Crave aka the rave in the cave (see what we did there!) started in early 2006 and was a regular but unpredictable feature of Nottinghams night scene for almost three years. It was a free party held in a sandstone cave network by a lake on Nottingham uni campus. We aimed to increase the vibe with every night so each one contained various treats and surprises, as well as the usual mix of the best electronic music around and forest drizzled nature vibes. Crave’s story has never been told, so below, for the first time ever, is a true, faithful and honest history of Crave.
In the beginning there was Khaos. Existing in nothing and containing everything. He was known in other forms - as the void… as Brahma… as Tiamat, the mother of all…
Khaos gave birth to the first three primordial forces: first was Gaia, known as Terra, Mother Earth - Nature. Then came Nyx, the seductive Night, who occupied the Cave. And finally Eros, him of frenzied passion, merged of Ares and Aphrodite, strife and beauty, who came to the Cave in Gaia’s body to join with Nyx.
And so, embraced in Nature, He who was Love and War danced in the Night and very earth shook with their repetitive thuds. Demi-gods and dryads watched on in voyeuristic glee, and danced their own furious dance to the music of Pan’s flute, which carved out eerie melodies over the rhythmic beat of these higher beings. And so the Rave, and psytrance, was born, from Love and the Night.
Afterwards, they rested. In the sandstone-carved Cave these primeval forces slept, undisturbed, for a millennia. The Meliae, nymphs of the Ash tree, cousins of the Kodama and Ghillie Dhu, sprung from the blood of Gaia’s husband Uranus and the very first of the ravers, watched from their wooden homes as their sanctuary was surrounded by bricks and concrete and human authorities outlawed the entheogens that allowed contact between them.
Now the Meliae are sprung from the same blood as the Erinyes - the Furies, those deathly dispensers of justice. And so, sharing their desire for vengence, they sought to wake the slumbering forces and make the world once again shudder to the beat of their hedonistic dance. In recent times, they led to the Cave a group of wandering Cantheists, seeking shelter from Gaellic Facists and paying respects to friends from far-flung exotic lands. Through shower radios a pale imitation of that ancient bass (for all music is an attempt to recreate this half-forgotten innate knowledge - the holy syllable Aum, said to be the first sound, is merely a lengthening of a single bass beat) indeed stirred the depths of the Cave.
As these gods woke, Crave grew…
The rest lives only in the memory of those who came and the images they mined from the seams of joy.