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Eternal Cru - Free Party Collective - ProfileFree parties are a celebrated part of many communities in West and Mid-Wales today and continue to flourish throughout this beautiful countryside. However, there is a huge history of free partying in Wales that many are unaware of. This is a little story and explanation about the Eternal Cru, who formed an integral part of this history and were instrumental in the emergence of West Wales rave culture. For the founding members of the Eternal Cru, it started back with various different contributions from 1990 onwards. Between us we had all helped to establish and build up the initial momentum of the rave scene around Aberystwyth. These early adventures included the Paradise 106 FM pirate radio station running from 1990 through to 1991. This was set up and organised by DJs JMB Funk, Sparky G and T.D a la Funk, from a not so secret hide out in Borth, just north of Aberystwyth. The region’s first ever pirate radio station showcased as much dance music as these guys could lay their eager hands on. The humble roots of our area’s rave inspired club promotions were the Holding Company events in Aberystwyth’s Students Union: incorporating the newest dance tunes along with the more mainstream music of the time. Organised by DJ Sparky G and T.D a la Funk, these events ran throughout 1992 and invited other DJs as they emerged. DJ Fugitive was booked for Holding Company events and was the first resident in our area to play dedicated underground techno. As the radio station and initial club nights were taking shape, there was also a series of free rave parties in our region, held in the alternative rural communities from 1990 through to 1993, under the name of Solution. They were responsible for shifting the emphasis from the existing live music and festival style events to more rave orientated parties, while still maintaining a strong rock and punk connection. Organised by my friends and I, these Solution events were the first to be set up by local residents as apposed to travelling systems from cities or locations further afield. The first rave sound systems at these early parties and club events were set up by Jools at Sound Move Systems (SMS) based ‘in the sticks’ around Aberystwyth along with JMB Funk’s system based in Borth. Around a hundred and fifty or more ravers danced in the soft sand dunes that night with lots of puzzled, curious and excited new faces wondering what the hell we were doing dragging a generator and speakers from the car park through into the secluded dunes, all under the cover of darkness. I fondly remember my crew epiphany moment while enjoying this party. It was the first time that all of us had pulled off an open air free party together and the general enthusiasm from everyone was fantastic. The West Wales original free party crew was well and truly born on the beautiful sands of Ynys Las and this was also in effect the birth of the Eternal Cru. At this stage we had no collective name but, as with many other crews over the years, this just needed time to develop. A lot of us formed close friendships around this time and spent many weekends in the early 90s raving all over the UK. With the free parties, club promotions and friendships evolving, it was inevitable that our collective bond grew and our direction became clearer. Whilst blazing it up on his sofa one night in the spring of 1993, DJ Sparky G and a good friend Lloydy decided to start a new club night in Aberystwyth. Lloydy came up with the name Eternal. You have to realise that this was well before the girl band had become famous. (I just had to make that one clear!) They set about organising this at a venue called the Sea Bank Basement situated on Aberystwyth’s long, beautiful promenade. The Eternal opening night was the town’s first ever hardcore promotion entirely dedicated to underground dance music. It was held on May 14th 1993 with a line up of DJs Murder (formally Sparky G), Fugitive, Psycho and MC Joe Scout. Joe Scout was the first resident MC to be involved in the eternal club nights and would also establish himself at the forefront of the region’s free party scene. DJs such as Smiley, Rob, and others were then booked to play as the club nights continued. It was at one particular free party that things went to the next level for us as a crew: a party promoted on the flyer as ‘Solution presents Eternal’ and held on July 24th 1993. This party took place at a friend’s farm situated on the out skirts of Tregaron, West Wales and attracted 300-400 people: it was touch and go for a while but we just about managed to pull it off. Up to this point the Solution parties had luckily been a success with no real problems or major police intervention. Even the larger events had gone smoothly enough. They were more low profile as far as the area’s town communities were concerned, with only the rural, festival and new age travellers plus a few town based ravers being aware of their existence. However, the raving bug was well and truly buzzing in our region by this time. A lot more excited party goers were spreading the word about this new party. Some flyers were naively left in shops and cafés in Aberystwyth and surrounding towns. This led to the police finding out well before the event and they turned up on the day to mix things up a bit. They drove into the farmyard in the evening whilst it was still light. Several people had already arrived and all the sound system and kit was pretty much ready except for the turntables which were imminently due. Luckily for us there was no loud music playing on their arrival. Most of the ravers who were present were in the house or listening to tunes in and around their cars. The general atmosphere on site at this time was pretty calm and relaxed. There were a few of the crew in the main barn, still setting things up, but they stopped and hid while the coppers were there: shitting themselves waiting to be discovered like some hide and seek game gone badly wrong! As the police pulled into the farmyard, the land owner and a couple of us approached them to try and diffuse any problems and try our best to blag our way through things. They parked up and began walking towards the farm buildings inside. The barn had been rigged up with blue tarpaulins around its inner walls to patch up all the gaps, and inside was a whole series of backdrops, décor, lights and a huge PA. One look through the open doors would have revealed the rave in all its glory! We managed to intercept them in the centre of the yard, explaining it was an invite-only party and we were not expecting many to attend. Even though they were eyeballing people as much as possible, they never bothered to have a proper look around and were fairly agreeable in conversation. I was surprised they did not have a search warrant as they’d had plenty of time to apply for one, given all the flyer shenanigans. Still, they seemed reluctant to cause any real problems or hostility. After a tense but brief chat they warned us to keep the noise down and the roads clear and then left site. At this point we could not believe our luck and thought that that would be that as far as any police involvement was concerned. What we did not realise is that they had other plans in store for this party later on. Within a couple of hours of the police leaving we were still awaiting turntables. Ravers were arriving and gaining in numbers, with us all waiting impatiently for the PA to spring to life. These are always nervous and potentially embarrassing situations for any party organisers to deal with. By the time it was dark, reports had began filtering through to site of a police check point on one of the entry routes. A bit later on this led to DJ Smiley’s decks being seized on the way in. No decks meant no music! Several other cars and ravers were stopped and searched en route and taken back to Aberystwyth’s police station. Luckily, for the party to continue, a local aspiring DJ (L.E.D) managed to smuggle in another set of decks over the nearby fields. This commando style turntable delivery service was just in time as by now everyone was getting frustrated and we were beginning to doubt whether we would ever get things up and running. Finally, once the PA was turned on everyone scampered for the barn. It can be quite amazing how people seem to naturally respond to a little stress and adversity. These kinds of obstacles, once overcome, can fuel the feel good factor and enhance any vibe. Our friends who were stopped earlier had all got away with everything and were released uncharged to eventually rejoin us. After the police had taken some ravers and equipment back to the station they probably thought they had done enough to dismantle the party, yet with another set of decks arriving, and with many of the ravers undeterred, it happened anyway. All this stress and excitement along with a burning raving bug led me to pick up a microphone and chat for a few minutes for the very first time. The devil only knows what it sounded like: some kind of crazy hippy preacher spouting on about party freedom no doubt. Fortunately for me none of it was recorded! The stress and excitement had got to all of us and consequently helped to fuel our ideas and spirit further. We then decided to promote all our future events under the name of the Eternal Cru. This was a logical choice as SMS and Solution were simply Jools and I respectively, whereas the Eternal guys had already established a strong group at the Aberystwyth club nights. After all that had happened at this party, we all thought that the Eternal Cru name really embodied the ethos of our everlasting friendship and ‘free party ravers for life’ attitude, with Joe Scout being the first to promote our mantra and vibe on the microphone; ‘Eternal Cru, free party crew’. That night was a real eye-opener and a sharp learning curve for us all. DJ Fugitive and I had established a real bond of friendship early on in our adventures. Together, we became more and more focused and were at the forefront of organisation and promotion. Many of the early Eternal parties had been smaller at first, which allowed all the crew to progress and gain valuable experience. The Eternal Cru’s original DJ roster consisted of Fugitive, Murder, Smiley, Psycho and Rob, along with MC Joe Scout. Then DJs Phobia, L.E.D and I (MC Freedom) joined proceedings over our next few parties. DJ Phobia was already mixing and playing out by 1993 and he accepted my invitation to join us after enjoying one of his blinding techno sets at an earlier party we had organised. DJ L.E.D had more than proved his enthusiasm with his turntable delivery service! As for myself, I was determined to improve on my short MC debut. Several guests were invited as our network of participating DJs grew. Within another year or so our roster had strengthened even further. DJ Predator, a former guitarist in a local band The Stray Toasters, together with his best friend DJ Nemesis, had both got heavily into hard techno. Being a brother and house mate to these guys I can remember having a real love hate relationship with their persistent daily onslaught of Mokem and Terror Trax records. I doubt my mind will ever be the same again! From 1994 Predator and Nemesis joined the crew and together with Fugitive and Phobia they unleashed their combination of techno on the poor unsuspecting ravers. Nemesis was a 14 year old lad when he started playing out regularly at parties, which were getting pretty full on by this time. To this day I am amazed at how well he embraced all the demands of being a busy DJ. By 1995, Rio and I had joined the crew’s DJ roster, with his hardcore sound and my anything goes kind of sound. Then finally, by 1996 DJs Maverick and Jester joined us, playing a mixture of DnB and jungle. Even though Maverick was a late introduction to the crew’s roster he was hugely involved in the general party logistics from very early on. I will always remember his grinning face peering over the dashboard of his trusted VW polo. Wow, that car did some raving! As well as gaining new crew DJs we also lost a few members within our first couple of years. DJ Rob left the crew after a year when he moved back to Nottingham. DJ Psycho, who was involved for a short time at the start, had left the crew by late 1993 due to a personal situation. DJ Overider (formally L.E.D) who was on board for a time near the beginning had also left the crew by 1995, due to a set of unfortunate actions and ongoing personal situations. Over the years all successful underground crews have relied on top quality sound systems and visuals as a solid back bone to parties. We were honoured to be joined by SNAFU (situation normal all fucked up), a well known traveller rig that had formed in the north of England. They had been on the road for a couple of years and had moved to the Aberystwyth area by late 1993. They soon settled into the West Wales way of life and without much persuasion from Fugitive and I, they were more than happy to contribute. For me it was like destiny that Snafu had decided to stay in the area as these guys had a similar community ethos. Unlike many systems, who put on parties and returned to their city locations, they were living on the road as a new age traveller family: moving around the country and generally trying to minimise disruption as best they could. They were very principled in all their endeavours as this was their lifestyle as well as a free party sound system. Like us, they had combined rock and punk music with all things rave and would, more often than not, chill things out in the early hours of their parties with dub and reggae bliss. Snafu’s long standing resident was DJ Raggy. Even though he arrived a little later on the scene, he had already been travelling and playing throughout the UK at an array of free parties and festivals. He was a pioneer in his own right, responsible for introducing the tribal and uplifting sounds of trance techno to many parties in West Wales. Up to this point our existing techno DJs were predominately covering the harder, industrial and acid styles. With a new dedicated sound system on board, Jools at SMS was then able to concentrate on his real passion: developing and staging all our spectacular laser displays and visuals. JMB Funk was by now branching out to do more DJing and licensed events and would also go on to establish Aberystwyth’s first ever legal house music show on Radio Ceredigion. So from 1994 onwards Snafu were responsible for the safekeeping of all our dancing eardrums! A lot of the Eternal Cru party inspiration was drawn from well known raves and festivals together with a core belief in free events as an important part of party culture. By 1992/1993 many of us in the crew had already gained a wealth of experiences to draw ideas from. Staging continuous larger scale parties in the middle of nowhere was initially really difficult. There were so many small pockets of people and communities dotted far and wide that it took time to convince everyone from Wales and beyond to get involved. It was also a logistical nightmare back then. There was no internet or email and even though mobile phones were available they were never any good in the Welsh hills, and to this day are no use at many remote locations. In those early days it was all about getting out to different parties and meeting people, while amassing as many contacts as possible. We initially set up a small mailing list that grew in numbers from all our networking efforts. These mail outs were black and white flyers together with a hand drawn pirate-style treasure map for directions, a simple yet extremely effective method that we utilised to maximum effect. As the West Wales scene gained in momentum we stretched further afield, covering party sites throughout West and Mid-Wales. More areas and communities began to embrace this emerging part of the rave scene with people slowly but surely searching out Eternal Cru parties. Many were taking a keen interest, with new crews and sound systems inevitably forming and establishing themselves. By 1994/1995 there were several new, smaller, resident sound systems and crews all around West and Mid-Wales. Most were concentrating on club nights and promotions, but a few crews and communites were dedicating themselves to underground free parties, as we did. Eternal Cru parties incorporated a complete variety of music. The line-ups would cover everything the developing scene had to offer, and more. Hardcore, jungle, trance, house, techno, DnB, hip hop and chill out, along with disco and live bands. You name it; it was all danced to and explored. This music ethos was something that many of us in the crew had always enjoyed and I was really passionate about the inclusion of as many emerging contributors as possible. What a truly magical era for West Wales and British dance culture in general. You could enjoy everything that a party had to offer you under one moon and one sound system, especially in the alternative communities like the ones in Wales. The Eternal Cru established collaborations with several underground UK party collectives and continually organised club nights, holding several residencies in Wales as well as bookings with established promoters throughout the UK. DJ Fugitive and I worked hard to network with willing promoters. The proceeds from these bookings were helping to fund and sustain our ever expanding adventures. Our parties were always free for people to enjoy, but they still required a lot of behind the scenes funding to establish, maintain and grow. Diesel, generators, beer, tents, toilets, food, replacement kit and first aid all had to be paid for. Yet even with all these expenses we were still able to keep the parties free due to the overwhelming donations and support from all the ravers and contributors, along with our continued crew kitty from our club bookings. The Eternal Cru were never a rich or wealthy group as many have presumed over the years. In fact things were the complete opposite for us. We had all grown up in the Aberystwyth area from pretty humble working class backgrounds. It was our extreme isolated location and lack of funds that set us about putting on our free parties in the first place. As the word spread and the parties expanded, we slowly but surely attracted more people from far and wide along with more top artists, who all performed for free. I can remember ringing up and writing to a load of record labels, artists and crews when we started out, asking for advice and promos and to support our cause. Let’s just say that initially most were not that interested and they were usually very short phone calls in those early days! Nonetheless, within a couple of years of organising events we had some overwhelming support. Then, after years of big raves, festivals and new age traveller struggles all over the country, the dreaded Criminal Justice Bill (CJB) finally became the Criminal Justice Act in 1994. This completely transformed the UK’s partying and directly affected all our civil liberties and freedom of movement. For the new age travelling communities in particular this really was the final nail in the coffin. Festival goers and travellers had already struggled though extreme prejudice and many injustices throughout the country in the 1980s and early 1990s, with many suffering severe actions from the police. Leading up to the Criminal Justice Bill being passed in parliament, many people around the country had tried in vain to prevent it becoming law. The Eternal Cru held several events to raise awareness throughout Wales and we collected petitions for MPs. Many of us attended all the CJB marches and protests in London, as did free thinking people from all over the UK. But to no avail. These laws changed the very fabric of everyone’s networking behaviour. Whether it was travelling communities, people attending a free party or simply a family listening to repetitive beats whilst camping, these laws had the potential to affect each and every one of us. As far as rave parties were concerned, organising free illegal events was obviously a lot more risky and dangerous, and obtaining licenses was made extremely difficult for the more alternative festivals and rave promoters alike. Many of the underground free party organisations disappeared and disbanded around this time through fear of direct action from the law. Several crews all over the UK felt the full force of these laws, with equipment and sound systems seized, organisers arrested and some even imprisoned. The scene in general went into a shell-shocked and transitional stage. Nevertheless, on the introduction of the Criminal Justice Act many party crews around the country were still active, including the Eternal Cru. These changes in law simply strengthened our commitment to staging free parties and for a time we had the ways and means to continue undeterred. So the slow, steady evolution of the West Wales rave scene along with remote locations meant we had a real run of hassle free events which helped with party momentum and amassing numbers. Inevitably there was police interference from time to time but on most occasions parties were left to fulfil their destiny and trouble free nights were enjoyed. On many occasions the police were not even aware of a party’s existence and if they were it was far too late for them to intervene or stop proceedings. This was to be the case for several years with our parties getting more and more spectacular. The numbers attending grew and by 1994-1995 our free parties were attracting three to four thousand and sometimes more. It’s incredible to think that such small communities in the furthest reaches of Wales were regularly attracting so many ravers from all over the country. As with all things good, however, I guess we became victims of our own success. As the parties were getting bigger, they were proving more difficult to organise and tension within the crew was also growing and adding to our stresses. The police did inevitably catch on and slowly but surely they made life more and more difficult for the Eternal Cru. The real sign that it was time to chill things out was at a party in the late summer of 1997. Road blocks had been set up all around the area for this event, including drive through police tents on all the entry routes. This was supposedly to enable a quick and efficient vehicle search. Many were stopped throughout the Saturday evening and well into the night. However, considering the massive amount of resources and time spent on this operation there was by all accounts a minimal amount of actual arrests. It must have been a nightmare for the police as well. I remember early on in the evening a few of us took a walk down to check out one of the road blocks. To my amazement they had a series of vehicles that had been pulled over to form a large queue, ready to be searched. All the while, a constant stream of vehicles was navigating past with many a raver winding down their windows to shout and scream at the poor old coppers. A chorus of persistent beeping horns along with flashing headlights made the ravers’ presence felt as one after another they passed. Even though there was a massive police presence, there was very little they could do to stop so many people getting to their intended destination. It was quite a distressing and undignified experience for many to be processed in this ruthless manner, but the noise, commotion and empathy shown by the procession of passersby was a real source of encouragement and amusement for many. Even with all the difficulty in getting to site, thousands of people still managed it, including several random sound systems. These proved pretty much impossible to effectively organise. To be honest, things got a little bit chaotic that night. The extra sound systems increased the noise level severely. There was also a full blown laser show that was projected across an entire valley. All this extra mayhem increased the party’s impact to a much greater level than usual and resulted in complaints. The following morning we were honoured to be joined by the counties prize police helicopter, seen flying over head and filming throughout the following Sunday. They had searched the landowner’s property on the previous evening but had luckily failed to stop the party or seize all the equipment. The road blocks had no real effect on the party turnout so I guess they were trying to intimidate us with the helicopter and concentrate their efforts on gathering data. The various reactions to this helicopter were really amusing. Some people were lying around relaxing, seemingly unimpressed, and several reverse peace signs magically appeared in unison. Others continued dancing away and enjoying the party as if oblivious. At the same time, many were frantically darting around wondering what the hell was occurring, trying to hide away wherever they could. This was a pretty funny sight that I recall as a Furry Freak Brothers’ style cartoon sketch combined with the silly chase music from the Benny Hill show. This all sounds pretty mad and exiting and in truth it was. This event was a huge chaotic success for all at the party. Nevertheless, it was at this point I realised we had pretty much reached our critical mass. As with most sites this was after all somebody’s home and life had to go on after the party. Rather than suffer from further problems the decision was made for the Eternal Cru to calm things down. The huge amount of equipment and efforts that had been given freely and generously were now constantly threatened and warrants were being issued on a regular basis. Everyone was facing serious and ever-present consequences for their involvement. I cannot put into words how absolutely heartbreaking this situation was for us as a crew. We knew we could no longer continue with our adventures in the same manner without serious repercussions. We had also realised that even though things had come on top for the parties, we had in fact been extremely lucky to get away with things on such a large scale for so many years. Since those heady days of the 1990s the Eternal Cru has been very much like the A-Team! If you are bored and you want to dance, and if you can find them, maybe you can enjoy a party with the Eternal Cru. Several crew members and collaborators disbanded by 1998-1999 with many going their separate ways. However, a few of us core members have continued and a new generation of artists and contributors are now involved: performing at parties along with bookings at club events and licensed festivals. As with many other old school collectives our involvement is nowhere near the scale of our earlier raving days. When those larger scale free parties came to a halt in ’97, it had a lasting effect on all the free party events to follow. The scaling down of the hugely successful Eternal Cru inevitably changed the West Wales rave scene. Smaller free events were and are still held throughout the region and organisers continue to party. From time to time there’s a monster free party, which is great to see, it is just unfortunate that these larger events are not as regular and as community inclusive as before. That period of time from 1990 to 1997 was a truly seminal era for party culture throughout West and Mid-Wales. An era of large-scale underground free parties that I doubt we will ever see again. Unless that is, we all move into politics and address our current laws, or we all put on so many regular free parties simultaneously throughout the UK that it proves impossible to police. Both of these options carry serious prejudice and repercussions I am sure. The old free party and festival troubles of years back now seem like a distant memory and I guess, to a certain extent this evolution or devolution in the scene was always going to happen. The Criminal Justice Act had a major impact on the rave scene back then and there are always worries about current and future new laws on the horizon that restrict us even further. It is outrageous that the police now have an array of laws at their disposal to help deal with free parties and their organisers, including the use of anti-terrorism laws. Networking sites are also being monitored with some parties now being stopped and shut down as a direct result of posted information. Nevertheless, it is not all doom and gloom. The fantastic new web networking age continues to grow. A new generation of ravers, party goers and events organisers are always learning and will surely adapt to all the adversity and stay one step ahead. The rural communities of Wales have again strengthened throughout this networking age and I am really exited about the evolution of the West Wales scene in particular. Along with the continuation of the free parties, this region has many regular, quality club promotions and alternative festivals, all attracting line-ups and crowds on a par with anywhere in the country. When promoting the original club nights in West Wales back in the early 90’s we were dealing with severely restricted licenses and closing times of midnight or 1am if we were lucky. The event licenses have slowly expanded and there are now a huge variety of venues with a 4am finish. Maybe one day soon Aberystwyth will boast its first licensed dance music all-nighter!
This is just a small edited part of the story to simply document key points of the Eternal Cru journey. There is however, a far crazier and more complete adventure on the horizon. I am also researching and compiling a larger more comprehensive story of all things welsh/rave/free party/festival/alternative community related. So why not get involved to add some ideas and perspectives. To get in touch and check out our, past, present and future, join our networking sites: Big love to; DJ Lomas & Tick Tock, Dreamscape, Mike and Obsessed, DJ Dark Destroyer and Death Row Techno, Fantasia, Pure-X, Die-Hard, Devotion, DJ Rob Scho and Loop – Lampeter (formally DJ Reckless & Hardcore Heaven Barnmouth), Module-8 - Aberystwyth, Oxygen - Aberystwyth, Kontrol - Aberystwyth, Electric Vindaloo - Aberystwyth, Rude Awakening FM - London, Kinetec Records (record shop and events) - London, Infectious Distribution - London, The Square Festival – Borth, West Wales, BlackHouse – Aberystwyth and all the promoters and clubs who have continued to support the Eternal Cru over the years. |
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