Issue 51 – Ravescene

FEATURED ARTICLE – The End Of The Pier

After putting on many of the best parties Destiny/The Cream and Rise & Shine are no longer to be found on Clacton Pier. Thousands will be disappointed that this era has come to an end as it was one of the most unusual and interesting venues in the country. The pier was purchased by Christians father in 1981. He rebuilt the existing dance hall and arcade to provide Oscar’s the night club and The Cockney Pride pub. For several years the club ran three successful soul nights until the mood swung round to rave. Christian joined forces with Lee and Destiny/The Cream began it’s long run with weekly clubs and monthly monster bashes using the whole pier. The most recent all nighters have had up to seven rooms, covering the whole house music spectrum from trance through handbag to hardcore. These parties were all ticket only and attracted up to 5,000 people each time. However, during November of 1993 the pier slipped into receivership due to the pressures of the economy. The Receivers took over the running of the pier and in their wisdom after watching how professionally Lee and Christian ran their events decided that they could do better, so on 11th April 1994 Lee and Christian were told that they were no longer allowed on the premises and all their equipment and trading facilities were withheld and remain so to this day. This would have been the biggest summer so far for all Destiny/The Cream members and would have become the best event of it’s type this year. Instead the events at the pier, now known as Love Nation have failed to attract any where near the same numbers as Destiny/the Cream and if you’ve seen the flyers you’d understand why. Destiny/The Cream seemed to have knack of booking the finest DJ’s in the country in all aspects of house music.

Destiny/The Cream have not retired though. Lee from Destiny said that “what was then happened. It was the right venue, the right music, at the right time. It cannot be created again. Now what is important is the future, and the art of creating a good club is being able to adapt and change. There are other venues in the country just as interesting as The Pier, albeit different. It’s what you put into it that counts”.

Lee & Christian have been busy since leaving the Pier. They hosted a room at Double Dipped at Bagleys on 14th May and they have a special one-off at Hollywoods in Romford on Sunday 29th May. They are also co-hosting Submerged at Turnmills every Friday with Double Dipped. Why Turnmills? “It’s an original venue with the original vibe. Also it’s got PD drivers on the bass powered by Amcron amps which provide one of the best sound systems you can experience in today’s world! We also like the way it’s laid out, with two rooms of music plus loads of places to sit and chat. It’s such a new venue in this scene, so it’s fresh and everyone who’s been there so far has loved it. We just need to work really hard to get the word about. It’s really easy to find as well, even if you’re from outside London like us, being about five minutes from Kings Cross, between the City and Holborn.”

ADVERTS

• Double Dipped & Destiny The Cream present ‘Submerged’
• Wax City Records, 306-308 London Road, Croydon
• Choci’s Chewns
• One Nation – A Happy Rave For Happy People