Dancers and party people from Lancaster, Manchester and other points of the compass gathered at the Band on the Wall on Friday 7 May to be energised and entertained in another sweaty & happy non-stop night of celebrating beats. These Sourpuss nights really are worth going to – it's always good to leave home for an adventure, especially when it's such a treat for the ears.

Deejaying for Sourpuss were party boys Cheeky Munky, Mr Ed (a horse is a horse…) and Rob da Pensioner, also live PA from the extremely talented Freear; whilst the much-loved Steve Thorpe crossed over from Tangled, plus Jonny Likes Vinyl.

As if this richness wasn't enough, the final two hours were occupied by the meteorically rising stars of breakbeat world, Koma & Bones. These people are not only excellent tunesmiths (buy their albums!) but the two of them that venture out are pretty damn fine DJs as well. A word of explanation – the 3rd member of K&B, Jude, is a teknikal geek wizard of the highest order, and rarely ventures from his magic cave…(Read the archived interview with Koma & Bones on virtual-lancaster.net.)

Bones delighted the crowd for the penultimate hour, then along came Koma who really whipped the dancers into a frenzy – no mean feat considering that the heat and the sweat in the Band on the Wall resulted in a kind of imposed communal weekend weight loss.

The venue itself was warm (extremely warm!) and friendly – not a trace of big city posing or arrogance – and Perksy found herself wishing, wishing, for a similar venue or two in Lancaster. You know, somewhere slightly underground yet friendly, independent (not part of a big plastic chain), a happily mixed group of punters… Didn't we have a place like that once?

Perksy Jobsworth
20/5/04

Photos by Hoodwinked