A brief history of Xerxes...

Prior to the formation of Xerxes, Basil Hayes and Geoff Nelson were working the local youth clubs.

Basil lends Narkotix a set of turntables for a few days, and the story has begun.

Narkotix works the local youth clubs and schools, first with Basil and Geoff, then Basil, then on his own.

Xerxes Promotions formed 1990 by Narkotix and Destroy. Xerxes effectively consists of Narkotix, Destroy and The Mowse.

House parties ensue, and a sound rig is built up over time.

First event - 'The Shed' held 5/5/91 in a large building in private grounds, converted into a rave emporium for the night, complete with backdrops, drapes and dance platforms.

Outside test event (A level results party) held at The Walings 15th August 1991 - attracted no interest from the Old Bill.

Local club DJ's "The Maestro", "Digital D" and "DJ Select" recruited, as to be found playing at such venues as Free At Last (Too-To's), Destiny (Oscars), Astoria and Labyrinth.

"BarBQ and beach party" license applied for.

31st August 1991 - Kenosis.

Our moment of true triumph.

Party kicks off at The Walings10pm. Old Bill arrive approx. 11pm, ascertain this is a legally licensed event, and leave peacefully. The party continues with local residents, and starts to dwindle midnight-1am.

Old Bill arrive 1am for second time, see the party is dying down, advise us to pack up once the last people had left.

Flyer distributors at work inside and outside Too-To's and Oscars. MC's at Too-To's and Oscars primed.

2:30am - cars start to drive into the clearing and pull up.The Maestro's on the decks. More cars pull in. Narkotix runs up the embankment to get a clear view, and is truly staggered to see a solid line of headlights from where he stood all the way up to Connaught avenue, past which he could see no further.

3am - the Old Bill arrive for the third time, expecting us to have left or be in the process of leaving... and instead found themselves totally swamped in ravers.

3:05am - the Old Bill leave, not to return until the next day!

The decision to hold another event in two weeks time was taken and announced around this time.

The party continues until dawn, at which point a pair of nutters turned up in a car, drove about a bit, nudged the decks with their car, got shouted at by lots of angry ravers, and left.

They then returned with a large noisy dog, and it looked like it could get nasty for a bit... but they just drove round a few times and left again, not to return.

8am and we all pack up and go home. Still no sign of the Old Bill by this point, but apparantly they were spotted checking out the area later that day.

14th September 1991.... Speed.

 11am ish - the Old Bill march into Narkotix's place of work, show him a flyer (which he's never seen before), that they've apparantly found the other side of London! They're expecting up to 5,000 people to attend tonight, and they're a bit pissed off about it... The flyers were for "Kenosis 2", incidentally, not "Speed".

Two riot vans from Southend deployed to close off Frinton Gates for the evening.

The Old Bill spend a very quiet few hours thinking they'd got it all wrong... until around 2:30am, when it started hotting up a bit... they estimated they turned around 500 people away over the next few hours. Whereas by then Basil had it going on down the Naze instead.

Narkotix not particularly popular by this point, with the Old Bill or the Golf Club... who live next door to The Walings, and had decided to shut the gate and padlock the ravers in... then moaned that the padlock got cropped!

The Walings filled in with concrete to prevent further beach parties in that location.

Local by-laws amended to limit the number of attendees at licensed BarBBQ and beach parties to 30 people.

Undeterred, Xerxes move back to parties on private premises, which sometimes fell foul of the law, and sometimes we got away with it.

By this time Destroy has left for University, and Xerxes Promotions has reshaped into Xerxes Underground, who now comprise mainly of Narkotix, Kolapz and Danny B.

Xerxes successfully return to the beach, operating from a beach hut, for Epsilon. The event shut down early (approx. 5am) after Nelly - who was bouncing - bit off a section of somebody's ear!

Xerxes try to do it properly, and set up Phantasieren at Franx Night Club, Clacton.

A few weeks into the preperations Franx pull the plug, "having been alerted to the nature of the event".

Xerxes switch their attentions to the Martello Holiday Camp in Walton, who give the event - Phantasi - a green light.

The plug is pulled days before the event, following the Old Bill visiting the Martello camp.

Xerxes switches back to parties on private premises for the Winter.

...but return to the beach the next summer with not one, not even two, but three events - "Two Years On", "Coming on Strong", and "X-Treme".

Basil heads off to eventually end up with Pams House (Ipswich).

Narkotix and Kolapz head off eventually to end up playing at Diehard, The Dielectric Club (Leicester).

Destroy and The Mowse have retired from the scene by this time, and Xerxes is on hold, apart from the odd reunion gig.

MC Pil takes over the local beach party scene.

Pil*21 is held at the Columbine Centre, Walton.

Happitude is held at the Columbine Centre, Walton.

Xerxes is semi-alive again around this time, in that Narkotix is organising events in Coventry - various house parties were arranged and executed, and "Better than E" was held at The Godiva - it got very messy...

Escape the Gates take over the local beach party scene.

Xerxes and Escape The Gates hold a series of "Outside In" events at Club M, Walton, until Club M is closed down.

...time passes...

Mr. Jim takes over local beach party scene.

After a long period of absence Xerxes are back, now comprising of primarily Narkotix and Mr. Jim.

Jessicatronica*27 is held at Clacton Rugby Club.

Xerxes buy up the sound rig from the Rocking Horse, Clacton, when it closes down.

"Inside Out" series of raves planned for the beach, Summer 2007 - first event is closed down within minutes of starting up.

Anybody got a spare barn?! :)

The list of events to the left has been compiled from the master tapes that still exist and remain in my possession. I'm hoping to add more detail to this list as I uncover more information / flyers / tapes.