Party Vibe

Chimaera interview:

Can you tell us when Chimaera started?

Chimaera began in the summer of 1997. We played a couple of outdoor parties with our newly built rig and it just took off from there. Outdoor parties are still our main thing but we began playing in clubs just to give us something to do in the winter. and now we can’t stop.

What was the original idea?

There was never any real masterplan, except that we wanted to put on outdoor parties and have a wicked time. That still remains the same today, we get involved in anything that appeals and try to keep the vibe laid back and positive. We’re trying to get ourselves a bit more organised, but we didn’t set out to be a business, we were a group of friends first and foremost holding together our own little space in this culture. As we’ve developed we have got it more together and the key seems to be to let everyone do what they enjoy and do best and take things very slowly.

How many people are now involved?

Hard to say. There’s about 10 of us who are the core members and make most of the decisions on a collective basis then maybe another 7/8 djs, a crew of dancers and other people who help out when they can. We took a crew of 50 people to the Sunbloc festival recently, so a lot of people are involved and people fall in and out depending on how mad for it they’re feeling.

How are the club nights at Electrowerks going?

The last one could have been more successful, it’s a big old venue and they weren’t particularly financially successful. We’d been in the 4 Aces up until it closed, playing New Year’s Eve and a monthly (ish) night. We never seemed to be able to get the same kind of vibe at Electrowerks, so this Autumn we’re teaming back up with the crew who ran the 4 Aces and starting a new monthly night. The night will be called Convention and it’s at a new venue in Hackney. More details to come, but the first night is on Saturday, 25th September. It’ll be a vaguely Legalise Cannabis themed night with a Techno room and Breakbeat room which’ll give our D&B DJ’s a chance to play better longer sets and experiment a bit. The venue is called Geneva’s and will be donations on the door, after that we’ll charge about a fiver, couple of quid less for concessions.

Charging £8 at Electrowerks was a mistake I think, in retrospect, we were known for being cheap or free, which is the way we want to keep it, since no-one gets paid then we can afford to run cheap nights, but the cost of venues sometimes forces the price up. Maybe we’ll pop up at a few squat parties in the near future which would be a new thing for us, but something we’re keen to try.

Are you playing at any festivals this summer?

We spent 10 days at the Sunbloc festival over the Eclipse, running the dance tent for them. A wicked time was had by all, with our tent pumping out chemical beats 24 hours a day for 9 days. It’s definitely something we’ll do again. Hopefully another Cannabis Mayday festival will take place next year as well and we hope to keep up our involvement with that.

How did you become involved in the Mayday celebration?

We just went along to the meetings and got involved. It’s an issue that we’re all passionate about and felt very strongly that we wanted to do something about it. Although this year our involvement was limited to us running one of the dance tents and helping with publicity as much as we could, we learnt a lot and made many new allegiances. We’ll continue to be involved in the cannabis coalition distributing information, throwing parties and helping in the organisation of next year’s do. I think its very important that we keep involved with areas such as the cannabis movement, it affects us all and if were in a position to make a difference even in a small way then we will.

What are your views on the party scene in Britain at the moment?

It’s good, squat parties seem bigger than ever, more and more outdoor party crews seem to be springing up and generally I think things are very positive. A lot of people talk about how it’s changing and isn’t what it was. I think maybe ecstasy use is falling and new drugs will always change the scene, but if it doesn’t change and develop then it might as well be fucking heavy metal. The dance music movement was founded on innovation music, drugs should always stay fluid and as long as we keep loving each other we can’t go far wrong.

How do you think this differs from the rest of Europe?

Don’t know much about the European scene, except we do a yearly party in a castle with Luxury sound system of Luxembourg (18th Sept this year). It seems much the same as here, lots of wicked smiling people having it. It’s the same all over the world isn’t it?

How do you see Chimaera developing in the future?

No long term plans as always but many ideas are being discussed. We’ll see how Convention goes then next Summer we’ll be back on the outdoor free party mission we love so much. Other plans being talked about include a label, DJ agency and maybe trying to find our own premises. I’d love to have a party venue/community centre/ hang out which may be a fantasy but fantasies can be made to happen. Working with Exodus on Mayday has shown us what can be achieved, they’ve been through their troubles but now seem to have their shit very together and are making a real difference in their community. It would be good if one day we could try something similar in London.

Any parting messages?

One Love.