Back to Basics

Back to Basics or Back 2 Basics:

Introduction

Back to Basics is a multi-award winning club night that originated in Leeds with a legendary status. It is the UK's longest running club night in the U.K. and the longest running house night in the world. Considered by many in the electronic music industry to have shaped the underground club scene to what it is today. Weekends in Leeds have been inescapably dominated by the punk ethos and wilful excesses of the night and its ever-expanding fraternity since Novemeber 23rd 1991. There are countless DJ's that have Back to Basics to thank for their name in the industry. Anybody who is anybody in the scene have played at Back to Basics from the likes of Daft Punk, Pete Tong, Frankie Knuckles and Basement Jaxx. Other equally celebrated names include the likes of Derrick Carter, Erick Morillo, Sasha, Paul Oakenfold, Groove Armada and so many more have long associations with the night.

It was the original 'superclub' of the early ninties founded by larger than life personality Dave Beer who is synonymous with the Back to Basics name. Back to Basics have built a solid foundation for themselves and brought many artists and employees along on its successful journey. The DJ’s helped on their path are countless and still, to this day, it assists new acts in giving them the step up the ladder they need within the industry. As quoted by Dave Beer it’s not easy to become a Basics resident but once you are, you’re part of the family for life. It shuns commercialism and sponsorship, and focuses on high-quality electronic music in its purest forms. The company have recently celebrated their 25th year anniversary where they hosted a Silver Jubilee "British" themed night to celebrate the history of the organisation whilst simultaneously celebrating all things British.

Early Life

Back To Basics began as a weekly party on 23rd November 1991 at The Music Factory in Leeds. It was born from a vision of music mogul Dave Beer and his best friend Alistair Cooke who wanted to put on parties where they wanted to go in a backlash against the Acid House rave scene that gripped the country at the time. It was a time when thousands of people would meet in disused fields and warehouses to dance to acid house, but the parties were stopped when Anti Rave laws were passed over fears for public safety and drug use. The death of the acid house scene brought about the birth of Back To Basics.

Music Policy

As an alternative to acid house, garage house, rare grooves and Balearic beat house was played in the early days of Basics To Basics. The opening record played at the very first Back To Basics was Marshall Jefferson presents The Truth Open Your Eyes5 played by Basics’ resident and fellow promoter Ralph Lawson. Hundreds of people turned up to the opening party and hundreds more were turned away due to overwhelming popularity.

Door Policy

Back To Basics made clubbing fashionable. It was dedicated to the more discerning clubber, to those with a penchant for long trousers and sensible shoes. Its door policy was strict, dismissing whistle blowing ravers wearing shell-suits and instead telling people to ‘make an effort’. At its peak, Basics caused road blocks in Leeds city centre as it became a sought after place to go. It attracted fashionable crowds from up and down the country with clubbers as far as France descending on the parties. Basics had began to take the nightclub spotlight away from London and throughout the nineties, the media had cottoned on to its popularity, and its host, Dave Beer who went on to regularly feature in The Face Magazine, Jockey Slut and in the dance music press.

A poignant moment in Back To Basics history was the death of its founder Alistair Cooke and Jocelyn Higgins (girlfriend of Ralph Lawson) who were tragically killed on 12th March 1993 in a road collision with an articulated lorry on the A66 outside Carlisle Cumbria. Alistair was driving the car at the time with Dave Beer - and his girlfriend Jill Morris - also on board: both of whom survived the crash. Dave Beer - and his girlfriend Jill Morris - also on board: both of whom survived the crash. On 15th November in Nottingham, Back To Basics held a memorial event with Charlie Chester’s Flying Records called The Mad Ball Pyjama Party where 100 DJs respectfully played for free in memory of Alistair including Darren Emerson, Andy Weatherall and Mike Pickering. Honouring Ali’s death, Dave Beer decided to carry on with Back To Basics staying true to their original plan - to play house music to like minded people.

Art & Culture

The club flyers of Back To Basics became as notorious as the parties themselves – all tongue-in-cheek and heavily influenced by the punk explosion of the 1970s where each piece of artwork utilised images and attitudes of that period. Basics customised iconography of the Sex Pistols's God Save The Queen artwork - embossed with the Back To Basics punk slogan: Two Steps Further Than Any Other Fucker – has gone on to become an iconic example of club art and its culture. Various flyers were hung as artwork in Selfridges in London, at the Barbican Art Gallery, and a lot went under the hammer at Sotheby’s. In 2012, a selection of customised limited prints were exhibited at the Leeds Art Gallery and at Harvey Nichols in Leeds city centre.

The artist behind the original concept, Jamie Reid, gave Back To Basics his blessing to adopt his work. He grew a close relationship with Dave Beer and went onto showcase some of his own art at a Back To Basics party in late 1992. A selection of Back To Basics flyers have also been documented in Highflyers – Club Rave Party Art, Fly – The Art Of The Club Flyer, Once In A Lifetime – The Crazy Days Of Acid House & Afterwards, Jam: Style + Music + Media, and Adventures In Wonderland: Decade of Club Culture.

Other known facts about Back To Basics and its relationship with modern culture are that the novelist Irvine Welsh was a regular at Back To Basics and regularly slept on Dave Beer’s sofa. Back To Basics is featured in Leeds City Museum as part of an exhibition chronicling the popular culture of Leeds, and was also nominated for a Guinness World Record as the longest running club in the world.

Artists

Back To Basics has always had a strong emphasis on booking household names as well as new talent. In the early days, guest DJs included the likes of Andy Weatherall, Justin Robertson, Jeremy Healy, Rocky & Diesel, X-Press 2, and Danny Rampling, who later became a club resident for Basics at Home nightclub in London and Space Ibiza.

Nurturing talent has always been key to the Back to Basics ethos, and still remains important today It was responsible for booking numerous electronic acts at the very beginning of their careers when they were unknown artists and who’ve now gone onto become global stars such as Basement Jaxx, Sasha, Daft Punk and Grove Armada.

Back To Basics pioneers bringing international talent into the UK club scene. It was the first club in the UK to book Danny Tenaglia, who described Back To Basics as “phenomenal”, Josh Wink, Derrick Carter, Satoshie Tommie.

The Back To Basics resident DJs are considered to be the lifeblood of the Basics’ dance floor, some of whom have been with Basics since the very beginning including Dave Beer, Ralph Lawson, DJ Huggy, Buckley and James Holroyd.

Memorable Moments

Throughout the 1990s, Back To Basics was at its height and was the first club outside of London to secure a 6am licence. It took its notorious parties on tour all over the UK to cities including Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, London, Manchester, and Nottingham.

Over the years, Back To Basics has teamed up with other successful promoters to put on memorable events. These included a Millennium Street Party with Def Mix featuring Satoshi Tomiie; a Valentines Massacre Party in February 2000 with Bugged Out featuring Norman Cook ; and two consecutive years in 1999 and 2000 at the Leeds Love Parade with BBC Radio 1.

With its growing popularity, Back To Basics launched a bi-monthly residency at Home in October 1999. That same year, Back To Basics threw parties in collaboration with Home at Space Ibiza, Ibiza and in 2001, Back To Basics hosted Pacha Ibiza’s Global Room every Thursday night.

DJ sets at Back To Basics were a focus for BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix. DJs at Basics to have graced the Radio 1 airwaves include Frankie Knuckles in August 2000 live from Majestiks, Leeds, Carl Cox live from Rehab, and from Danny Rampling live from Mint Club also in Leeds.

The cancellation of BBC Radio 1’s Newcastle Love Parade in July 2001, where DJ Sasha was scheduled to play, resulted in one of Back To Basics’ most memorable events. With nowhere to play, Sasha telephoned Dave Beer and asked to play at Basics that night, free of charge. The unscheduled visit to Back To Basics from one of the world’s biggest DJs, in a venue of just 600 capacity, is remembered by punters to this day.

2001 was dubbed the ‘decade of debauchery’ by Back To Basics as it celebrated 10 years at the forefront of club culture. The milestone was marked with the release of an artist mix album -Back To Basics presents Danny Tenaglia, a world tour of the USA and Australia and a 10th birthday party in November that year at the Mint Club where Carl Cox played in his pyjamas.

On 28th November 2009, Basics celebrated its 18th birthday with Ivan Smagghe, Andrew Weatherall and a DJ set from The Pigeon Detectives. This highlight in the Back To Basics history was featured on BBC Look North.

Entry into its second decade was marked with a sell-out 20 Years Of Acid House party at Stinky’s Peephouse with Todd Terry, Howard Marks, , Bez from the Happy Monday’s and many of the Basics resident DJs, proving that after 20 years Back To Basics is still at the top of its game.

Social Conscience

Using its popularity to help better causes, Back To Basics has been involved in activities with a much deeper social message. In March 2002, Back To Basics got behind World DJ Day – the largest global fundraising activity the dance industry had been involved in. A week of activities was held to raise funds for the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity for needy children across the world. Basics held an event with DJ Jo Mills on 9 March 2002 to raise money for the charity.

Also in March 2002, Back To Basics was involved in Greenpeace’s Ancient Forest Campaign. The Save or Delete initiative invited clubbers to show their concern about the destruction of the world’s oldest forests by filling in vote-cards handed out at their favourite clubs. As part of this weekend of conscious clubbing, promoter Dave Beer threw his weight behind the campaign and on 23rd March, he turned Back To Basics into one of the polling booths for the campaign.

Other charity include providing regular support to Strummerville – a charity set up by the family and friends of Joe Strummer in the year after his death, which gives support to aspiring musicians and aid to projects that help change the world through music.

Further raising money for charity, Dave Beer took part in a sky dive for child disability charity Phys-Cap, with his friend Adam Warner who suffers with Cerebral Palsy. Adam is a regular attendee at Back To Basics.

Awards

9 Nov 1992 DMC / Mixmag ‘Best Club’ presented by Technics (Gold Disc) held at the Royal Albert Hall and broadcast live on MTV Europe

1992 Top Club in the country, DJ Magazine poll 1998 Ericsson Muzik Magazine Dance Awards ‘Best Small Club Of The Year’ voted for by readers

1999 Mixmag DJ Awards ‘Resident of the Year’ Ralph Lawson

2002 Leeds Bar & Club Awards ‘Best Club Night’

2007 DJ Magazine Best Of British Awards ‘Best British Club (small)

2007 Leeds Bar & Club Awards ‘Lifetime Contribution’ Awarded to Dave Beer

2011 Leeds Bar & Club Awards ‘Lifetime Achievement’ Awarded to Dave Beer

Venue History

1991-1994: Back To Basics begins at The Music Factory, Leeds

1994-1997: Moves to The Pleasure Rooms, Leeds.

1997: The Pleasure Rooms closes leaving Basics without a home.

1997: Basics launch sub-division ‘Cut The Crap’ at The Foundry, Coventry

1997: Basics open off-spin Back Beat at Think Tank, Leeds

1998-2002: Basics is back to a weekly format at the Mint Club, Leeds

2002-2005: Moves to Rehab, Leeds

2005-2011: Moves to My House, which is later renamed Stinky’s Peephouse

2012–present: for the first time ever Basics reverts to a fortnightly residency at The Garage and monthly at The Warehouse, both in Leeds

Basics Record Label

Back To Basics launched its own record label in 1995. In 1996, Back To Basics released Cut The Crap - an album put out in reaction to the ‘money grabbing’ commercial compilations that flooded the house scene at the time. It featured mixes by Ralph Lawson, Derrick Carter and the only commercially available DJ mix by Andrew Wetherall. It went on to be listed by DJ Magazine 38th out of 100 in The Best Dance Compilations Ever.

In 2001, as part of the Back To Basics 10 years celebrations, the release of Back To Basics presents Danny Tenaglia on React Records was the labels biggest selling compilation of the time.

B2B 001 Hoth System EP (12", EP) 1995

B2B 002 Chugger (Chuggles Revenge)* Thank You (12") 1995

B2B 003 DJ Emma (2) Based (12") 1995

B2B 1004 Sundiata* Come Together (12") 1995

B2B 1005 Winx* How's The Music (2x12") 1995

B2B 1005 R1 Winx* How's The Music (2x12", W/Lbl, Sti) 1995

B2B 1006 Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes* The Truth EP (2 versions) 1995

B2B 1007 Boogie Buffet Back 2 Boogie (2 versions) 1996

B2B 1008 Eddie Fowlkes Where Will I Be? (2 versions) 1995

B2B 1009 Never Happy People Dedication / Frustration (2 versions) 1995

B2B 1010 Herbert* Birds / Boots / Here Tonight (12") 1995

B2B 1011 Shawn Benson Keep Standing (2 versions) 1996

B2B 1012 Cromatone Express X-Men Grooves (2 versions) 1997

B2B 1013 Slick 'N Flash Stretch EP (EP) (2 versions) 1997

B2B CD1 Various Back To Basics - Cut The Crap (3xCD, Comp, Mixed + Box 1996

B2B MC1 Various Cut The Crap (3xCass) 1996

B2B a 2002 album by Danny Tenaglia

BTBR001 Buckley & Woodall* Kitch N Sync (12") 2010