First off; as ever; we need to find the club. thankfully a phone call to a couple of peeps who've been here before lands us in Sainsburys car park, a short walk and we are stood outside the venue. Its only half seven and the doors aren't due to open til 8 but it doesn't take long for a small queue to build up. The club owner and Hardcore Revolution promoter RobJPS is looking pretty busy and shortly after 8 the doors are open. We pay our monies and then head up the stairs where already we can hear the unmistakable sounds of hardcore blasting out, the system isn't kicking yet but I get the feeling it will get louder. The venue itself isn't huge, estimate 350 - 400 capacity but its well laid out. Two bars at either end of the club, a decent size DJ booth with an area adjacent for the MCs and dancers, and the HR boys have done some good work with the decor. If you didn't know the name of the event you will once your inside! A huge Monthly Mayhem banner adorns the back of the MC area and a large Hardcore Revolution banner is in front of the DJ booth. The walls are decked out with Yellow Smileys set on blue backgrounds and there are some 3d stars hanging from the ceiling. Even more impressive there is some clever effect using an oil lamp which makes part of the dancefloor look like liquid! The main dancefloor is where its at as usual and there is plenty of lighting and a laser (although its not on just yet) pointing onto the dancefloor. Warming up the crowd is recent Hardcore Heaven Weekender DJ Winner No Sweat alongside Lerosh. The club only has about 50 people at this point and theres only a couple of people dancing, its the old school disco syndrome yet again ; ) Trying the best to get the crowd to get on the dancefloor are MCs Macca and Static rhyming back to back. The DJs are playing a nice mix of tunes including "Coming to get ya", anthemic Sky Diving and just gotta dance. Time to take a quick wonder (sic) around, theres a raised balcony all around the dance floor which still has good views of the stage and plenty of comfortable seating, at the other end of the club between the DJ booth and the bar is a caged off area where dancers will be entertaining later. Prices for drinks are usual club fare and with my chosen tipple being refillable bottles of water I have no problem parting with £2 per bottle. With the warm up set finished off with up next is the up and coming DJ Clodhopper. Clodhopper has recently been getting more and more bookings and with good reason, her feelgood bouncy style certainly hits a chord with the dancefloor and promoters everywhere she plays! Fresh on her journey from Southport the night before where she warmed up for Scott Brown no less! "Whistle posse and crew out there, the future is before your eyes!" Clo tells them how it is and soon there are few more ravers shaking it on the dancefloor. Following into Hardcore Music taking us on a melodic into drum n bass kicking sound and back again in one tune. MC Obie is alongside complementing the bouncy core telling everyone to get on the dancefloor. Clo tells the crowd how it is with Live for the music chiming out then hitting with Shut the fuck up and dance, come on crew get on the dancefloor this is part of the future, right here right now! If you needed further proof that Clo is where its at right now you just have to listen to the crowd "Fucking hardcore!!" is chimed out by one reveller, clearly loving the tunage. Quosh's current anthem "Caught up in your love" gets the sing along crowd going, they may not all be on the dancefloor but look around and their all nodding their heads. Not even half way through the set and the dancefloor is getting going. One of (arguably) Clo's signature tunes up next, "Nobody likes the records that I play" gets a good reception and Clo keeps the pace with "Gonna take you high". Now come on crew, listen to your MC, Obie says get on the dancefloor! Yet again another hour has flown by with Clo keeping the pace going with overlayed samples a plenty keeping the mix fresh and with the final tune being the recently released Raverbaby classic My Direction its time to take a breath and sing along. Make some noise for Clodhopper!!! Obie commands the crowd, you know it makes sense. Up next are the HR residents, Overlode and Ecksta-C the main boys of HR and the Monday Madness show. Alongside them we have two MCs, the well practiced Smiley and the up and coming Enemy. "This is the ultimate I can't go for it", the set kicks off and we are taken to the next level, the laser kicks in and the club becomes a rave, the dance floor continues to fill, more and more people filter through the door, in what seems like a non stop train! The HR boys slam in the hardcore sounds of Everybody is in the place and Smiley tells the crowd "All the hardcore ravers make their way to the dancefloor. Keeping the crowd in check with his well known lyrics Smiley is on top form with "I hold the mic in my hand", "Ordinary people" and "I want to take you in my arms" The DJs keep the pace going with Spacehopper and Insane onto Tell Me a story and hardcore to the bone, quality core speaks for itself as the dancefloor starts to fill to bursting point and theres still more coming through the door! Enemy on the Mic too with his fresh lyrics, so fresh I can't name them ; ) but you can see he loves being up there, he introduces the last tune and has a little sing along too, "I want to make love to you, love to you, all night long, all night long" Its not even 11pm yet and the club is still filling up either there is a big local following or a lot of travellers! Either way you can't complain the dancefloor is filling up, ravers are kicking it on the balcony and the tunes are slamming out of a crisp system. Up next is Petruccio and Odyssey on the M I C. P. kicks off with a vocal tune and Odyssey gets on the Mic with a bit of voice scratching. P. takes us on a musical journey passing through a happy hardcore vibe, some slammin kicks and "The Rhythm of the night. At one point the tempo drops right down then comes ramping back up, I can't name the tune but I know the feeling it generates! Off on another random tip with "Footsteps on the dancefloor, remind me baby of you" and "Now we're sailing even higher" Odyssey keeps the crowd in check with his well known rhyme "I dance until I die to hide all my hidden pride" and once again another hour has flown by with a vocal tune to finish it off. Half way through, midnight is upon us and up next is the Essential Platinum prodigy DJ Gammer and its his birthday! Will he still be able to mix while JB-C feeds him drink after drink... only time will tell ; ) Gammer kicks off with the sing along classic "Getting better" and overlays some tight scratching, he doesn't let up either as he hammers through tune after tune keeping the pace going, 24-7 Squad-E mix, teasing in Report 2 the bassline on top of it, into another then, then drop the bomb, never too late and I need you. 20 minute into the set and he's already hammered through 7 tunes and kept the mixing fresh with some clever effects. The dancefloor is fully appreciating what is in front of them. Alongside Smiley, dancer Kelglow shows her talent up on stage. Still the one comes into the mix then Smiley orders it brought down, its Gammer's birthday, everyone on 3 say happy birthday! This is what I love about the hardcore scene, one big happy family, The crowd screams happy birthday, Still the one slams back in then gets stopped again. Its not enough for Smiley he wants us to sing happy birthday as well, happy birthday dear Gammer, happy birthday to you!!! The next half hour continues in the same style, tune after tune fly past, sky diving, speak of love, a bit more scratching overlayed then the first few unmistakable chords of Save Me chime in. About now we need to make mention to the two dancers who were doing their thing in the caged area, Tink-Twisted-Bliss and Lynz, both of them clearly know the tunes and dance accordingly I was especially impressed with Tinks miming to Cry. With the news filtering around the Hixxy is not going to make it I notice that its gone 1 and Gammer is still on!! The upside of Hixxy not turning up is we get an hour and a half of Gammer! This gives him the opportunity to drop "deep down in my heart" with Smiley singing along. The final ten minutes are continuing Gammer fare, with harder Boomstick, State of emergency (yes that Bjork tune) with a kicking gabba beat then Space Oddysey and a finish on the slow building Braveheart. Once again another hour and a half of entertaining hardcore. A wicked DJ, quality MCs, talented dancers and a well up for it crowd who are all part of the atmosphere! With Gammer still standing after his set its time for him to get back to the bar, its his birthday after all, only 21, that means we have many more years of core from this man, I for one am thankful! With 2 and a half hours to go someone is going to get a longer set and that someone is Robbie long, one of the TNC boys. Its Robbies debut at MM and he wastes no time, hammering out the tunes and making full use of the deck to get some wicked scratching into the mix. Smiley brings the tunes down to give a big congratualtions to Olivers owner and HR promoter Rob who recently got married to Stacy, congratulations to you : ) "come with me, we'll dance tonight, can't you see I want to be with you", more scratching and plenty more tunes I can't name! An hour into the set and Robbie has taken us down a harder style, certainly chimes a chord with the bar staff, there kicking down behind the bar!! At this point I had to make a move so I missed the end of this and flyin's set and apparently some pole dancing from Gammer..... make of that what you will ; ) So I'm over a hour and half away from home I've got a big smile on my face and for once I haven't got to drive home, thank you Bexi x x x I thoroughly enjoyed myself tonight, plenty of quality tunage, a nice atmosphere, a night run by a group of people who are clearly passionate about the hardcore, what more can you ask for? Of course its only 40 hours or so until Monday Madness will be broadcasting out once again from this very club and their opening the doors up monday week, will I be there? Hell yes, I was up for it before but now I am thisrting for it, bring on the next Monthly Mayhem, long may it continue!
