Helter Skelter (rave music promoter)

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1 Helter Skelter
2 In The Beginning
3 History
4 Website

[edit] Helter Skelter

Helter Skelter are one of the longest running dance music promoters in the UK, who specialise in promoting superparties for thousands of people (as opposed to running a regular night at a club). They are one of the few remaining rave music brands who through thick and thin have stuck to their musical roots presenting the more underground styles of electronic dance music rather than follow the natural musical progression that the mainstream house clubs followed during the 1990s. The organisation was founded in September 1989 - in the midst of the Acid House party era - when a young David Pratley set out with a group of close friends, including his girlfriend Penny, to host an enormous outdoor dance party. David, Penny, and friends collaborated to organise the party after being inspired by the early Acid House clubs such as Spectrum and Land of Oz, and the M25 Orbital raves such as the Sunrise events.

[edit] In The Beginning

Having no prior experience of event promotion and organisation, the team of organisers had a mammoth task on their hands. They soon found that their fairground background was of huge assistance to their plans. Their connections that had been established over the years by travelling the nation with the fairgrounds provided them with a network which enabled them to promote the event on an underground level. Being able to get the word and flyers out on the underground was essential, because at that time it was illegal to host an Acid House party - especially a large scale outdoor event.

The authorities soon heard about the planned dance party. An interview with the local police force was broadcast on an TV news bulletin warning land owners and farmers that a group of young men were on the search for land to host an illegal party. After some investigation the police found out the identities of the organisers, and tried to ban one of them from their home county for a period running up to, and over, the advertised date of the event. Despite the efforts of the establishment, the event went ahead on land belonging to a farm in Oxfordshire (much of which was down to the aggressive negotiations between the QC Helter Skelter hired, and the authorities). However, this didn't deter the police from setting up road blocks and putting up road signs that read, 'Helter Skelter', pointing away from the party site, on the night, in order to stop, and confuse, the convoys of cars making their way there.

Another obstacle which Helter Skelter had not even considered, was that of reputation. Many ravers who had grown tired of rip off promoters did not believe that an unknown promoter could stage an event featuring the scenes top DJ`s and artists, and stayed away. However those many revellers who did beat the police tactics, and got to the event, enjoyed a night of entertainment in the company of a huge selection of major US and UK House music djs and artists including; Frankie Bones, Loleatta Holloway (who performed the original 'Right On Time' lyrics), Nicky Hot Mix Five Oliver, Eddie Richards, The KLF, Jomanda, 2 In A Room, Karia, Mark Moore, Ce Ce Rogers, Lil Louis, Jazzy M, Ralph Rosario, and Jolly Roger, to mention but a few. Unfortunately the promoters did not even sell out half the events capacity, forcing the promoters to got back to the drawing board.

[edit] History

In the years that followed the first event, David Pratley started promoting and organising Helter Skelter nights at the club Milwaukees (also the original home of Dreamscape). He then leased his own venue - an old cinema in Telford which he and some friends renovated and transformed into a club. Helter Skelter nights were run there, and guest promoters including Fantazia, Obsession, Quest, Pandemonium, Amnesia House and Dance Trance hosted events there also. In 1993 David took Helter Skelter to a new venue. At Telford, David had become more of a club manager and owner than promoter, which was not the route he wanted to take, so he decided to move to a new location.

After taking a break for a few months he began hosting events at the 3000 capacity Sanctuary Music Arena near Milton Keynes. The regular events at the Sanctuary rapidly became a massive success. The Helter Skelter name gained national credibility, and thousands of party goers began travelling from all regions of the country. The combination of a warehouse environment, high class production, major artists, and the right mix of like minded people, captivated the dance party going fraternity. Following a lead taken by fellow rave promoters Dreamscape, Helter Skelter's Milton Keynes events underwent an expansion in the mid-ninetees, utilising a roller rink adjacent to the Sanctuary, expamding the capacity to 8000. Between the two arenas, an outdoor complex was created, which featured a SONY PlayStation zone, free fairground rides, cafe's and other types of recreational facilities. Helter Skelter began referring to each of these events as 'Villages of Futuristic Recreation.'

The success of the double-arena parties prompted the Helter Skelter team to organise their biggest party to date - Energy '97 - The Carnival of Dance. The Energy '97 festival took place at Turweston Aerodrome in Northants (now the site of the Gatecrasher Summer Sound System festivals). The festival sold out, attracting 18,000 revellers in all. Huge marquees featured genres of dance music ranging from Drum and Bass, to Techno, to House Music, to Hardcore. The night was blessed with fine weather (the hottest Day on record in the UK during that particular summer) and held in high regard by those who attended, but due to the events overpolicing, Pratley did not repeat the venture again. Helter Skelter returned to the site of the Sanctuary to host the double-arena events that David had started hosting prior to Energy '97. The parties continued in their established pattern of success for another two and a half years, and then David and his wife Penny, and his event management team came to a decision to draw the Helter Skelter era to a close New Years Eve 1999, at the turn of the century. Their reasons were simple; the entire team was exhausted. David and Penny had worked solidly at running Helter Skelter for ten years. They all sadly agreed that it was time to stop.. The 'Millennium Jam' was due to be the last event of this type, but unfortunately due to the extortionate prices for the Millennium celebrations, only half of the tickets were sold, forcing Dave to cancel the Rollers arena. Helter Skelter was laid to rest, and no one, not even David, Penny, or the team, believed that Helter Skelter would return....

After a year out, David began to feel that he was to take up the challenge again, and resurrect the sleeping giant. The team reunited and Helter Skelter returned, with the come back event being hosted at the 5000 capacity venue Bowlers, in Manchester, in association with the Northern dance music organisation Compulsion. The party was a hit success, selling out in a very short amount of time. Helter Skelter also returned to the Sanctuary Music Arena in Milton Keynes, but with a new music policy. Pratley collaborated with the event management team from Club Sidewinder, and introduced specialist Drum and Bass events, branded Accelerated Culture. The events featured the cream of Drum and Bass artists and djs, including Kosheen, Roni Size, Shy FX, Craze, Grooverider, Hype, and Fabio many of whom have played for Helter Skelter throughout there history. Godskitchen, the major superclub promoter, invited Helter Skelter and Sidewinder to host a 5000 capacity Accelerated Culture arena at their first Global Gathering festival, held in the summer of 2001, and as such have reprised the arena at every subsequent Global Gathering since. Utilisng the superclubs 2000 capcity home venue "CODE" (now Air), Helter Skelter's relationship with Godskitchen continued as the rave promoter staged a series of successful nights in Birmingham, returning to the city for the first time since the mid 1990's.

Since the closure of the Sanctuary Music Arena in 2004, Helter Skelter are without a regular venue but continue to run one off parties. They have returned to Milton Keynes twice, continued with the Accelerated Culture brand in Birmingham and brought Drum and Bass and Old School Hardcore to a predominantley House Music Ibiza.