Welcome to 2002

Well here we are in 2002 and just like the Duracell Bunny, we just keep on going.  I remember walking out of a new years rave back in 1993/94 and saying to the complete stranger who I'd become bestest friends with for the night, "See you next year should all this still be going on".  That was 8 years ago.  I didn't go to an event this year, went to a local club with some friends instead, but up and down the country there were original ravers and new members of our family dancing through the night to Liquid, Urban Shakedown, Ratpack, Awesome 3, Origin Unknown, DJ Red Alert & Mike Slammer, Krome & Time, SL2 the list goes on and on.

The so called revival has been going nearly twice as long as the first time around and the number of old skool nights is still climbing.  2001 saw a sudden commercial interest in our scene with people like Ministry Of Sound releasing so called Old Skool albums.  I'm still undecided if this was a bad thing or good.  On one hand it's reminded some people just how good the tunes were Back In The Day (tm), it's introduced the music to a younger set of people who were probably surprised that some of their sacred trance or gayrage music was in fact based on something originally released 1992.  But on the other hand when things go commercial there is a danger of becoming over exposed and bandwagon jumpers wanting a piece of the action.  One tune sampling a kids TV ad or show is suddenly followed by 6 or 7 clones.  One album featuring old skool music is followed up by 5 others.

My original opinion was that we were just reliving the past in the present, but that changed when people like Smart E, Pointblank, Bassquake and DJ Skywalker started making their own tunes.  Suddenly I realised that there was a space for new tunes as well as the previous classics.  A scene that I thought couldn't really go anywhere was suddenly beginning to move in a new direction.

New Old Skool, for want of a better word, is not Nu Skool or Nu Skool Breaks or whatever the beard strokers want to call it over their cups of coffee.  It's simply newly written music done with the same vibe and passion as the original tunes with the intention of getting you moving on the dance floor.  Hopefully if all goes to plan, this year should see a whole series of B2VOS EPs trying to capture the different spirits of the original scene.  We also have our first event down in Bournemouth on the 25th January.  The trick is going to be blending the old with the new.  The line between Nu Skool and Old Skool is thin.  We will have to watch what happens this year to see the direction of the scene.

See you next year should all this still be going on.

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