Sketch @ Pawlett Manor, Somerset 1993 - Somewhere Out West
West Country vibes inside the place with this found footage of a place I hold very close to my heart and which undoubtedly has influenced my musical journey
Some count great NYC disco's, others warehouse parties in 80s London, some acid house parties in Essex others legendary or underground club nights from across the years that have cut a path on their own terms
However for me, Sketch wins hands down probably as I didn't really experience that many clubs before the late 80s that weren't playing a mix of predominantly soul, funk, hiphop and the like. Plus Sketch was an institution where the rules of the dance floor were left alone to run free
It's natural that the history of our islands dance music culture gets most documentation attributed to developments surrounding the big cities when you go sifting through the history books. Rightly so as the main flash points were obviously in these cities where more people were ready to dance to house music in all it's forms from the mid 80s onwards
Somewhere slightly later on in this lineage of events came a "satellite club" that was called Sketch which was situated way out west in Somerset between two towns. The first Burnham On Sea and the other called Bridgwater. Probably places that you know very little about if you are from outside this catchment area
Much of what I do and the reasons I do it musically and socially come from times spent at Sketch which for me is probably the best night I've visited on more than one occasion and is where it all starts when djing and event hosting are concerned for me
Hope you enjoy the film clip. I was an attendee around the start of 94 when the music was slightly more on the house vibe perhaps but enjoying the clip sure makes me feel I missed out on those times before hand out in the west country
SKETCH AT PAWLETT MANOR IN MORE DETAIL
