Music : Club Classics, Old Skool House, Acid House and Old Skool Hardcore
Altern 8 comprised of Mark Archer and Chris Peat, and was an offshoot of their Nexus 21 project. Of the two, Archer was the house music aficionado, while Peat was a former music technology student with an interest for computers. They crashed the UK charts in 1991 with ‘Infiltrate 202’ and ‘Activ-8 (come with me)’, two chaotic slices of hardcore, the latter reaching number 3. They were aided in their chart aspirations by the circulation of fictitious press stories concerning their alleged activities, which included promoting the decongestant Vicks Vapo Rub, which, it was claimed, heightened the effects of Ecstasy; and standing as local candidates for the 1993 General Election.
Their live events were also designed as eye catching performances, where the band donned RAF chemical warfare suits and dust masks. They were aided by their resident dancers Crez, Jon Parkes, and MC MkOne, in the case of their gig at Stafford’s Bingley Hall, an actual shaman. His job was to cleanse the venue of its ‘rock n roll’, prior to performance.
Additional vinyl outings included the ‘Overload ep’ (1990), ‘Frequency’(10,000 copies of which were on sale for a single day only), and another top ten hit, ’Evapor 8’, followed by ’Hypnotic St8’, the LP ‘Full on Mask Hysteria’ (number 10 in the LP charts).
The protagonists long maintained that this was a temporary diversion from their main project, Nexus 21, and confirmed this by releasing a ‘final’ Altern 8 single, ‘Everybody’, in June 1993.
Along side MkOne, Archer has dj’d on the Old skool revival scene, together they have played at many of the top events – including slots in Ibiza for Helter Skelter/Déjà vu @ Es Paradis, Sonar Sound music festival in Japan and Barcelona, Chibuku in Liverpool and Sequence in Manchester as well as regular sets at the birthplace of Nu Rave – Bangface @ the Electroworkz in London and a now infamous set in the Bangface tent at 2006’s Glade festival, and this years Gatecrasher summer sound system.
Catch Altern8 this Bank Holiday Sunday for a night thats not to be missed. If you've been to any of our retro or old skool nights they're a little bit special to put it modestly!
If you're an origianal raver, an old Shelleys head or a Nu breed Nu raver you're in for a surprise!
See you there...