Sunrise/Back to the Future were English acid house promoter who became one of the most successful organisators for large scale rave parties in the late 1980s and early 1990s. One commentator states "Over the course of 1989, promoters such as Biology arvis Sandy, Tarquin de Meza & Michael Jump Energy eremy Taylor & Tin Tin Chambers Weekend World arquin de Meza World Dance nton, Chris & Jay&

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

, succeeded in setting acid house nights free of the urban core's constructions, staging ever more elaborate Orbital parties in borrowed and rented fields, the odd warehouse, or some other similarly vacant structure".

Tony Colston-Hayter and Sunrise

In the late 1980s, Tony Colston-Hayter teamed up with Roger Goodman, to organise a number of club nights masquerading as private parties with names such as Apocalypse Now. These parties would be promoted by Colston-Hayter by phoning up ITN and asking them to do an "...And Finally" report about this new youth culture scene ( acid house) on the ITV News. However by the time Colston-Hayter had invited another ITV news team down to promote his latest party late in 1988 (this time from Granada's current affairs show ''

World in Action ''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its product ...

'') acid house was being described as a "sinister and evil cult" that was just encouraging people to take drugs. At that point the scene moved from acid house parties in the centre of London, to raves around the M25 orbital motorway, with Colston-Hayter teaming up with Paul Staines to create Sunrise. Run by Colston-Hayter and Staines, the organisation was occasionally front-page news. In 1989, Colston-Hayter evaded imprisonment for organising an unlicensed party (''Sunrise: A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at

White Waltham Airfield White Waltham Airfield is an operational general aviation aerodrome located at White Waltham, southwest of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. This large grass airfield is best known for its assoc ...

aka "Ecstasy Airport") by claiming that he issued membership cards for Sunrise and it was a private party. Shortly afterwards, on 8 July, he appeared in an '' After Dark'' television programme about gambling, alongside

Victor Lownes Victor Aubrey Lownes III (April 17, 1928 – January 11, 2017) was an executive for HMH Publishing Company Inc., later known as Playboy Enterprises, from 1955 through the early 1980s. Soon after he met Hugh Hefner in 1954, Hefner founded ''Playb ...

and

Al Alvarez Alfred Alvarez (5 August 1929 – 23 September 2019) was an English poet, novelist, essayist and critic who published under the name A. Alvarez and Al Alvarez. Background Alfred Alvarez was born in London, to an Ashkenazic Jewish mother and a ...

among others, and on 19 November 1989 appeared on the ''One Hour with Jonathan Ross'' chat show. On this show he appeared alongside

Siouxsie Sioux Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), known professionally as Siouxsie Sioux, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. She was the lead singer of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976–1996). They released 11 ...

and

ZTT ZTT Records is a British record label founded in 1983 by record producer Trevor Horn, Horn's wife and businesswoman Jill Sinclair, and ''NME, New Musical Express'' (NME) journalist Paul Morley. The label's name was also stylised as ZANG TUMB TUUM ...

co-founder/creative

Paul Morley Paul Robert Morley is an English music journalist. He wrote for the ''New Musical Express'' from 1977 to 1983 and has since written for a wide range of publications as well as writing his own books. He was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Re ...

, a journalist who had suspicions that Colston-Hayter did not care for the culture, and was just out to monetise the scene. As during the interview Colston-Hayter threw a glass of water over Morley before handcuffing himself to the host, the footage has turned up in many 21st Century clip shows, such as the Channel 5 programme ''When TV Guests Go Horribly Wrong''. In 2014, Colston-Hayter was imprisoned for hacking several banks in London. In 2018, after release from his previous sentence, he was convicted of further fraudulent activities and sentenced to 20 months. Sunrise along with Weekend World were instrumental in organising the Freedom to Party demonstrations and the

free parties Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

that followed alongside Biology, Energy and Genesis.

References

Acid house DIY culture Rave culture in the United Kingdom Electronic music festivals in the United Kingdom Electronic music event management companies Free parties {{music-company-stub

Tony Colston-Hayter and Sunrise

See also

References