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ALL SYSTEMS GO!! |
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ALL SYSTEMS GO!! |
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Smokescreen are the posse hosting this specific bash. easy techno, trance and solid house sounds bounce off the sides of the quarry, filling all space.
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Smokescreen, from Sheffield, are currently hosting
a free party most weekends, usually in Derbyshire. They are also part
of All Systems Go! - a collective of sound systems from Nottingham,
Leicester, Sheffield and Lincoln.
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All System individual components are a name check of the most popular East Midlands dance posses: DiY, Smokescreen, Pulse, Babble, Floatation, Breeze, Rogue and Go-Tropo. The latest addition to the collective is Spoof (Sheffield people on one forever). Together they form a loose community alliance that is mutually supportive but flexible enough to allow each posse its own individual identity and set of priorities. The result is an eclectic, organic scene where community and co-operation are highly valued as fundamental to the free party ethic.
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All Systems sprang to life in 1992 in response to particular clauses encompassed in the Criminal Justice Bill affecting the rights of party-goers, squatters, protesters and travellers.
A meeting was initiated by members of DiY, Smokescreen and Breeze.
Rick, (DJ Digs) of DiY explains:
"We met in a club, about 30 - 40 people. We just talked
about this new law. Awareness raising seemed to be the one and it
was initially a big information campaign".
All System began organising benefit gigs to raise money to put into information.
Rick:
"Because we had a PA and knew other people who were doing
what we were doing, and had access to DJ’s, we paid minimum
expenses, paid for the venue and flyers, fivers in and it was a
highly efficient way of making money. That crystallised the whole
All Systems thing cos it was literally all systems in one
room!".
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One member of DiY who took the information bit between his teeth was Tash. Tash is a veteran of the ‘70’s and 80’s free festival community. His photographic work has documented the rise and fall of that community and he was one of only three independent photographers at the Battle of the Beanfield in 1985.
He sees what All Systems are doing as an attempt to hold on to a vision of
DIY community and celebration:
"After I heard about the Bill, I realised that they meant festivals,
protesters, raves and everything else I was about. It was a big thing, the
authorities have been trying to write the `Hippy Act’ for years, but
they’d never been that specific before. At the meeting I showed people
clippings from the papers and told them that it meant them as well. A lot
of people don’t think they’re anywhere near important or dangerous
enough to warrant this attention. They might not but the establishment does.
I was concerned that what we should primarily be about was publication to
tell the public at large that there’s something off".
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A free booklet entitled `Right to Party’ was produced as well as a cartoon poster depicting Peanut Pete’s explanation of the main clauses of part five of the Bill, all happening on a Union Jack. The booklet contains warnings of legislation to come, its affect on the current scene, historic references and affirmations of dance culture. By June 1995 the fifth edition of the booklet had been produced and became a well-known respected and effective tool for informing the underground dance and festival scene of exactly what they were up against. |
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Tash
"We spent money on five editions of Right to Party. And each
copy, because of its nature, was probably read by four or five
people. We were mainly concerned with raising awareness.
It’s my contention that should be our priority".
Meanwhile, money from benefit gigs was also being put into buying a communal rig. Primarily called the Party or Community Rig it soon earned the nick name `Kamikaze’. This rig is owned by All Systems and "borrowed" by individual systems for specific free parties, usually outdoors.
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This way if equipment is confiscated by police then no single outfit would suffer. One reason some members of All Systems don’t like the term kamikaze is that implies disposability. Tash: |
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The All Systems ethic is of communication and co-operation to facilitate free parties and mutual support. A benefit gig in April raised money for Buxton-based Black Moon Sound System, the first outfit to have their rig confiscated under the CJA.
Another benefit in Sheffield on May 31st was also successful. Money raised from that event has yet to be allocated but options include fixing the kamikaze rig, more informative publications and starting a bust fund for systems.
| Harry, an original member of DiY, is clear about what All
Systems priorities should be post-CJA: "It’s hard to have any direct resistance to the CJA now that it’s law. National resistance seems to have petered out. So, basically we’ve got our own organisation here, we’ll maintain links, keep the fund-raising going, maybe set up a bust fund to support anyone who might get nicked in the future". |
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There is a strong belief within All Systems in community and
the strength that community offers. When people feel part of a larger, similarly-minded
group then there is courage to deal with unfriendly authority or potential
imprisonment. Tash:
It’s all about intimidation and the vested interests’ game plan
to lower people’s resistance to intimidation. Our plan is to support
people so they can continue".
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All Systems’ gigs are specifically designed to raise funds to support party-goers and systems doing free parties. Otherwise all the individual systems involved in the project are dance entities who do weekly club nights to finance the production of records and keep them doing free parties at the weekends.
Laurence, DJ and founder member of Smokescreen explains:
"We always leave Saturday nights as free party nights. Maybe
two or more nights during the week we do clubs and try to support
ourselves day to day. Free parties we do at weekends.
We recently had a meeting with SHED, a local drug advice agency. There was a guy there from the entertainment’s and licensing committee, part of Sheffield Council. He was implying we could get a venue, find who owns it, hire it, get fire and safety, get a licence and do a party. I said we already do events and to do it that way would cost quite a bit of money. I asked why the council couldn’t give us some unused land or property, then we’d get a licence and do free parties; we could pay for the licence through donations.
It’s summer now and we primarily want to do free parties outdoors, but the ideas being floated at that meeting would mean we could do free parties in the winter without threat of police harassment. The guy from the licensing committee thought we were going to charge people. We had to explain to him that we were essentially a free-outfit, we didn’t want to worry about money, dress-sense and security; it’s free party ethics. It took him a while to get his head round".
Police and official attitudes to the free party elements of All Systems have been varied. At Smokescreen’s Quarry gig in May, Derbyshire’s Constabulary were notably playing a low profile game, acting more as traffic wardens and parking attendants than potential obstructers.
"All we’re really worried about is ambulance and fire engines being able to get up to the village", said one sergeant, as his colleague directed a reversing Mercedes van into a tight space.
Rick:
"Mostly police pressure is words in ears and such, nothing
too heavy, just intimidation. On New Year’s Eve we were
doing a party and by a complete coincidence it was the same
weekend as someone else was trying to organise a massive party -
Castlemorton-revisited style. The police took loads of
information on vehicles all over but they didn’t follow it
up until the May Bank Holiday, four months later. They traced our
truck and came to the DiY office and seriously bent our ears, `we
know who you are... what you up to this weekend’ sort of
thing.
I know what pressure the Exodus Collective have been under but it’s a question of scale, they’re much more in the authorities’ faces. They’re dealing with thousands of kids from a small area whereas we’re dealing with a much wider area. There’s quite a substantial following for Smokescreen gigs at the moment and people come down from Leeds, Sheffield and Leicester for gigs in Derbyshire".
Smokescreen had similar attention from the police after they did a free party in Sheffield.
Laurence:
"We did a party at an old abandoned school just a couple of
hundred yards up from Sheffield’s central police station. We
knew we were taking the piss a bit but it was cold and we wanted
to be indoors. The police turned up and just sat outside. I went
to talk to a couple of them, they said there was no problem, they
were just there to watch. During the night fire officers turned
up to check safety but there were plenty of fire exits and stuff
so after we walked them round the building they went away.
During the next week we heard from several people, not part of the system, who had been contacted by police asking who were the organisers, was there beer on sale, where do these people come from, how did they hear about it..... just someone in the police force saying to others I want you to devote time to finding out about who these people are".
Smokescreen, Pulse and the other free party components of All Systems have respect. Respect not only for each other but for the wider community; local towns and villages. Party venues are carefully selected for noise minimisation and care is taken to ensure adequate and safe vehicle access; no excuse is given to the police to close them down. Maybe this is another factor in their success.
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Rick:
"Quarries are perfect for parties - one system is good
enough for it. You can’t beat a good quarry for the ultimate
party and Derbyshire is the best place for quarries -
perfect".
All Systems are not interested in direct confrontation, they’re interested in the spirit and community that they are increasingly generating; a free-festival style celebration through dance.
Members of All Systems also know what they want: to continue to put on free parties and get away with it.
Laurence:
"We did one party in Sherwood Forest, in April, that got a
bit more attention from the police than usual. We talked with
them and negotiated a time to close the party down. When that
time came and we hadn’t, they got a bit heavier. We then
gave everyone an hour’s notice that we were closing down.
Anyway, an hour later we started packing up. We had a few punters
come up and started giving us a hard time for giving in. I asked
them what they wanted: to dance another couple of hours ‘til
the police come wading in, we lose our rig and that’s it -
or do you want another party next weekend?
Just as we were pulling off site we were confronted with maybe 25 wagons of police, they pulled to one side and let us drive off. Just one more record and we’d have blown it".
All Systems are under no illusions and Laurence certainly doesn’t view what they are doing as `hard-core’. But they do provide an example of how to just get on with the business at hand; offering a much needed alternative to the machinations of mainstream club culture.
Tash, also, is realistic about what is needed to effect a
shift in society’s perceptions of celebration:
"When ranged against the vested interests and the Home
Secretary, All Systems aren’t going to crack the planet and
despite the heroic efforts of a few people, what difference is it
going to make unless we can get the word out that what we’re
doing here can be done all over the country?
There’s nothing special about the East Midlands. On a local level we have to get involved. As in most smaller towns and cities, we’re privileged to be small enough so that communication is good. That closeness is what’s needed to make a dent".
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The way the police are implementing the Criminal Justice Act with respect to raves is not uniform across the country. In many places, as soon as a police officer says those three words to an assembly of more than 50 people, someone is likely to get upset. Until the CJA is more solidly set in the minds of British culture, many constabularies will be reticent about using it and will, instead, rely on the provisions of the Public Order Act 1986. This legislation has been around for 10 years and when used, means the temperature stays lower.
Harry:
"When the outrage over the CJA dissipates the police will
get on with implementing it. Things become accepted in the
framework of things. I remember when the Public Order Act came
out 10 years ago, now it’s accepted that you can’t do
this but you can get away with that".
The introduction of the CJA was never entirely meant to deal immediately with supposed problems it was intended for; knee-jerk reactions are simply devices to appease constituency members and win extra votes. The motivation for the introduction of the CJA may be much more insidious. In the way the Public Order Act 1986 didn’t effectively destroy Britain’s travelling community until the mid-nineties, the full effects of the CJA may not be realised until after the millennium, when forces across the country will have the confidence and legal precedents to implement it.
Perhaps the future of festivals and parties lies in the persistence, determination and vision of small free party posse. For sound systems to effectively continue in the face of the CJA small well thought-out parties, with locals in mind, would seem to be essential; but imagine a future: hundreds of small systems up and down the country doing free gigs regularly. Each has a loyal following of 500 people and they’re getting away with it. Then, one day, they all come together.
Maybe that day will be the Summer Solstice and maybe the venue will be Stonehenge.
Jez Tucker,
Squall 13,
July 1996.
They thought that they could put us down,
then right before their
eyes.
All oppressed united join hands and swiftly rise.
The act it seems was drafted for a chosen few's convenience,
So what's left for the rest of us,
Down right disobedience
Ant, Plumstead
Alan Lodge / Tash: ... tash@gn.apc.org