I must say, I’m very proud of our little capital territory right now. Canberra will be the first place in Australia to have a government backed, LEGAL pill testing trial for a festival. Taking place at Spilt Milk this year, a bunch of rad peeps will bring a heap of serious science gear to the festival, and run an accurate, judgement-free (and police-free) service to see if your MDMA really is what you paid for.
Not to condone (but neither to condemn) drug use, but MDMA, acid and host of other whizzers, laughers and screamers have been part of dance music and rave culture since the start. We wouldn’t have the legacy of techno, trance and house if it wasn’t for the 1988 acid-house summer of love, and to ignore the role of ecstasy would be denying history.
Unfortunately, our dear leaders in their collective wisdom decided that the manufacture of certain party enhancers were better in the hands of gangsters and amateur chemists rather than professionals (although I doubt any amateur is capable of making LSD). Instead of having them created to a standard (like I dunno… alcohol?), consuming them is much more risky than needs be. Still, people will continue to alter their consciousness, so why not make it safer and see if it’s actually something nasty that you really don’t want to eat? And that includes that bag of ‘coke’ actually being a gram of ket instead. And with sets from Mallrat, Feki or King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard to catch this year, you’d know you’d rather be on the dance floor than having a rough time after swallowing a dodgy pill.
Hopefully the trial will be a rip-roaring success, and paves the way for the rest of the nation to follow. It’s been working in parts of Europe for years, and there’s no reason why it can’t here in Australia…
In the meantime, there are gigs to check out! First up Shockone at Academy for the Dark Machine album launch on Friday October 13 – fancy some bass music? Thursday October 19 sees Capitalloween at Kyte for some spooky beats, while on Friday October 20 Paces comes to Academy for some house music action.
My crew Department of Late Nights has teamed up with Electric Gardens Festival to run a bit of a launch party here in Canberra for the festival. It all kicks off on Saturday October 21 at Kyte, with Richie Carrera and Tristan Case headlining, joining B-tham, Peekz and yours’ truly. If psytrance is more your thing rather than house and techno, Abyss takes place that same night in the bush – keep your ears to the underground and you’ll find it!
Drum and bass crew Headz are Rolling have some a cool gig on Friday October 27 at Kyte, with a vinyl only night For The Record, with plenty of local selectas!
Friday November 11 sees Dept of Late Nights bring a heavy hitter from Melbourne up for Agency at Kyte, we’ll be announcing in a few weeks. Hard Envy has another gig at Cube, with Francesco Zeta from Italy joining a heap of awesome locals on the 11th as well. Oh, and another shout out to Dragon Dreaming Festival, taking place Fri-Mon November 3–6 near Wee Jasper. It’s a damn fine festival, and I’m pretty stoked to be playing some tunes there again this year!
I’m sure there are some more gigs around this month, but after this massive couple of long weekends of tunes, promoters probably needed a break to collect their thoughts – some more stuff will surely be announced, so check Facebook or follow me on Instagram @KazukiCanberra.
