My First Club: Felix Dickinson

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My First Club: Felix Dickinson

"My first real rave experience was a Tonka party in my mum's back garden in Sussex."

My First Club takes us back to the beginning, transporting DJs and producers back into the depths of their memory, asking them to take us on a trip to those pivotal first nights in clubland. Following entries from the likes of Michael Mayer, Herve,MK, Slimzee,andHudson Mohawke_, _we checked in with Felix Dickinson.__

My first experience of raves was through the Tonka Sound System. There was a vague family connection to them through my stepbrother Jules. My mum had said that he could have a 21st birthday party at her house, which he didn't cash in till he was 25. By that point Tonka were doing their thing, and he invited the Sound System down. So my first real rave experience was a Tonka party in my mum's back garden in Sussex.

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I was just out of school, and boarding school as well, so I was very naive to it all. Suddenly there was this huge sound system set up and around 200 ravers in my mum's back garden—the party went all night and all day as far as I remember. I can't remember all of the DJ's that played that night, I think Markie Mark was one of them; I'd never heard anything like it before. It was a hugely impressionable time for me; I was a little like one of those tribal kids you hear about that are kept in a cave until they're teenagers and then let out to view the beauty of the jungle. I was instantly hooked.

As well as my first Rave, I think Tonka was also my first proper club experience when I went to their monthly Monday night in Brighton: 'Tonka at the ZAP' with Harvey, Choci and Rev DJing. There's actually some video footage of that. There was a documentary made on Tonka, and the same girl who was my stepbrother's connection with the sound system, Eliza, filmed it. Her mother was a film producer for Channel 4, so she had access to all this high-end equipment. You can tell in the video I'm very enthusiastic and evangelical about the whole thing, clearly getting very carried away with it all, chatting about how I thought we were all part of a big computer connected through the power of techno.

On the Tonka night at the Zap, the club would go until 2, and then they would take the speakers and put them on Brighton beach and we'd party till sunrise. The first time I went to the Zap (as you'll hear me say in the video), I had come down and not got in, but I'd waited till 2 and then partied down on the beach (and had the best party of my life). There was a huge bonfire, and everyone was dancing till past dawn. We did that every month. For me the after party was often much better as people were fully revved up and I loved the free party vibe, as it felt more inclusive, people who couldn't get in or afford the club could just go straight to the beach.

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The Tonka crew all really took me under their wing, be it either Tonka Rob and Eliza who I would sometimes stay with, or Neil the lighting guy. I'd go wherever the party was each weekend, would go record shopping and try get all the records I'd hear them play; I actually worked in Choci's shop 'Tonkoid' for a little bit. They were all amazingly supportive and nurturing, I dread to think how annoying I must have been back then! They introduced me to people like Nick The Record who was a record dealer Harvey and Choci went to; so I was getting access to loads of US disco and hearing all kinds of music you couldn't just go and get from the shops. Had I not had those guys turning me on to all that music god knows what kinda stuff I'd have ended up listening to, so I consider myself really lucky to have had such a great introduction to the whole scene, and definitely wouldn't be doing what I do now if it hadn't been for all of them setting me on the right path.

People like to talk about how it's "not like it used to be," and how things have changed, but I love club land these days, and feel really grateful to be part of a scene that plays all these amazing festivals and events around the world. The parties and sound systems I'm playing now are generally much better than a lot of the ones I got to experience back then. The only thing that's maybe changed is the free party scene. There did seem to be a certain rebellious/revolutionary thing going on back then that may have been lost, or changed beyond recognition—more likely I'm just out of touch and don't get invited to those parties anymore! I guess a lot of what we did back then would be working on the edge of what was considered legal (and was subsequently made illegal) so it had that Punk/D.I.Y. vibe, and we felt we were part of something new and important. It's obviously great that we now have such a magnitude of legal festivals, when it once seemed they were going to be stamped out altogether when the Criminal Justice Act came in; but it's also a shame that revolutionary streak is gone as well. In those Thatcherite days the free parties really gave everyone a place to freely gather and let off a lot steam, to celebrate the simple things in life like music and nature, without it being commodified. It broke down a lot of social barriers; nowadays you'll often only find a certain demographic at each party and there's not as much mixing of the tribes.

I'm not one of those "it's not like it used to be" guys—although my outlook on the scene has clearly changed over the last 25 years. I really hope there are kids out there now who are going to raves that are blowing their minds like mine was all those years ago!

Felix Dickinson plays Futureboogie in Bristol on December 4th and Chibuku in Liverpool on the 5th.

Felix also has a new record, "A Day's Reality", out next month.