it seems hard to believe but it s now ten years since the smiling face of acid house first caused a restless new generation to start turning on, tuning in and chilling out. In the future, the period 1987- 97 will be remembered as the decade of dance, ten glorious years of mad partying that spawned a whole new sonic spectrum of musical genres from acid house and rave to techno, ambient and drum n bass not to mention a variety of different drugs, fashions and buzzwords (as well as a by-law or two!). One thing the chemical generation hadn t produced in great abundance, however, was literature.
That all changed earlier this year with the publication of Disco Biscuits an anthology of chemical fiction published by Sceptre to mark the tenth anniversary of Acid House. What began as an underground project has caused waves throughout the publishing industry and become one of the best-selling fiction anthologies of all time, shifting 40,000 copies in the UK alone. The book was a success because it captured the thoughts and excesses of a generation who had not previously been documented. Featuring the likes of Irvine Welsh, Jeff Noon, Alan Warner and Gavin Hills, it captured the highs and lows of a hedonistic decade.
The book was the brainchild of Sarah Champion, a 26-year-old former music journalist, who now compiles techno and drum n bass CDs.
I d been a dance journalist, working for Mix-Mag, NME and Melody Maker for a few years, she explains in a broad Manchester accent, and I was quite disillusioned after a while. I didn t think any of the writing was up to scratch. Not only was it of a poor standard it didn t really compete with old-school rock journalism or whatever but it didn t really capture what the scene was about.
Like, all the journalism seemed to be focused on the personality of the DJ, the bpm s of the record real trainspotting stuff. Whereas all the best parties I ever went to, maybe you d remember some of the big anthems but you wouldn t remember most of the records that were played. You wouldn t even care who was DJ-ing necessarily. All of the amazing experiences came from the people and from the crowd and it was about the people and the crowd and that was the whole point. It was getting away from celebrities and rock stars.
I got asked to put together a book that kind of defined the whole thing. First of all I had this idea of doing a kind of oral history cos I d read an oral history of Woodstock where somebody had interviewed hundreds and hundreds of people who d been to Woodstock and it was the best book on Woodstock I d seen cos it didn t have any bullshit it was just people s stories. But then I came up with the idea of fiction. And at the time there were a few people who were starting to write about it but not very many. So really it just became this thing of going out and finding people.
Fortunately she came up with 19 writers capable of capturing the pulse of the party in readable prose. The stories covered the scene from all angles from football hooligans united by Ecstasy to raids on illegal outdoor raves; from Full Moon Parties in Thailand to a piece about Jungle DJ s hi-jacking a holiday jet to Alicante. Promoted more like a record than a book, Disco Biscuits had its own club tour with readings from Irvine Welsh and Jeff Noon, as well as DJs Marshall Jefferson and LTJ Bukem.
The book eventually won an award from Book Publicity Campaign of the Year (previously won by Trainspotting), A number of spin-off projects also helped push the sales, including a companion compilation CD of dance anthems featuring the likes of Goldie, Orbital, FSOL and Leftfield and a feature film based on two of the stories is currently being shot by Channel 4.
Now comes the news that an Irish version of Disco Biscuits is being compiled. Ace journalist and Radio Ireland DJ Donal Scannell will be co-editing the book with Sarah, as well as helping to compile a companion CD featuring tracks from the Irish scene s cutting edge producers and DJs. Donal is currently actively seeking out Irish writers who can capture the vibrancy and energy of Ireland s club culture and dance underground.
There are two kinds of people there s people who get club culture and there s people who don t, he explains. Obviously we re only interested in those who get club culture. So basically we re looking for people who were steeped in, are steeped in or want to be seeped in club culture and can write fiction. Now every single story doesn t have to be set to a fuckin Billy Nasty banging techno set, but it has to be for or about someone who can relate to that or has been through it.
He sees the book as an ideal opportunity for younger Irish writers to shake up our country s cosy and cosseted literary scene and give a voice to a new previously unheard generation of writing talent.
If you look at Irish publishing, there are no Irish publishers under 30 I could count them on no fingers, he fumes. It doesn t really happen. And publishing is this cosy little world of people who sell 500 hardbacks and think they re fucking great. And the way I m looking at the Irish version of Disco Biscuits is as a springboard. People got publishing deals through the first one, deals to write novels. I would see the Irish one the same way, it s just that people haven t had a platform and haven t had encouragement. Until now anyway. n
Stories can be sent to Donal Scannell, Irish Disco Biscuits, c/o Insomnia Radio Ireland, 124 Upper Abbey Street, Dublin 1.