I Had Arrived.

DJ Hiccup was playing tunes in his room. The decks were of the highest quality, 1200 Technics from back in the ’90s when vinyl was carried by plus ones who got in for free, lugging those vinyl discs from club to club...room to room. When free entry was worth more than the asking price for getting in and cool had its own value.

The name Hiccup came from one of his first gigs around town. When he came up to the decks to play his set, he was so nervous he began to hiccup...making smooth beat mixing a difficult job despite his skill and finesse.

However, when in his own bedroom, with no nerves to wreak havoc, smooth as beat mixing of hard house, hard trance and minimal techno was gorgeous to hear, and when in the mood, I have seen him with vinal on three decks, mixing the three records to perfection and sounding like it was just one track...and so, creating his own sound from the three producers recordings.

We were the best of friends, and what a team…him a nervous but talented young DJ, and me, just a nice young raver who always had the best of times, dancing the night away at any of the clubs around town. So long as my friend was on the decks, I would be out on the floor, cutting my best shapes.

Drugs circled us…ecstasy, coke, speed, base and crank…anything that gave a lift and helped us dance for hours (dance motherfucker dance). Everything else was secondary. The ’90s was for me, the best decade of my life.

*******

We were both involved in the fight game...Muay Thai…but this story is not about that, this is the story of dance parties, raves and after-parties. I was just a nice young raver, who was often taken advantage of, but never lost sight of what it was that made me love this era. The smiling faces, the camaraderie, the all nighter's (and the next day or two), the personalities, the girls in their shorts or mini skirts, the colours, the feeling that we were different from the rest of society...brothers and sisters of a new wave of change.

We didn’t care if you were straight, gay or purple. We wanted the best time in the fastest time because we knew it wouldn't last, at least not the way we were seeing it. The buzz around the streets before a party, scoring our drugs by Thursday so we could relax and anticipate. I'm smiling right now thinking about it.

Yes, there came a time when the shine wore off. When I had seen too many people change for the worse…drugs will do that to some. There were Ravers I met who didn't do drugs at all and I would look at them in awe as they danced and partied and kept up with us...at least until the morning. But most were like me, smashed most weekends, and it really is a wonder I didn’t fall off that ride much earlier than I did.

*******

I had arrived. Some friends I met through Thaiboxing told me about dance parties. I was from a very different scene, where black T's with your favourite band was the fashion. Where alcohol and tobacco were the poisons. Where smiles were non-existent and fights aplenty...where I was invisible.

I walked towards my future…doof doof doof. I could hear it from hundreds of meters away, louder and louder. My pulse already quickened from the speed and nerves at this new thing. Would I be accepted by this new crowd? Was I wasting my time again? Searching for something I knew was out there, but had never found.

Outside the club were pastels. Cool clothing both in style and comfort. And not just cool, but happy, celebratory, embracing. I walked up to the club entrance, paid the happy monster fairy the cover, walked through the doors...and was instantly teleported to another universe. I had never heard music so loud or seen so many smiling faces. Then, two hot young girls in miniskirts, who were dancing on a podium, did the strangest thing, they LOOKED at me and smiled. I turned around to see who it was they were smiling at, but nobody seemed to be the object of their friendliness. The realisation they were smiling at me took me by complete surprise. Why? I'm invisible, no one EVER sees me. And as I made my way into that crowd of friendliness, I began to dance...and I didn’t stop dancing for over ten years. This is my story...this is how I became the nice young raver.