You know in Blade where down a back alley, behind a nondescript door there is a vampire rave where everyone is going crazy to some Chemical Brothers tune and blood spurts from the ceiling? Well that sort of stuff happens all the time, you lot just have your heads shoved too deep in your London Lites to see it. This is the second  in a regular series where we go where few dare to tread in order to bring the braying masses (you) reports from the un-trodden nooks and crannies of culture. Expect reports on mole-men, underground rivers, hidden railway lines, drugs that release death chemicals in your mind and guerrilla croquet. For this second installment we decided to take electro/break band Partyshank to a march of the undead in Dalston.

Strangeworks are a mysterious Dalston-based art collective who arise from the grave on one night annually to lead the mysterious MARCH OF THE DEAD through East London (where else?).  They start at the posh end of Hoxton square and lead a huge procession of elaborately dressed ghosts, witches and zombies through East London all the way down to a secret party location deep in the depths of Dalston. Basically the team spends a ton of their own money designing loads of totally terrifying masks and face paintings then they just give it away to whoever wants to come down and party with them. We heard about the party and immediately called up our friends Partyshank to come down and party with us. Then we headed down the venue before anybody else got there.

A normal night on Shoreditch high street.

To begin with there was a lot of confusion as to where to meet and where everything was going down. After lots of frantic phone calls between Don’t Panic, Partyshank and the assorted photographers and managers involved we arrived in an abandoned-looking warehouse building. Caroline (of the dead) got us some costumes and helped us get kitted out for the night ahead. 

So what exactly is all this about? Where did you get all this make up and stuff? Who is it T-Mobile, Nike? Who’s sponsoring the event?

Caroline (of the dead): “No, we don’t get any sponsorship. We are a community project and we only work with other art-based community groups. All the lanterns and masks you see here were made in our workshops. Nobody gets paid and it’s not any kind of promotional event.”

So then why do you do it? This sort of thing obviously takes a hell of a lot of time and organisation.

“Well it’s just really nice to see people inspired. Nowadays people are afraid to even leave their homes with all the crap you see on the TV and in the papers. It’s just a nice way to get the locals together. The irony is Halloween can be the best time to allay people’s fears about the world we live in and encourage them to interact with each other.” 

The mask and FX making workshop was open from Oct 14^th up until the 28th

Partyshank arrived in full PARTY mode just as we were getting our ghost masks, face paint and capes sorted. We thought we looked pretty cool and amazing, sort of like a cross between the Addams Family and the Horrors but with less hair. Party Shank took one look at us and declined any kind of costume whatsoever, even going as far as to try and pretend they had to do an “important gig at the Old Blue Last in twenty minutes”. Refusing to have any of it (nothing important happens at the Old Blue Last) we dragged them out on the march regardless, questioning them about their unique brand of Tomy inspired spazz-core madness and how to party like the shank do.

Partyshank party so much that one day the wind changed and now their fingers are stuck like that forever (true story).

Hey Partyshank. So what’s up?

Howard: “We’re not sure to be honest. This whole set-up looks insane. Where did all these costumes come from? Where are we going? What is this place?"

We’ll ask the questions thank you. So what exactly is Paryshank? We noticed from your Myspace you like breaking children’s toys. Isn’t that just mean?

Howard: “Well we were always into breakcore and the mod scene but we also wanted to do something that was accessible to everyone and that people could dance to. We didn’t want to come across as being really pretentious like a lot of those acts.”

Christian: “I was always really into the chiptune scene as well but a lot of it seems like its just bending for the sake of bending and seeing how much of a fucked up sound you can get out of a Speak and Spell or whatever… We do take influence from that scene but what we do is more… ‘gully’ I like to think.”

Caroline (of the dead) attempts to get Partyshank into face paint. After they refuse she resorts to face masks and capes, both of which mysteriously vanish the second the photographer turns up.

So are you guys nu-rave then? We read somewhere that you guys are nu-rave.

Howard:  “NO we are NOT ‘nu-rave’. You must be talking about that ridiculous feature TIME OUT did about us.  Their opinion on us and our music was like 100 percent inspired by the t-shirts we decided to put on that day. It’s like your appearance matters more than anything else in the universe these days. I guess it makes it easier for lazy journalists to pigeonhole you.”

Christian: “The media are obsessed with nu-rave. What the fuck does that term mean anyway? Nobody seems to be able to tell me. It’s like even fucking Hot Chip got slapped with the label and there’s nothing new or rave about anything they’ve ever done. Other than bands like Klaxons, Hadouken! and the NME kiddies, nobody really even takes the word seriously in any way whatsoever. I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m getting old or something.”

Wow, I guess pretty girls do make graves after all (sorry Kid606)

I can’t find Partyshank. Maybe they’ve rushed to the party beforehand given the great time those guys were having earlier, or maybe it’s all these cops showing up making them nervous. What’s with all the Po-Po?

Caroline (of the dead): “It’s always the same. The police are really low-key when we’re on Hoxton square but as soon as we get towards Dalston they’re all over the place. We’ve never had any trouble with the march whatsoever so there’s really no need for the massive presence. They won’t spoil the party though; they’ll trail off when we reach the venue."

That’s cool. This has been a really good night so far.

“Yeah it’s really good to be able to reclaim the streets in this way and re-inject some energy back into the community.”

You can keep up to the minute with the Strange goings on @ Strangeworks by checking out the old Hackney Gazette  print works building just off the Kingsland rd. 
Alternatively you can check their myspace: www.myspace.com/strangeworkscollective.