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24 Hour Rave Review - Tillate Magazine

Thousands of ready-to-go revellers waited in the midday sun in the dawn of the unknown, in what was being labelled as ‘rave utopia’.

This was no ordinary rave, this was infact the ’24 hour rave’. Saturday 20 September saw the iconic Rainbow Venues host the first ever charity based rave experiment, taking over what would normally be a quiet Saturday afternoon in Digbeth, and filling it with people from far and wide all moving along to a variety of genres including House, Drum ‘n’ Bass, Techno, Garage, Hardstyle and Hardcore.

With the main aim of raising proceeds to go to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the event saw the whole of The Rainbow being utilised to cater for as many different genres that could be thought of, making sure that no-one would be disappointed when they wanted to let themselves go and just dance. Birmingham’s finest night-time event brands such as Seedy Sonics, Shadow City, Portal, 2:31 and EBL all showcased their talent to keep the crowd energised for as long as their mind, bodies and souls could take.

From early afternoon it was the main stage located under the railway arches which caught the biggest crowd. Seedy Sonics took the deck duties early on with the regular DJs of the brand such as LFM & Mali, who alongside the crew played a mix of house and bass to the eager crowd swaying away and sipping on their drinks. The style was effortless with the crowd dancing to a soundtrack of more popular house tracks such Ninetoes and Disclosure; the crowd couldn't resist singing back, giving an all-round happy and pleasant vibe.

Although hidden away in the corner of the arena, it was the DAVE stage which was the highlight stage of the day, providing the darker and techier sounds of house music. Considering how popular such music is, alongside how good the DJs of the stage were, it was a shame of the location of it. The stage seemed to be more of a soundtrack to those who wanted to grab some food or dared to have a go on the fairground rides within the arena.

As the sun went down and the darkness descending upon those still with plentiful of energy within them, it was the Warehouse which came alive. After the crowd had to say goodbye to the main stage under the arches, they filled the warehouse rapidly, which was being hosted under the joint partnership of the brands Portal, Dolce Vita and Resonate. With still over 9 hours to go, the crowd were surprisingly energised; cheering and pumping their fists to every beat and drop that filled the almighty space of the Rainbow. For those not feeling it, The Garden provided Drum ‘n’ Bass and The Morgue played garage right till the very end too, still allowing a choice of genres to pick from.

The warehouse saw plenty of DJs to play within the remaining time; Scott Waldron, Bradley Hughes, Stephan Taylor and Oli Neiyyar were just a few to name who gave the crowd their dose of house, deep and techno from Sonny Fodera and Cajmere to Maceo Plex right until the very end. The last ten minutes saw the crowd give their last bout of energy to the sound of Make Luv by Room 5, singing in all their glory until it faded away, taking everybody back to the reality that it was infact midday on a Sunday in September.

From start to finish, the 24 hour rave ran smoothly; everyone kept in good spirit and the additions alongside the music such as the chill out area and the film room tent added that little extra bit to complete the package of the day.

Mixmag Work

Magazine Design Work

All work showcased here was designed by me using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator

Front and back page:

 

Inside introduction page:

 

Nineteen degrees two page spread:

Cityfly one page piece:

 

Him_self_Her one page piece:

Beat it poetry jam piece:

Flying High - Magazine Work

Joanne Philpott catches up with Jonna Ilife, one of City Fly Records founding fathers

If you’re into house music, then there is no doubt that you would have come across City Fly.

Starting off as a night, City Fly has now built into its own record label. Originally the brainchild of three school friends, Ashley Stevenson, Dale Tonks and Jonna Ilife, City Fly later welcomed Darran Pownall and James Sheerin on board.

“Although we were all doing a few nights around the city, we decided to step things up a gear by starting a bigger event, with high profile guests we were into at the time,” Jonna tells me.

He continued: “We booked Inland Knights and Phil Weeks for the first cou­ple of events. Luckily both events were a success as we had no money to cover costs if they flopped.”

Before City Fly started, Leicester was a very different place music-wise, and the sound of the City Fly that Jonna, Ashley and Dale brought to Leicester was what made it such a success. Even now, City Fly is something which no other nights in Leicester have.

“Nowadays the more generic ‘Deep House’ seems to be the ‘in’ thing but you can always expect to hear something different at a City Fly night that you wouldn’t anywhere else in the City,” Jonna said.

The summer of 2011 was when the five piece decided to make a big step - they started City Fly records. The label incor­porates what they are about - firstly their music, and secondly (and most impor­tantly) their passion, respect and love for the music and artists that they release on their label.

Telling me more about the label, Jonna said “The label is run from the heart. We don’t look to follow any sort of musical trends and we never put out music that we don’t 100 per cent agree on. Quality over quantity!”

The label releases a variety of artists - ranging from well established individuals, to some that aren’t so well-known. City Fly Records look beyond those who do not have a name, and instead they listen to their ears for something which catches their attention.

A few of the artists on the label include Andres, DJ Nature, Red Rack’em, Fred P, Medlar. Not only are they released on City Fly’s label, but also on some of the World’s best labels, which resides in City Fly being a big part of that. Creative Swing Alliance and Kez YM, who are also both released on the label have been the most successful taking into consideration of feed­back, exposure and sales.

Every release sees City Fly Records grow stronger and stronger. More and more options are created due to the label gaining more exposure, which means for the crew that they can approach more artists they are interested in. “We’ve even managed to invest in some nice remixes too and we keep pushing everything for­ward,” Jonna tells me with delight.

But it’s not all easy going for the label. Understandably, being in a group of five when making such decisions involving the label means that it’s a difficult task. The biggest obstacle is deciding on what should and shouldn’t be released. Howev­er, it’s not a complete downside, as Jonna explains that it means higher quality control with ‘more heads involved.’

But for the rest of it, everything is an enjoyable experience for the City Fly Records crew. Jonna loves exposing great music to the World. “One of my City Fly partners Darran came across a few of our releases in LA on a recent visit.” Now that must be amazing to hear that,

considering City Fly hails from the small city of Leicester.

Not only was that enjoyable for Jonna, but the continuous feedback, as well as the selling numbers of the records that are released on the label from people also brings him delight, and worth keeping City Fly records going. “We’ve made so many friends along the way and we always make an effort to invite them to come and play on our events no matter where they might be based in the World. It’s a real family vibe!”

It seems like there is only one for City Fly records, and that way is up.