eature=related


some familiar faces in this vid..... :)

[Patrick]

wonk has been invented by some tool

lol
That's well funny in view of the original posters (alleged) connection to the term. :)

[Numeric]

goin to Voodoo in Liverpool back in the days i guess, late nineties early naughties

seein the likes of Surgeon, Dave Clarke, Ben Sims, Green Velvet etc.

[wrong]

lol
That's well funny in view of the original posters (alleged) connection to the term. :)

Disclaimer:

nobody 'invented' 'wonk' as its not a genre, just an adjective.. and yes, i did make a section in the record shop where i worked called 'wonky' purely as a pointer at the time when the 'loopy' techno seemed to be churning em out every month so the no-skool techno had a place to reside and be discovered by those who couldn't be arsed searching through hundreds of generic washing machine titles ;) And i'm really not a 'tool'.... well, maybe just a little one, like an alan key...

... where's crime?

[nickoc]

Certainly was. The Universe party was Voyager, but Eurobeat 2000 threw parties there as well.

I remember when the SUF crew were there, the Liberators did a live set, it was actually one of the last techno parties to showcase there (if i remember rightly), they announced over the PA that the place was being raided (it wasn't of course, it was part of the act), which freaked me out for sure but was a stroke of genius LOL.

Carl Cox launched Fact 2 there shortly beforehand, Gayle San, Billy Nasty, DJ Wag, CJ Bolland, Dave Angel, Dave Clarke, Jeff Mills and many more honcho's played there on a regular basis.

I remember tripping out on the mirror cealing on the second floor, i came to on the stairwell where the bubbles rose to the roof LOL, and the freaky projections they had in the chillout room, playstations, pool tables, arcades.

Now those were the days. When they closed that club a very important part of clubland was lost forever. Once that closed Escape From Samsara follwed shortly afterwards, two places that had a vibe like no-where else i've ever witnessed, have come close but never bettered.

Now that takes me back... Universe events where were i cut my techno teeth so to speak... the original Tribal Gatherings in Luton etc - they were the days!

And Island Universe (New Years Eve 96 I think?) in 3 Mills Island Studios, anyone remember that? Where the cement floor started turning to mush, and they 'lost' all 3000-odd cloakroom tickets! Turned into a proper free-for-all lasting into the afternoon! Still one of the best nights i can remember (sigh).

[crime]

Disclaimer:

nobody 'invented' 'wonk' as its not a genre, just an adjective.. and yes, i did make a section in the record shop where i worked called 'wonky' purely as a pointer at the time when the 'loopy' techno seemed to be churning em out every month so the no-skool techno had a place to reside and be discovered by those who couldn't be arsed searching through hundreds of generic washing machine titles ;) And i'm really not a 'tool'.... well, maybe just a little one, like an alan key...

... where's crime?

Lurking, ironically listening to a dave clarke mix from '95 thinking that you kids have no idea how exciting 92-97 really was...

I guess the real tools were the people who took wonky to be a genre and went out to make identikit trax in the same way that all the 2nd rate loop techno people went and did bad copies of Purposemaker records..

I really look back fondly at the times of hearing mitch dropping bombs on the Virus rig (circa 1993, brewery road, caledonian road, Evesham) and having no idea of what this music was apart from knoing that it was some kind of techno that sounded different to my ears compared to what the majority of DJs were playing at that time.. And I might add hearing similar sounds coming from Jiba around the same time, most probably with jerome at the helm, we hadn't met at this point, I hadn't even started playing but it was a magic time..

[Aratron]

i dunno, things change people get older. techno was good for me in the early 90s, and i rediscovered acid techno, in about 2001.

all i know is that these days im buying a lot of good techno from the 90s mostly, from ebay at good prices. got some great early tunes by steve stoll, derrick may, ken ishii - which im really enjoying and is much better than the dross released recently.

i only wish i can wirte and produce my own music, as i'm sure i could do a lot better. thats the problem too many techno djs doing too much coke, or woteva and losing the plot.

i've only bought 4 records that were released this year.

i think schranz and all that crap saturated the market, there's very little worth buying being released.

i mean even relatively prolific writers like dave the drummer/geezer/ant have hardly released anyhting this year, but the situation was similar last year.