Talk:Spiral Tribe

member
I was a member... if anybody would like to know what it was like back in the day drop me an e-mailat stevespiral@yahoo.co.uk and i will try and remember. but be warned it is all a bit hazy :)

what's here now and what is needed
OK I've cleaned this up quite a lot. I'm not sure if it still warrants the "clean up" notice at the top, or if further work is needed - so any hints welcome.

I'd like to see:


 * More information on the parties, what happened, venues, dates etc
 * More information on the clampdown and trial post Castlemorton and how this tied into the CJB.

There is probably scope for some material on the underlying philosophy, etc - i.e. all the "23" stuff.

The discography probably needs redoing but I am less interested in that.

Can anyone confirm the stuff about drugs? Quite interesting but is it correct?

John Eden 10:22, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

the drug reference is totally innacurate
noone anywhere ever made real drugs with a "recipe" from the Anarchists Cookbook. I'm sure there were plenty of drugs at early spiral parties, as with any party during that era, but they probably came from the usual sources.

Also, the spirals never went to south america or asia. unless u mean individual people who were affiliated with spiral tribe. but the actual sound system only travelled to europe and north america.

reason for including a list of parties
It seems to me that one of the main things which is notable about Spiral Tribe was their audacious use of private and public space to hold illegal or semi-legal events. Although not explicity political with a big "P" their tactics were similar in many ways to groups like Reclaim the Streets.

The locations of the parties are therefore an essential part of their history. I have therefore re-included them and indeed would like to see this aspect of the article expanded.

cleaned up some more
i cleaned up some spelling, formatting. i removed the rumour about travelling, altho it is true that sound conspiracy (total resistance and okupe) travelled overland to india. they did indeed go to north america. for the discography, i think discogs does it better ... fac 'em if they cant tek a joke is a record (i have it) by facom sisdem, a spiral offshoot and thus not really a spiral rec, but it was made by a spiral member and i donthave time to go through all the records. i agree that more info is needed on parties, but i was too young!! Mujinga 13:43, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

firstahand info from 218.186.9.6
i moved this from the article page as it is not verifiable but it is certainly interesting.


 * regarding the big life deal:

i have not edited the prevous text but I remember the meeting with Big life records,as I was there.We sat in a meeting in an office off of oxford street, where we were asked for a record deal, these are the facts as I remember them.We stated that we were not prepared to sign anything unless we had the full rights to produce our own music, they were prepared to give give us more money if we gave them rights up but we would not. I should say at this point "we" means Mark, he was spiral tribe the rest just followed his lead. ok so he told them we have the rights or we don't sign.When they agreed to give us the rights for a lesser sum we agreed to a deal that would allow them the marketing rights to our music using our name.The deal was for a total of 20 tracks, 2 EP's and one album. 40,000 pounds was the agreed amount and after the contract had been signed and the cheque handed over mark produced a DAT tape from his pocket which contained about 100 tracks which we had been working on over the last few months and said "take the 20 you want and give us back the rest". thats how it went.We used most of the money to build a mobile studio in the back of a twin steer bus which was then driven to europe, and the rest as they say is history.


 * regarding the quotation 'You might stop the party but you can't stop the future' (from Forward the Revolution):

Again I have not edited the text that has already been writen but as I remember it that quote was first said by joe to a policeman when a party was being stoped somewhere near golders green in october 91.

Mujinga 19:36, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

table for parties
i am making a table for the english parties ... right now it is here. please add any dates if you have them. Mujinga 22:40, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Well done
I fully expected that this article would be two short paragraphs (e.g. S'Express), or a lengthy mess of drivel (Altern-8). But it isn't either of these things, it's well-written, with references, and a handy table of dates. And it has commentary from one of the real-life actual people behind the mask. Carry on. -Ashley Pomeroy 00:31, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Formation of group
I took the following text out of the introduction - I think it is really interesting but it is not referenced:

The name Spiral Tribe was thought up by Debbie when she and Mark produced the artwork and flyers for The Schoolhouse party (1990)actually put on by Stikka and the Synergy sound crew. Spiral Tribe also did some small squat parties around North London and a couple in South London before the Sisbury Ring party inspired them to take the sound system on the road. The rest is history. There were never 23 members that is a myth. There were originaly around only 8-10 of us.The 23 member myth comes from being given 23 T-shirts at The Roundhouse in 1991. They were handed out to those who had helped out and were considered to be a part of Spiral Tribe then. We had gone through a few mutations by then! Of those I remember from the first days were: Mark and Debbie, Simone, Zander, Camden, Hubert, Kirsty, Roger. Others came and got involved and became a part of what we were doing. But Debbie and Mark provided the original inspiration and vision. To be a part of Spiral Tribe it was only necessary to put your energy into the success of what we were doing. Mujinga (talk) 17:36, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Expanding the PARTY list
Oh happy memories.

Need to add

Camberwell Bus Garage around ?March 1992

The squatting of St Georges Hills mansions, Weybridge, Surrey, next door to Ringo and John Lennon's old pads which resulted in ?Mark and Aztec being interviewed on the Jonathan Ross show 'The Last Resort' approx late summer 1991

and more when I can remember them ... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.103.168.21 (talk) 19:29, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

man - those were the days. re the smiling police at torpedo town (liphook). one reason for the smiles is that their breakfasts were being spiked with mushrooms in the little chef!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.89.27.224 (talk) 14:04, 30 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Nothing but unreferenced and indulgent fancruft - fine for Facebook, Twitter, or Iwasaspiraltribepartyanimal.com etc. - but not here. Verifiable third-party reliable sources and neutral viewpoints please.  Thank you,


 * Derek R Bullamore (talk) 00:57, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

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past members
there was a section for past members but it's just attracting spam. these were the references used for it:
 * New Musical Express: 9 January 1993 & 8 May 1993,
 * I-D Magazine: April 1992,
 * Mixmag: 16 September 1992,
 * Max: N° 60 July 1994,
 * Muzik (USA): N° 28 September 1997,
 * Coda Magazine (France),
 * Technomad "global raving culture" Graham St John 2009 Equinox Publishing Ltd (UK) ISBN 978-1-84553-625-1
 * Mujinga (talk) 19:00, 29 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I agree with its removal, it seemed a nice idea but unfortunately they just attract unconstructive and bad faith edits 77.86.103.78 (talk) 08:19, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

party list
The party list would need to be referenced, putting it here in case anyone can do that Mujinga (talk) 11:23, 19 November 2021 (UTC)

UK
Between 1990 and 1992, UK parties included:


 * October 1990 - titled Detension, the Old School House, NW London - Mark and Debbie designed flyers and backdrops for Stika's party.
 * February/March 1991 - Squat Parties, N London - Whole house decorated by Debbie.
 * 21 April 1991 - Former Job Centre, Wimbledon, SW London- Spring Equinox party.
 * May 1991 - Labour Party Social Club, Camberwell, SE London.
 * 15 June 1991 - Cable Street, Wapping, E London - Took place in the loading bay of a large warehouse about 5 floors high and open to the sky.
 * 20–25 June 1991 - Longstock, Wiltshire.
 * 6–7 July 1991 - Mirage, Devils Punch Bowl, Winchester, Hants - Free party all weekend long; no problems from the police.
 * 26–29 July 1991 - Happy Daze Free Festival, Bala, Wales.
 * 9–12 August 1991 - Torpedo Town, Liphook, Hampshire.
 * August 1991 - Chelmsford - Original site in an open mine (natural auditorium) was raided by police while setting up. Thousands of ravers waited patiently for hours until a new site was found; permission was given for use of a field on private land. In the morning spiral tribe members and friends all were arrested and locked up for 23 hours for a charge of suspected theft of a stolen generator from the Chelmsford festival.
 * August 1991 - Horton-cum-Studley, Oxford - 2 day long party (on the way back from Chelmsford)
 * August 1991 - Cissbury Ring festival, Sussex - Held at a picnic site near to Arundel Castle. Spiral tribe set up the decks on the back of a car transporter trailer unit.
 * 30–31 August 1991 - The White Goddess Festival, Bodmin Moor, Camelford, Cornwall - Combined their sound system with Circus Normal (to achieve a sound system of over 25,000 watts RMS) receiving complaints from over 14 miles away. Despite police pressure they partied on until all of the partygoers went home. The event was attended along with a number of other sound systems including Circus Warp and DIY.
 * September 1991 - The Arches, Deptford, SE London.
 * October 1991 - The Green House Part, NW London.
 * October 1991 - The Village Idiots Festival, Kent.
 * November 1991 - Lewisham Library, SE London.
 * November 1991 - Staravia Factory, Ascot, Berks.
 * December 1991 - Brewery Road, N London.
 * 31 December 1991 – 5 January 1992 - The Roundhouse, Camden, N London - The power was stolen from a light socket owned by British Rail at the back of the building and the system went off at 6:30 in the morning when they turned the lights off. An alternative power source was found. Continued for one week.
 * January 1992 - Blackwall tunnel, London - Held in conjunction with Circus Normal.
 * February 1992 - York Road, King's Cross, London.
 * February 1992 - Numbers Farm, Kings Langley, Herts - The old ovaltine Dairy farm.
 * March 1992 - Tubney Woods, Abingdon, Oxford - In conjunction with Bedlam Sound System.
 * March 1992 - Swindon.
 * 19 April 1992 - Acton Lane, W London - Ended up in a major stand-off with police.
 * 26 April 1992 - Chobham Common, Surrey.
 * 2–4 May 1992 - Lechlade, Gloucestershire - 25,000 people.
 * 9 May 1992 - Selsey Common, Stroud, Gloucestershire.
 * 16 May 1992 - Black Mountains, Rhayader, Wales - In conjunction with Bedlam Sound System,
 * 22–29 May 1992 - Castlemorton Common Festival, Malvern, Worcestershire - The largest free party/festival to have been staged in the UK with Bedlam Sound System, Circus Warp, Circus Normal, DiY Sound System, Adrenalin.
 * 4 June 1992 - Canada Square/Canary Wharf, London - About 1,000 people managed to dance for a little over an hour before 300 police sealed off roads and moved in to make arrests.
 * 20 June 1992 - Isle of Dogs, London. 20 June 1992 - With Ruff Crew, Dog Posse. Possibly broke up by the police.
 * 26–28 June 1992 - Smeatharpe Airfield, Devon - In conjunction with Bedlam Sound System, Circus Warp, Circus Normal, DiY Sound System.
 * 7–10 August 1992 - Torpedo Town, Romsey, Hampshire.
 * 21–23 August 1992 - Cissbury Ring Festival, Sussex - The police allowed the party to go on over three different sites. The system was supplied by Big Life; it also got split up, and at the end of the parties it was misplaced by a number of different tribe members, to resurface in Europe and around London.
 * 31 August 1992 - Notting Hill, W London - With Lunarci, Earth Leakage Trip and Xenophobia.
 * 31 December 1992 – 1 January 1993- Uxbridge, W London.
 * 23 January 1993 - Brent Cross, NW London.
 * 10 April 1993 - Uxbridge, W London.

Europe
Parties across Europe included:


 * October/November 1992 - Hellfire (Montpelier Hill), Dublin, Ireland.
 * 1 May 1993 - Montpellier, France.
 * 19 June 1993 - Paris, France.
 * 26 June 1993 - Berlin, Germany.
 * 31 December 1993 - Berlin, Germany - 'Blast Off' at the Tacheles squat.
 * 28 July 1994 - Hostomice, Czech Republic. 28 July 1994 - First year of Free festival, later known as CzechTek.
 * 27 August 1994 - Vienna, Austria.
 * 31 December 1994 - Vienna, Austria.
 * 4–6 March 1995 - Vienna, Austria.
 * 26 July 1995 - Hostomice Teknival, Hostomice, Czech Republic.
 * 31 December 1995 - Rome, Italy.
 * 11 May 1996 - Milan, Italy.
 * 26 July 1996 - Teknival, Hostomice, Czech Republic.
 * 4 September 1996 - Vienna, Austria.
 * 30 November 1996 - Prague, Czech Republic - At the Cibulka squat.
 * 11 April 1998 - Vienna, Austria.

USA

 * 1993 - Ripe Productions, Chicago - Three Castlemorton members play.
 * 1997 - Coast-to-Coast Party Tour, United States (including July 1997 - Autonomous Mutant Festival) - Hosted by Pirate Audio and S.P.A.Z. Soundsystem.