Plain Sailing
Belfast Rave Crew & Zine
‘For the lovers and the listeners. Powered by bass and bleeps.’ Straight to the point, this is Plain Sailing’s bio. It nails the ethos of the platform and looking at their colourful zine and Instagram, you know you’re going to find some decent features to read or fall into sonic rabbitholes via the two mix series they run; ‘Gone Fishing’ and ‘Quiet Reflections’, supplied by local talent from Northern Ireland’s capital.
Pre-pandemic, Plain Sailing’s founders Andy and Pete were promoting parties in a plethora of spaces including Ulster Sports Club, The Palm House and more. They were all about pushing emerging names while inviting international guests like Barker, Willow and Pepe to play and get the full Belfast experience, which Andy talks about more in our chat. Highlighting the diverse range of Irish talent on offer by curating events spanning chunky bass, barrelling techno, UKG, grime and soulful hip hop, business techno and overpriced tickets were firmly not on Plain Sailing’s agenda, and never will be.
You could say that Andy and Pete are an innovative duo. While parties are on a hiatus right now, the pair pooled their journalistic skills together and launched Plain Sailing as a zine. Kessler, Kayleigh Noble, Matt Finnegan and lots more — some you may already be familiar with, others you may not but should get to know, now — have featured so far, and there’s more captivating content in the pipeline for 2021.
Currently at home taking one locked-down day at a time, Andy dug out a memory from the Plain Sailing archive and shares an insight into the current going-ons, or lack thereof, in Belfast city…
Euphoric grime 🌚Photo: Dean Machala
Where was this photo taken and what was the music vibe at the time?
This photo was taken in The Committee Room at Ulster Sports Club, Belfast, at our very first grime rave. We chose this photo as it felt like such a special night; something like this hasn’t really been done in Belfast before as it’s predominantly a house and techno city but that is slowly changing. To put on a party that felt so fresh and exciting with our friends on the line-up was a truly beautiful experience and one that we can’t wait to do again.
The vibe at the time was exactly what it said on the tin: grime. We had Bloom on the decks firing out all sorts of hair-raising riddims with MCs EMBY and Leo Miyagee going lyric-to-lyric whilst surrounded by the crowd. The energy was next level, and the whole crew was there.
You can see Chris (Carlton Doom) demanding a wheel-up, Alex (EMBY) losing it to one of Leo’s lyrics and Daire with a big cheeser on his bake in the crowd. He was actually meant to play our next grime event before it got cancelled.
As a crew, how have you all been holding up?
We’ve been holding up as well as we can, I guess. Every time we begin to moan a little that “lockdowns are shite — blah, blah, blah” we give ourselves a bit of a kick up the arse as we’re far luckier than most. We’re in good health and have our entire Plain Sailing project to fuel our creative passion and — as hard as it is to balance running a project alongside a full-time job — we’d be truly lost without it.
The vibe in Belfast at the moment is grim, there’s no point trying to say it isn’t. We’re optimists, but it’s a bit grey and gloomy at the moment. There’s a real feeling that everyone is just waiting until the good weather comes back around and we can all drink cans in the park together.
What does the team miss most about parties?
EVERYTHING. At this point we’re even beginning to miss the heart palpitations. We’ve always tried to carefully select our overseas guests — not just in terms of music — but in terms of personality. We don’t want someone to come over and play and not buy into what we’re doing. I think that’s why a lot of our gigs have had our friends headlining because they get it and it’s so much more fun when they do. We’re just missing the buzz.
And after-parties…we’re missing those terribly, as I’m sure everyone is. We all need to blow off some steam. Yeah, I can just see myself sitting on a living room floor right now — with a bunch of pals, a zoot rolled and a string of B2Bs on some cheap controller.
What do you all hope to be different in electronic music when we’re eventually out the other side?
We hope the love for the underground is reignited. We hope locals get more playtime. We hope tickets are a fiver. Basically, all the things we were doing pre-pandemic we hope are continued post-pandemic. It would be nice to see event organisers moving away from big-name bookings and taking a punt on some new and exciting underground names, however, that works both ways. Ravers also need to be willing to take a chance on something new. Maybe don’t go and see that ‘superstar’ DJ for the tenth time when there’s someone really cool making their debut in the city?
We’d love to see some non-club spaces being used in Belfast, too. Right now is probably the perfect time to attempt to show some love to the staggering number of empty buildings in the city. If we can’t get into nightclubs, then shouldn’t we be trying to host safe, responsible events somewhere else? I’ve been to a few non-club electronic music events in Belfast and they have all been incredible. It would be cool to see more of that.
What’s next on the horizon for Plain Sailing?
We’re continuing to publish features and interviews on the best electronic music in Ireland and beyond. When lockdown hit we starting an online zine as a platform to continue to push and talk about artists that we really love. Our next two interviews are with an alternative/emo artist called Crim and a wicked producer called Tom VR who has a record coming out next week on Midland’s label. We’ll be looking to roll out some short-doc style content in the coming months too. Besides that, we’re just counting the days until we can dance together again.
Tell us about the second photo here and why it's a snapshot into a source of happiness or comfort right now?
This photo is from my attic.
I — Andrew — recently moved to a house in east Belfast and decided to convert the space on the top floor into a music room. I’m still waiting on a lot of the furniture being delivered, so for now I’ve put everything on the floor and there are still boxes everywhere (as you can see).
Still, it’s been nice to go up there and play tunes with Pete; drinking beers and pretending we’re playing to a crowd even though it’s just us in the same sweatpants we’ve worn all week. We have so much more time to find new music now, too. We can’t wait to hear some of these tunes on a big soundsystem.
Attic rave 💜Photo: Andy Moore