Search - Various Artists :: Bugged Out Classics

Like most things in life Bugged Out wasn't that carefully conceived. It was hastily thrown together after Paul and I were invited by Sankeys Soap in Manchester to quickly take over a failing Friday night. Sankeys' then manager, Andrew Spiro, had been impressed with some of the parties we had thrown in 1994 for our magazine Jockey Slut. The first was called Drinking Club which was set in a pub and featured a couple of mates who called themselves the Dust Brothers (later to be the Chemical Brothers) playing some records. A run of six parties called Discopogo followed over that summer and the weekly Bugged Out was launched at Sankeys on 24th November with LFO playing live. Initially the club was attended by a few hundred enthusiastic techno fans but within six months this had tripled. The DJ's and artists back then included Richie Hawtin, Daft Punk, Andrew Weatherall and Slam who are all still mining the coalface of rave. In 1998 Sankeys closed and we thought that would be the end of the night. Instead we were offered a monthly all-nighter at Liverpool 's 2500 capacity Nation. With three rooms to programme we approached it as if booking a little festival every month; there were more live bands, a broader musical spectrum to truly reflect Jockey Slut's editorial but still a dedicated techno room (the much loved courtyard). On a good night you may have caught an early live appearance by Royksopp in one room, Basement Jaxx djing in another and Justin Robertson and Dave Clarke hammering it out in the courtyard. In 1999 we sold Jockey Slut to a London publisher and moved to the capital along with it. Fabric opened around the same time and we hooked up with the Boutique for a monthly that saw queues around the block to catch DJ sets from the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk. One person on the dancefloor for Daft Punk was Erol Alkan who launched his London residency with us in 2001. There was a brief six month spell at Heaven later that year - with DJ Hell's Gigolo showcase featuring Miss Kittin and the Hacker heralding a sea-change in dance music. Since October 2002 London 's The End has been our home and we have witnessed memorable performances from Ivan Smagghe, JoJo De Freq, Mylo, Vitalic, Tiga, Miss Kittin and Erol amongst countless others. We're constantly amazed at the new talent that keeps emerging in electronic music, each year there are new tunes to cherish and new artists to champion. But, for once, we are having a look back for this, our first retrospective. Here comes the music.