Editors Pick: Bangface Weekender 2020

Published on 2020-05-29 00:00:00 by Jack Hunter

For this edition of Editors Pick, Jack takes us back to the rave. “Its been a while since Ive had the opportunity to go outside and lose myself to music in front of a sound system, so theres no better time to read this gonzo-styled documentation of the last rave on Earth. Hopefully, it will remind you how good it feels to dance with ya pals until you cant remember your name or the pin code to unlock your phone. Some doors were harmed in the making of this account.”

Keep Jumpin, Ya Bastards!!!

This was the sample from Luke Viberts jungle set on the Friday night that ended up sticking with me for the rest of the weekend. I had never been to Bang Face before but I had been told stories about it. Actually, I was told one story. “Itll ruin you and leave you branded for the rest of your life… but in a good way.” This was news that excited me, since any kind of challenge on my resilience to madness is something I look forward to. There was, however, a lot of truth to that statement.

My main mantra of the weekend was as follows “Whatever happens, dont stress yourself out”. This, my friends, was hedonism (from concentrate). Anyone who goes to festivals knows this is something to be mindful of things go wrong, forks in the road always appear; whether that be not knowing until youre on your way to the festival that everyone has to pay a forty quid deposit and youve got about sixty to your name, or the idea that your chalet might not have a functioning front door by the end of the weekend. I will neither confirm nor deny either of the two as true.

I would also like to preface the following account as being nowhere near a definitive review of the weekend. Think of the following rather as a casual discourse, rather than a play-by-play.

I had no expectation of what was ahead of me I am referring specifically to the on-site accommodation. Flickering lights, a broken heater, a nice little mold tract on top of the bedroom ceilings. Lovely stuff. Made the house a home. We all bundled in around six oclock in the evening, planning ahead who we wanted to see that night. We had agreed to only plan day-by-day so as to not overwhelm ourselves with possibilities. The first of which was Luke Vibert. After some spit and shine, we headed out into the abyss of the raucous hard dance that awaited us.

Bang Face is split up into three rooms: the Bang Room (basically, the main stage in a giant hall, hosting everyone from Tommy Cash through to our set of the weekend, from Scanone), the Face Room (a more horizontally floor planned room on the opposite side) and The Queen Vic (a pub where the cast of Eastenders would fight each other to the death). I made that last bit up but dont tell anyone. Anyway, each of these settings was connected to an arcade centre in the middle, which turned more and more into a fairground of madness as the nights peaked. People sitting on teacups with one member playing a recorder, all dressed in eccentric kit, simultaneously somber but mostly hilarious. It depends on how you wished to look at it, really. Dont let the fear set in just yet, lads.

However, probably the best fucking thing Ive ever seen was a massive interactive Roland 303 between the Bang Room and Queen Vic, with touch-sensitive lights on either side of the verbose controller. If you ever caught yourself in a vortex of creativity or at a loose end (neither are mutually exclusive, I will add), you would definitely seek solace in this beautiful invention. Knowing when to stop on this thing was a true mark of self-restraint. Some say people are playing on this device as we speak, so I salute our acid comrades in fighting the good fight.

As we rolled into the main room to see Luke, you could tell that you were in a Hard Crew mecca flashing and pulsating visuals, coupled with a stacked sound system that truly blew me away. Smiles all around. Everyone was there for the right reasons. This was what music festivals were all about a balanced dichotomy of humour and fun. This isnt to say that the festival is just an ironic stint; far from it, in fact. The event management, artist curation, literally everything you could think of was water-tight, and in the right way.

I honestly cant think of one thing that wasnt handled well and thats really saying something, since thanks to the unfortunate COVID-19 Virus that has been turning all our grandparents into the undead with a thirst for the flesh, there were cancellations on a fair amount of artists who had originally been penned to play for the weekend. This resulted in extended sets, some fantastic round twos of previous DJs who had played before (Jerome Hill was a significant example. Every time I see that man I feel truly blessed to have functioning ears), and most importantly, no panicked stand-stills. Organisers of Bang Face, I salute you!

The other two rooms were great in their own right. Although I spent the least amount of time in there, the Face Rooms layout felt easily manoeuvrable. In fact, come to think of it, the whole festival seemed easy to navigate through. I rarely found myself caught in a crux somewhere, which is definitely something to be said! Every room had a bar, too, which is obviously of paramount importance, and the bar staff were incredibly friendly and approachable. Banter and beer a-flowing.

My favourite room of the whole festival had to be the Queen Vic. Now Im not entirely sure if it was because of it being the smallest of the three, but the frequencies in that room made all the levels pop like no-ones business. Also, the smoking area was next door, and if anyone knows one thing about me, its that I love chuffing ciggies. It gives me my powers. Anyway. In this room is where I managed to catch the likes of Jerome Hill and the Dont crew on Friday night, Brain Rays’ incredible set filled with most of his own fast & furious productions, and plenty of brutal breakcore and bassline (ofc)! The stops were pulled out in full force and their dynamic range of sonics kept my ass shaking and finger-tips tingling to the very last second.

So how would I rate my overall experience at Bang Face? Bang fucking tidy, but also, bang fucking messy as well. The Hard Rave Crew are truly a blessed specimen, a crew I hope to share a dance with again in the future! I mightve been truly branded and scarred from some of the onslaughts that I had experienced, but, as they say, what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger. Im glad that the only virus I ended up catching at the end of it was the desire for more uncompromising, pounding chaos.

If found, bury at Bang Face, and dont forget keep jumping, ya bastards!!