UPRISING - RAVIN EYE REVIEW 2010

The legendary Uprising reached it’s 15th birthday this year and after making a (long-overdue!) trip to Sheffield to join in their celebrations we caught up with promoter Topgroove (aka Bri) to get some background information on one of the North of England’s most iconic events.

Starting life at Revolution in Rotherham in January 1995, Bri was first booked in the July of the same year and by 1996 was settled as a resident. His passion for promoting took hold a few years later and by 2002 he was the owner and sole promoter of all Uprising events.

Happy birthday! So, how many people are involved in the running of Uprising today and what are their roles?
Uprising has a core team looking after the day-to-day running of the event, though the number does grow on events days and we have a few people with specific roles inbetween events; flyer design, website content and coaches.
Being such a small core team (for the most part there are two of us running Uprising) we do tend to work together on most things though one of us takes the lead organising events (bookings, venue hire, contracts, flyers and all that stuff) while the other deals with more of the geeky, techie stuff like maintaining and developing the website and our IT infrastructure, looking after equipment, dealing with third parties and all manner of logistical stuff.
On event days the Uprising team grows and all our roles change. Myself and Andy take on the task of overall management. We’re the first ones into a venue to set up and the last ones out after packing everything down. We’re almost always to be found front-of-house and available to our customers as well as liaising with venue staff, security and management. When we’re not out front we’re stage managing the main and OneVision arenas or mingling with the crowd. We’re never far away from the action and on hand to deal with any problems.
Everyone will have met Andrea and Tracy who look after the box office and pay all the wages. They’ll greet everyone with a smile and are on first name terms with many of our customers. Once you’ve handed over your money most people will have met Josh (MC Lumin) who, amongst other things, makes sure everyone has their wristbands on and very often will be back on the doors at the end to make sure everyone gets flyers for the next event.
Inside we have Kleiny (DJ Klein) looking after our second arena and the needs of the up and coming talent. He’s also the go-to man for anyone who has a demo for us to listen to. In the main room you’ll find MattyD looking after our lighting and visuals and more recently taking photo’s. Then there’s Lieghanne who runs the merchandise stall for us. Then there’s Kev (T.D.K.) who organises many of the coaches and he’s helped by a handful of dedicated fans.

What has been your largest event to date?
The 12th Birthday party at the Plug and Halloween at the o2 last year.

PLUG has become the home of Uprising in recent times but you’ve used many venues in the Sheffield area over the years, do you have a favourite and why?
Each venue has its own special place and memories in the history of Uprising so it would be unfair to single out any one as being a favourite. That said, if you ask the fans they all have their own favourite.

Back in the nineties Uprising was a weekly event at the Adelphi, what factors led to the change in scheduling? Do you think you’d ever return to a weekly event?
The nineties were a huge time for dance music in general not just Hardcore but also brands like Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Cream etc. However, as with everything, people can’t get enough of it to begin with then once it has peaked things change quickly and almost all weekly events from the nineties have now gone monthly or less. We did venture into making the event fortnightly a few years ago but this proved not to be the best move so we went back to our regular monthly slot where we’ve been ever since. There’s much less disposable income around these days and with the current state of the economy we don’t feel a weekly event is viable at this time.

Who are your resident djs/mcs? Were any of these booked by you when you started out?
Our current resident DJ’s are myself (Topgroove), Jake Nicholls and Spinner. When I took over, Jake and Spinner were the names people were talking about and they were starting to make their mark so I decided to bring them in.
We have a number of resident MC’s some of which have been with Uprising from the early days and some we’ve introduced. We’ve taken a slightly different approach to introducing new residents, we don’t! As with all performers some come and some go, however, rather than simply replacing a leaving MC we have created a roster who we use as regular guests. As an event this gives us more flexibility and more variety for the fans.

We have found that particularly with regards to mcs, there is a real difference in style between northern and southern events in the UK, is this something you notice as a promoter?
It’s probably one of the biggest things we notice and recognise. It’s a bit of a double edged sword and dare we say one of the most hotly discussed issues surrounding the scene in the north. On the one hand it’s great we have our own identity in the north. However, at the same time it does act as a barrier to attracting ravers from the south to events just a few miles north. It’s a delicate balancing act to get the balance right with regards to MC’s and putting together line ups that appeal to ravers both north and south alike. Perhaps the biggest differences are that the southern style MC’s are more showmen and entertainers with a more polished and slicker presentation, where as the northern MC’s are a little more raw and rough around the edges and have a more intimate relationship with the fans.

What are the best and worst things about running Uprising?
The long hours are probably the worst thing to deal with. Being such a small team we tend to do everything in-house which does mean there are lots of late nights and early mornings. Trying to find family and down time can be hard to do. It’s the price we pay for being lucky enough to have one of the best jobs anyone could ask for.
The best thing has without doubt got to be the feeling we get when we take a step back and look at what’s happening and what we’ve managed to achieve. From the production to the DJ’s and MC’s on stage looking out over a sea of happy smiling faces having a great time, knowing that we’ve taken an empty venue and created something that everyone enjoys and knowing they will all take away memories that will be with them forever is a feeling that can’t be surpassed. It makes everything we do worthwhile.

How do you think the current scene compares to that of the mid-late nineties?
It’s nothing like it was back in the nineties and even less like the scene we first got into way back in the late eighties-early nineties. The music has changed, the fans have changed and perhaps most of all, expectations have changed. Gone are the days when a dark n dirty warehouse with a few lights and a sound system would be enough to guarantee a sell-out event. Fans today expect much more; bigger line ups; more variety; better production; clean, comfortable, safe and well-equipped venues are just a few of the things. The scene peaked in the late nineties and appears to have peaked again in the last year or so, so the time is right for the scene to re-invent itself and a change in the style of Hardcore being produced will be the key element to it.

One of your latest ventures, Go Tell Yo’ Momma Records is due for launch as we go to print, what can you tell us about the label and what can we expect from it over the coming months?
Over the past year I’ve been working more and more with Mc Keyes and we have a lot of the same visions, one of which is to release music to represent our events. Instead of setting up our own labels we thought why not run one together. With the momentum GTYM has built up with artist mixes we thought it was the logical name to use.The label was initially put together to promote the music of our resident DJ’s & MC’s (i.e. Keyes, Myself, Hyperforce, Ben X-treme and others) although we have now added legendary producer DJ Devastate to the ranks as he produces some really cool stuff that’s a bit more leftfield than what most labels are releasing at the moment, which we think the scene is really missing.
We Launch the label in March with our first two vinyl releases featuring two massive four-track EP’s that should be available as you read this and will also be available shortly after on all good digital download stores.(The label launch party was on March 27th @ Ravers Reunited – check the review in this issue!)

Do you think your vast experience working as a dj has influenced aspects of promoting? If so what?
When I’m out playing and wearing my DJ’s hat I have an appreciation for what the promoters of the events I’m playing at are going through. If things aren’t going to plan for them I’m better placed to understand and maybe even help because chances are, as a promoter, I will have had similar experiences in the past.
From a promoters point of view I have the advantage of playing at many events around the country so I get to see what others are up to, what’s working for them and what isn’t.
On a day to day basis, being both a promoter and a DJ means I’m in touch with anyone and everyone which has the advantage of allowing me to build up excellent working and personal relationships with countless people involved in the scene.

For any ravers who haven’t experienced Uprising what message would you give them to encourage them to come?
It may be cold up north but there’s always a warm welcome at Uprising. Seriously though, we pride ourselves on having what we think are the friendliest fans around. Anyone can come to Uprising for the first time, on their own, and leave with a handful of new friends. Regulars will tell you Uprising is a way of life. It’s not just about the event, once you’ve been to Uprising you become part of the Uprising family. Of course we would say all this, so rather than simply take our word for it, why not come and see for yourselves....

And we did!  We popped our Uprising cherry at their 15th Birthday event held in the O2, Sheffield and suffice to say we can only verify Bri’s sentiment above. The ravers were without doubt a friendly bunch, and the focus of the night seemed to be purely about the music. That may sound an obvious statement but there was a very clear difference between this and so many of the regular events we attend. The sets were unexpected in content and order and the variety of styles of mcing was huge. In many cases there was less of a constant focus on the stage, with ravers concentrating their efforts on having a good bloody stomp with their mates or anyone who wanted to join them. Even the dancers looked like they were thoroughly in the moment, not just stretching and showing off their cleavage, just getting sweaty and down to the beats like they were out in the crowd, and that for me speaks volumes about the heart of Uprising. There are few events which encompass the underground vibe so meticulously. Perhaps it’s down to the vast experience of Uprising’s boss, but it’s definitely something that can’t be bottled and is a real variation in raving that should be experienced by ravers North and South alike.