January is a funny month. Really and truly there's very little to look forward to; everybody has stopped drinking, we're all broke, it's cold, it's grey and the rest of the year is staring down upon you like a long, unconquerable stretch of remorseless time. Well, that's sort of true. Because as we know, New Year's Day doesn't quite mean the end of the party. Now in its fifth year at Butlins Bognor Regis, the Bugged Out Weekender represents nothing short of one of the biggest parties of the year. THUMP were there in full force in 2016. Here's what we saw and how it sounded.
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Friday saw us finishing the week's work, shoving the all important train tinnies into our already over-stuffed rucksacks and boarding a train for the jewel of West Sussex: Bognor Regis. I'd never been to Bognor Regis before, but my sky-high expectations were not disappointed. One whiff of that cool sea air, a modestly sized train station, the orange glow a taxi light beckoning; we were ready for Butlins, ready for Bugged Out.
Safety first.
Once we'd got ourselves settled in our rooms, and had the first of approximately 16 Burger Kings, the weekend really began. We started on Friday, bouncing from Barely Legal, to the entire Kurupt FM posse, to the supremo garage overlord himself DJ EZ. After sweating it out in the main stage, and taking a quick drinks break, we finished the night off with a genuinely sensational back to back from Gerd Janson and Joy Orbison.Saturday was, of course, the most important day for us, as it was our turn to host our very own THUMP pool party with none other than Jackmaster. The THUMP DJs took to the decks first, warming up the pool with a selection of balearic floaters. When Jackmaster turned up we decided it was only fair he got a go playing a few tunes, so we yanked out our USBs and handed over the reigns. Before long the Tweak-a-holic had started a veritable wave machine in the pool.
We were so pleased your Dad could make it by the way.
From here on out the rest of the weekend was a dream. Running between a roof-raising Novelist, the mighty Armand Van Helden (who led straight into a colossal "Bigger Than Jesus" set with a few friends), the ever sensational Black Madonna, and several goes on that new Star Wars arcade game. Come the end of Sunday, we barely had the energy to make the tricky decision between closing our weekend with Bicep or Kerri Chandler. So we did both, and then we slept, for a very long time.
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But anyway, you hardly need us telling about it. If you were there you'll know. And do you know how we know you'll know? Because we saw you. Yeah we saw you on your stag do. We saw you wearing a thin black thong in the pool. We saw looking like a melting Wallace and Gromit character at 10am in the Spar. We saw you throwing up outside Papa Johns. What saw you having the time of your bloody life mate. Here's what your weekend looked like…
Kurupt FM: having a laugh whilst getting the job done.
Jackmaster stepping up at the THUMP pool party.
Man getting hit in head by beachball.
This is what it looks like when Armand Van Helden climaxes.
The Black Madonna blowing minds on Sunday.
A touching moment, among dear friends.
The author marvelling at some of Butlin's on site entertainment.
Bicep doing their best to look like they are watching a kettle finish boiling.