Before considering what you can make of the future, it's wise to consider what the past made of itself. We absolutely must progress, but equally, what has been before set a pretty good standard.

1995 was a seminal year in the outdoor trance party movement in New Zealand Aotearoa. The jet-setting techno hippies of the Entrain movement UK landed in the bush-clad hills of Golden Downs, Nelson, whipped a vial of liquid acid out of their ass, and set to work. That most of the actual party organisation was done by locals without a share in the acid-profits didn't stop the party going ballistic.

The bogans sat in their cars and drank piss while tree hippies, aspiring rave bunnies and assorted trance fans went off to 24 hours of psy and goa trance. When the generator temporarily shat itself, the hardcore zone kept the party rocking. A bunch of engineering students from Christchurch rocked up and shone their laser rays on the crowd, and the scent of rain-soaked grounds and class-A psychedelic-induced dancefloor sweat drifted down the valley. I remember that the new year merited only three seconds interruption in the music "happy new year". Welcome to 1995.

I don't know how many people got paid for their work, and in a way, without the unpaid bills, nobody would probably have bothered setting up the organisation that evolved over the next year - the Gathering. What a roller-coaster ride of trance-induced frenzy that was. And now.. the Gathering has been and gone too. Several of the guys that brought the acid that got the parties started have wound up in the slammer, and who's gonna keep the psychedelics flowing now. BZP doesn't deserve the moniker "party pill" - we want our fat freddies, one day old.

So, take your inspiration from what the outdoor trance party scene has been, and lets start the cycle again.

Ios|

Images gleaned from the archive - Entrain, the morning after (click to enlarge)