It’s the 90s – we’re wearing acid-wash denim, skinny leather ties and boat shoes. C+C Music Factory is blaring from Celicas and the ‘Getlaidium’, and its laser show is the coolest thing in the city. Paris Texas coloured Levis, Marlboro cigarettes in paper packets, KFC at 3am on Colombo Street. If you’re tripping down memory lane right now, you’re not alone; if you’re not doing anything about it though, you are. There’s a quiet, underground movement happening beneath our noses to bring back one of the best parts of the 90s, and you’re invited.

It feels like the world is always running to catch up with RDU station director James Meharry. He was ahead of the curve in the 90s when he was getting into the rave scene in Christchurch, having house parties so he could DJ. James set the benchmark for rave gigs in 1995 when he organised Ultra-sonic in the old West End picture theatre in Cathedral Square. While the rest of us were dodging the cops at the Carlton or sweet talking our way past the bouncers at the top of the Palladium steps, James and his mates had their eyes on a bigger, wilder venue by far.

The old theatre had been tipped for destruction, and good fortune and contacts just happened to ensure James and his crew knew the guy who owned it. Around 1200 people packed out the venue for a rare ‘legal’ rave that has gone down in history as a cult classic – before social media, before Facebook messages, before mobile phones.

A dedicated Xennial, James has his finger on the button of today’s technology but he’s utterly resolute in his passion for analogue technology. Tucked away in the corner of the Boxed Quarter, beneath the bright and digital RDU station, is his lair – a studio stacked to the ceiling with old vinyl and his vinyl cutter, where he creates actual 7” vinyl records every month for the station’s Patreons – people and organisations that donate money every month to support local artists. “We’re tapping into our analogue past, that affinity with old media. Things with substance, that you can hold in your hands.”

That yearning for the past stuck with him. He almost relaunched Ultra-sonic in 2015 as a 20-year tribute, but the timing wasn't right. "Christchurch just wasn't ready. So I just put a pin in it.” James had been collecting and cataloguing flyers from the rave scene of the pre-2000s with the idea of creating a coffee table book or e-book while sharing them on the My Nightlife Facebook page. At the same time, Aragorn Urquhart, who cut his teeth stacking the decks at central-city haunts like Heaven, Base and the Concrete Club, had also been quietly reminiscing. “I never really stopped thinking about the scene and the excellent times that we had. I have many incredible and often hilarious stories/memories from around 15-20 years ago involving many of my closest friends. “A friend used an old photograph for a profile pic and it reminded me that there was an amazing time being had, so I decided to put it out to the people in the photo that we needed to have a reunion DJ set. They all said yes.”

And so Toast started cooking. “We can actually have those moments again,” says James. “We want to give everyone who visits My Nightlife on Facebook the opportunity to get in first. We want everyone who's in our age group, if you were there, if you were going to any nightclubs in that period, then you should come along to this, because this is bringing back a little bit of that nightlife." “As life gets busy and fills your time with family, work and everything else, it’s easy to lose contact with the friends/people that you have shared such amazing times with,” says Aragorn. “This is a chance to have a 20-year reunion and to celebrate the music, clubs and parties, but most importantly it is a chance to celebrate our friendships.”

Featuring epic DJs from 90s Christchurch including Aragorn, Pyre, King Al, Hemi, Craig Shaw, Nick T and of course, Pylonz, Toast promises to be not just a rave but also a trip back in time. "We've got the original DJs, but we've also got a heap of other people interested – guys who used to be on the door of some of those old venues, and some of the bartenders." Having D4 come on as the venue was a coup for the project. Like the warehouses of old, the black-box function venue is perfectly suited to the idea around the rave, says co-owner Isabelle Teresa. “We share the same passion and we’re also older clubbers who experienced the rave scene as it developed and at its height, both in Christchurch and London. “We also recognised the organisers' genuine commitment to making this event as high quality, authentic and personally friendly as possible – it's about re-gathering people who might not be part of the regular going-out scene anymore but have great memories of it and want to meet other like-minded people.” Isabelle’s husband, Mark Tigwell, was one of the most sought-after lighting designers in the London rave scene in the 1990s and mid 2000s, and while Isabelle and Mark were clubbing in London, James, Aragorn and like-minded DJs were banging out the beats in Christchurch – at places like Ministry, Quadrophenia, Joe Boledos and The Firehouse – while also organising traditional rave events in warehouses and the hills around the city.

James fondly remembers The Quickening at Skellerup Park in the Port Hills. “We set up 20,000 watts worth of sound in this big tent and we belted it out over Cashmere. For some reason, the Department of Conservation (DOC) guy let us do it.” The punchline, of course, was that the noise complaints to the city council all night never made it to DOC, so the gig pumped on until the small hours, much to residents’ consternation. Like those raves of old, Toast has been an underground discussion up till now. Tickets could only be purchased by clicking a link on the My Nightlife Facebook page, which has to date been shared among friends and those in the know.

Now, though, it’s time to throw open the invitation to anyone who needs a bit of a rave in their life. “Christchurch has been through so much but the tide is finally turning – there’s no point sitting isolated at home. People need to connect, and Toast is a perfect opportunity to start those relationships again,” says Isabelle. “Ravers tend to have open minds and open hearts, along with a passion for exploration and fun. The nights are long, you know you're going to have lots of different experiences, meeting new people and hearing all sorts of music – you just relax and throw yourself into it.” For Aragorn, it’s a chance to revisit the security of the old rave scene. “I’m excited to see everyone. I get emotional when I think about all of the people – the Toastees – catching up with each other. People are flying in from outside of New Zealand for the opportunity to reconnect.” “Rave was about the experience, about participation through multiple genres,” says James. “It was trance and jungle, techno and house, and of course, the ambient zone. So that's what this will be. An experience." 

Toast, March 30, D4
FB/mynightlifechch

Hero image credit: Corey Blackburn

The Clubs of Old

The Firehouse, Worcester Bar, The Starlight Lounge, Espresso 124, Caledonian Hall, The Bunker, Dux De Lux, His Lordships (Lordies), The Harbourlight, The Chancery, Dimension 5, The Underground, The Palladium, Interzone, Bar isn’t it? Limbos, Cats, The Daegar Bar, The Edge, Venus, The Source, The Jet Set Lounge, Lickerlounge, Heaven, Ministry, Quadrophenia, Base, Joe Boledos, Eye Spy, The Treehouse, Sababa Carbon, Home Bar, Double Drop, Concrete Club, The Civic, Capitol Bar, Fox Da Box, PropAganda, The Mansion, Danz, Graffiti White, Hybrid.