Rebirth

Rebirth. Rosemary thinks I'm getting all religious on her when I mention it.

Back in around1990 I experienced a life changing experience that I wasn't expecting. I went to a club called Pure and from memory I think a DJ called Ege Bam Yasi was playing. I ascended the dark stairs for the first time. A deep bass was pumping right to the bottom of my stomach. A shadow kept appearing, each time the strobe flashed, a slightly different pose apparent each time. There were about 3 people in total on the dance floor but it was still early. I felt something, like positive nervousness. The beer was crap but so I thought was an empty dance floor.

I sat chatting mate Bryan downstairs in the chilled area. He introduced me to a variety of people, most of whom I hadn't met any of their type before. Little did I know that many of these people would become the mainstay of life for the next few years.

Going upstairs again, saturated by frequencies and bass. Strange bleeps, reverbs, echoes and voices. The ceiling was low and the atmosphere heavy. More people were dancing, mostly on their own but turning occasionally to others to pull a happy face. I joined in. Loops got caught in my head, neurotransmitters firing in response to the noise, deep crazy acid music.

Few other types of music have such a psychophysiological effect on people. What about Rachmaninov? Mozart? Nah.....they may be emotive but they don't induce such changes in neurotransmitters, hormonal levels and so on.....The whole body experience of acid house and techno music is far greater and something that must be experienced to understand. Some people say they hate it, but they've never 'let go' and let the music grip them. At the end of the night, as the DJ cut the decks for the last time. people were still dancing, the music still in their heads. I was exhausted, saturated in sweat, but euphoric. "The best night of my life" but it was always the best night of my life every time I went to Pure.

Over 20 years later, I still love the music, but only reach a higher state of consciousness with my iPod on when out running or whatever. I struggle to get past 10pm and most clubs open at 11pm. People seem to get dressed up more these days. We just dressed suitably for the atmosphere knowing fine well that t-shirts would be saturated in sweat and trainers wrecked if we wore decent ones.

But what's the point of my story tonight? Rebirth! It's an IPad app which includes software that replicates the Roland TB-303 Bass synth, Roland TR-808, 909 drum machines and a few FX units. It cost me £11 and it allows me to make my own dance and techno music. These Roland devices revolutionised music far more than the Beatles did. Everyone will be familiar with many of the sequences they produce. But the early innovators of techno used them to the full FX. I'm almost addicted and spent far too much of the evening playing with the app.

The day started with a trip to Glossop for shopping and then I headed off to Heaton Park for the 1st cross-country race of the year. There were loads of people from Man Tri there, it was relatively warm and the sun came out. The race itself was hard. I've written enough now so won't give you a full commentary, but my new spikes are covered in mud, my legs hurt and I absolutely buried myself. Very close to falling down at the end! Someone even offered me a seat on the tram afterwards as I was looking so wrecked!