Before starting WANG Lula had been involved in running The Drome under London Bridge and had previously been working at various record distribution companies for the five years since moving to London. She was actively involved in the London squat party scene DJing with the Tiamat crew.
Electro Elvis had previously been the main protagonist behind Electrophonic, which came into being when Electro Elvis and Disco Dave purchased Kingsize Records old JBL Soundsystem (which was used at WANG for many many years) and much inspired by Brett Youngs (RIP) began throwing a series of illegal outdoor allnight rave parties in collaboration with The Fear Teachers, at lots of weird and wonderfull sites, including in a valley, on a beach, in the woods, and in a field right next to the M25 motorway overlooking a huge lake.

a flyer for an electrophonic outdoor rave party

Inspired by seeing Hex at The Big Chill, Electro Elvis began experimenting with live video mixing. Providing visuals at every Electrophonic party and also for Warp Record's Two Lone Swordsmen UK tour and various club nights including Sonic Mook Experiment and Haywire in London and Voodoo in Liverpool.
Electrophonic and Tiamat teamed up, being some of the first people to play the new wave sounds of Detroit Electro, to a london squat scene dominated by acid techno, drum&bass and gabba, and also threw another series of outdoor parties (including taking the rig to Glastonbury festival for over a week in 2001).

Lula and Hardcore dancing in front of the rig and giant screen at Glastonbury 2001

The first ever WANG was held on the 27th November 1999 at what was The Clinic (now called Thirteen) in Gerrard Street, Soho. DJs on the night included Charlie Hall from The Drum Club (who played Nights of the Jaguar) and John Reynolds (who's probably played more WANGs than anybody except Elvis and Lula). Lula hit her head and concuss herself on the way to the club and Elvis spent the night sat on the stairs projecting kitsch 60s and 70s Super-8 porn films over the top of the DJs. The venue was full to capacity by 12 o'clock and people danced and were merry. When the club shut at 4am, nobody wanted to stop, and so the entire club, went back to Elvis and Lula's infamous Swallowfield Road home, and carried on partying for two whole days!

flyer for the first ever WANG

It was decided that a bigger venue was needed and so Lula searched high and low across the whole of London to find somewhere suitable, until she discovered The Premises. The first party was held on Saturday 8th April 2000, and the full WANG experience was unleashed on the world for the first time. DJs included Keith Tenniswood as well as Jeff Nagle & Kris Krause from Outside Recordings in the USA. Electrophonic supplied full-on video visual mayhem, and the boys from Process Records jammed for eight hours non-stop in what became the chillout room. Again nobody wanted to leave and the party ran over by several hours, WANG had found it's spiritual home and The Premises didn't know what had hit them!

flyer for the second WANG (first at The Premises)

The party at The Premises was such a success that it was decided to make WANG a monthly event. For the next four and a half years WANG was held on the first Saturday of every month at The Premises recording studio on Hackney Road (just down the road from shoreditch/old street). It was a very intimate (300 capacity) venue with a very friendly/up for it crowd. There were three rooms of music, a bar area and an internal open air courtyard. There was no back stage/VIP areas (it was kind of like a big house party).

WANG was initially started as a laugh and a bit of a joke (some might say it still is), but we feel that dance music has been 'clubbed to death' with extortionate bar prices, totalitarian security, and heartless, soulless corporate super clubs, and so have tried in our own small way to make a change. In London, the free party scene had in our opinion, been pushed so far underground by the criminal justice bill, that parties seemed to take on a dark scary atmosphere. Being relatively young we had never experienced the now legendary acid house raves, but tried to take on board the ethos of these pioneering parties, as well as the best elements of the club and free party scenes. We have tried really hard to keep an underground scene alive, initially pushing the underground sound of electro before any of the dance press decided it was trendy again, and also keeping a different side of techno alive in the capital, as all the big techno clubs shut down or put less and less events as techno's popularity declined along with press interest. We try to combine the latest cutting edge sounds with great music from the past, combining legendary DJs with totally unknown stars of the future.

On Saturday 1st May 2004, after partying at The Premises on the first Saturday of each month for over four years, WANG held it's last party at The Premises. This was due to a combination of the fact that we had simply grown to big to fit into the space anymore, and the owners desire to cash in on the gentrification of Shoreditch and redevelop the site. To say we enjoyed our time there is a huge understatement and it will forever hold a special place in our hearts. The leaving party was more than we could have ever hoped for, going out in style with a huge party, and the most amazing atmosphere we've ever experienced.

In the morning when the party finally ended, amid much chaos and confusion, we tried to get as many people as possible outside to take some photos. Here is the first of the photos taken (We'll get the rest of the photos up eventually)

This may have been the end of an era, but was certainly not the end of WANG. With all the support we have received over the years, WANG has grown so strong and has really taken upon a life of it's own. During the summer months WANG takes to the road, galavanting around the country, annoying the local yokels with our sound-system turned up to eleven.

Over the interviening years WANG have put on sporadic events in various random venues in and around london, including a disused pub in Hackney Wick (right by the new Olympic site), under railway arches in brixton (hastily arranged after getting thrown out of a mansion house in the west end on the afternoon of an event) and the legendary Dungeons original acid-house rave cave.

Wang has finally (after a few aborted efforts) found a new home and over the coming months we will endeaver recreate the vibe of The Premises and continue the madness of WANG, throwing parties regularly on the first saturday of each month....

WANG! - Less of a club, more of a party!