STORIES & CULTURE
Music, artists, labels and stories from the underground.
THE WGR JOURNAL
Known through live rave appearances and recorded sets, MC Trance has remained part of the North East circuit and continues to appear on makina event line-ups.
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When looking back at the history of Spanish electronic music, some names represent a particular club or a particular sound.
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When talking about the golden age of Spanish makina, there are certain names that simply cannot be left out.
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One of the names makina collectors may encounter while digging deeper into that world is **ADN Sound**.
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When talking about the labels behind the golden age of Spanish makina, **Uptempo Records** deserves a place right alongside Bit Music.
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For anyone who was involved in the North East rave scene during the late 1990s and 2000s, Spanish makina became much more than music coming out of Barcelona and Catalonia.
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For anyone who grew up buying music around **Stockton-on-Tees and Teesside**, Sound It Out Records was much more than somewhere you went to buy a CD or a piece of vinyl.
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When looking back at the history of rave music in **Teesside and the North East**, there are certain names that appear again and again across different clubs, promotions and generations.
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DJ NRG – The Colosseum and the Roots of North East Rave Before the New Monkey. Before North East Makina became a sound recognised around the country. Before YouTube, SoundCloud and downloadable rave sets.
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When people talk about the history of **Makina in North East England**, there are certain DJs, MCs, clubs and promoters that repeatedly appear.
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When people talk about the history of North East Makina, attention often turns towards Sunderland's **New Monkey**, Newcastle or Gateshead. But **Middlesbrough and the wider Teesside area developed its own generation of DJs, MCs and ravers** – and one of the names from that early scene was **MC Hyper**.
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For years people have talked about Makina as though it belongs to another era.
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Long before Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud and Mixcloud became the normal places to discover underground music, hardcore ravers were already building their own communities online.
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Before Facebook, Instagram and modern event apps took over club promotion, UK ravers had websites and forums where entire communities formed around dance music.
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While many of the independent dance-music forums of the 2000s have disappeared, **UK Bounce House** is one of the communities that is still keeping the old forum culture alive.
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If you were involved in the North East rave scene during the 2000s, there is a good chance you came across **UltimateBuzz.net**.
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Internet radio allows anybody with an internet connection to listen to a station without needing a traditional FM or AM radio
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When talking about the North East's Makina, hardcore and rave scene, **Stretch MC** is a name that deserves to be remembered.
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For a generation of Teesside clubbers, **The Cornerhouse in Middlesbrough** was one of those venues you didn't easily forget.
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For anyone interested in the history of clubbing and nightlife around Stockton-on-Tees, **The Colosseum in Norton** is a name worth remembering.
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For anyone who remembers nights out in Stockton-on-Tees during the 1990s, **Bianco’s** is one of those names that may bring back a few memories.
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For anyone who went clubbing around **Teesside in the late 1990s and early 2000s**, the name **Millennium** will bring back some memories.
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If you spent time around Middlesbrough town centre, there’s a good chance you remember **The Crown**. Sitting prominently on the corner of **Linthorpe Road and Borough Road**, the huge building became part of Boro nightlife — but its history goes back much further than its days as a pub and club.
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For generations of clubbers from Teesside and across the North East, the name **Tall Trees** brings back some serious memories.
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Running an internet radio station is easier technically than it has ever been. With software such as Icecast or SHOUTcast, a website and a streaming server, almost anyone can get a station online.
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If you went out drinking and clubbing in **Stockton-on-Tees during the 2000s**, there's a good chance you'll remember **Zanzibar**.
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If you're into underground music, DJ sets, new producers and tracks that don't always make it onto mainstream platforms, **SoundCloud** has been one of the biggest names in online music for years.
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Mixcloud – A Home for DJs, Radio Shows and Underground Music
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Brad’s Bar, Stockton-on-Tees – Remembering a Teesside Nightlife Venue
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A North East Makina & New Monkey Legend
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Explore Hangar 13’s place in Sunderland’s rave story, its connection with DJ Scott and the archive recordings keeping a chapter of North East makina in earshot.
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Remembering K2 in Billingham: its La Ronde roots, its place in the town’s nightlife and the local history left behind after the building disappeared.
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Get to know Initialize Events, the TS1 Promotions-powered North East rave brand connecting live events, radio showcases and streams with hardcore, makina and old-school dance music.
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Get to know SoundScape Dance Festival, the Bishop Auckland event bringing DJs, MCs and dance-music fans together in the North East.
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Discover MC Banks’s Middlesbrough roots, his account of reaching the New Monkey and makina sessions with MC Wizard, Simpson and Crazy-T.
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Explore MC G-Force’s place in North East rave through his own account of starting on the microphone, an acknowledgement from MC Banks and remastered After Dark and Colosseum recordings.
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Discover DJ & MC Attack through North East rave archive recordings, from Colosseum sets with Techno T and Stompin to credits alongside DJ Scott.
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Explore MC Stompin’s connection with North East rave through New Monkey archive recordings, his DJ Nitro collaboration and listening recommendations for discovering makina.
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Explore MC Techno T’s place in North East rave through Colosseum recording archives, an MC’s early influences and a Newcastle event listing.
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Discover Makina Arena, a Newcastle-based independent label supporting Makina and hard dance through digital and vinyl releases, artist collaborations and demo submissions.
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A look at Monta Musica’s Newcastle roots, Makina and hardcore catalogue, DJ-and-MC recordings, current releases and role in preserving North East rave culture.
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A listener's guide to Traxsource, with house-focused genres, label catalogues, DJ charts and routes into underground club music.
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Explore Bleep, the Warp-founded independent store for electronic music, vinyl, physical editions and high-quality digital releases.
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A guide to Hardtunes, the specialist download store for hardcore, hardstyle, uptempo and the wider harder-styles scene.
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How flyer artwork, clothing, logos and handmade design gave UK club scenes a recognisable identity beyond the music.
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The speaker stacks, radio signals, record counters and tape packs that helped underground UK music travel before streaming.
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How late-1980s acid house grew from intimate club nights and warehouse parties into a connected UK rave culture.
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