*NEW EXTENDED MIX EDITION FEATURING EXTRA CHAPTERS*
Nominated for Audiobook of the Year at the 2024 ARIAS Awards
'Love this book! It triggers so many memories of the rave era. Thoroughly recommended.' - FATBOY SLIM
'Captures the hedonism and humour of the nineties with a laugh-out-loud honesty. The perfect Ibiza holiday read...if you can get it through customs!' - JUDGE JULES
'Some great stories from those early rave days. Really made me giggle.' - CARL COX
As a humble barman at the M25 Orbital raves, Kirk Field witnessed the moment acid house exploded. Inspired by media lies to start writing the truth about what he saw unfolding, Kirk became a 'raving' reporter for the clubbers' bible Mixmag, covering the historic parties from the inside and sending sweat-soaked dispatches from distant dancefloors as the scene expanded across Europe and beyond.
With a cast of characters including Diego Maradona, Timothy Leary, the KLF, Michael Eavis, Genesis P-Orridge, Brigitte Nielsen, Boris Yeltsin, Boy George, Saddam Hussein's wife, the president of Tunisia, the CIA, the KGB, Dave Courtney, Norman Lamont's dominatrix and even Her Majesty the Queen, Kirk's whirlwind account of the golden age of clubbing tells the story of what really happened in the 'naughty '90s', exposing the seedy underbelly of rave culture while also capturing the nostalgic spirit of the era.
Told through a mixture of vivid first-person narrative, surreal insider anecdotes and incisive social commentary, this honest, hilarious and uncensored postcard of hedonism will appeal to anyone who's ever put their hands in the air like they just don't care. Kirk Field was re-born in June 1989 in a courtyard in Hackney and spent the next decade of his life dancing, travelling, writing, singing and promoting some of London's biggest club nights, his words appearing in the likes of Mixmag, DJ Mag and the NME.
In 1999, he formed a bespoke clubbing travel company, becoming the first person to deliver international club cruises from the UK. His knowledge of the scene led to him penning Ibiza guides for everyone from The Sun to Time Out and presenting features on Radio 1 and MTV.
Since 2005, Kirk has helped to develop the world's premier alpine music festival, Snowbombing in Austria, for which he continues to provide creative consultancy and media hosting. A laser-lit, laugh-out-loud trip through the 1990s clubbing scene - a This Is Going to Hurt for the rave generation. Taps into nostalgia market, targeting a demographic who already engage with documentaries about the era they came of age in on BBC 4 and Netflix. To date, no book has discussed this culture from the on-the-ground perspective of a raver, so this account will be more fun, humorous and relatable than existing 'second summer of love' titles penned by journalists, musicologists or DJs. Covering raves in Germany, Holland, Croatia, Tunisia, Spain, Italy, Austria etc., the travelogue-esque format of the book has widespread international appeal. Partner outlets could include: Mixmag (3 million impressions per month and 1.2 million unique users); Vice; DJ Magazine; Skiddle; all major Ibiza online platforms; and a cross-section of US-based EDM-adjacent media. The author will aim to secure a foreword by a well-known DJ who is aware of his work, e.g. Judge Jules, Sasha, Norman Cook.
