“What an evening of mayhem, madness, deep dub bass and Convoy Party Politics! This was a real panopticon of delights: a heady mix of punks, dreads, Doc Martens, tats and even a hint of spit and Special Brew. Real Old Skool. A bass clash under the banner: ‘How Low can We Go?’
It was reminiscent of the Traveller parties pre- the Battle of the Beanfield. An indoor gig, but with the feel, sounds and vibes of the ‘80s – you could almost imagine the wood smoke, the ganja, the dance-party, carnivalesque atmosphere… Chris Bowsher is a totally unreformed believer of the Freedom to Travel, and, party. As dreadlocked writer and singer-cum-poet with Military Surplus, later, the Radical Dance Faction he has been the unlikely purveyor of songs concerning squats and Travellers (Surplus People), Tiananmen Square (Chinese Poem), police violence, bad-governance, life on the edges (“Sweet dreams and nightmares, it’s the life of the living dread.”
And much more (Old man’s Eyes: “I’m moving out of Babylon”). Indeed, Radical Dance Faction were an integral part of the post-Hawkwind, Pink Fairies Traveller-festi posses. Always up-for-it, alongside Chumbawamba, Back to the Planet, Gong, Inner City Unit, Tofu Love Frogs, the Levellers, Inner Terrestrials, Eat Static, Peeping Toms, Here and Now, Dreadzone, Zion Train and many more. This was really an RDF celebration of ‘being back’ on the road.”
