Like all other areas of British society, the UK dance scene loves eccentrics, people who add colour to the faceless world of the white label and the underground and who offer a fresh and interesting alternative to the superclub and mix-cd circuit. Mr C and his pop subversions are a good example, as is Carl Cox s man-of-the-people persona.
In a less verbal or obvious way Charlie Hall also comes into this bracket. Although less well-known than the two aforementioned figures, his work and involvement in dance music has helped shaped the path dance culture has chosen to follow into the late 90s and beyond.
Hall was a member of the anarchistic dance collective Spiral Tribe in the early 90s. Best known for organising Britain s largest rave at Castlemorton in the Summer of 1992 (an estimated 45,000 people attended the three-day event), Spiral Tribe were quickly demonised by the tabloids and Middle England for their nefarious activities.
In this climate, the Criminal Justice Act was drafted, and members of Spiral Tribe were arrested and harrassed by the Special Branch. However, their persecution served to fan the flames of resistance against the CJA, and imbued British clubbers with a long overdue political conscience and an understanding of the more universal infringement of civil liberties inherent in the proposed Act.
Nowadays, Charlie is no longer involved with the free party/squat brigade. New pretenders like the Liberators have arrived, and keep the party-goers happy with their acid-trance-by-numbers. I haven t got very many connections with the squat scene any more, he affirms. I think the parties have become really stagnant. It s not as hectic as it was, and there just isn t the same buzz there was back in the early 90s. I put it down to longevity really. The scene as a whole has been going on for so long, it s not surprising that its not quite as exciting as it was.
From anyone else this may sound like cynicism, but Hall has seen many people come and go in the last eight years. After Spiral Tribe dissolved, Charlie and Lol Hammond hooked up to form The Drum Club. Musically, the group were at the forefront of the Progressive House explosion, and were one of the first acts to play live, using their legendary MIDI Circus tours to bridge the gap between live music and dance music. They also promoted the Drum Club night which was one of London s best and longest-running clubs. Ahead of their time in many ways, the partnership finally dissolved in 1995, amid musical differences.
When we played live, Lol wanted to focus on having more of a show using live instrumentation, which is totally valid. Because of my DJing background I wanted to work more with a mixing desk and sequencers and give the audience a minimal, sonic experience. When I play live now (as Phreak) I focus solely on the music. Anyway, you couldn t fit a Leftfield-style stage set-up into the venues I m playing in at the moment!
The main bulk of his time is spent producing and working on his label, MC Projects. The label started properly in November 1995, he explains. Before that Lol and I had actually formed the label because we were pissed off with Big Life (the label the Drum Club were signed to), and we wanted to A&R ourselves.
When Lol went off to form Slab, Charlie joined forces with Tomoko, a Japanese woman who has helped give the stamp the focus it needs. Hall continues: Tomoko is an integral part of the label. She handles the business end of things and also A&Rs a bit. She s incredibly efficient and has enticed some excellent Japanese artists to the label.
The title of the first MC Projects compilation is What Comes Round Goes Round, and also happens to be the label s slogan. As The Drum Club Lol and Charlie were obsessed with the signifigance of the number 23 and the related cosmic theories. Is the phrase a synopsis of Hall s beliefs? Absolutely! I believe wholeheartedly in that philosophy of what you do being closely linked to what you experience and what happens to you, hence the name.
In a real life turn-around, part of Hall s life will soon be occupied by his past experiences: having written an essay for Muzik magazine about the excessive behaviour of a club DJ, he is about to embark on a reading tour of the UK s clubs.
I was into writing before I got into music, so I wrote an essay about the DJ circuit, for a new book called Disco Biscuits, a collection of pieces about clubbing. It s going to be funny doing them at clubs I usually play at! The version I did for Muzik was a watered-down version when I first got involved in dance music it was all hedonistic behaviour, but having gone out every weekend for eight years I m taking it very easy now!
We already await the next move of Charlie Hall, one of dance music s true characters.