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Spiral Tribe was a free party soundsystem which existed in the first half of the 1990s. The group originated in west London and later travelled across Europe and North America. According to one member, the name came to him when he was at work, staring at a poster of the inter-connecting spirals in an ammonite shell http://www.uncivilizedworld.com/WTA_en.php3. The group had a huge influence on the emerging free tekno subculture. Members of the collective released seminal records on their label, Network 23.

History

Spiral Tribe was responsible for numerous parties http://www.beyondtv.org/beyondtv/page.php/376/soma/ in squatted locations in and around the South of England including:

  • October 1990 - first party organised by Spiral Tribe.
  • July 1991 - displaced Stonehenge Solstice Free festival at Longstock
  • August Bank holiday 1991 - a rave (the White Goddess festival) for 2 weeks on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, where they combined their sound system with Circus Normal (to achieve a sound system of over 25,000 watts RMS) receiving complaints from over 14 miles away. Despite police pressure they partied on until all of the partygoers went home. The event was organised along with a number of other soundsystems including Bedlam, Circus Warp and DIY.
  • Christmas and New Years Eve 1991 - The Camden Round House, North London.
  • February 1992 - Numbers Farm, Kings Langley, Hertfordshire.
  • The Uni-Chem warehouse party Uxbridge - the police had to enter through the wall using a JCB digger as all the doors were locked at 9am Sunday morning to allow the party to continue for as long as possible. This was one of the stories contributing to their fame as a sound system.
  • May 1992 - Castlemorton Common Festival free party.
  • June 4 1992 - Party in Canada Square, next to Canary Wharf, London. About 1,000 people manage to dance for a little over an hour before 300 police seal off roads and move in to make arrests.

Twenty three members of the group were arrested immediately after the Castlemorton event and were subsequently charged under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Their trial became one of the longest running and most expensive cases in legal history, lasting four months and costing the UK tax payer £4 million.

In March 1994, after being acquitted of all charges relating to Castlemorton, the group moved to Europe, doing parties in cities such as Rotterdam, Paris and Berlin. Over the next few year, the collective organised parties and teknivals throughout Europe, then it slowly dispersed with some members taking up residence in Germany and Holland and releasing work on Labworks and many other techno labels. Individual members of the collective joined other sound systems, did squat art events or pursued other interests.

Europe

From the summer of 1994 a number of free parties were organised by Spiral Tribe members throughout Europe. When the parties were large festivals with an open invitation to other sound systems and artists to participate, they came to be known as teknivals. In tribute to this collective, the type of music predominately played at early teknivals came to be known as spiral tekno. Parties included the following http://www.elektrokanibal.org/flyer23.htmlhttp://parties.are.free.fr/flyers/spiraltribe.html:

  • Montpellier, France. May 1, 1993.
  • Paris, France. June 19, 1993.
  • Berlin, German. June 26, 1993.
  • Berlin, Germany. December 31, 1993 at the Tacheles squat.
  • Vienna, Austria. August 27, 1994.
  • Vienna, Austria. December 31, 1994.
  • Rome, Italy. December 31, 1995.
  • Milan, Italy. May 11, 1996.
  • CzechTek, Czech Republic. July 26, 1996.
  • Vienna, Austria. September 14, 1996.
  • Prague, Czech Republic. November 30, 1996 at the Cibulka squat.
  • Vienna, Austria. April 11, 1998.

United States of America

Some members of Spiral Tribe toured the United States of America in 1997.

The number 23

From its inception, the group was obsessed by the number 23. Images for musical releases, posters, backdrops and flyers featured the number 23. Parties were often organised on the twenty third day of the month. Members sometimes recorded under the moniker of SP23 and of course the record label itself was called Network 23.

Music

In 1992, some members of the collective signed to the major label Big Life, as a result of the publicity generated from their involvement in the organisation of the Castlemorton Common Festival. Three EPs were released and two albums, one merely a compilation of the tracks from the EPs, the other a full album entitledTekno Terra.

Members of Spiral Tribe also released records on their own highly influential label Network 23.

In 1997, Network 23 brokered a deal with Techno Import, a commercial distributor. A CD entitled Spiral Tribe The Sound of Teknival was advertised on television and sold at least 30,000 copies. This deal was not approved by members of Spiral Tribe, who made a statement which began F**k Techno Import and had to take quick action to ensure the name Spiral Tribe was not copyrighted by Techno Import.

Quotations

  • It is our purpose to destroy the intertia that has been responsible for the demise of the life force on our planet. It's time to wake the planet up! (from Tekno Terra)
  • Make some f**kin' noise! (from Breach the Peace)
  • Spiral Tribe in the area (from numerous flyers)
  • You might stop the party but you can't stop the future (from Forward the Revolution).

Recent news

A DVD has been released called World Traveller Adventures in an echo of a track (World Traveller Adventurer) on an early Spiral Tribe record, Forward the Revolution. One of the four films, 23 Minute Warning (the name again taken from an early Spiral Tribe record, this time Breach The Peace} features interviews with several members of the collective http://www.uncivilizedworld.com/WTA_en.php3.

In 2005, the label Network 23 Repress was set up to rerelease sought-after and still-played tracks from the Spiral Tribe back catalogue. Six records have so far been brought out in the series.

Discography

12" releases (Chronologically)

  • U Make Me Feel So Good
  • Breach The Peace
  • Forward The Revolution
  • Forward The Revolution (The Youth Remix)
  • Spiral Tribe EP
  • Sirius 23
  • Spiral Tribe Sound System (The Album)
  • Tecno Terra
  • Don't Take The Piss
  • Definitely Taking Drugs
  • Expekt The Unxpekted
  • LSP 23
  • Panasonic
  • Power House
  • Power House 02
  • Probably Taking Drugs
  • Spiral Tribe 1
  • Spiral Tribe 2
  • Spiral Tribe 3
  • Spiral Tribe 4
  • Spiral Tribe 5
  • Full Fill Fromage
  • Strange Breaks
  • Fac'em If They Can't Take A Joke

Note: They also released EP 23 No. 1 No. 2 and No. 3, as well as a few untitled promo CDs, and another one simple referred to as EP - but there is little documentation about these CDs.

Network 23 Repress

Remixes

  • Change (Spiral Tribe Mixes)

Tracks Appear On

  • Shamanarchy In The UK
  • Survival! The Dance Compilation
  • Technohead - Mix Hard Or Die
  • World Traveller Adventures
  • Aid Asia Compilation

References

Notes

See also

External links

Electronic music groups

Spiral Tribe | Spiral Tribe | Spiral Tribe | Spiral Tribe

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Spiral Tribe".

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