Before ATP stole everyone’s ideas came the Dedbeat weekender which was the brain child of Sam Reid, a friend of Nathan from the Big Shoe Corp and Sam’s mate Matt Carter. It first took place in February 2001 at the Vauxhall holiday park in Caister. Outside it was snowing and blowing a harsh easterly wind, but inside it was hot and sweaty with everyone getting their rocks off. All in the ballroom of a run down caravan park 130 miles from London.
Caister was an obvious choice of venue for the Dedbeat crew as it was on the edge of their hometown Great Yarmouth, and the host to one of the UK’s finest soul weekends for over 30 years. I’m not sure this is what Billy Butlins had in mind when he started building these camps in the fifties. Hi-Di Hi it isn’t. Perhaps High-De-High, but then…
Sam and Matt’s idea for their own music event came after visiting the Essential Dance Music Festival at Brighton, England’s prototype seaside resort. “Sponsorship should be for events that need help. Most of these weekenders don’t need financial support. The organisers just get greedy.”
After the fateful Brighton festival Sam asked himself whom he’d like to see at his ideal weekender then, with the help of local electro-creator Mike Dred and his friend, drum ‘n’ bass creator Peshay, he began gathering names together for the first line up. “You have to start at the top and see what happens. We’re picking a dream line-up for us – it’s just about music we love.”
Sam completed a degree in biomechanics before deciding to get involved in running music events. “It’s so different doing this if you come from a science background, in science everything has structure – you can predict results. With running an event like dedbeats there are no laws, only theories. But if we can make it work in February in Caister, then we can make it work anywhere.”