Cowley Road\'s New Years Eve Festival feat. Rat Pack

Simple, ZAIA, Count Skylarkin and Skylarkin\' Soundsystem, Old Skool Oxford, Dub Politics

Presented by: The Bullingdon

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0	OXFORD: The Bullingdon
P	Saturday 31st December, 2016
N	9:00pm

Event information

Bringing together a collective embedded in Cowley Road we are excited to announce the first -

Cowley Road's New Years Eve Festival
feat.
Rat Pack
Simple
ZAIA
Count Skylarkin and Skylarkin' Soundsystem
Old Skool Oxford
Dub Politics
plus much more to be announced across two rooms

Fancy dress - Your best festival wear!

9pm-6am
Saturday 31st December
The Bullingdon
Tickets available from www.thebullingdon.co.uk

RAT PACK
RatPack are DJ Lipmaster Mark and MC Evenson Allen. The duo joined forces in 1985 at the start of the warehouse rave scene and they have been going strong ever since.

In 1985 Evenson was a DJ/Vocalist playing Reggae, Soul and Hip Hop with The Locomotion Sound System, while Mark was a keyboard player and human beatbox. RatPack (as a band) started out with Mark producing songs and ideas which Evenson would sing over, but as Acid House took off in 1989, the Pack took a new direction.

Enamoured with the Acid scene, RatPack threw their own infamous warehouse parties called Trip CIty. They didn’t plan to perform together, but when a DJ diddn't arrived for his set, Mark took to the decks and Evenson started singing and hyping the crowd. This was normally frowned upon at the time, but the crowd loved it so much that RatPack became the UK rave scene’s first DJ/MC team.

Since that fateful party, RatPack have travelled the world, tearing up dance floors in their wake. Their biggest hits include ‘Searching for my Rizla’, ‘The Clipper’, ‘Brothers/Sisters’, ‘The Old Skool Masters’ and many more.
www.facebook.com/ratpackuk

SIMPLE
The concept for “Simple” was born in 1999 between good friends Nick Gladwin and Sean Holbrook. After a particularly long and disappointing clubbing weekend in Manchester, Nick and Sean decided—over a much-needed cup of coffee—that there was no reason why they couldn’t put their heads together and stage events back at home in Oxford.

Simple launched soon after with a string of hugely successful bank holiday parties at the, then, Bar Baby on Cowley Road. A weekly radio show on the excellent online station, Mezzmusic, soon followed, whilst Simple also began hosting Room II at The Coven on Saturdays. Simple went on to establish its first regular monthly event in 2001, at The Cellar in Oxford.

After two years of top notch Saturday nights, Nick and Sean moved venue to the slightly larger Backroom @ The Bullingdon on Cowley Road in October 2003. The bank holiday summer parties continued, but on boats down The Thames, and the first Saturday of the month became known, quite simply, as “Simple Saturday”.

Collaborations and festivals ensued ... and today at Oxford's legendary night spot, the partying just won’t stop!
www.facebook.com/SimpleOxford

ZAIA
Zaia are a nine piece live reggae/dub/dance outfit based in Oxford, England.

At its core, Zaia’s music is inspired by roots reggae and dub both old and new, with influences ranging from Capleton, Gregory Issacs and King Tubby to Gentleman, Chronixx and Protoje. In the song writing process the band's members also draw on their diverse musical backgrounds, incorporating the sounds of folk, rock, soul, gospel and even drum ‘n’ bass into their own unique brand of bass-heavy dub reggae dance. Nightshift Magazine describes the resulting sound: “a real sun-kissed groove, awash with sparkling brass flourishes and cavernous basslines, but a deep melodic soulfulness at its heart.”
www.facebook.com/ZAIAsounds

SKYLARKIN SOUNDSYSTEM
Count Skylarkin stumbled into DJing in the late 90’s after his mixtapes proved a hit with customers at a South London cafe. The lauded DJ, promoter, garden shed enthusiast and all-round dapper dan behind Skylarkin’ Soundsystem, an hour in the company of the Count guarantees jumpin’ jivin’ rockin’ swingin’ reggae, ska, soul, dancehall and rhythm & blues, aching feet and grins all round.

The Count has shared stages, decks and rum with such black music luminaries as The Wailers (UK Tour DJ), The Specials, The Skatalites, Prince Buster, Alton Ellis, Max Romeo, Mad Professor, Don Letts, Jerry Dammers, Trojan Soundsystem, Benga, DJ Yoda, Alex Paterson (The Orb), Massive Attack’s Daddy G and Horace Andy.

As co-founder of The Disco Shed he has made headlining appearances at numerous summer festivals, including The Big Chill, Latitude, Reading, Truck and The Mayor's Thames Festival. Shedless, The Count has also rocked Glastonbury, Shambala, The Secret Garden Party, Notting Hill Carnival and countless others. An authority on reggae music particularly, he has written for several music publications, including NME.

In 2009 The Count (aided by Harvey K-Tel) moved into music production, and their debut release "Dub Of A Preacher" is out soon on Music For The People 12".
www.skylarkinsoundsystem.com