Trunksan Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Hi guys, on Saturday, me and 2 other mates organized our first decent event. By decent I mean: we had a big sound system and invited some famous DJs. It was free of charge and we did it so that we could listen the music that we enjoy and not be dependent on other people's taste and intentions. A lot of people were excited by what we tried offered to also help us financially (read below what happened). Overall, we believe about 200 people came. I was SUPER pleased with the music played, it was exactly as I planned it, the sound quality was good for the gear we had (mids were a bit of a problem since except for the monitors, other speakers couldn't produce them accurately) and even received compliments from the DJs despite the fact that the speakers I gathered was what I could get for free (read below), so I had to really work on the setup and positioning in order to get them to sound decently The line up was: Samplestick (liquid seed rec) Live- You can check his music on Youtube, ultimae style/deep trance/uptempo ambient Yiannis Pegkos - Local DJ and collector, he has a huge DAT,Vinyl, CD collection (half of his DAT were stolen when they stole his car ), very close with etnicanet guys, he gets a lot unreleased tracks. We call him "the secret weapon" because he's very quiet and low profile but when it comes to music he can play fantastic sets from goa to Full-on. Morfeas nic - One of the first people to organise underground acid trance and goa parties in Greece in the 90s, known for his rare vinyls and 90s unreleased stuff Stavros Ahimsa - One of the big goa DJs in the 90s in London, now back to Greece since he's quite old (close to 60) but he's still a great DJ that keeps everyone dancing all night! Yiannis Pegkos again (played from 7am till 5 in the afternoon) We are very lucky that I work in the professional sound and lighting industry so I got all of the gear for free (CDJ 2000, DJM700, monitors, subs etc) and I also brought some of my personal stuff. Also, one the guys owns an old house (his grandfather's old grape mill/house) at the fields outside our town. It's very close to town, yet isolated and it's built at a slope, so the sound doesn't reach the road unless there's a southern wind and there's a big balcony and nice terrace underneath surrounded by huge pine trees, it's like it was built in order to become a summer club. The people who came from Athens and other cities, that hadn't been there were blown away, everyone was saying how they didn't expect it to be so beautiful (even though I told them that the place rocks). Some of my conclusions: - Morfeas - played a veeeeery interesting acid trance/goa night set. Party-goers and druggies didn't really like it, music affacionados (like me) loved it AND people who we had invited that rarely or never go to psy parties ALSO LOVED IT, which makes me think that the average party-goer nowadays unfortunanetly can't appreciate music with lower BPMs and can't understand the complexity in the music and the skill in creating a beautiful atmosphere, rather than jumping around like a goat. -Ahimsa - everyone loves some decent banging GOA especially with some quality full-on thrown in! - Proceed with care when dealing with people that consume a lot of drugs (including my 2 co-organisers), they have no honour: 1)Had to chip in more money than agreed, to pay for the DJS, since everyone else (not just the 2 guys, a lot of people were supposed to contribute) was short when it came to pay. However, in the morning they were making calls to buy drugs like they were Scarface.... and don't forget the gear was FREE and I was the one that was responsible for booking the DJs and of course they were expecting their payment from me. 2) Although there were about 20 people left in the afternoon, noone lifted a finger to help me carry the gear on my father's pick up truck. I was awake until then, running on beer, bacardi and a positive attitude and had to also deal with my GF who couldn't get some decent sleep + pay attention that they don't fuck up the gear + care for some idiot who fainted from alcohol. I wanted to make a point with carrying it all myself, but I don't think they got it. 3) They are ungrateful. - If I (not a sound engineer) can get the LOWEST quality speakers and amps to sound decently: How come we go to so many events and the sound is horrible, why so much obsession with volume rather than quality? and this goes for big events too, not just your average underground party. I would gladly do everything again and I was very pleased that the organisation was perfect despite me practically running the place alone (they other 2 guys were busy consuming all kinds of substances). The only thing that I would change is the financial commitment..... All money up-front (DJ's money) + collateral for damages to equipment and they won't get money back unless the carry all the gear.I took very few pictures but I'll upload some later and some people all took videos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thanosp81 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Gz mate. This sounds like a loooooot of work. Happy that it was worth it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 The first party is always the hardesr. Good job! Other than that, I agree with you that the party promoter is the one having the least fun on the end... Keep your spirits up, good luck for the next party ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trunksan Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 The first party is always the hardesr. Good job! Other than that, I agree with you that the party promoter is the one having the least fun on the end... Keep your spirits up, good luck for the next party ! Thanks! I'm pretty sure you guys would have really enjoyed Morfea's set, it was very elegant and mysterious. I knew most ppl wouldn't appreciate his music, but as I said repeatedly to a few of people who came to me to criticize "We organized this party so that we could listen the stuff that we (3 of us) enjoy, your opinion doesn't matter". As for the organisation part: Since I work at big live sound productions (I'm at management though, not even a project manager), dealing with this party was a piece of cake. Whenever we are short staffed (rarely) I go to the concert and help the guys and sometimes it takes 2 days to setup an event , not 2 hours like this one. You know how fucked up some of the pop/rock stars and their management is and you can imagine the shit we have to endure from them. Also in Greece (as with most countries in the world), nightlife is associated with or directly controlled by organized crime, so we have to take into consideration that on some occasions someone holding a gun might knock our door. When things are good, they pay well. When things go bad you simply have to write-off what they owe you. So this event was nothing in terms of effort and complexity. I had a blast and I won't hide that I'm also proud of what I achieved given the financial constraints. MY ONLY ISSUE; I just need to have a good talk with one of the two guys (VERY good friend) and make an assessment on the party, his behavior and other people's behavior.... and of course make him pay his share that I covered, not because I need the money but because it's the right thing to do. I often try to explain to him that his excessive drug use is stupid and a waste of money. I don't want him to stop doing drugs I just want him to do it responsibly. I always say to him, that when one consumes enormous amounts of drugs (and even worse, cocktails of them) he disrespects his brain, his body and his sweat (because drugs cost a lot of money)... when he's sober he gets it, but once he starts partying he's like a beast hunting for pray (except that he's hunting for substances). Even worse, is that his father has been repeatedly jailed for heroin trafficking and of course is a junkie (at least my friend fears heroin like vampires fear the cross) so I know he has a "predisposition" for excesses. He is a very good guy and one would never imagine the household he has grown up in, so I'm very supportive of him and I try much much harder to help him with his life, more than any other person (including my idiotic brother). For one, I managed to make him love Goa and ignore the full-on/prog/dark/hi-tech shit that gets playe around here. I even took him to a house/techno party when he was on MDMA and he was blown away... he wasn't aware that one could have so much fun with this kind of music (which he was shunning/disdaining). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thanosp81 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 I don't want him to stop doing drugs I just want him to do it responsibly. No disrespect but Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trunksan Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 How can I say to him to stop doing drugs when I'm also doing it? I'm not critical of drug use. I'm critical of "irresponsible and excessive drug use". I stayed drug free for this event because I was responsible for the equipment AND the ppl being there, I would have liked to take some kind of psychedelic but it wasn't the time or the place Just like most things in life its the excess and dependency that is the problem. Anyway, let's just talk about the event, rather than my mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trunksan Posted October 17, 2016 Author Share Posted October 17, 2016 Didn't take many photos!Photos from sound check, Sample stick Live, an unexpected guest DJ we had at about noon and a video of the beginning of Ahimsa's set from the balcony (unfortunately the moon was behind clouds at that moment so there wasn't much light) Here's a pic from another friend at the back you can see the olive fields, in the morning a Sheppard passed with his sheep to check what's up and at the right you can see half of me with the orange sweater and the glasses 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormion Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Sounds awesome. I wish I could be there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trunksan Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Sounds awesome. I wish I could be there.I thought about making a post about this party beforehand, just for you, since I know you live in Athens but I remembered that you don't go to parties anymore so I didn't bother. There's an event this Saturday at IT (Exarheia) with an even more old-school vibe than the party I organised. Primitive Whisper presents a Tribute to Psychedelic Goa Trance Music by: ○Nick Pall (Uniteam warm-up set)Fractal Records Infinity-Tunes ○Vasilis & Nicolas ○Stavros Ahimsa (UK) ○Errikos (Electric) & Greg All Species Stavros Ahimsa plays again Errikos was the resident of Sunrise Zone (Alsos, Battery, etc in the 90s) Greg (I think he now lives in Crete)is not Greg Staikos It's like a reunion of the old Underground Athenian Djs of the 90s who are now scattered all over the country doing other things and/or caring for their wives and/or kids. And of course there is also Sandman/Alien Project on the 29th but that is definitely a weird situation because the party organizers are Far-right scum and most of the ppl I've spoken to, will go just for Sandman and leave. We have "agreed" to avoid leaving any more money to these idiots, we'll just pay for entrance, no drinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draeke Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Very interesting party and congratulations for the hard work, it looks like it was a great experience minus some details that can be fixed for next time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thanosp81 Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Can someone please organise an event here in Liverpool with Goa Trance please? The only thing I get is that $h!t https://www.facebook.com/events/593962390811667/ No disrespect but it's just noise to my ears. I still go but only because there is nothing else Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trunksan Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Very interesting party and congratulations for the hard work, it looks like it was a great experience minus some details that can be fixed for next time. Grazie bello, potrei scriverti in Italiano pero lo so che parli molto bene l' Inglese. Yiannis Pegkos is a HUUUUUUUUUGE fan of Etnica/Pleiadians, like you, his best mate has the Etnicanet totem tattooed on his calf. I think he has old DAT dates that he got from when Max was visiting Greece in the mid-90's maybe there's something of interest for you in his collection and hopefully it wasn't in the stuff that was stolen. PM me with your facebook details and I'll connect you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richpa Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Can someone please organise an event here in Liverpool with Goa Trance please? The only thing I get is that $h!t https://www.facebook.com/events/593962390811667/ No disrespect but it's just noise to my ears. I still go but only because there is nothing else It's such shame that there is no proper Goa trance parties in UK. With all due respect to Israel, France and others, UK was the true birthplace and it gave so much to Goa music and scene... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thanosp81 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 To be honest there are some good parties, but they are scattered around, nothing compared to old times. Bristol was one of those places. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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