Review: Bugged Out Weekender 2013

British clubbing institution Bugged Out have been keen these past few years to re-establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the fickle industry of rave. Perhaps slightly and suddenly left behind by the rise of dubstep and for lack of a better term ‘bass’ music, the experienced dealers in weirdo electro, techno, house and disco have pulled off a weekend that, after a winning but quiet debut in 2012, has combined their rich heritage with the cream of newer talent and styles to winning effect. And lacking a Croatian beach or a disused Warehouse, they did it all at Butlins.

Not that Butlins is a strange place to hold a festival of course. In fact, as anyone who has ever experienced one in Bognor will tell you, it’s one of the most logical but surreal experiences there is. Much of Butlins now consists of hotel accommodation, and our room featured both a ‘disco shower’ and a double bunk - each equipped with a flat screen TV. If you think this might not appeal to adults otherwise intending to soak up a bit of raw soundsystem culture, you’d be entirely incorrect.  

Friday 

With the festival having just sold out on the day, 4000 punters arrive on Friday evening to a blanket of snow in Bognor. But sub-zero temperatures fail to falter anyone’s excitement. For the sophomore year, Butlins had thrown open the doors to ‘Centre Stage’, their largest room nestled unassumingly above the resort’s large arcade and sitting otherwise inconspiciously.  Inside, however, proves very impressive - a cavernous showbar with ample bars (important), a large stage and light show (bonus), and most importantly, an incredible sound system (important for this weekend... and next, featuring The Krankies)

By 11PM, Mosca is already proving the enthusiasm of the large crowd, throwing down various mutations of house, grime and techno and getting a massive response for it all. You’ll probably already know about young sibling house duo Disclosure by now, judging by how the room began to quickly fill before their live set, and then beyond for the likes of Annie Mac and more. Fortunately, Centre Stage is so large, there was always room to move, dance or just hang out, with the sound rarely faltering. Seeking more intimate thrills, we decided to rush out into the cold and manouevre over to Rendezvouz (otherwise known as the Butlins conference centre) in this case curated and nicely kitted out by promoters Junk Department. Less keynote speeches, more spinbacks.

Arriving for Bicep, we were once again impressed by the quality and volume of the sound, and the warmer, more classic rave feel of the venue and its programme. Bicep always do the business, mixing house and garage classics with their own, Kerri Chandler tipping productions. Whilst a few are often quick to criticise Bicep for their utterly retro sound, nobody is wondering what is and isn’t derivative by the time the pair drop their own outstanding ‘Visions of Love’, one of the biggest house records of 2012, and still enjoying a vital life come January on the Sussex coast. After two hours, and much more social lubrication, the more ‘heads’ nature of this room becomes apparent as another young house duo, Dusky take over and almost immediately turn things upside down with Joy O’s much awaited ‘BRTHDTT’ and from there continue with many of their own productions, including the ubiqitious ‘Flo Jam’, and other generally on-point, on-trend selections that go down incredibly well with a tuned in audience. 

Come 4AM, Huxley continues the classic house feel, but by this stage, it’s time for a change of scenery, and a Twix from the all night Spar. Back over at Centre Stage, Gessafelstein and Brodinski, the two figureheads of the former’s label, Bromance, step up for two hours of not quite what you might imagine - aside from sparking a natural, long-running debate regarding which is the most handsome and French looking. Moving away from much of le banging electro you might have once expected of the pair, Brodinski in particular uses his genuinely impressive technical prowess to rinse through tunes from the likes of Joy O & Boddika, TNGHT, Danny Brown and more on the house and hip-hop side of things, where as Gessafelstein keeps things sounding nicely industrial thoughout. It’s an eclectic set but they get away with it. 

Not that the 18 year old I meet at Bicep is interested... “Gessafelstein, mate?”, he enquires. “But that’s electro.” Suddenly feeling my age, I think it’s funny how things change at Bugged Out.

Saturday 

The next morning, my group arise early... Sorry, next afternoon. Sorry, next evening. Anyway, whenever it was, reeling in multiple ways from a jolly good first night, it’s decided that the pool party can’t be missed. If you’ve been wondering recently what Klaxons have been up to, then it would appear the answer is ‘collecting great house records for pool parties’, as well as marrying Keira Knightley (well, one of them.) And whilst the Splash Waterworld is perhaps not built for incredible acoustics, this year’s sound system was much beefed up. Listening to Mark E’s ‘RnB Dunkie’ is always a good idea, but it’s an experience that’s undoubtedly heightened when riding a rubber raft around a water coaster. Bugged Out founder Jonno takes over on the decks for the final half hour, and soon has a wave pool full of hungover ravers throwing their shapes and inflatable beach balls around to Todd Terje’s failsafe Inspector Norse.

And then, at the midway point, the fatigue hits. After some soul-searching, some dark moments, a Lucozade and a Burger King, the pact is made to embrace the final two nights to their fullest, even against the wishes of one’s body, mind and wallet. Saturday begins over at Centre Stage with Daniel Avery, whose generally unfashionable but weirdly compelling techno and house productions veer nicely towards EBM rather than EDM. A huge fan of the Chemical Brothers and signed to Erol Alkan’s label Phantasy, he provides a logical and tasteful start point for the night, with those two artists themselves gracing the stage later, and DJs with all the panache, skill and confidence of a man who also won the Phonica Pub Quiz earlier that day.

Cutting Dan a little short, we have good reason to venture downstairs and into Reds for the first time to catch Ben UFO on the Krankbrother stage. One of the most feted and individual selectors in the UK in recent years, UFO is already a hero amongst many, and has just released one of the most awaited Fabriclives in years. A real buzz of excitement could be felt amongst the increasing crowds for Ben, although far from anyone possessing the attitude of a superstar DJ, he immediately sets to work, and delivers the set of the weekend. Whilst his much-loved Rinse shows and boundary-pushing label Hessle Audio often divide and challenge audiences with more experimental sounds, here he struck the festival balance perfect, neatly mixing a surprisingly straight up 4-4 set of house and disco with several well arranged “what is this?!” moments, all handled technically perfectly on the decks. If Bugged Out is about delivering dance music with charisma and personality, in Ben UFO, they’ve found a new figurehead.

Meanwhile, the heritage of Bugged Out is banging around upstairs in its most visceral form, with a DJ set from the Chemical Brothers. Having just returned from a tour of the big Australian festivals, Tom and Ed nonetheless seem pleased indeed to be rocking Butlins and a very enthusiastic crowd, working through some very big room house and techno, as well as a few classic Chems productions and what unmistakably sound like new tunes of their own. Sure, it’s not a subtle performance, but we’re at Butlins, and it’s The Chemical Brothers. This doesn’t happen every Saturday night. 

Saying that, after a triumphant mix of ‘Swoon’ to finish, we feel a little bludgeoned by the first notes of Boys Noize doubtlessly slamming set, so once again head over for ‘business’ at the conference centre; more specifically the business of Jackmaster and Oneman going back to back, where it’s fair to say, if an actual conference were underway, deposits would be lost, and quickly. Two ‘DJ's DJs’ who know how to work a party, Jack Revell and Steve Bishop rip through classic grime, disco, techno and hip hop flawlessly and furiously and an hour in which takes in New Order, Dizzee Rascal and Whitney Houston. Chin strokers need not apply.

Back over to Centre Stage then (keep up), for Erol Alkan, a man perhaps synonymous with Bugged Out more than any other performer. At this point, up against Heidi and Loefah, the lineup was an embarrassment of riches, but the decision to stick with Alkan was a good one. Presumably having left the big room electro to his occasional production partner Boys Noize, Erol instead delivered a set more akin to his recent ‘Another Bugged Out Selection’ full of weird broken house and disco, showcasing his often imitated and rarely bettered skill at being both crowd-pleasing and idiosyncratic all at once. Closing with his enigmatic ‘Forever Dolphin Love’ remix, it was then time for celebrated techno curmudgeon Scuba to take over and conclude the evening.

Whilst never looking like he particularly wanted to be at Butlins, Scuba nonetheless steadily and classily showcased just how many great releases his own Hotflush Recordings have put out over the past year or so, and how many are still likely to come. Whilst his big room techno sets might still not to be the taste of everyone, it’s undeniably a fully formed sound at this point, and one that was the perfect choice to finish off such a relentless night. However, feeling a need to keep moving and cheat our own bodies, the tail end of another Jackmaster set called back down in Reds. Whilst I’ve been led to believe we missed Scuba roll out Madonna’s Vogue, Jackmaster had another crowd in rapture to Womack and Womack’s Teardrops, and then more, as Butlins let the night roll on until 7AM. As the crowd rolled out into the bitter early morning cold, just one question remained on everyone’s lips - “What time does the Spar start selling booze?” The answer: 8AM. The reaction: catatonic.

Sunday

By Sunday evening, the local mutant seagulls have started eyeing up the bins and passing Skream in a bar, even he’s starting to look tired. More snowfall calls for more layers and unfortunately, the cold weather claims the attendance of Joy Orbison and Dave Clarke, both stuck in Germany, although not together in a lodge on a mountain, as far as I know. With a big room bill in Centre Stage of Eats Everything, Maya Jane Coles and Julio Bashmore, we instead opt for three extended, joyous hours of Andrew Weatherall and Ivan Smagghe, two other top tier members of the Bugged Out board. 

In front of a healthy crowd of young and old, many taking the optional ‘Acid House Sunday’ fancy dress theme quite seriously, the pair started off gently with some trademark sound weirdo disco and bassline driven business, including a spectacular Echo and the Bunnymen edit (not a band I expected to hear over the weekend), and worked up towards some throbbing acid techno, with a token volume boost to match. Taking the reigns for the final stretch, Weatherall played nice, or nastily, into Blawan. The new prince of mad UK techno had garnered quite a crowd, all doubtlessly keen to have one last blast as the event neared its end.

Playing all vinyl, and hardly dropping a hit besides his own perversely anthemic ‘Why They Hide They Bodies’, the unassuming Yorkshireman embarked on two hours of the most screaming, breathless techno of the weekend, leaving absolutely no prisoners, and yet leaving people begging for it harder and weirder too. Whilst Blawan’s style might theoretically suit a high-energy Saturday night slot, he still proved utterly hypnotic deep into the early hours of Monday morning. Taking over in replacement of Dave Clarke, Justin Robertson returned to follow Blawan - not an enviable job for any DJ, but still delivered some brilliant, weird and heavy tunes to finish up in Reds. However, it felt like an act of duty to nip upstairs for a change of pace and catch house and disco legend Frankie Knuckles. The mood was utterly jubilant for Knuckles, and it was heartening to see such a range of clubbers in celebration of such an artist.

Bugged Out perhaps lacks the finesse or range of the likes of Bloc (or at least in its previous, more successful holiday camp form), but its organisers and the embracing crowd are to be applauded for delivering a line-up that sticks to the roots of the club and yet isn’t afraid to move forward as scenes and sounds evolve. Same time next year please, and hold the snow.

Words: John Thorp

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