........
With a reputation for taking
pride in a policy for the most original, underground and inventive
lineups, Kiddstock continues to showcase the freshest artists from
far and wide.
Kiddstock England brings to the hills
of Stanhope something extraordinarily special for 2009...not only the
most hedonistic party of the summer, but a little piece of dance
music heritage.
The Ratpack Story - Rave
Heritage
Way back in 1985 was where the Ratpack
story began. Back in the days when the underground music scene was
one of soul, hip hop, reggae and rare grooves a young beatboxer going
by the name of Lipmaster Mark was making waves. At the tender age of
15, Mark's sounds and phrases were already getting radio play
courtesy of the likes of Tim Westwood and Mike Allen. He was a
regular on the beatboxing battle circuit and was introduced to
Locomotion Soul Sound DJ Evenson Allen, who after hearing Mark for
the first time requested he beatbox over his DJ set.
Following this first meeting and
subsequent gigs with Locomotion, the Ratpack Soul Sound was then
formed in '86. Cutting their teeth on the scene as Ratpack, playing
house parties and the occasional bar or club round London, Evenson
and Mark along with the rest of Britain were oblivious to the dance
revolution that they were standing on the brink of.
That revolution
was......Accccciiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeed!!!
The Acid House craze was something that
grabbed the dance scene of London and then the rest of the UK by the
balls, swung em round, chewed em up and then spat em out, creating
with it an entirely new culture - Rave Culture.
Ratpack Promotions were
among the first of countless warehouse parties, squat parties and
illegal raves that began to pop up all over London and then the
country. The Ratpack parties were christened 'Trip City'.
"Basically, we knew some
guys who would squat in unused warehouses. They were, in theory,
protected by a law more commonly known as 'Squatters Rights' which
allowed them to reside there. Of course, they would allow us to have
the odd party there...how very nice of them!" Says
Mark.
Evenson was one of the main DJs of Trip
City nights, and although it was generally frowned upon for anyone to
get on the mic, Evenson used to sing and toast (MC) over the records
he played. MCing was clearly Evenson's key skill because the crowd
loved it, singing along and interacting with him. This just went
further to shaping him into the obvious highlight of the night.
Throughout this time, Mark had been
steadily building up his own record collection and reputation as a
DJ, so one night when Trip City were a DJ short Mark and Evenson
filled in playing back to back. The rest seemed to be a natural
progression to how they still operate today - Mark spinning the tunes
and Evenson hyping the crowd on the mic. An obvious recipe for
success that would claim them the acheivment of being 'the first
DJ/MC team on the whole of the scene'.
It wasn't long til the big promoters
started to sit up and take note, winning the Ratpack boys bookings at
gigs such as Labyrinth, Telepathy, Dance 91/92, Rapido and the
legendary Rage at Heaven, London. They were soon playing alongside
Kings of the Scene such as Carl Cox, Fabio, Grooverider, DJ Rap and
Kenny Ken to name but a few.
Moving into the 1990's, it wasn't long
before the guys were longing to create their own sound and start
producing their own tracks. Their first break was in the form of a
tune entitled 'Jaffa Cakes', apparently so-named after a late night
trip to the service station for munchies!!
The next release 'Ooh Ooh Ahh Ahh' was
an early breakbeat tune using samples of Blondie's 'Heart of Glass'
reinforced the guys producer ambitions and sold around 7000 copies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5laWcVNN4c
No one could have predicted the success
of their next release however, which went on to become one of the
most recognisable Old Skool tunes ever! Despite the controversial
lyrics and blatant represntation of the scene at the time which was
such a huge concern to the police, government and authorities at the
time, the track went striaght in to No1 of the UK singles chart!
'Searchin' for My Rizla' beat the likes
of Madonna and Kriss Kross to the coveted spot despite Radio 1 and
most other broadcasters refusal to play it.
This massive accomplishment as well as
the also anthemic 'Captain of your Ship' catapulted Ratpack to the
bigtime, hooking them up with gigs at Fantazia, Rezerection, Amnesia
House, Perception, Pure Organisation and Interdance. The
international bookings soon started flying in too from Australia to
Canada, Japan to the USA and all over Europe.
They got record deals all over the
world with some of the biggest global labels such as BMG, EMI and
Sony which kept them touring the world until around 1996.Nowadays the
Ratpack are still rocking the Old Skool / Nu-skool Breaks sound from
their own label Ratpack Music and have released a massive battalion
of hits over the years, some of which are amongst the most seminal
Old Skool tunes of all time.
They continue to rock the stages of the
UK's biggest events such as Global Gathering, Helter Skelter, Slammin
Vinyl, Raindance and Ministry of Sound as well as the holiday
destinations of Ibiza, Corfu, Mallorca and Crete.
Not only have Ratpack truely pioneered
the rave sound and inspired many many more genres, they have also
proved one very important thing - that the original rave sound really
is timeless.
DSI EVENT PAGE
>>
http://www.dontstayin.com/uk/durham/thimbleberry-farm/2009/aug/08/event-207291
FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE >>
http://www.facebook.com/benkbenkbenk#/event.php?eid=94943864463&ref=ts
CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING CLASSIC RATPACK
MIXES >>
RATPACK - FANTAZIA CLUB TOUR
DEC 1992
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nfvafzm2yap
RATPACK LIVE SET - FANTAZIA 1993
"SUMMERTIME"
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?eyxdtoextmf
Ratpack @Stepback, Manchester UK - 1999
http://www.box.net/shared/static/ahfbpn8gzy.mp3