Calling Szczecin - part 1 - The origins of clubbing

The beginnings of clubbing - as I recall it's years 95-96 At that time I was a skater boy, riding a skateboard with a good team in Szczecin and we had a club called "Kontrasty" The parties were called "Red Hot Party" The music played at the timw wasn't a strictly club sound as we know it today, it was more about the Beastie Boys, RATM, Cypress Hill. And the parties were really successful. The beginning, it was the nineties It was a big boom of music events with club and electronic music. There was this booking agency called "New Music Art" They created this well known and popular seriers of events. They were called Techno Dance Mission. The events took place in different locations. In the halls of a few thousand people. I remember that it was always an event in the city when the Techno Dance Mission partes took place. such large events, not just techno. They were held in "Mechatronik". It was really great in terms of the line-up (a whole bunch of people from TREZOR played there). You such a could find stars like Takkyu Ishino, with which I was able to talk to when I was 17 years old I almost pissed myself from excitment. He was a God of Minimal and Techno for me. Mechatronik - it was a class of its own. Eddie Flashin Fowlkes - the father of Detroit techno came one there. A guy came to us from the U.S. to play. Takkyu Ishino and many really big names. It was really something. What did New Music Art in Szczecin was that we had the biggest kick out of all the cities in Poland. No one made such big events at that time. '93 or '94 - the first house club was "Exit" at Kopernika Street. It was a Gay Club, but it didn't work for long. The only categories were Techno and House. Everybody, together had fun in "Mechatronik" or on "Techno Dance Mission" The vibe was that in these places crossed different crews, different people and they all had fun. There also cane RAP fans, from the times of a crew called "ESNUEzet" or "Dawcy Zycia" - I think, that there was such crew. Mashups, sometimes house, sometimes RAP. Electric Rudeboyz also started it's activities. It all just blended. Szczecin has always been the cradle of the basement and underground. I remember as a kid when I lived by "Przyjazni" Neighborhood and there was a garage called "Klub Chodowców Dzdzownic" As a kid I saw a concert of a band there and I got frightened by people that were there. I ran away home. After the years it turned out that it was an illegal place where the boys met and played. I remember that I was surprised, even though it scared me, the whole time I wondered what it is. Over the time, all these clubs were formed, "Szóstki", a little earlier "DS", "Mechatronik" People went there, because that was something else. Practically noone speaks about that, but in the early '90s people took Szczecin for Berlin, because so many things took place. "Szóstki" A small venue, a few steps down to the basement. At the point where now anyone doesn't know anything because it's built behind other buildings. There were things going on that were connected with music and club culture - you can call it that way. When I came there for the first time it crushed me like a hurricane on a farm in Oregon. I just changed the way that I looked and at the entertainment part of life. in Szczecin the community are interested in the activity and cultural knowledge - the weekends were spend outdoors, at home or on the artistic events which themselves had later after parties. hey actually circulated between "Medusa" and "Szóstki". There were spots like "Taras". nside - 100 people, outside - 300. And it was in such location where in the summer it was hard for better place to be. It was on the back of the "Waly Chrobrego". Music played on the open air, the parties took on a whole new dimension. To be honest until 2000 so it seemed. There were a lot of events. I remember that when I started playing and went throughout Poland I had a year when on average I played on from 150 to 200 event Szczecin appeared as a city where a lot was happening. They say that smell is the sense that most brings the past. As you entered "Mechatriniki" you were blown away by a wall of Red Bull smell. These cans were sometimes ankle-deep. The parties were really cool. There were also places with which today we have absolutely no deal or at least not to the extent as it was. "Tama Pomorzanska" or "Virus". Totally underground clubs, outlawed. Complete banishment, spontaneous and full of great energy. Great times. "Sonar", "Borówka". There were a lot of these places, and they never were arranged in a disco style. "Sonar" belonged to my brother. I could look at this from an economic point of view - it was pure madness which I would not recommend this to anyone. From this came a really great brand that immediately attracted people, instantly became a recognizable place. because of the size of it - it was a club into which could come a few hundred people, that managed to integrate and give power. And it burned just as quickly, at the stake of the time.