12am.com.au : Mixing Music Media


	.: Simon Raine

Date of Interview: 3 September, 2001
Contributed by: Andre Cato

Australia has been chosen by Gatecrasher as its second home, teaming up with promoters Agent Mad to put on a series of the biggest dance festivals this country has ever seen… Why? Well this is because; as put so simply by Simon Raine, we are a nation that loves to party! As I sat in the bar at the Sebel on StKilda Rd in Melbourne, I drank a coffee thinking about the man I was about to meet… Simon Raine is a man well known in sheds around the world, not because he is a great farmer, but because Simon is one of the greatest promoters of dance festivals the scene has ever seen. Simon was attracted to the atmosphere of big dj driven events back in the late '80's when the acid house scene was massive throughout the UK and America. So enticed and enthusiastic about these parties and the emerging scene was Simon, that he would buy his friends tickets and tell them, here, take it, if you don't like it, don't pay! The gatecrasher music derives originally from the sounds of the American Chicago scene where clubs such as The Loft and Paradise Garage were running nights in the late 80's. The Gatecrasher crew saw this music as basically a well kept secret and decided to take it across the sea back to their people and Land in the UK! Starting as promoters in 1989 the Gatecrasher crew rented out their first club in 1994 with the Launch of Gatecrasher the Club. Moving around for the next 3 years from one rented venue to another the Gatecrasher crew finally bought their first home in 1997. It was in this same year that the Gatecrasher Festivals were born in Leeds. The venue was like a Country Mannor House with a park behind it and the first party had a capasity crowd of 8000 people. DJ's such as Pete Tong and Paul Oakenfold headlined the festival, making this the first real DJ driven festival, for clubbers in an Outdoor envroment. Other festivals at this time focused more on presenting live acts as the features. Every year the show grew, with the crowd and no money was spared… I think this is why the Gatcrasher branding has been so well taken around the world, because the production grows even faster than the amount of festival goers each year! As the shows have attracted almost 100,000 people over its 4 years and this shows how much it has grown from the first production of 8000 people. The biggest problem with the growth was the DJ lineup! There were so many good acts that people wanted to see, but obviously it is impossible to program an event so everyone can see ever act they see! What can you do? Summer Sounds system in 2001, attracted more than 40,000 people. "You just seem to get an insatiable urge to make it bigger". The first was an amazing event and people still to this day how amazing it was, but with a larger crowd it allows us to do much more with production. Where as the first show we had 8 foot by 8 foot screen, but last year we had a 35 foot by 35 foot screen with 6 projectors stacked high all going crazy! Throughout the world now there are promoters putting on world scale event in this scene but Gatecrasher continues to grow and dominate.. How so you ask? There are market leaders and market followers and gatecrasher has been a definite leader in outdoor events due to the money spent on production and the talent that is secured for the shows and now the infrastructure in the UK and now Australia. Gatecrasher has teamed up with promoters, Agent Mad to put together the Australian tours and have brought in JJJ radio to broadcast the event live and Channel V viding the night. All events in Australia have been big production events but to this date have all followed the club Gatecrasher format as opposed to the Festival format. The Australian party goers are in for many big suprises over the coming months and years with this new team in town. There is talk of all sorts of promotions involving Australian acts and DJ's being exposed overseas through the Gatecrasher Record label events and cd compilations put out throughout the world. This is the beginning of something new. I know we have heard it all before, and I have sat with many promoters talking of big things, but the Gatecrasher crew are determined to continue to pump the money back into production to ensure that as they grow, so does the closeness of full extra sensory party atmosphere. Thanks Simon, always good to meet those that have brought dreams to reality without killing the initial vibe.

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