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Back to the drawing board  14

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Back to the drawing board  13

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Back to the drawing board  12

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Back to the drawing board  11

Happy Hell-o-ween! It’s going to be a hell-o-week…

P.s After an extremely thorough investigation by my tech wizard Rob I am afraid to say that as suspected if you are one of my email subscribers who cannot see the image in the body of email there is sadly nothing we can do as it is down to Apple mail blocking the content. As previously mentioned this is a slightly over-zealous attempt to protect you from spam and shit …I just wanted you to know we really really tried and I’m just sorry and annoyed (damn you Apple!) I can’t fix it.

So if you are one of those affected you will forever more have to click on the title of the post to see the image and yes, I know that is a pain and two more seconds of your time but surely for content of this calibre it is oh so worth it..

I shall never speak of this matter again and will now just quietly sulk in the corner…over and out.

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Back to the drawing board  10

I don’t know where these sad, slightly scary, relatively disturbing faces come from..well actually, that’s a lie, they obviousl come from my sad, slightly scary, relatively disturbing psyche. It’s just I’m nor aware of them until they are ejected through the ink in my pen.

Once they appear on the page I look down and I think..who the hell are you, how did you get there and what do you want?

I actually like to think they are all living inside my sub-conscious somewhere just waiting to be released into the real world…I see them gathering in the town square each day (run with it, imagine it’s a Tim Burton animation) and they all cheer and chant as one of them is selected by the mighty pen and ’ascends’,

What they don’t know is they end up trapped in a two dimensional form on a page of my notebook but at least they don’t have to live inside my brain anymore..no-one deserves that.

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Back to the drawing board  09

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Back to the drawing board  08

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Back to the drawing board 07

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Back to the drawing board 06

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Back to the drawing board 05

So what’s with all the drawings? I thought this was a photo blog I hear you cry..

I can’t currently take pictures as don’t have the energy to be out and about and I can’t process them either because my brain can’t concentrate enough to make the multitude of decisions required to make a photograph.

So instead, whilst I have been back in the hole, I have been drawing a lot as it has been a way to vent my experience but also because it’s the one thing I can do at the moment as it completely bypasses my brain. I hold the pen. The pen moves. End of. And they say a picture is worth a 1000 words which is a massive plus for me right now as means I don’t have to write them…

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Back to the drawing board 04

p.s dear subscribers, I have a good man (thanks Rob!) working on how to make the pics appear in your email for those who still can’t see ’em. For now, you will just have to click each title post and all will reveal itself..but one day, o holy day, they will appear before you like a vision from the supreme being..

p.p. s he looks like he’s got hairy goat legs in the illustration above. There’s no significance, I just messed up the shading trying to hide some very poorly drawn legs. This is why I normally just stick to faces.

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Back to the drawing board 03

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Back to the drawing board 02

Life on pause…

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Back to the drawing board 01

I am back..of sorts.

P.s If you subscriber & can’t see this pic in email please click on post title

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I am currently…

I will return…

p.s I’m really shit at drawing arms which is why it looks like they are coming out of his ears..

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#MYCARNiVAL22

This was probably my favourite moment of the weekend ..definitely worth a zoom in. Got a lot of shots to come but might take me a little while to go thru..plus I need to recover too..please bear with…

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#MYHOUGHTON22 (PT 5)

When I talk to people about Houghton I pretty much always say the same thing. It delivers on all fronts. Location is beautiful. Music curation is spot on. Crowd are super friendly. Perfect size. You might have noticed over the course of this week documenting the festival that I haven’t really had a bad thing to say about it and that’s because I don’t. Yes it was crazy hot so the ground was super dry which meant the site became a bit of a dust bowl but that’s not the fault of the organisers (you could blame those responsible for climate change but mebbe let’s not go there now shall we?)

Where the festival excels for me is the carefully curated line-up. It feels like djs are booked because they are great djs and not just because their name can sell tickets. And they are given good chunky sets, sometimes 3-4hours so they can really get into the groove and do their thing and take the crowd on a journey. Just like the good ole days. The reason for this due care and attention is that Houghton has a dj at it’s helm and so it is music first above and beyond everything else and that always makes for the best festivals in my book. And no not all festivals seem to prioritise the music as the most important factor. For some it’s the food or the fancy dress (yes Bestival we are talking about you) which is refreshingly in short supply at Houghton. People are there for the tunes. And you won’t really hear a bad tune all weekend. And it’s not all just beats. There is a wide range of music on offer, all dance music but genre wise it is right across the board.

Over the course of the weekend we heard everything from funk to jazz, afrobeat, happy/acid/hard house, 80s/90s dance classics, disco, broken beats, all techno variants and there was even some 50s rock ‘n’roll and 60s soul provided courtesy of my alternate existence with my partner in crime as dj duo Double Agent 7. Having been a punter for the first two years was a joy to have our vintage sounds be part of the musical proceedings. When we play at festivals we are normally one of the few playing vinyl but I have never seen so many djs playing records which was very refreshing, altho all of ours did get caked in a fine layer of dust. Still was absolutely worth it.

And so I don’t really have much more to add other than to show you loads of pictures of people having a great time which tells you all you need to know. These were all taken at Derren Smart main stage during Optimo’s epic gig on the friday afternoon which was probably my favourite set of the weekend. Everyone was already in the groove and up for a major party and the atmosphere was amazing. As you can see it’s just a ton of people having a ton of fun. For me it just encapsulated the joy and the freewheelin anything goes attitude that sums up Houghton completely. They played such a variety of tunes but there was this beautiful line throughout and the crowd stayed on board for the whole journey.

We had all waited 3 years for Houghton to return but it was oh so worth it. Roll on 2023!

(p.s soz very late again today. was finding it difficult to cut down the shots and as you can see I haven’t done that well as there are loads but when you see so much happiness captured it’s difficult to cull them down)

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#MYHOUGHTON22 (Pt 4) – MILLING ABOUT

There is a lot of high intensity activity at festivals, mainly in the form of dancing yer socks off for hours on end to your favourite musical acts but there is also a lot of milling and mooching and hanging about as you recover and decompress rom the night before and as you feed and fuel yourself before it kicks off all over again. To last the duration of the weekend you will need to park up and rest from time to time or else you might not make it to the finish line..and who wants to miss any of the action?

Yes, they actually do have a yoga class at Houghton
This dude had a walkie talkie which is very clever as there was fuck all network coverage on site

It was seriously hot in the sun all weekend so a lot of the day is spent shade dwelling wherever you can find it which again Houghton considerately provides and made sure there were many areas to do just that, unlike say Glasto where there is literally no shade anywhere unless you are mebbe standing directly inside the Pyramid stage. In these scorchio times it makes a big difference if you can get out the sweltering heat. There are also a lot of hammocks around site which are just bliss places to recharge.

And if lolling about isn’t quite active enough for ya they also have a train which will take you on a tour around the site and to the sculpture park (which I have to confess I have still not made it to in 3 years). People get very excited when they see it.

And then before you know it is nightfall once more and it all starts again…

Main stage antics tomorrow..

p.s soz a bit late today.

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#MYHOUGHTON22 – Clubland in the countryside

Houghton is a festival but it was born out of club culture so it has a slightly different feel to it. As it is created and curated by Craig Richards of Fabric fame it is dj driven which means that even though it is outdoors and in the middle of a countryside it still has this vibe like you are deep in the heart of clubland.

The warehouse feels exactly like a umm warehouse and you could very easily forgive yourself for thinking you were in some rave on the outskirts of East London. And that is no accident. This is immersive fantasy clubbing at its best. And you won’t need an uber to get you out of here either. Just a short stroll back to your tent, not that you will ever want to go there because Houghton never stops. So why should you?

Tantrum is another stage at Houghton which despite being a large open tent also feels like a club. The man you can see at the decks through the mist is Craig Richards himself. You might notice over the course of these shots this week that I have not taken hardly any of the djs. It’s just because I always get locked into the crowd and I believe the story is better told in showing the effect their music generates rather than a shot of them staring down at the decks.

And finally here are some shots from the Quarry which is a huge open umm quarry and is basically a massive rave all in its own right. The quarry is the only place you have to queue up to get into on site and there is always a large line of people itching to get in. I was able to skip to the front thanks to my trusty press pass. The queue might be a drag but it does add to the excitement and once through the gates everyone is doubley delighted to make it into this very large raver’s playground and as it goes on right through the night you can lose a bit of time in line and no biggie.

Tomorrow..milling about at Houghton.

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#MYHOUGHTON22 – the woods

The woods in Houghton are a magical place and they make you feel you are somewhere enchanted. like a fairytale but just with a lot more techno. Think Hans Christian Raverson

During the day it was also a great haven from the scorchio ..and they had hammocks. And podiums..so you could chill or dance, all states of being catered for. Houghton is very accommodating like that. They want you to be happy. They want to facilitate you having a wonderful experience

And come the night it was a full on party amidst the trees in the whichever sound system you decided to park up in..my fav is Stallions, a smallish circular tent that always had a brilliant vibe no matter who was playing . And the beauty of Houghton is that the music is good everywhere so it does really matter where you are..

And then you could just wander the woods until you stumbled upon your next beat based experience…Houghton never stops so there is always something to go to..and no matter when it is..you are never late..that is a beautiful thing considering so many other festivals have such strict curfews..again, it’s all to ensure you are catered and cared for at all times…also a rarity at a lot of other events.

Tomorrow: The Warehouse and the Quarry.