Music Not Diving with Scuba #036 Johnno Burgess: Bugged Out founder on how to run a rave brand for 30 years
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Watch the video episodes of Music Not Diving over at youtube.com/@WeNotDiving
Bugged Out is one of the UK's best-loved and most enduring club brands. From humble beginnings in Manchester, through Sankeys, Cream in Liverpool, fabric and The End in London, right the way through to their enormous 30th birthday at the 15k capacity Drumsheds in London, this is a promotion that has consistently done things right in terms of the music and the vibe.
Johnno Burgess is one of the co-founders, and also the former editor of the legendary Jockey Slut magazine which originally launched the night that became Bugged Out.
We discuss the history of the event with its many successes and occasional failures, the changing landscape over the last 30 years, how they booked Daft Punk for free, and we also get into the golden era of the dance press and how it looks in the current era.
This is a great conversation with a relatively unsung hero of UK dance culture. Get involved!
Grab the new Bugged Out book here
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Listen to the music discussed on the show via the Music Not Diving Podcast Spotify playlist
Chapters:
00:00 Brought to you by Acid Nation
02:13 Episode start
02:50 Bugged Out at 30
04:54 Changing fashion on the floor
07:28 The golden age of dance music journalism
12:45 Influencers are the new fanzines
18:08 The birth of Jockey Slut
24:00 From magazine to club night
27:30 The Manchester club scene
30:49 Closure of clubs and pop-up spaces
36:10 Trust and curation
44:12 Nation, Cream and Liverpool
47:20 First Bugged Out Weekender
52:30 Festival curation
55:00 Moving away from Liverpool
59:05 The End - 8 defining years
01:02:00 When clubs started disappearing
01:03:30 Drumsheds, Printworks and mega-rooms
01:05:50 The role of private equity
01:13:00 Highs and lows
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