My weekend begins with Friday morning breakfast outside the Canteen on Stokes Croft, just north of Bristol city centre. Stokes Croft is a melting pot of counterculture, innovation, art and enterprise, set amid an ever-changing landscape of graffiti and temporary installations (as well as being the ignition point of riots against the unwelcome presence of Tesco).
The Canteen is part of Coexist (coexist.hamiltonhouse.org), a community-interest company which was set up in the long-derelict Hamilton House at 80 Stokes Croft to provide space for creative arts, dance, live music and recording studios, as well as a great place for food and to hang out. As I'm finishing my omelette, Emma (Wright, also part of underground party organiser Tribe of Frog: tribeoffrog.com) arrives and we grab another coffee before heading on. We've a long weekend of partying ahead and there are tunes to acquire and costumes to make.
A short way up the road is the Freeshop, a very alternative "shopping" experience run by volunteers in a squatted unit that had stood empty for almost a decade. Its concept is simple: take what you want and give what you don't. Bringing freecycle to the high street, it's become invaluable to the local homeless and alternative thinkers. Emma drops off a bag of old clothes and we have a rummage, hoping to find some costume inspiration for tomorrow night's Jungle-themed big party. Ah, stuffed toy parrot, this will be great!
Next stop is Idle Hands (74 Stokes Croft, idlehandsbristol.com), one of the few remaining independent record shops in Bristol. It specialises in home-grown vinyl from local dubstep and drum'n'bass producers. Chris Farrell, the driving force behind this important space for Bristol's tight-knit musical community, greets us with a smile as I dig in to the racks to find a few new tunes for my set on Saturday night. Result!
Parrot and tunes in hand we head home. I'm working tonight, serving fine local scrumpy in the Duke of York (2 Jubilee Road), a rabbit warren of a pub in St Werburghs which blends contemporary street art with tradition to form its own quirky but cool style. Yosh, my boss and the licensee, has just bought some new pins for the well-used and loved old-school skittle alley.
On Saturday Emma is crafting a costume from the parrot and bits of felt, while I'm selecting tunes for tonight and checking my messages and what's going on at hijackbristol.co.uk, Bristol's alternative music forum. It's a blazing sunny day, so with that done, we head out to St Andrews Park (friendsofstandrewspark.ning.com) to meet up with friends. The park is buzzing with people, small sound systems, barbecues, jugglers, poi spinners and Frisbees. Everyone seems to be here, soaking up the sun and the good vibes. Some nutter is doing naked cartwheels down the hill. As the sun goes down, well-fed from our communal barbecue, we head to the quintessential pre-party pub and old Massive Attack hang-out, The Bell on Hillgrove Street, for a few drinks and to listen to local dubstepper Peverelist playing over the hubbub of crowd.
Emma nips to the loos and slips into her costume; I grab my tune bag and we excitedly dash to the Lakota (lakota.co.uk) Bristol's longest-running underground venue, run by our good friend Mike Ind, one of the original old-school dance scene promoters. It's Tribe of Frog tonight, a massive night that takes days of preparation as the venue is transformed with a riot of themed ultra-violet decor from floor to ceiling across four different areas. It's mental. People travel here from across the country, drawn by its famed positive and friendly atmosphere.
Emma is on the door, greeting the wide variety of people that come to the night (the oldest regulars are in their seventies). I'm playing some electro wobble bass on the top floor, which has been turned into a cave complete with stalactites, while the main room is throbbing with psytrance in a mind-bending jungle setting that looks like something out of Avatar. At about 7am the last tune drops and talk turns to the Psychedelic ResistDance party that's happening deep down in the Avon Gorge. We hightail it there to catch the last few hours, dancing among the trees and cliffs, before heading back to mine to pass out.
On Sunday evening, we awake in a daze. Food! The Kebele (14 Robertston Road, Easton, kebelecoop.org) is calling. This community cafe and space began life in 1995 as a squat for homeless activists. It quickly grew to become a hub and information centre for local eco-campaigners, as well as providing a bike workshop, library, yoga classes, meeting space and a low cost, donation-based, vegan cafe. Content and fed, we head home.
Wicki Nielsen is a resident DJ with underground party promoter Tribe of Frog, based at Lakota
