Tag: Pirate Tapes

Pirate tapes: Kool FM adverts (May 1994)

Posted on by urbanocturnal



 

On this May Bank Holiday weekend, exactly 32 years ago, London was abuzz with jungle events as the musical genre was rapidly emerging from the underground. Event organisers were vying to reach rave-goers, and their best chance was to advertise on London’s jungle pirate stations.

I have previously written about the pirate tapes that Matthew Wharmby copied for me in 1996. These tapes introduced me to jungle history prior to 1995 – the year when I had moved to London. This Kool FM tape, recorded by Matthew on 28th May 1994, was part of this collection. Reflecting the scale of jungle’s explosion, the adverts occupy 37 minutes of this 47-minute one-sided tape recording. At the 37 minute mark, DJ Kane and MC G start their set.

MC G: Yes, London, back after the ad break. Sounds of the DJ Kane, time to come with it Kane, sounds of the Kool FM stepping in y’all. Straight from the top, first one from the Kane. Come with it DJ. […]

To all those who reached to the Roller Express yesterday. Harder They Come, Few Dollars More – absolutely wicked.

“The Harder They Come, A Few Dollars More” event mentioned by MC G is the very first advert on this recording (studio tapes with ads were prepared ahead of each weekend’s broadcast, so you could still hear past events being announced). You can listen to the recording below, and browse the flyers and other information I found online for each of the adverts.

It’s a nice trip back in time on another sunny and rather hot Bank Holiday weekend.

 

 

Ad #1 @ 0:00

The Harder They Come Part 2
Friday, 27th May 1994
Roller Express, Lea Valley Trading Estate, Edmonton N18






Ad #2 @ 1:15

Liquid In The Jungle Part 1
Friday, 27th May 1994
6-9 Station Avenue London SW9
DJs including: DJ Ron, Brockie, Jumping Jack Frost, Krazy Legs

Ad #3 @ 2:28

Club Telepathy at the Wax Club
Every Friday






Ad #4 @ 4:20

The Roast Presents: Land of The Giants
Saturday, 28th May 1994
New London Astoria, 157 Charing Cross Road, London W1









Ad #5 @ 6:00

Desire
Saturday, 28th May 1994
Roller Express, Lea Valley Trading Estate, Edmonton N18






Ad #6 @ 7:56

Jungle Fever: The 2nd Bite
Friday, 10th June 1994
Roller Express, Lea Valley Trading Estate, Edmonton N18



Ad #7 @ 9:56

Jungle In The Dam
Friday, 19th August 1994

Attention all junglist ravers. On the 19th of August 1994, Jungle Love along with Kool FM presents Jungle in the Dam.

Yes that’s right, Jungle in Amsterdam. For the first time the weekender you’ve all been waiting for, all at a price you can afford. Two nights and three days at a luxury five star hotel, travel on the luxury coach with television and toilet, and sightseeing if required. All at – once again – a price you can afford. On Friday evening, we’ll start to entertain you with a poolside barbecue party and on Saturday night the raving really begins. DJs will be supplied by the Kool FM Hit Squad. For information telephone 0374 755 709, 0374 125 255 or 0831 837 183. Jungle Love and Kool FM, spreading the jungle vibes across Europe.

Ad #8 @ 14:26

Club Storm Presents: Jungle With Class
Every Saturday
Futures, 18 Broadway, Deptford SE8



Ad #9 @ 16:05

Jungle Splash: The Boom
Sunday, 29th May 1994
Roller Express, Lea Valley Trading Estate, Edmonton N18






Ad #10 @ 18:38

Moving Shadow Presents: Voodoo Magic
Sunday, 29th May 1994
Equinox, Leicester Square, London WC2H






Ad #11 @ 19:46

Thunder and Joy Present: Summer Breeze
Sunday, 29th May 1994
112a Great Russel Street, London W1






Ad #12 @ 21:24

Togetherness Is The Way
Monday, 30th May 1994
The Dungeons, Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10






Ad #13 @ 23:42

Jungle Rock
Monday, 30th May 1994
The Leisure Lounge, 121 High Holborn, London WC1V






Ad #14 @ 24:41

Bushdoctor Promotions Present: The Exodus
Saturday, 11th June 1994
The Sanctuary, Denbigh Leisure Centre, Milton Keynes MK1






Ad #15 @ 25:53

Fugitive Promotions Present: London Jungle Festival All-Dayer
Sunday, 12th of June 1994
The Roundhouse, Camden, London NW1

Live PAs by All Saints (Jungle Remix by Don E)
Deep Blue – Helicopter
Lennie De Ice

DJs: Randall, Ron, SL, Brockie, Darren Jay, Jack Frost, Swift, Devious D, Babyface
MCs: ID, PSG, Navigator, Det, GQ, Platinum, Moose and Five-O

Ad #16 @ 26:54

Rush at The Rocket
Friday, 17th June 1994
Holloway Road, London N7

Ad #17 @ 27:12

Renk Records Presents: Jungle In Yer Face
Friday, 17th June 1994, every Friday thereafter (10pm till late)
Intermezzo Club, 229 Lower Clapton Road, London E5

Ad #18 @ 28:36

Ambush
Friday, 17th June 1994 (10pm-late)
The Dance Cultural Centre, 24 Ashwin Street, Dalston London E8

From Kool FM: DJ Kane, Phaze 3, DJ Ash, Mampi Swift, Brockie, DJ Ron
From Shockin FM: General G, G Money, Total Chaos

Ad #19 @ 29:46

Renk Records Presents: M-Beat and General Levy – Live In Concert
Sunday, 19th June 1994
Walthamstow Assembly Hall, London E17

Now hear this, this is an important announcement coming from Renk Records, your number one jungle label. Regarding the M-Beat concert, we’ve been getting a lot of inquiries from the young ones. We want you to come down to the concert. It is open to all ages. Don’t forget, it’s open to all ages, so go down and buy your tickets from the usual outlets. Or telephone Renk on 081 986 0314. We’ll see you down there on the 19th of June. It’s going to be Booyaka. Renk: keeping the jungle alive.



Ad #20 @ 30:30

Lucky Spin Records
10am-8pm Monday to Saturday
103 Holloway Road, London

For the best in hardcore vinyl and rave merchandise, there’s no other than Lucky Spin Records, situated on 103 Holloway Road in London. We’ll be open from 10am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday. We give you the most upfront dance music London can offer. If you can’t come down, just give us a ring on 071 609 3033. Lucky Spin will be the main merchandise outlet for Jungle Fever and DJ recordings. Also ticket outlets for all major events throughout the year. Free parking situated in the back streets of the shops, and you can park outside on Saturdays. Nearest tube station – Highbury & Islington.

Make it a date and don’t be late.

Lucky Spin, 071 609 3033.



Ad #21 @ 31:14

Ibiza Records
10.30am-7pm, (late Friday and Saturday)
464 Kingsland Road Dalston E8

Yes, we have arrived! Ibiza Records – 464 Kingsland Road, Dalston E8. Telephone: 071 275 7888. We stock jungle, ragga jungle, jungle techno, DJ specials and dubplates, so all jungle DJs come and check us out and see. No joke business! We have access to all the fresh jungle tunes from the street and all top DJs and MCs passing through every Saturday. We are also a ticket outlet for all top jungle raves and have in-stock tapes and videos. Stop press: Jungle Splash now on video! Remember: music is the driving key, so come on all junglist DJs, get down to Ibiza Records, 464 Kingsland Road, Dalston E8, 071 275 7888. Opening times 10:30 to 7, late Friday/Saturday. Here to jungle you up!



Ad #22 @ 32:29

Select Records in Brixton Road

Ad #23 @ 33:56

Skytone Communications, mobile phone shop in Lower Clapton

Skytone Communications for all your mobile requirements, connections, mobile phones and accessories. We’re situated at 25B Lea Bridge Road, Lower Clapton, near the roundabout. For more information call 081 880 0600 or fax us on 081 880 0500.Skytone, leading the way.

Ad #24 @ 34:43

Jungle Splash announcing 500 more tickets have been released for the event advertised in Ad #9, and are for sale at Ibiza Records.

Ad #25 @ 36:11

To all promoters, for advertising on Kool FM or DJ hire, phone 0860 395 262, alternatively 0831 837 183, or leave a message on our 24 hour pager system 0459 13 98 93 and we’ll get back to you. Also, for promos or letters of support, send them to 25B Lea Bridge Road, Upper Clapton, London E59QB. Kool FM, the natural trend for 94.

Pirate Tapes: Eruption 101.3 in April 1994 – Introducing Matthew Wharmby

Posted on by urbanocturnal

After a lengthy hiatus caused by the rollercoaster of events in both my work and my personal life, I am finally back to blogging about my rediscovered pirate tape collection. Since it has been a while after my last upload, I decided to switch gears from my 1997 Rude FM tapes and introduce the person who did more than anyone else to shape my understanding of hardcore and jungle music in the 1990s. His name is Matthew Wharmby, and we got to know each other via the Internet in 1996 after I reached out to him using the email he had listed on his personal website.

Matthew was older than me by several years, but we had mutual friends, who suggested I should contact him to find out more about London’s pirate radio scene. I was new to London, having only lived in the city for a year and a bit, but we quickly established rapport over our mutual love for jungle and drum & bass music, as well as the city’s geography. Over the course of the following year, Matthew sent me tapes of the stations that I had missed out on before 1995, such as Impact FM, Pulse FM, Format FM, Cyndicut FM, the Weekend Rush, Unity FM and many others. Being fourteen at the time, this was the only accessible (or indeed affordable!) way for me to reach back into the early years of hardcore and jungle, and to understand how the music had evolved. Matthew would patiently explain the backstory of each station, and would give me the chance to pick which recordings I was keen on exchanging with him using the tape catalogue on his website.

Today I am sharing one of my most prized tapes from the selection that Matthew sent me – Love Dove Jay on Eruption FM 101.3 on April 3, 1994. I believe that this is an online exclusive and is also the earliest set I have heard that I could confidently classify as “ambient jungle”. The tracks by Love Dove Jay himself, Eze G, Essence of Aura, DJ Rap, The Occupant, Danny Breaks, Codename John, The Groove Gangster and others have a distinctive spacey, atmospheric sound that was very new in early 1994 after the darker sounds that had dominated the airwaves throughout 1993. The unassuming way in which Love Dove Jay hosts this show and reads the shout-outs from the listeners evokes a certain nostalgia in me for the days before social media and Internet streaming transformed our radio listening experience. I hope you enjoy this recording!

Pirate Tapes: Listening to Rude FM in the summer of 1997 (Part 2)

Posted on by urbanocturnal

Following on from my previous post, below are three more Rude FM tapes I recorded in the summer of 1997. First up is a heavy jump up selection by DJ Skills, who had a regular Sunday slot on the station. I have one other recording of his show from 1997 but so far I have not been able to find any information about him online, apart from a single mention in this Facebook post. One of my favourite tunes from this set is the amen tear-out Last Gasp by T.I.C., which still feels futuristic and wouldn’t sound out of place at Rupture today.

Next up is yet another jump-up set by Chopper D and MC Evil B (a.k.a. B Live), recorded in early August. The video below is one of my favourite moments on the tape where Evil B shows off his MCing skills.


When I tweeted the short clip above I got a reply from DJ Kryptonn, who used to buy vinyl from Chopper D at Bluebird Records in 1996:
 

 
The final tape is one of my favourite old school jungle sets that I managed to record off the radio. It was mixed by DJ Chillum, who was one of the key partners at the station and who sadly passed away at the end of last year. The selection dates back to 1993, and somehow it feels crazy that I was making these recordings only four years later and yet the music had already evolved so much during that period. I had to spend quite a bit of time on digitally restoring this tape, as it was thoroughly worn out from doing multiple rounds in my Sony Walkman.

Thanks for tuning in, and look out for more of my pirate tape uploads in the near future.

Update

Many thanks to JJ for the track listing of the set by DJ Chillum.

01 Acen – Obsessed – Production House
02 Ellis Dee, DJ Krome & Mr Time – Drum Thunder – Production House
03 The Vice Squad – Give The Poor Man A Break – Pimp Plastic
04 Rufige Cru – Menace – Reinforced
05 The Brothers Grimm – Field Of Dreams – Production House
06 Rufige Cru – Darkrider – Reinforced
07 FBD Project – Terminate – Bang-In Tunes
08 Egyptian Empire – The Horn Track – Ffrreedom
09 Sacred – Do It Together (The Baggy’s Mix) – Not On Label – SACD001
10 Nookie – Shining In Da Darkness – Reinforced

Pirate Tapes: Listening to Rude FM in the summer of 1997

Posted on by urbanocturnal
Brian Whittle / View of Westminster and Central London from Canonbie Rd / CC BY-SA 2.0. The image has been digitally altered to show what this view looked like in 1997.

This post was delayed due to my tape player developing a major technical fault, which took quite some time to resolve. Now that I’m back in action, I decided that I should upload two Rude FM tapes I made in July 1997.

First, a few words about the recording location. I made these tapes while living near one of the most elevated spots in South-East London, which provided for fantastic pirate radio reception, and by walking several hundred metres I was able to get stunning views of the London skyline (see the images above and below). Coincidentally, Reprezent 107.3 – one of London’s most popular community-licensed stations – currently have their FM transmitter just a few streets away.

Rude FM is a legendary pirate that belongs in the same hall of fame as Kool FM and the Weekend Rush. Founded in 1992, the station was a constant presence on the FM dial, playing hardcore, jungle and drum & bass, and in fact has only recently left the airwaves. Brian Belle-Fortune’s excellent book on the history of jungle, All Crews, has an entire chapter dedicated to the station and its origins. Amongst the key characters affiliated with Rude FM the author mentions DJ Psychic, who held down a regular Sunday slot between 2 and 4pm, playing mellow drum & bass (which was also dubbed “intelligent” at the time). Surprisingly, very few recordings of his shows are available online, so this first upload is an exclusive!

Looking south from Canonbie Road. Original photo © 1997.

Amongst the interesting things mentioned by Psychic during the show are that he was interviewed on a Channel 5 programme featuring Rude FM (I have searched for it but so far can’t find any traces online), and that sending shouts to mobile phones via text messages was a novelty in 1997. The adverts feature Rhythm Section, the record shop that was affiliated with the station, and the Youth Awareness Programme, which provided verified information about drugs confidentially over the phone.

The next tape is on the darker side of drum & bass. The selection is emblematic of the corresponding period in 1997: still maintaining a healthy balance between tech-stepping beats and amen breaks. Side A features a set by Dylan while Side B has an excellent mix by a DJ whose voice is very familiar to me but whose handle I have unfortunately forgotten! There are a few lesser-known tunes on this side, such as Reminiscence by Mace, as well as one of my personal favourites, Warriors, at the very start.

Thanks for tuning in, and look out for more of my Rude FM uploads in the near future.

Update

Many thanks to DJextreme for the track listing of Dylan’s set.

01 Technical Itch – Conscious – Moving Shadow – Blueprint LP
02 Peshay – Phobia – Unreleased
03 Dom & Roland – Aliens – DRP
04 Optical – High Tek Dreams – Prototype
05 Swift – Analogue – Suburban Base
06 Danny Breaks & Dylan – Molecules (Dubplate Version) – Unreleased
07 Dom & Roland – Thunder – Moving Shadow – Industry LP
08 Dom – Drones – Moving Shadow
09 Dylan – Code Breaker – Droppin Science
10 Optical – Shape the Future (Remix) – Metalheadz
11 Dom & Optical – Quadrant Six (Fierce Remix) – Audio Couture
12 Future Forces – Synthesis – Unreleased

Pirate Tapes: Rinse FM 91.8 (1997)

Posted on by urbanocturnal

This is the second tape I’m posting from my recovered archives. Nowadays, anyone who follows urban dance music will have heard of Rinse FM. However, newer listeners may not be aware of the station’s pirate origins prior to obtaining Ofcom’s community radio license in 2011:

Rinse FM is universally recognised as having played a key role in the emergence of grime and dubstep in the early 2000s and there are many recordings from this period of the station’s history available online. Although Rinse started out as a jungle and drum & bass station in back in 1994, there are relatively few recordings around from their pre-grime/garage days. I happened to tune in to one of their shows on one rainy Saturday afternoon in November 1997 and hit the record button. Note the regular shouts-outs going out to Wiley.

Rediscovering my pirate radio tapes from the 90s

Posted on by urbanocturnal

In the years between 1995 and 1999 I recorded a number of tapes of London’s pirate radio stations. Pirate radio was my gateway into the world of jungle music, as I was just shy of the minimum age limit to be (legally) admitted into raves. I remember countless nights when I would be sitting by my table-top FM radio and listening to the likes of Kool FM, Eruption, Rude FM and Don FM. Whenever I would hear something that I would really like, I’d throw in a blank audio cassette and start recording, although I had to make a careful decision each time as good quality tapes were not cheap!

Those years marked the evolution of jungle into drum & bass, and every few months a slightly different yet distinct sub-genere would emerge that is still possible to date with accuracy today. It was an exciting time to be listening to the pirates, as well as to legal stations like Kiss FM and the iconic One In The Jungle show on BBC Radio One. I was pleased with my growing tape collection and felt like I was documenting an important part of the UK’s music history. I also had quite a few pre-1995 tapes, which were copied for me by a friend to help me catch up on what I had missed out on in the early jungle days.


What happened next was heartbreaking: while I was away from home, a flooding accident damaged a lot of our possessions, and it appeared that all of my tapes had perished alongside. That’s what I carried on thinking for about 20 years and until last week, when we discovered that many of these tapes were in fact preserved and had been quietly sitting in a cardboard box in my brother’s garage ever since!

The tapes seem to have survived huge temperature and humidity variations, which simply amazes me. I’ll be gradually digitising and uploading them in the next few months. Rediscovering these tapes feels like entering a time capsule and brings up a mixture of emotions ranging from wistful nostalgia to happiness and gratitude. Below is a July 1997 recording of Life FM, a somewhat short-lived pirate station of which I couldn’t find any other recordings online.