Unscene Berlin

Can any democratic society live up to its claims of freedom and equality when it forces masses of people into clubs, just to express themselves? A few days ago, I watched Radical Living's video  about the endangered Berlin club scene. In the comment section, I saw someone had made a comment to the effect that the club scene here will always survive, even if it has to move to the edges of the city. That's certainly the theory that many people here seem to be working on, but experience tells me that they are probably living in la-la land. The theory that the Berlin club scene will always find a way to survive - to pull in the 'market' and meet its 'demands' because it makes so goddamned much money - rests on the presumption that the club scene is nothing but an industry. If it's an industry, so the theory goes, it should function just as well on the outskirts of town, alongside all of the other factories churning out mass-produced crap. Right? Erm

DAVE the Drummer Breakxit's   organiser Liam always manages to put together a lineup that lures Berlin's lurking, seditious UK expats out of their various nooks and crannies around the city. His third Berlin  event  will pull together many strands of the UK's dance music underground, to produce the sonic equivalent of one of those contemporary art pieces that looks like it's exploding and coalescing, all at once. DAVE The Drummer  will be headlining, this time around. Even before the days when  Hydraulix records were sticking up at the front of everyone's DJ bags, DAVE the Drummer's reputation was already affirmed by the very full dance floors that faced him wherever he went. With an almost mischievous, straight face, he'd transform digitally altered beats into legit percussion sections, live or in the mix. Henry, as he's known by partiers and non partiers alike, lives up to his DJ name well: he's also a serious drummer  - a skill that