Starting way back in 1989 at Martines and then under the name of the N-Zone (short for Nightmare Zone), Shakermaker has come a long way since then having visited the likes of London, Bournemouth, Reading, Southampton, Winchester, Woking and Guildford among other places. Some scenes come and go but there will always be a crowd that appreciate the alternative side of music. Shakermaker mainly deals with the Indie & Alternative side of things. It's not a rock night or a goth night but does have some elements in there at times.

Shakermaker is, and always has been hosted by local DJ GaryCee. It was quite by chance that it all happened way back in 1989. Gary left local band Papa Brittle after touring the UK with the band and was about to go off on holiday when a guy from Martines decided to start an Alternative night. During the 2 weeks Gary was on holiday, things got moving but not as expected and when he returned he was given a guest slot DJing. The thought was that because Papa Brittle were big in the town and on the up, his name would attract the crowds. It worked and the feedback was that he should get a regular slot. All of a sudden it went from 1 night on a monday in Basingstoke to 3 nights which covered Martines, Ziggys and also The After Dark Club in Reading.

Ziggys was very popular and when it was refurbished and made bigger, the crowds came in big style. Basingstoke had a saturday night alternative night in a decent venue and saw upwards of 400 people attending every week. Things don't last long though and after a couple of years the club got greedy and decided to move the popular night to midweek thinking that the support would still be as strong, unfortunately it halved the numbers and because the club didn't see that it was their mistake, they moved it again to a monday night and this nearly killed it. Gary decided to get out while it was still half decent and move on to somewhere else. Back then there were a few venues that were itching to get in on the act but they weren't 'proper' clubs as such and people weren't really that interested. Stints at Cozy's, The Ice Rink, Sports Centre and The Royal Naval Club pulled in the punters but it wasn't the same.

In 1995/96 Shakermaker approached Bang Bar (then known as Magnums) and from then on it was onwards and upwards. Shakermaker appeared just as Oasis and Blur were bringing back the Indie Scene big time and there were 100's of bands around putting out great tunes that the alternative lovers would appreciate. Shakermaker was always associated with Magnums (Bang Bar) and proved to be one of the most popular nights that the venue had ever had. The intimate venue was ideal yet the capacity was not big enough of an ever popular and growing night and when the capacity was dropped and people had trouble getting in because it was already full, the time came to move on.

In June 2005 Shakermaker started it's friday night slot at Silks Bar in the centre of town. It had the capacity that the night needed and it opened up the night to a whole new group of people. The revellers out on the town on a friday night suddenly had something different. The whole top of town was filled with DJ's playing all genres of dance music but now there was something different. Friday nights at Silks were at capacity every week and the night was a great party every week. Unfortunately the venue closed down in May 2006 and it was time to move on again. This time it was Southampton that took in Shakermaker every friday night. It was great, it only lasted 3 months though as there was a lot of competition in the city with various other Indie nights that were already established. Shakermaker moved back to Basingstoke and found itself back at the Bang Bar on 1st December 2006. The capacity had been increased again and it needed to be as the night was a sell out with a couple of hundred people entering the world of Shakermaker.

The first Shakermaker of 2007 was on friday 12th January and once again it was a huge night. A cold and wet night in the middle of January when everyone is skint after christmas put the thoughts in our heads that it would be a pretty quiet one but that was not the case. Once again it was packed out and the atmosphere was fantastic. Shakermaker and Bang Bar go togeather like Salt and Vinegar, Cheese and Onion etc etc....The night is finally back where it really belongs and once again the Indie and Alternative music lovers of Basingstoke have somewhere to go once a month thanks to Shakermaker and Bang Bar.