Gettin Hectic

Gettin Hectic started life as a club night in 1994 at the University of Warwick in Coventry becoming the leading purveyors of all forms of dance music to the [...] edge university house music scene in the Midlands during the 1990s dance music explosion. The initial collaboration between Benjamin Chatfield and Colin Nightingale was immediately joined by David Saraga, (not forgetting the brief and beautiful Han, Raj, Osita contribution) who formed a partnership with Chatfield which lasts to this day. Joining the DJ ranks in 95 came Duncan Collins who still headlines the main room at Hectic events when he is not running Ministry of Sound’s compilations division. Relocating back to London the club night was picked up and lauded. In 2000 The Face dedicated a whole page to the club, revealing themselves as Hectic regulars and with a headline of “If you want to feel really smiley, get hectic.” A 4-year residency at Brixton’s legendary Telegraph (The Clash, Basement Jaxx) plus a penchant for giving away Hectic-branded goods (chef’s hats, Kangols, pants, legwarmers, water pistols….) saw attendance numbers top the thousand mark on a bi-monthly basis. In 2001 Chatfield joined up with designer Mark Petty from M&C Saatchi to lovingly take the famed Hectic artwork to a new level of production. By 2002, and with Petty now fully on board, Gettin Hectic was described by Time Out as London’s “finest feelgood experience”. An estimated 31 volumes of bootleg albums (all unbranded, but it is rumoured that Dave Swindells at Time Out owns them all) have been produced over the years.

DJs

Founding Hectic DJ was Colin Nightingale, playing legendary 7-hour sets and finishing with the trademark repeat play of ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ as the dancefloor was flooded with Hectic maracas. Colin was soon joined by Duncan Collins, and Andy Harris, a threesome who ably carried the torch until 2003, along with occasional appearances from David Roe as well as the increasingly popular Adam Khan. The reappearance of Warwick rival Simon Burnett in 2003 ushered in another old friend in Derren "Squirrel" Sequeira before the mighty cH!co (Boxfresh, Diff’rent Strokes) arrived in 2004 to inject his trademark sound to the Hectic ship. Michael French joined in 2007.

Venues

Residences as far afield as New York and St Tropez followed before the club evolved into a marketing agency in 2004, run by founding partners Benjamin Chatfield and David Saraga. Recently Gettin Hectic have been running 1500+ events (from 2005-2007) for their legendary New Year’s Eve parties at the Truman Brewery, with its own funfair. 2008’s event will be called the Gettin Hectic Soul Food New Year.

"Fine, fine Brixton hosedown. Don’t miss." The Guardian Guide

"A fantastic party without any pretensions." Time Out

"A hip-hop, funk and soul love-in." METRO

“Classy….you’ll be grinning all night.” Time Out

“London’s ultra-friendly club night.” The Daily Mirror