Party Vibe

HEADFUK Interview:

When did the HEADFUK Collective start?

As an idea it started way back when a couple of us were at secondary school. We had plans for a 303 marching band and loads of free drugs related shenanigans. We were into acid and the whole psychedelic mind expansion thing. It sort of remained an idea until the spring of last year when we decided that it was about time to get off our arses and actually do something. We’ve been pushing full steam ahead since then with our parties, the record label and other general elevatory tactics.

What was the original aim behind the group?

We were disillusioned with what we saw as the deterioration of the Hardcore rave scene and the way that society is steadily going downhill. At the very least we wanted to put a bit of purpose in our lives and give us something to talk about when we bumped into mates we hadn’t seen for a while. Really, we’re just a diverse group of headz who are interested in aspects of everything. This is reflected in the diversity of the various projects and events that we’re working on.

What are your upcoming projects?

All sorts of things are due to kick off this year. We’re currently working on a night which will combine our pretty irregular breakbeat sessions with our Gabba night which never saw the light of day because Hackney Council came down on the venue we were due to use for our first night and made it clear that they weren’t going to let it go ahead. Something about licence infringement or something. It’s about time someone brought back the Gabba to London and the breakbeat night was something we felt quite strongly about as well what with all the breaks related clubs being full of poncy media tarts who are only there because it’s the latest place to be.

Apart from this event, Pressure, which should come about in the next couple of months, we’re working towards our main objective of getting our own sound system.

Then we can stop using club venues because that was never what we wanted to do. With our own resources we can do things entirely on our own terms and not have to charge on the door. With the warm weather, the summer season also brings out all the protests and civil disobedience. We’ll be at the Cannabis Action event on May 1st and are preparing something of our own for the June 18th international day of disruption. As we near the end of the millennium we are expecting things to boil over and that means we’re going to have to organise to stay on top of the whole mess.

You are about to release a record. Can you tell us something about that?

The whole thing that sparked off the label was because some of our DJs wanted to play out some of Ronin’s tunes. We then realised that it really wasn’t that hard to have a record label. From then on we decided that we had one and it’s gone on from there. Not only do we want to change the rave scene and the way it’s run, but we also are pissed off with the way Hardcore dance music has taken something of a turn for the worst. The only way to make a difference is to get the music out there.

This is why we’ll be doing our own distribution, and not sucking on any executive cock, selling them onto record shops as per usual but also selling them to ravers at wholesale price. Instead of doing some 12″ with a couple, or even just one, tune on there we’re gonna be doing four track EPs with loads of different styles on one record. Hopefully people will buy it for one track and get into some of the other shit that’s on there. We’ll be playing it safe with a short run to start off with and all the profits going back into doing more records and getting a collectively owned studio.

Are you looking for other people to become involved?

Always. We initially started out as a bunch of mates and other people we’d hooked up with at raves and parties. Since we’ve been doing our own events and generally getting around at protests and whatnot we’ve expanded to include crews from Swindon, Luton, Oxford, Brighton, Cardiff and Cambridge, although we are based in London. We bring a positive message to people and make it clear that no one will make any money but hey, we’ll put on some wicked parties, have a good time and everyone involved will eventually become far richer than they think. Money is pretty fucking worthless when it comes down to it and this message strikes deep. People are looking for change and we can only do all that we can to speed up the reaction.

The Unite The Systems bash in Lea Bridge Rd looks set to be your biggest event to date. How did you become involved with Cabal and Shtonka?

This rave definitely looks set to be kinda phat and it’s the first proper collaboration with other sound systems. The stuff we’ve been doing at Trenz is mainly organised by us with our co-conspirators helping out with the rooms. We’ve recently got to know the crew from Cabal who are working with the owner of The Dungeons and we decided that we wanted to do a party together. It ended up as a three pronged attack with Shtonka coming in on it as well. Our crew are all fairly new to being on the other side of the party and we’re glad to be working with some established crew who have made a good name for themselves in the past. The venue has a great history and we want to pick up where it left off.

Where can you see the Collective developing?

At the moment we plan to just keep on doing what we’re doing. It’s already begun to take us places and we’re happy with that. Who knows where we’ll be in a few years time. We predict that things will have changed dramatically in this country by then so it’s anyone’s guess. Basically, we’re mainly doing one kind of thing whereas we want to move into warehouse raves, outdoor stuff and the whole Europe thing as well. Some of our lot from Swindon, Brave Nu Kru, have all sorts of plans for travelling and stuff this year and we’ll definitely be along for some of that.

How do you see the rest of the rave scene in the UK at the moment?

Most of the original members of the collective started out at the big pay raves and clubs coz that was where the scene was for us. That all got a bit shit and it had been for a number of years with us not taking too much notice, probably because we were very young at the time. We got fed up with the extortionate entrance fees and typical promoter scams they always pulled. The only thing which kept us there, the music, took a turn for the worst and we quickly dropped out of that whole pay rave thing.

Since then we’ve been far more involved with the squat scene but a lot of time the squat parties in London just don’t have the right atmosphere. We want to create a halfway house, where you get the proper electric atmosphere of a whole bunch of people going totally apeshit but within the underground because that’s the only true place where Hardcore can develop. We’ve always been very politically minded and the underground scene is far more clued up in this respect.

On a different note, do the initials stand for anything? (!)

Hmmm, they’ve meant several thing over the years and we couldn’t tell you what they stand for at the moment but we leave them in to make it clear that yes, we do stand for something.

Any parting messages?

Simply that we don’t want to be the be all and end all. We urge everyone to set all their plans, hopes and aspirations into motion and we’ll help out wherever possible. If you aren’t happy with a situation then you need to find the antidote. People will sit up and take notice and maybe, like it’s been for us, things will quickly take shape and lives can be changed for the better. It’s 1999 and we need to make it stand for something more than just the eve of the millennium. Positivity is the only thing that will see us through whatever lies ahead.

http://www.headfuk.net