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Features
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Beamish sets the world at rights: Part 1
Reported by HarderFaster
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Submitted 30-07-08 18:06
So many of the artists, producers and promoters featured on this site attribute their passion for dance music to one crucial factor: the music and vibe of legendary trance party Escape from Samsara, and the friends they met there regularly. One of the driving forces behind this life-changing rave was resident Beamish. Times have changed and these days it’s rare we get to see the DJ that inspired so many behind the decks, but with the man himself headlining the Tribal Beatz room at this Friday’s Tribal Dance Eclipse Party alongside Tim Samsara and Mark Sinclair, it was definitely time Beamish was treated to his first HarderFaster grilling. Read on to hear some rare stories from the beginnings of dance music and some enlightening views on the state of the dance scene today…
It’s a hot humid London Wednesday night when Tribal Dance’s Dean aka DJ Kito and I hit Tottenham to try and track down the underground legend that is Beamish. After going one bus stop too far and almost ending up in a psychiatric hospital, we finally arrive at an oasis in a suburban desert, the comfortable pub where he lays his hat… that shall remain anonymous should all his fans suddenly rush there. Soon with a tasty bucket of red in hand, it’s time to turn the talking over to Beamish, for this is a man with so many stories to tell, and already it’s getting late.
Originally from the Lake District, Beamish first came to London in 1990. When asked how he got involved in the rave scene, it transpires that he was out in his home town of Ulverston one Saturday night. Having just finished playing rugby league, he went up town for a couple of pints where he spotted a some mates with a minivan and asked them were they were going. “They said they were off to an acid house rave and did I want to come,” he recalls. “So I jumped in the bus and went to Blackburn, where we ended up in a big warehouse near the Blackburn football club. I didn’t end up coming home til 3pm next day and had a fantastic time. There were 6000 people packed into warehouse!”
That one night out was to spawn a rave-monster: “For the next few months it was off in the minibus and down to Blackburn and surrounding areas, which is probably why I’m more into the underground side of scene cos that’s where I started. But when I was going to all those parties, I never thought I’d become a DJ, promoter or record label owner or anything like that. It was purely for kicks!” So what sort of music was the young Beamish into then? “All original NY/Chicago house, Detroit techno,” he enthuses. “All quite soulful really!”
Six months later Beamish and his record collection moved down to London, meeting someone who had some decks along the way, and they started throwing “dodgy warehouse parties. Because I had all the records they’d want to play, they asked me to come and play. I said I couldn’t play like a normal DJ and they said they didn’t care. It was good fun and I decided there and then to get some Technics and learn how to do it properly! That was all at a squatted pub in Islington.”
Despite always being the man with the records and getting into music fairly early, it transpires that Beamish didn’t consider himself a DJ until about 1997. He’s quite emphatic about this: “I could mix in ’92 but didn’t consider self a DJ til ’97. There’s a big difference between being able to mix and being able to DJ!”
You can’t argue with that, otherwise everyone would do it! “Everyone is doing it,” he laments. “That’s why there’s no scene any more! But that’s kind of my fault anyway cos I used to encourage people to play! But as I’ve always explained, there’s that big difference between being to play and being able to mix!”
So, with high standards in place, how did he make that jump between being able to play and being able to mix? Beamish remembers back to being new to the scene in 91–2, and moving on from house and techno to a more Euro beat, which all coincided with the original version of hardcore. As he recollects: “Hardcore kind of went a bit too far and about 93–94 people started writing slower more trancy music, which kind of captured the original vibe. It became less about hardcore and all about dancing. The scene had become more hardcore, with MCs, and that ruined it for me. Then around 93–94 Goa trance started. Lot of Germans went to Goa and got into trance. Plus there were Israelis over there anyway, before they got sent back!
“In ’94 I started to get a few good gigs and playing at Knowledge, which was the best techno club London ever had. Joey Beltram and Carl Cox, Colin Favor, and anybody who was anybody would play for £50. I got invited to play down there a few times and then when that closed down, it was the Final Frontier, which was the original Universe Crew and Club UK, Wandsworth. Brilliant!”
Was he playing techno or house back then? “I was playing a mix of what these days would be terms trance, house, techno and maybe a little bit of psychedelic — because I don’t think I’ve ever played one specific genre. I’ve always mixed it up where possible! When Club UK shut down, me and Oberon ran into the guys who ran Escape from Samsara. We both played their third gig ever and were immediately asked to become residents.”
Having interviewed a good few on this site influenced by Escape from Samsara, I ask for more info, for this was well before my time in the UK. As Beamish describes it: “The heyday was 95–98/99 so now they’d all be well over 30! In those days, you didn’t have to advertise because everyone knew about it! The Fridge was incredible venue! And Samsara used to put an extra 4k of sound in!”
As Dean points out however, the Fridge is actually at this exact point in time, closed for refurbishment. How different to back in the day, when it had: “Extra lighting, all the performance. Great live acts. The two main things about Samsara was the crew and the crowd. All the Samsara crew would walk around making sure everyone was OK, so the crowd were absolutely fantastic! I played until it finished in 2001, then played at both reunions. The second one was better: the first was like a reunion; the second was like Samsara!”
But as much as Samsara influenced the young Beamish and countless others now working on the music scene, in ’95 when Samsara was going, there was lots of other stuff going on as well. “Places like the Pyramid Centre in Dalson, where Scottish guys used to play me to play the last set ‘tooo sliiiice peeeople’s heeeds orrff’”, he cackles in his best Scottish accent.
In those days, there was Shambalah going on in Hackney, an eight room extravaganza, Trancentral and obviously Pendargon. But while ’95 was massive, it sounds like ’96 wasn’t too bad either. As Beamish remembers: “In ‘96 there could be a party at the Fridge, the Academy, Mass and 414 and they’d all be sold out, Brixton was just a heaving mass of dance music in those days — all underground. No Cox, Oakenfold, anybody like that. Which was good for us hehehe; we didn’t need them. If you check out the scene, apart from SW4 these djs aren’t even on in London — London ain’t gullible!” Having been on the other side of the world when this was all going on, I’m curious as to how this all managed to stay so underground for so long? “Partly because of the people promoting and playing and partly cos of the people who wanted to go out and party!” he grins.
With so many parties under his belt, what then qualifies for the best party ever? “There’s been a few! Playing at the first ever all night rave in Zagreb in Croatia in President Tito’s nuclear fall-out shelter! Being the first English DJ to play at an all-night party in the former Yugoslavia, it was like playing at a tube station but 10 times longer! Glastonbury ’94, when they allowed small sound systems for the first time ever. The first time I went to Buenos Aires. And of course playing to 15,000 people in Zagreb in Croatia. But the greatest thing I did as a DJ was to play at Final Frontier. And then I didn’t even consider myself a DJ. As a DJ, 16 hours b2b with Chris Liberator at the Samsara afterparty and then on to George 1Vth for Logic.”
Who then, Dean asks, is his favourite DJ? “Probably Chris Liberator, not because of the music he plays but how he plays it and his attitude. We were both in punk bands. But that reminds me how I first got into music!”
Well I had been trying to avoid the obvious, but after a couple of large reds curiosity was about to kill the cat. How then, did the young Beamish first get inspired enough to make music? “I got into music listening to John Peel ’76–77, with punk, reggae and various weirdness. Between 80–90 I was bass player in a few bands in the Lake District, old funky, grungy, free party style. Then I found the whole dance scene kicking of in ’88/89 as more punk than punk! At the first big rave I went to, there were more ex-punks than anyone else there! Everyone was talking about how they used to be really into the Clash and the Ramones and even though the music was different, the attitude was more punk than punk. As in, we’re going to do what we’re going to do and you’re not going to stop us!”
Beamish headlines the Tribal Beatz room at Tribal Dance Eclipse Party @ The Medussa this Friday 1 August alongside Mark Sinclair, Tim Samsara, Kito, Macy and D-Viant. Watch this space for Part 2 of his story.
Photos courtesy of Beamish and Paul Mallinston. Not to be reproduced without permission.
Tribal Dance Eclipse Party
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On:
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Friday 1st August 2008
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At:
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Club Medussa [map]
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From:
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10pm-7am
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Cost:
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£5 Entry/ Free with a Bongo Drum
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More:
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To celebrate the Eclipse in true Tribal spirit we are giving you an amazing 3 room Medussa party to dance your socks off to. Partying with the Sun & the Moon will be the creative force behind the legendary Escape From Samsara parties, Mr Tim Samsara himself. Joined by him will be two of his regular residents, the one & only Beamish and the tribal spirited Mark Sinclair. Upstairs we have some real Psychedelic music headlined by free party DJ & Boundless Music producer Etnarama, in collaboration with his latest album release. Downstairs the bar will play host to some up front hardcore, electro & breaks from the likes of Hedgehog, The Messy Boys & Clare Mclaren.
Our residents Kito, Sati, Toxigen, Macloud & D-Viant will be joining this crew, uplifting you the way only they know how, and we also have our regular guests Macey & Prozak to help you along the way.
Tribal Dance is more than just a party - it is a journey to a utopia, through the music, the atmosphere, the crowd & the DJs. If you weren't lucky enough to experience an Escape from Samsara Party back in the day, this crew are well worth seeing as their energy & music rocked the London Dance scene & beyond, influencing all those who were part of it... Love is the Key.
One Love.
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Other Features By HarderFaster:
HarderFaster Awards 2016 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2014 - The results are in!
Lashes, Dimples and the Brighton Music Conference
HarderFaster Awards 2013 - The results are in!
HarderFaster Awards 2012 - The results are in!
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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!!! 
Beamish 
look for me .... lol