Pics from Conducta, Phibonacci & Sinhaus at The Lower Level – 4/29/2022
Back in the Daze – Part 3: Sessionz
Eventually, Fougy re-established a weekly presence back at The Spot called Sessionz. Over the course of the next 2 years from 1996-1998 Sessionz was Boston’s premiere Jungle/DrumnBass night with residents at different times including Timestretch, Casper, G White (myself, now G Notorious), Static, Stareyes, Mike Spears, and Al Fougy himself. The night brought in some of the biggest names in Jungle and DrumnBass (as it was rapidly becoming called); Ed Rush and Optical, DJ SS, LTJ Bukem, Kemistry & Storm, and Grooverider among many, many others. By this time, particularly the night when Lady Miss Kier of Deelite came to town to play a Jungle set, the night was massively outgrowing The Spot and started venue hopping.
Back in the Daze – Part 1: Jungle Roots
The underground rave scene in Boston was going strong in mid 90s with parties like the Primary series and Plur, Plural, and Pluralism. The Mission Control hotline, Boston Raves and NE Raves listserves, and VRAVE connected the scene. On the club front, The Loft, a private after hours, was pretty much where it was at for underground dance music. Their usual focus was House with Boston House legend DJ Bruno as the downstairs resident but upstairs, DJ Overload and Jason Mouse started to mix it up with early Hardcore and Jungle.
Around the same time, original Boston Jungle promoter Al Fougy returned to Boston from London. He had attended some of the seminal Jungle nights and came back determined to bring the sound to Boston. Word spread, in the fall of 1995, that a night dedicated to Jungle was starting and flyers started showing up everywhere…