London’s Teenage Ravers Are Still Winding Up Police

This interview is taken from VICE magazine, v29n2: THE REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL ISSUE. To subscribe to four print issues each year, click here—you’ll need to subscribe by Friday, August 29 to ensure the summer issue is the first one you’re sent.

Over the course of 18 months, friend of VICE and esteemed photographer Yushy Pachnanda went to more than 80 illegal squat raves held in one-off venues across London.

Each party pulled in between 100 and a thousand people, and many of them ended with the fresh-faced attendees getting charged at by screaming riot police. Now, Yushy has gathered all his pictures into a new photobook called Section 63. A reference to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act of 1994 that was designed to kill these kinds of shenanigans stone dead, the book is exhilarating proof that over 30 years later, the scene lives on, and that bored teenage drug users are still out there sticking it to the fuzz and thus also The Man.

We called up Yushy to ask him about his adventures, ahead of an exhibition of his Section 63 work at the Farsight Gallery in London, which runs from September 3-9.

VICE: How did the project start?

Yushy Pachnanda: In early 2022, I met some guys at the London 4/20 thing who said they were putting on a rave. They added me to their Telegram channel and I was like, ‘Oh, so these things still exist.’ One day, I took my camera and the rest is history. Getting into one of these warehouses made me trusted enough to start photographing different parties around London.

What are the people who go like—still the same dogs-on-strings drop-outs?

There’s a lot of teenagers who just want to take a pill for the first time, then there’s an older crew, many of whom have quite ‘normal citizen’ jobs—one bloke I met was a school IT consultant. When you hear them speak and find out where they live, you realize quite a few are cosplaying as being more rough and ‘of the culture’ than they really are.

That’s always been the case, I suppose.

Completely. Ages-wise, it ranged from 17 to 50-plus. One promoter brought his mum who set up a tuck shop in a back room, drinking her way through a crate of cider and selling crisps and Fanta to goggle-eyed teenagers.

What about the music?

Drum ‘n’ bass, jungle, Gabba. When it gets to 4 or 5AM they might start playing psytrance or donk for the lols.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at one of these parties?

Guy Fawkes Night, 2023. This big event with different soundsystems set up across a load of empty warehouses. It was amazing but one warehouse had these massive holes in the ground, like 2 ft deep; I have no idea why. When the music started, a bunch of kids fell into the holes, and then everyone had to create this kind of human daisy chain to pull them out. The hole-people were fucked. As I was watching, all of a sudden there was this huge bang, and we turned round to see a police van had rammed into the warehouse doors. All the rozzers ran in with riot shields, screaming, so a few of the guys started shooting fireworks at the police. When the baton charge started, I took the executive decision to run. They were arresting people very violently. One photographer had his camera seized. I dashed myself over a fence and fell into a deep puddle, then got a bus home.

Was this a typical police response?

It’s so strange how they operate now. A lot of the time, they just wanna make sure the fire alarms work and then they leave. Other times, they stand outside in riot gear, waiting to snatch people up as soon as they walk out the doors.

“All of a sudden there was this huge bang, and we turned around to see a police van had rammed into the warehouse doors. The rozzers ran in with riot shields, screaming.”

What’s the police’s attitude to the ravers, generally? Do they despise them for being druggy degenerates?

I think they’re quite confused a lot of the time. They’re expecting to find a bunch of crusties but they turn up and the kids are all wearing gold chains and Corteiz and all this expensive gear.

Were any of the characters you met particularly memorable?

There was a group of lads who cornered me in a ‘chill-out space’—which was like, a side office in some warehouse—and were shouting, ‘You’re a fed. You’ve got a camera and beard. Just admit it and we’ll leave you alone. If not, we’ll do something about it,’ then one of them lifted up his shirt and there was a knife sticking out of his waistband.

How did you get yourself out of that one?

I opened up my Instagram on their phone, and we had mutual followers. They stopped threatening to stab me and were like, ‘Oh, sick, bro, do you wanna take a picture of us now?’

What kind of drugs are people taking at these things? Not to sound like a fed myself.

Lots of balloons—lots of balloons—and plenty of pills and M-kat.

And what are the hot topics of conversation?

I don’t recall any particularly memorable ones. Plenty of people talking about how if everyone just did a pill, there’d be no world wars.

In the book, there’s a screenshot of some kind of etiquette list that the organizers send to everyone who’s coming. Can you relay some of the dos and don’ts?

No glass; no balloons; no graffing the building. There’s this big thing about Xanax, because the organizers can test that to see if it’s laced with fentanyl. Don’t be bait on the way there. You’re a teenager entering an industrial park at 11.30PM, it’s suspicious enough without someone hearing you playing donk off your phone. It’s almost like a treasure hunt, finding these spaces. You get given little clues here and there, then get to a train station and see people who are clearly going to a rave—a bunch of kids playing jump-up drum ‘n’ bass off their phone. You speak to them and there’s this sense of camaraderie. You make it to the venue and you’re like, ‘We’ve done this: we’re in it together now. We’re locked in.’

Some of the spaces are first occupied by squatters, who let homeless people in to live there before and then after the party. They’re also good at outing thieves. To get into the main group chat, you get added on Telegram and have a certain period of time to send them a photo of your ID along with a video of you smoking a joint or doing a line. They can use that as leverage if you nick anything, which is kind of scary. They say they do it to fish out undercovers.

Where did you get the photo of the couple kissing in front of the pick n mix stand?

An event at the Everyman cinema in Walthamstow, which had closed down two weeks prior. They’d just left the back doors open.

“To get into the main group chat, you have a certain period of time to send them a video of you doing a line.”

What was the biggest risk you saw the organizers take?

There was one directly opposite the Israeli embassy. It was quite terrifying to see these unmarked cars dotted about the place. One time, there was an event in a bank, then following that these kids put one on in a prison. It’s like they’re constantly dialing up the levels of insanity.

Is there a financial incentive for promoters?

Some of the more dodgy ones, yes, 100 percent. There’s been times when you get to the warehouse and there are these absolute beefed up, geared up donkeys on the doors, telling you how amazing it is inside and asking for a tenner. Then you walk in and it’s just empty, and before you know it, all the guys you paid have disappeared.

So there’s no DJ or anything?

No. You’ll see them two weeks later and they’ll say, ‘Dunno what you’re talking about, mate.’ But when it happens, the kids will just get on their phones and find another party going on in Camden or somewhere. And you’re like, ‘Let’s do it’ and you’re off on another journey.