Them few seconds
“You'd get to the party after about half an hour, you'd lock your car, run down the street, and get into the warehouse as quick as you could.”
“Then the lights would go out, you'd wait about 30 seconds, it'd be complete silence, you'd have 10,000 people in the party... and then you just see one light where the Technics decks were, [illuminating] where the needle was going on the record and then just as the needle started crackling on the record, you’d just feel this wave of people cheering. For me, that moment, them few seconds, was the best part of the whole thing.”
Interview with “Jane” by the Acid House Flashback project
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In August 2023 Picador will release my first non-fiction book, “Party Lines” - a social and political history of UK dance music, exploring how policing tactics, Westminster intrigue, the demands of big business and radical activism have each shaped British dancefloors - and how, in turn, the illicit thrill of the rave became the foundation stone of modern Britain.
It’s a story which runs from blues parties in Bristol in the early 1970s through to lucrative deals between dance music promoters and property developers in the 2020s, via techno terrorists, free festival hippies, grime ASBOs, illegal Covid lockdown raving and Kevin & Perry Go Large.
In the lead-up to the release of “Party Lines”, I’ll be sharing monthly updates with weird finds from the archives, interviews which didn’t make the cut, and other fascinating bits and pieces I’ve uncovered during the two years I’ve spent researching and writing, as well as keeping you updated on plans for the book’s launch.
Please do subscribe below if any of that sounds interesting, and spread the word if you feel inclined. Can’t wait to share this whole story with you!
Cheers,
Ed