No Good (Start the Dance) - inside London’s underground rave scene
Images supplied by Yushy, from Section 63.
Times are tough. That’s nothing new. We’re witnessing a genocide, the far-right creeps ever closer to the mainstream, and the chasm between the haves and have-nots only widens. Community has never been more important. Spaces to come together, to feel safe, to be free. Clubs have long been these temporary utopias, but for generations of young people, these spaces are slipping out of reach. Closed off to the many living month to month. Closed down by COVID, the cost-of-living crisis, and gentrification. What choice is there, then, for the locked out and left behind? Well, if you want something done, do it yourself. Far from soulless superclubs, London’s underground scene is alive and well.
London-based photographer Yushy is no stranger to these reclaimed spaces of resistance. His new book, Section 63: Underground & Unmastered – Documenting Underground London Raves, tells the story of a “growing hunger for the DIY spirit of dance music, a renaissance of feeling reminiscent of the early 90s.” A nod to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 – the government’s crackdown on the free party scene – and the sum of 80 illegal raves in 18 months, Section 63 is a tapestry of what it means to be young and alive in 2025.
“I just got sucked into the squat”, says Yushy at the launch event. Taking it back to the start, he adds, “Everyone was just a bit feral in London, and there was a lot of beer being thrown around during the Euros. I met these kids playing music out of a soundsystem in Hyde Park. They were like, “Come to this party”.” One Telegram chat and a what3words later, and Yushy was off to his “first illegal rave in a long time. Sober, and with a camera.”
Heading off-grid to capture this secretive world was never going to be an easy feat. “When I came in with my big smile and my big camera, people got freaked out”, Yushy recalls. And it’s no surprise. Documenting illicit activity warrants questions. Proving he wasn’t a “fucking fed” was one he had to answer a few times. No face, no name, no claim. So, how do you show you’re not a fed? If you’re Yushy, you show them your Instagram. With an extensive body of work to point to, and often mutual friends with his interrogators, that big smile and big camera suddenly stopped being a threat.
Knowing that acting sus was a surefire ticket out of the rave and into trouble, Yushy approached Section 63 on the level. “I made myself known. I didn't hide my camera. I just told people what I was doing, showed them the pictures I took, and then they asked me to take pictures of them.” The result? A series of honest moments – a lens into life underground. Best described by Yushy as a “well-polished version” of what it’s like in the rave – “just lots of shit going on all the time” – Section 63 takes you over the fence and down the rabbit hole.
These raves don’t come from nowhere. “COVID came. We're asked to sit indoors and fuck around. No. We're throwing parties”, says a promoter at the event. Knowing they’re far from the first to do it, they look back and push forward. “I'm talking on behalf of Certisoundz here, of Truth Tribe, of a few people that are trying to do the same thing”, they continue, knowing that no one owns this movement, and that’s the point. But while freedom is the message, it doesn’t come for free – locations need scouting, kit needs sourcing, music needs sorting. “A lot of research goes in for everybody to have a good time”, Yushy adds. Dealing with hefty crowds, putting soundsystems in places that aren’t built for them – all while staying under the radar – takes brains and brawn. Get in, set up, kick off, and most importantly, get out.
Not all squats are made equal, though. “Some crews are logistically on point. Where the space feels like a club. They'll have lights, they'll have medics, they'll have security, they'll have a bar”, Yushy says of the more "official", well-organised raves – ones that feel "really safe." Speaking on the flip side of that coin, he shares, “In one of the more dodgy parties I landed myself in, I had a knife pulled on me.” No Instagram this time. A quick apology and a quick exit. Some might have stopped there. Yushy isn’t one of them. Because for every rejection, there was an acceptance. “A few people I met over time were actively telling me about their lives and what they're doing with their family. I'm gassed that they were yapping away to me all night long – all morning long.”
On coming together, Yushy adds, “In a lot of the more recent raves I've been to, there were talks about safe drug use, posters about being actively pro-Palestine, and not just bullshitting your way through it.” With zero tolerance policies still being the club norm and heavy-handed policing at protests, in some ways, squats might be a safer alternative. When these discussions are being had illegally, the laws need changing. And when mainstream spaces meant to break down barriers instead put up their own, “Where is the party?”, the promoter asks. “Unless you wanna spend £20 on a pint or two at the local pub. This is the party. These are the speakers.” Young people aren’t coming together and learning in classrooms and clubs. They’re doing it in dilapidated warehouses and under bridges.
So, what needs to change? For Yushy, speaking to Dance Policy, “There should be more openness to drug testing in clubs and more safety around that. A lot of clubs are discriminating against people using it and not helping them if they are using it.” And he’s not alone. Way back in 2016, Transform Drug Policy Foundation’s Steve Rolles had this to say on Secret Garden Party’s pioneering use of safe testing: “Until the laws are reformed, testing and encouraging safer drug use is the least we can do. It is now up to others to follow, to protect the health and safety of their customers. In truth, it would be negligent for them not to.” Almost a decade later, not many have followed.
Journalist and author Ed Gillett, chiming in, stays hopeful – teasing a new report from the mayor’s Nightlife Taskforce “which has a lot of really exciting, really interesting things”, forming “positive steps in creating political backing and leverage for the sort of spaces that we want to see more of.” With London’s Night Czar – the previous answer to the 24hr city question – coming and going while clubs continued, and continue, to close, let’s hope he’s right. The power, he adds, also sits with us. “You can create the culture you want, either by setting up a rig and throwing a party, or even just by going to parties that reflect the values and the spaces and cultures that you think are important.” An ocean, as they say, is just a multitude of drops.
What’s next for Yushy? “I'm excited about having a good old sleep. I'm just gonna keep this bliss period open and wander round the streets with a camera round my wrist again, getting into trouble.” And for the rest of us? Community’s there to be found. You just might have to look in some unexpected places.
Section 63 is available to pre-order here.
Writer: Robbie Graham
Editor: Sophie Billington