The Gathering unites Kiwi techno tribes
Before the cheesy pop excesses of EDM sullied dance music’s good name there was The Gathering – the New Year’s Eve groove festival that drew thousands of ravers into electronic ecstasy on a magical treefringed meadow atop Takaka Hill. Ageing house fiend M
‘‘People could create, dance, hang out and have fun. It was one of the highlights of my life and I’m very proud to have been a part of it.’’ Gathering organiser Alison Green
By the early 1990s New Zealand’s underground electronic dance culture had matured with pioneering clubs like Wellington’s Naked Angel and Auckland’s Box bringing the sound and energy of UK and US rave and club music to urban dancefloors.
By the middle of the decade the music and its various genres had their own scenes, clubs, parties and subcultures, with a now enviable roster of the world’s top DJs and producers regularly playing the main centres – from the likes of DJ Sneak, Ian Pooley and Derrick Carter to Hardfloor, Basement Jaxx and Derrick May.
But it wasn’t until The Gathering that all the various beat disciples – the ravers, house junkies, junglists and techno heads had a place they could get down en masse, and in glorious isolation.
On New Year’s Eve 1997/1998 about 9000 of them converged, uniting at Canaan Downs on Takaka Hill near Nelson in the festival’s second edition.
As the (largely) booze-free party loomed, in December 1997 The Dominion mused on a youth culture undergoing evolution.
The newspaper reported that over 48 hours and five stages, 200 acts and DJs from New Zealand, Britain, Japan and Germany would be spinning musical styles including ‘‘dub, hip-hop, reggae, drum and bass, trance, techno, house and funk.’’
‘‘If these sound unfamiliar, it’s probably an indication of the changing youth culture which is turning away from guitar-oriented sounds to those of a more electronic nature,’’ reporter Anna Fyfe wrote.
Organiser Grant Smithies told Fyfe at the time: ‘‘It’s a significant thing for New Zealanders that people are starting to participate in the vibe of dance music.
‘‘New Zealand men used to be the type that needed to get drunk before they would dance. Even then it would be a sort of shuffle from side to side. The main difference between the dance culture and guitar culture is participation.’’
By the time me and my pals arrived at the 97/98 Gathering we were primed to participate having driven from Wellington buoyed by UK DJs Sasha and John Digweed’s now seminal prog house mix album Northern Exposure.
After slowly winding up the rough, single lane gravel road to Canaan Downs we set up our tents and got ready as Daft Punk’s Homework album was thrashed from various boom boxes and car stereos around the camp.
From there the weekend was a hedonistic blur spent mostly throwing shapes in the bouncy glow of the house tent or hypnotically grooving in the main outdoor trance zone.
For much of the 48 hours I also recall hallucinogenic ramblings through the fairylit forested microgullies that encircled the zone while talking cosmic cobblers to happy strangers and friends alike.
Gathering 97/98 organiser and site manager Josephine Cachemaille said the lack of alcohol had a huge impact on the feeling of the party, allowing gatherers – especially women – the freedom to lose themselves in the sensuous surrounds without any booze-fuelled aggro.
The peaceful sense of safety also meant the festival’s atmosphere – with its policy of harm reduction – was conducive to anyone taking recreational drugs.
‘‘You could really have seriously good fun and it stayed like that... it was a happy, positive, collective experience,’’ Cachemaille said of the festival, which ran between 1996 and 2002.
After the 97/98 event, then 26-year-old Amanda Spiers told the Nelson Mail the party had boosted her self-confidence.
‘‘I’m going to go away from here feeling it has probably changed my life. I just feel a lot more positive, it’s a real nurturing place.’’
Organiser and Gathering documentary producer Alison Green said the crew, artists and punters had created magic at Canaan Downs.
‘‘We were up in the middle of nowhere so we had to bring every plug and lightbulb and we created this whole magical world where people behaved the best they could be,’’ Green said.
‘‘People could create, dance, hang out and have fun. It was one of the highlights of my life and I’m very proud to have been a part of it.’’
*Watch The Gathering 97/98 documentary here.