Back to Basics is 18 years old and to celebrate a birthday party was held on Saturday 28th November to celebrate its coming of age. Nobody can quite believe how this club night has not only lasted so long but made a name of itself in the process, up and down the country – rightfully taking the crown of the longest running club night in UK/Europe, so it was quite fitting that the theme for this fancy dress night was for Queen and Country.
Dave Beer is the man behind the infamous night, which he kicked off in the 90’s with Alistair Cook who unfortunately lost his life in a car crash. Wanting to showcase the best house musical talent around to the people of Leeds Back to Basics was born. Fast forward 18 years, the same age of a few of the folk that frequent the night and it has now set up home at MyHouse formally Stinky’s Peephouse and soon to be again. Over the years the club night has been based at The Music Factory, Pleasure Rooms, Mint, Rehab before finally settling in its current location.
My first Basics experience was 10 years ago when it played resident on a Saturday night at Mint Club, the birthday bonanza’s were always something to be talked about, with everyone wanting to take a piece of the action. I remember been on holiday in August 2000 and meeting some people from Newcastle, when I stated I was from Leeds they were ecstatic and told me they’d be visiting in November for the 10th birthday ‘white party theme’– being only 18 at the time I was so shocked that people travelled throughout the country to come to a club. That was the influence that Basics had and has managed to keep a hold of.
As soon as I heard this year’s fancy dress theme, the cogs started whirring setting off the light bulb in my head and I decided on going as a Royal Guard – the thought of wearing a big hat sealing the decision. Ideas such as royalty, pop stars, British icons to the more extreme £10 note, post box and Rule Britannia were been batted around by friends which added to the excitement of the countdown.
The days leading up to Saturday night saw Facebook awash with people talking about the birthday night. People asking: what to wear, how to buy tickets and just sharing their thoughts through animated updates. Statuses such as ‘Buzzing about Basics on Saturday’ and ‘Happy 18th Birthday Basics, thanks for all the good times’ appeared on my news feed – proving that many viewed Basics not just as a club night but as a close friend. My immense enthusiasm escalated on Thursday when Back to Basics was mentioned on BBC1, Look North and Dave Beer was interviewed in the club – this really rang home how symbolic the night was. Now all I had to do was wait, just a few more days……..
The night
The club was set to open at 10pm so after arranging to all congregate at a friend’s house earlier in the evening so we could ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over each other’s costumes, taxis were booked to start delivering us to the club from that time. I was quite nervous as a week of anticipation, coupled with the fact that it was almost time had led to butterflies in my stomach – I didn’t want to peak too early and hoped the night would meet my expectations!
The approach to the club was wet and dreary so I was pleased that there wasn’t a queue on arrival, as the thought of standing on the red carpeted entrance for too long gave me shivers. We had pre-booked tickets so we practically walked right into the decorated club which had clearly had some thought put into it. I was informed that to pay on the door was £20 so was happy that I had been organised for once! Banners, statues of Kings and Queens, Union Jack flags adorned the venue and though it was still only early when I arrived the main room was already starting to fill, each person adding to the positive vibes that were already emitting.
Tristan Da Cunha, dressed as the club’s Jester, was the first DJ of the evening, banging out uplifting house with some old school tunes thrown in. Tristan brings so much energy to his set, bouncing around whilst delivering tune after tune, he is such an entertaining DJ to watch. Already the scene behind the decks was making the crowd buzz egging people on whilst emulating the ‘how many people can you fit in a mini’ concept. Unfortunately I only got to see about 45 minutes of Tristan’s set but I was told by other people that he kicked off the night in style.
The night wasn’t just about different styles of house music, Basics had thought hard about catering for the masses and in doing so invited Leeds based indie bands: ‘Pigeon Detectives’ and upcoming band ‘Sunshine Underground’ to play host on the top floor. A mixture of electro, indie and rock tunes were thrashed out with the Sunshine Underground’s Craig Wellington taking the crown for the best set – appearing comfortable behind the decks he really got the crowd going. It was nice to have a choice to retire up there but the main room was where it was really at.
Buckley was next to flog his wares and what followed was a blinding set –the reliable hero played tracks from right across the house timeline with Hacienda references that saw Adiva bellowing out of the function one, to Paradise garage classics resulting in a very emotional moment when, over 20 years after its release, Aleem’s ‘Release Yourself’ rocked yet another dance floor to its core. As per we also got the best of current underground music also, you really didn’t know what tune he was going to expose next. Bodies to the front, boom sticks to the ceiling, the crowd fully erupted when he played his own epic remix of Markus Nikolai’s ‘Bushes’ (to be released on Classic) It was definitely time to take a break after dancing, stomping and cheering none stop.
It was a shame that the weather joined the party theme, dressed to the max as typically British, the downpour was none stop. When visiting MyHouse I usually like to spend some time in the garden as it’s where friendships are made and a lot of banter goes on, due to the weather people were forced to huddle under the shelters so it wasn’t as relaxed and easy going as usual. Though this meant I did get to spend more time taking heed of the music.
Navigating through the sea of people which had flocked to the club was at times a challenge, which is what was to be expected, the last time I had seen the place so busy was when Groove Armada played there. I was surprised that not many people had taken to dressing up but those who did made up for it with tremendous effort – face paints, tiara’s, national emblems cascaded the dance floor.
James Holroyd and Andrew Weatherall were playing the middle room, aka the Black Box, Holroyd was feeding the constantly packed room lashings of soulful house when I was in there and when checking back on Weatherall, he was playing tracks with a driving and disco feel. The atmosphere in this small but perfectly adequate room was persistently high.
At times I was overwhelmed with the choices on offer and found myself dithering – ‘where to go next’, you would have been hard pushed to find someone who would have had a problem with the line-up. Back to the bedroom (top floor) where anthems were flowing through the room – you would have assumed that this would be the most chilled out area in the venue, due to the rain taking precedence of the garden but the music at times was excessively loud and sometimes a tad too boisterous for the masses! As with all club night’s when there’s more than 1 DJ to contend with at any one time you tend to make a room selection, so the main room is where I spent most of my time.
Yo-yoing myself back downstairs to grab the end of Buckley’s set the energy from the room was bouncing, smiles tattooed on everyone’s faces, the party behind the desks still going on strong. I couldn’t have envisaged it any better. Buckley gave way to Ivan Smagge at 2am but didn’t move too far as the perils of modern djing saw Ivan unable to get one side of his Traktor to work, resulting in a back to back set with Buckley who luckily had a box full of records, a book full of cd’s and not a laptop in sight!
Uplifting house enveloped the main room and Ralph Lawson completey rocked it, getting a fantastic response from the tracks he played throughout which included: ‘Primal Scream - Don't fight it, feel it’, ‘DJ Gregory - Our Drums’, The live version of ‘Laurent Garnier - Man with the red face’, ‘Daft Punk - Revolution 909’ to name but a few great tunes. Dave Beer was positioned on the microphone thanking everyone for not only making the milestone birthday special but for also making Basics what it is. Clearly the intense vibes that flowed through the place had got to Dave and the next thing you know he launched himself into the crowd – yes, you heard right….what followed was crowd surfing, in a night club, with others soon following suit. I kid you not!!
As I love a good banter I spent a fair bit of time talking to folk and getting their views on Basics; the night they were experiencing and the club night in general. It was unanimous that the night was a success with statements such as fantastic, wicked, awesome been bandied about. The reasons why people loved Back to Basics varied greatly but all kept pointing back to the same thing: the atmosphere and the people – that’s definitely what it was for me, from the first time I visited to the present day. I’ve forged meaningful friendships, met some marvellous boomers and have wonderful memories etched into my mind not forgetting countless photos from different nights. The resident DJ’s are so welcoming and make this club feel somewhat like a family unit.
Pushing on past his set time Ralph kept smashing out tracks due to the chants of ‘one more tune’, which to everyone’s delight continued for almost an hour. Dave Beer added to the entertainment by becoming MC speaking of the years gone by, he asked: “is there anyone who’s 18 years old in the house” – he invited them to join him behind the decks whilst Ralph was still thrashing out the tunes. All good things have to come to an end and so to did this special night, as the final track rang through the room the baying crowd gave their thanks by serenading the club night with a rendition of Happy Birthday. Ralph Lawson was so pleased of the crowd’s musical gift he asked us to repeat it again……..with the lights on……..then again so he could film it…….then again so he could actually film it – when he finally switched the video camera on! Causing laughter and comically exaggerated ‘not again’ groans throughout – never before had I sang Happy Birthday on a loop but never before had something deserved it!
Looking around, the club was still as busy as a standard Saturday evening, people wanting to hold on to the birthday antics for as long as possible. For those hungry for even more the Black Box had resident Burnski playing a live set from 6am-7am and would be finishing off the eventful evening with a dose of Whalebow, a night created by John Woodall and James Barnsley. I stayed until 7am and then my weary royal guard legs were ready to rest and fully absorb the special night I had played witness to. There were many that continued the party celebrations in the club until 10.30am.
So to sum it up…….if you hadn’t already fathomed that I loved it! Back to Basic’s 18th Birthday party completely delivered the goods, fashioning an unbelievably spectacular evening, complete with the perfect amount of banter, good vibes, special people and the DJ’s who went all out. I feel honoured to be a part of an amazing night that will be reflected on for years to come – bring on the 21st, let’s see if Basics can surpass itself – see you down the front!
Fraser. x
