Spiral Tribe

Spiral Tribe formed as a sound system in 1990, organising free parties in the UK. Between 1990 and 1992, the collective organised or were involved in over 30 free parties, raves, and festivals in indoor and outdoor locations.{{cite magazine| title= Earthcore: The Chaotic Rise of Spiral Tribe| author= Shaw, William | magazine= Select Magazine: August 1992 | pages=24–30}}{{cite news |last1=Guest |first1=Tim |title=Fight for the right to party |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jul/12/90s-spiral-tribe-free-parties |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=12 July 2009 |language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920222940/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jul/12/90s-spiral-tribe-free-parties|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=live}} The three founding members of Spiral Tribe/SP23 were Mark Harrison, Debbie Griffith and Simone Feeney.{{cite book |last1=Collin |first1=Matthew |title=Altered State: The Story of Ecstasy Culture and Acid House |date=2009 |publisher=Profile Books |isbn=9781846687136 |page=214 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wO0Ik6eNtmcC |language=en |access-date=2 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702135915/https://books.google.cz/books/about/Altered_State.html%3Fid%3DwO0Ik6eNtmcC%26redir_esc%3Dy |archive-date=2 July 2019 |url-status=live }} According to Harrison, the name Spiral Tribe came to him when he was at work, staring at a poster of the interconnecting spirals in an ammonite shell.{{cite web|url=http://www.uncivilizedworld.com/WTA_en.php3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051126135938/http://www.uncivilizedworld.com/WTA_en.php3 |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 November 2005 | title=Uncivilized World – World Traveller Adventures| website=uncivilizedworld.com| accessdate=2 July 2016}} The number 23, which is associated with Spiral Tribe, was introduced by Harrison. Despite allusions to the number having been used by Psychic TV and Robert Anton Wilson, he stated that it "had nothing to do with any pre-existing individual, group or subculture".{{cite web |url=http://datacide-magazine.com/spiral-tribe-interview |title=Spiral Tribe Interview |website=Datacide |date=24 March 2014 |accessdate=6 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502010551/http://datacide-magazine.com/spiral-tribe-interview/ |archive-date=2 May 2016 |url-status=live }}

On New Year's Eve 1991, Spiral Tribe held a rave at the then derelict Roundhouse venue in Camden, London, which lasted for a week. The building had previously been used for an All Night Rave in the 1960s.{{cite web | url= https://50.roundhouse.org.uk/content-items/like-something-mad-max-spiral-tribes-week-long-rave | title= It was like something out of Mad Max: Spiral Tribe's Week Long Rave | author= Leanne Griffin | work= Roundhouse 50 | access-date= 28 September 2018 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180929000524/https://50.roundhouse.org.uk/content-items/like-something-mad-max-spiral-tribes-week-long-rave | archive-date= 29 September 2018 | url-status= live }} Spiral Tribe organised a warehouse rave in Acton Lane, west London on 19 April 1992 (Easter Sunday). The Metropolitan Police decided to shut down the party and since the doors were barricaded, the Territorial Support Group drove a JCB through a wall to enter the party.

In May 1992, the free party circuit moved up a gear and attendances increased heavily. At the beginning of the month, Spiral Tribe joined DiY Sound System and Circus Warp at Lechlade, Gloucestershire.{{cite web|url=https://freepartypeople.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/2nd-may-1992-circus-warp-spirals-etcat-lechlade-festival-gloucestershire/|title=2nd May 1992: Circus Warp, Spirals etc. at Lechlade festival, Gloucestershire|work=Freepartypeople.wordpress.com|date=13 May 2011|access-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603083440/https://freepartypeople.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/2nd-may-1992-circus-warp-spirals-etcat-lechlade-festival-gloucestershire/|archive-date=3 June 2020|url-status=live}} This would reach its peak by the end of May with the Castlemorton Common Festival which became a huge party as an unintended consequence of the police preventing New Age travellers heading for the annual Avon Free Festival. Thirteen members of Spiral Tribe were arrested immediately after the event and subsequently charged with public order offences.Reynolds S, 1998, Energy Flash, Picador, {{ISBN|0-5712-8914-2}}{{cite web|url=https://freepartypeople.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/may-12th-1992-castlemorton-common-free-festival/|title=22nd–29th May 1992: Spiral Tribe, Bedlam, Techno Travellers, Circus Warp, Circus Normal, Adrenalin DiY, and LSdiezel at Castlemorton Common Free Festival, Worcestershire|work=Freepartypeople.wordpress.com|date=5 October 2012|access-date=3 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603083410/https://freepartypeople.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/may-12th-1992-castlemorton-common-free-festival/|archive-date=3 June 2020|url-status=live}} Their trial became one of the longest-running and most expensive cases in British legal history, lasting four months and costing the UK £4 million.Brewster B. & Broughton F., 1999, Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey, Grove Press, {{ISBN|0-8021-3688-5}} Spiral Tribe first use the slogan "Make some fucking noise" on t-shirts which they wore in the court room. The judge ordered them to remove these garments. However, when the female defendants revealed that they wore nothing underneath their T-shirts, the judge reversed his instructions, something quite rare in UK courts.{{cite web|last1=Skeet|first1=Jason|title=|url=https://www.academia.edu/31771032| website=www.academia.edu|publisher=Academia|accessdate=9 March 2017}} Regarding Castlemorton, Nigel South states that "the adverse publicity attending the event laid the groundwork for the Criminal Justice Act 1994".ed. South N., 1999, Drugs: Cultures, Controls and Everyday Life, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|0-7619-5235-7}} Police pressure on the collective was increasing. The week after Castlemorton, Spiral Tribe tried to put on a rave but prospective five venues were all shut down. It then organised a rave at Canada Square beside the then half-built Canary Wharf tower in June 1992, which was attended by 1,000 before being stopped.{{cite news |last1=Dodson |first1=Sean |title=Timeline of anti-capitalism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/apr/28/mayday.seandodson |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=28 April 2000 |language=en}}

After participants were eventually acquitted of all charges relating to Castlemorton in March 1993, half of the group moved to Europe shortly afterwards, doing parties in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria.{{cite news |last1=Guest |first1=Tim |title=Castlemorton and beyond: Fighting for the right to party |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/jul/11/castlemorton-free-party-scene-spiral-tribe |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=11 July 2009 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Ixindamix ... Horse-Drawn Hardcore and Life in Spiral Tribe |url=https://threadsradio.com/ixindamix-in-the-area-horse-drawn-hardcore-and-life-in-spiral-tribe/ |website=Threads Radio |access-date=19 November 2021 |date=26 October 2020}} In Berlin, Spiral Tribe made their base at Kunsthaus Tacheles with the Mutoid Waste Company.{{cite news |last1=Snauwaert |first1=Nathalie |last2=Debruyne |first2=Pascal |title=Een stad heeft nood aan vrijplaatsen |url=https://www.apache.be/gastbijdragen/2018/09/25/een-stad-heeft-nood-aan-vrijplaatsen |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=Apache |date=25 September 2018 |language=nl}}{{cite news |title=This Rare Spiral Tribe Video Will Make You Feel That '90s Rave Intensity |url=https://www.electronicbeats.net/the-feed/rare-spiral-tribe-video-will-make-feel-90s-rave-intensity/ |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=Telekom Electronic Beats |date=1 March 2018}}

Over the next few years, the collective organised parties and teknivals throughout Europe, then it slowly dispersed with some members taking up residence in Germany and the Netherlands and releasing work on Labworks and many other techno labels. Individual members of the collective joined other sound systems such as Facom Unit, Sound Conspiracy and Total Resistance.{{cite journal |last1=Kosmicki |first1=Guillaume |title=Analyse de "Let's play" de Crystal Distortion: Les paradoxes d'un "tube" de la free party |journal=Musurgia |date=2002 |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=85–101 |jstor=40567119 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40567119 |issn=1257-7537}} Spiral Tribe also toured the USA in the late 1990s.{{cite book |last1=St John |first1=Graham |title=Technomad: Global Raving Countercultures. |date=2009 |publisher=Equinox Pub |location=London |isbn=978-1845536251}}

Spiral Tribe became an influential pioneer of the teknival and free party scene in western Europe and north America.{{cite journal |last1=St John |first1=Graham |title=Off Road Show: Techno, Protest and Feral Theatre |journal=Continuum |date=March 2005 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=5–20 |doi=10.1080/1030431052000336261|s2cid=218545244 }} It forged a new techno-punk identity out of rave and New Age traveller culture, which brought in pagan influences.{{cite book |last1=Partridge |first1=Christopher |last2=Moberg |first2=Marcus |title=The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Popular Music |date=6 April 2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4742-3735-2 |page=304 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMoODgAAQBAJ&pg=PA304 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Anderton |first1=Chris |title=Music festival sponsorship: between commerce and carnival |journal=Arts Marketing|date=21 October 2011 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=145–158 |doi=10.1108/20442081111180368}}{{cite news |last1=Tau |first1=Michael |title=Drumcorps – Grist (Cock Rock Disco / Ad Noiseam, 2006) |url=https://anomalyindex.com/2020/08/24/drumcorps-grist-cock-rock-disco-ad-noiseam-2006/ |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=Anomaly Index |date=24 August 2020}} Members of the collective promoted the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin.{{cite journal |last1=Partridge |first1=Christopher |title=The Spiritual and the Revolutionary: Alternative Spirituality, British Free Festivals, and the Emergence of Rave Culture |journal=Culture and Religion |date=March 2006 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=41–60 |doi=10.1080/01438300600625408|s2cid=144121507 }} The music of Spiral Tribe inspired other sound systems such as Desert Storm, Teknocrates, Nomades, OQP and Psychiatrik.{{cite journal |last1=Petiau |first1=Anne |title=Free Parties and Teknivals: Gift-Exchange and Participation on the Margins of the Market and the State |journal=Dancecult |date=2015 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=116–128 |doi=10.12801/1947-5403.2015.07.01.06|doi-access=free }} Low and Barnett opine in Spaces of Democracy that "Spiral Tribe, with their free and inclusive parties, succeeded in constituting an alternative public space, rather than just a secret one".ed. Low M. and Barnett C., 2004, Spaces of Democracy: Geographical Perspectives on Citizenship, Participation and Representation, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|0-7619-4734-5}} Creating temporary autonomous zones through squatting venues, the collective could set the volume as high as it wanted and drug use was not restricted.{{cite web |last1=De Vries |first1=Anne |title=Transformation Through Depoliticization {{!}} |url=https://flash---art.com/article/transformation-through-depoliticization/ |website=Flash Art |access-date=19 November 2021 |date=30 January 2017}}

The DVD World Traveller Adventures (named after the Spiral Tribe track "World Traveller Adventurer") includes films about Spiral Tribe and other sound systems, tracking how they organised parties, as well as overground journeys.{{Cite web |last=Miller III |first=Randy |title=World Traveller Adventures |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/18314/world-traveller-adventures/ |access-date=2025-02-13 |website=www.dvdtalk.com}} In 2019, Seana Gavin put on an exhibition in Paris about the legacy of Spiral Tribe and then released a book called Spiralled.{{cite news |last1=Westall |first1=Mark |title=Seana Gavin / Spiral Baby |url=https://fadmagazine.com/2019/05/28/seana-gavin-spiral-baby/ |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=FAD Magazine |date=28 May 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Rugoff |first1=Lazlo |title=Nineties rave scene captured in new book by Seana Gavin |url=https://thevinylfactory.com/news/nineties-rave-scene-new-book-seana-gavin-spiralled/ |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=The Vinyl Factory |date=7 July 2020}} A documentary entitled Free Party: A Folk History was announced in 2021 which included interviews with members of Spiral Tribe.{{cite news |last1=Coney |first1=Brian |title=New documentary on history of the UK's Free Party Movement is in the works |url=https://djmag.com/news/new-documentary-history-uk-s-free-party-movement-works |access-date=19 November 2021 |work=DJMag |date=20 May 2021}}

In 2011, several of the original members of Spiral Tribe reformed as SP23, a creative collective involved in a number of grassroots and community projects as well as still organising parties.{{cite web|url=http://www.dmcworld.net/features/sp23/|title=SP23|work=DMC World Magazine|author=Dan Prince|date=April 2013}} A return to the UK party was held in London in April 2013 at Village Underground club; the lineup was Crystal Distortion, 69DB, Ixindamix, Jeff23, Meltdown Mickey, the Bad Girlz and Sirius.{{cite web|url=https://history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2013/03/sp23-formerly-spiral-tribe-back-in.html | title=SP23 (formerly Spiral Tribe) back in London |work=History Is Made at Night|date=30 March 2013}} Since then, SP23 have hosted across Europe.{{cite web|url=https://sp23.org/events/ |title= Events – sp23infoblip| website=Sp23.org | accessdate= 13 August 2017}} Members of SP23 are Mark (a.k.a. Stray Wayward), Debbie (a.k.a. Feenix13), David (a.k.a. Dave808), Simone (a.k.a. Sim Simmer), Meltdown Mickey, Simon (a.k.a. Crystal Distortion), Sebastian (a.k.a. 69db), Ixindamix, Jeff 23, Max Volume and Charlie Kane.{{cite web |url=https://sp23.org/crew/ |title=Crew – sp23infoblip |website=Sp23.org |accessdate=27 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318123700/https://sp23.org/crew/ |archive-date=18 March 2017 |url-status=live }} Jeff 23 and Simone formed the group Artists in Action in order to raise money to support refugees by releasing compilation albums.{{cite web |last1=Moayeri |first1=Lily |title=Artists in Action: A Creative Community Fights for the Refugee Cause |url=https://www.insomniac.com/magazine/artists-in-action-a-creative-community-fights-for-the-refugee-cause/ |website=Insomiac |access-date=19 November 2021}}

In 1992, some members of the collective signed to the major label Big Life Records, as a result of the publicity generated from their involvement in the organisation of the Castlemorton Common Festival. Three EPs were released with them enjoying short crossover success with Forward the Revolution and Breach the Peace, an album Tekno Terra, as well as a compilation.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}} The track "Breach the Peace" included samples of police officers talking about Castlemorton.{{cite journal |last1=Fox |first1=Dan |title=24-Hour Party People |journal=World Policy Journal |date=2018 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=3–9 |doi=10.1215/07402775-6894684|s2cid=158322983 }}

Members of Spiral Tribe also released records on their own label Network 23. In 1997, Techno Import, a French commercial distributor, compiled a CD entitled Spiral Tribe: The Sound of Teknival. The CD was released without any consent from members of Spiral Tribe, was advertised on television and sold an estimated 30,000 copies.{{cite journal |last1=Spiral |first1=Mark |title=Teknival – Summer Thunder |journal=Datacide |date=1997 |volume=1 |url=https://datacide-magazine.com/teknival-summer-thunder/ |accessdate=19 November 2021}}

• Tekno Terra (Big Life Records, 1993)

• Spiral Tribe Sound System (The Album) (Big Life, 1993)

• U Make Me Feel So Good (self-released, 1992)
• Spiral Tribe EP (a.k.a. Breach the Peace) (Big Life, 1992)
• Spiral Tribe EP 2 (a.k.a. Forward the Revolution) (Big Life, 1992)
• SP 23 (Rabbit City, 1992)
• Sirius 23 (Big Life, 1993)
• Verdict Not Guilty EP (a.k.a. Black Plastik) (self-released, 1992)
• Don't Take the Piss (Network 23, 1994)
• Definitely Taking Drugs (Network 23, 1994)
• Expekt the Unxpekted (Network 23, 1994)
• This Is Trance (Force Inc, 1994)
• Panasonic (Network 23, 1994)
• Probably Taking Drugs (Network 23, 1994)
• LSP 23 (Network 23, 1994)
• Spiral Tribe 1 (Network 23, 1994)
• Spiral Tribe 2 (Network 23, 1994)
• Spiral Tribe 3 (Network 23, 1994)
• Spiral Tribe 4 (Network 23, 1995)
• Spiral Tribe 5 (Network 23, 1995)
• Power House (Network 23, 1995)
• Power House 02 (Network 23, 1995)
• Full Fill Fromage (Network 23, 1996)
• Strange Breaks (Network 23, 1996)
• Fac'em If They Can't Take a Joke (Facom Unit, 1997)

• Killing Joke – "Change" (Spiral Tribe mixes) (Virgin, 1992)

• Shamanarchy in the UK (Evolution, 1992)
• Survival! The Dance Compilation (Guerilla Records, 1993)
• Technohead – Mix Hard or Die (React Records, 1993)
• World Traveller Adventures (DVD) (Uncivilized World, 2004)
• Aid Asia Compilation (Aid Asia, 2005)

• Exodus Collective

{{Reflist}}

• [https://sp23.org Official site]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070213071715/http://www.spiral-tribe.org:80/page0 Archived Site] at Wayback Machine
• [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Spiral+Tribe Spiral Tribe] discography at Discogs
• [http://www.discogs.com/artist/SP+23 SP-23] discography at Discogs
• [http://parties.are.free.fr/flyers/spiraltribe.html Gallery of Spiral Tribe European flyers]
• [https://freepartypeople.wordpress.com/category/spiral-tribe/ Spiral Tribe on Free Party People]

{{Authority control}}

Category:1990 establishments in England

Category:Sound systems

Category:Collectives

Category:English electronic music groups

Category:Counterculture festivals activists

Category:Rave culture in the United Kingdom

Category:20th-century squatters