20,000 Leagues Under the Psy

Review by sideshowbob

In the months preceding CLUD 2 (20,000 leagues under the Psy) I twice had the following conversation with people I'd only just met:

[them] "Hey, do you like psytrance?"
[ me ] "You're about to tell me to come to CLUD aren't you?"
[them] "Oh, er, yes. How did you know about that?"

Paradoxically, everyone I met seemed to know about this new, esoteric indoor psy festival. I'd already been persuaded that I was going, so on the night of 23rd March I found myself descending the steps of Chilli's and entering another world...

Stalagmites on the floor. Neon coloured jellyfish hanging from the ceiling. Sea creatures of every description depicted on the walls, and luminous seaweed all around. At 10pm the main dancefloor had yet to get going, but it looked set for a party. From the speakers emanated some banging psy from the likes of Vidar and Rig Bic, presided over by the centrepiece of the decor, an eerily floating orange sea snake poised to strike the unwary clubber. To be honest I wanted to dance already, but the night was yet young and I was persuaded to venture upstairs to check out the rest of the venue.

The bar area was pleasantly quiet, affording me the luxury of holding a conversation at a normal level. Here people sat in a ritual of giving and receiving paint: either by getting their faces painted, or by applying said substance to a collaborative art canvas in the corner of the room. A few stalls were visible around the bar, including a presence from the Cardiff Anarchists. The bar was of course an ideal point to stop for a beer or two, at which point I thought I'd seen it all - but I was mistaken: an innocuous looking set of steps led up to the CLUD chillspace on the top floor.

Here was the place to relax: a room that appeared to consist almost entirely of soft cushions surrounded by tripped out decor. CLUD's big bass speakers enveloped us in quiet but deep and relaxing sounds, doubtless chosen by the masked DJ by the stairs. Chai tea and cakes were served. Dream catchers hung from the ceiling.

Of course sooner or later it was time to return to the main room. Chilled vibes set aside, I caught some of Mr Faster's set - to steal someone else's description, "fast, hard and sickeningly evil"! In the mounting excitement, one of his CDJs was seen to leave the DJ booth and describe a downwards parabola onto the dance floor. Luckily nobody was hurt, the CDJ continued to function apart from a broken display, and Dan the CLUD technical guru was able to fix the ill-fated kit afterwards. The same could not be said, however, for Hy-Dra's PC, which exploded in a cloud of smoke and sparks in the heat of the moment. Brief panic ensued as it seemed that the music might actually stop... luckily, the Winchester-based Zai Goat was spotted in the crowd, and provided validation to the idea that a good DJ should ALWAYS carry their tunes around with them. When asked whether he could manage an impromptu set, he grinned and pulled out a full wallet of fast, hard melodic full on psy and proceeded to destroy the floor for at least an hour!

A variety of costumed dancers were now in evidence, ranging from cyber through to gothic, though even the latter didn't seem to be short on bright colours. An excited Josh came to tell me that the club was now rammed to full capacity and disappointed ravers were being turned away from the door.

CLUD residents Pentacillium drove us through the final hour of stomping with some hard but bouncy psy, and a healthy dose of screaming buttrock goa - not to mention dropping Rage Against The Machine into the mix for a quick mosh. Andy and Rob had terrific fun mixing, eventually emerging from the booth during the 1200 Mics 'Acid for Nothing' finale. At some point during this set the sea snake took a dive from the ceiling at the partying crowd... a frantic battle ensued, and needless to say there were many heroes on both sides, but in the end it sadly yet gallantly met its demise on the floor.

And that brings me to my one and only complaint about the party - that it ended at 4am. Like so many others, I was craving another two hours of the festival atmosphere - luckily though a good after party was located, and I am assured that the next CLUD will have a 6am license.

I met and chatted to some fantastic people on the night - some of whom I've now become good friends with, others I haven't seen since. I think the mix of people very much reflected how the party was promoted - via bucketloads of enthusiasm heaped onto friends, then friends of friends and their friends - resulting in the nicest party vibe I've ever encountered in Cardiff. To all the lovely beings I didn't see again - I look forward to meeting you all at the next CLUD.