Sound Squad New Years Revolutions

New Years Revolutions

Sound Squad Events
Location(s)	Cape Town, South Africa
Years active	2005 – Present
Founded by	Yalena Razis Grant Mason Juan Coleman
Date(s)	31 December – 1 January (2 days)
Genre	Drum n bass Breaks Electro Dubstep Electronica Techno Hip Hop Ambient Minimal 8bit/lofi Reggae
Website	soundsquad.co.za

The Sound Squad is an events company based in Cape Town, South Africa which focuses on outdoor events, primarily the New Years Revolutions festivals. Sound Squad promotes emerging electronic music by offering a much needed platform for local artists, and encouraging interaction between different genres.

Sound Squad has built up a substantial following over the three years that they have been in existence. Now approaching its 4th year, the New Years Revolutions event has come along way since it inception. The event was born out of a common love and passion for electronic music and the absence of such an event where friends could gather, en-mass and celebrate the turning of the new year in a beautiful environment. Previously, in order to enjoy the freedom and the benefits of an outdoor event, namely the beauty, fresh air and nature in South Africa, one had to look towards the trance scene.

Each year's festival has been held at a new venue. The venues are selected after an intensive search based on factors like facilities, access and beauty. The venues are not more than one hour outside of Cape Town.

New Years Revolutions

2005 - 2006

New Years Revolutions 2005–2006 was held at Lievland Wine Farm in Stellenbosch and was one small stage, a makeshift bar and 20 DJs. The dam was a major attraction with people spending all day swimming in the scorching heat.

The first Revolutions event was held in 2005/6 at Lievland wine farm in Stellenbosch at the foot of the Simonsberg mountains. Lievland is a fully functional wine farm and the dancefloor area was held in an open field in between the vineyards with camping around the edge of the field. A large dam provided much needed respite from the heat on the 1st January, when tired partygoers needed some relief from the burning African sun. The lineup consisted of 20 DJs and 4 MCs who brought in the New Year at 12:00. This was the first time that electronic genres of such a wide variety had been combined in one festival in the Western Cape.

Main Stage

Selekta Soul Pseudo Threebm Sloth Sibot Grime Council Microstripe Quake Tone Deaf Junkies Skam Mini da Minx White Nite Wilson Low Com.it Spaz Humanizer Spekta Atari Gil

2006 - 2007

Another stage was added to the festival in this year, with one main stage, and another more ambient, chill stage by the river. The lineup increased from 20 artists to 40. Live acts were added as well as DJs and hosts prepared the countdown to midnight. The venue was changed to Mola Adventure Centre in the Sir Lowry’s Pass Village. Situated in the valley just underneath the mountain range of the Helderberg Mountains this venue provided more scope for separating the areas and better camping facilities. Main Stage Live acts Sweat X joined the lineup which had previously consisted just of DJs and MCs. Including most of the original DJs, more were added to the list allowing a bigger variety of sets. Chill Stage The chill stage was situated by the large river, and featured artists playing reggae, dub, hip hop, electronica and ambient drum n bass. Accompanied by a large water slide leading into the river, canoes, and other water toys, this again proved to be a huge source of attraction on the day of the 1st January when the scorching heat came down.

The full line-up included:

Lineup
Main Stage	Chill Stage
Selekta Soul The Dank Mr. Wilson Klinikal & Hamma Humanizer Wilson Dr.Shade Sweat.X The Skam Microstripe feat. Hamma Niskerone & Impact MC's Cloud, The Incredible Fungus & beatboxer Big East Malone feat. JDL Quake Anti Alias & Hyphen Dov Ivan Counterstrike MFU Danja Spekta J-Breakaway 3BM Terry Shmaneeli final open deck mashup	Alvhinator Microstripe Circles and Squares Humanizer The Cutt Nolan Chiat Levi DJ Hi Com.it Dr. Ash & Benji Melissa Hyphen Quake

2007 - 2008

The third Revolutions event was held at De Drinken Farm up the west coast of South Africa. Another full stage was added thus bringing it much better sound and a fuller lineup than the previous year. The chill stage was upgraded into a full dance stage, and the chill area was moved to a games specific area which had large robots, chairs, canoes, a food area and other attractions. The music on the Riverside stage showcased the more upbeat DJs while the Grassy Knoll stage featured the darker and more experimental DJs in each genre. A truck broadcasing radio was set up at the entrance to the festival.

Riverside Stage
The "Riverside Stage" featured a fully programmed light show with moving head spots, two projection screens, smoke machines and a dedicated lighting engineer. Over and above this the surrounding trees were decorated with a myriad of parcans and stretch decor. The night had a full VJ line-up, both national and international with visuals on two screens.

Grassy Knoll Stage
Situated on a plateau above the Playpen lies the Grassy Knoll Stage. This stage consisted of a slightly smaller but similar sound setup to the Riverside stage. Stretched tents, decor and pillows were used to create a cozy, intimate environment ideal as an alternative to the Riverside Stage. Parcans and other lighting effects were used to set the mood. A fully stocked bar under an existing lapa accompanied the stage as well as an array of stalls selling everything from coffee to clothing.

The Playpen
A pathway leading to an interconnecting bridge joined the Riverside stage with the Restaurant and Playpen. The restaurant featured stalls from three food providers, and hence catered for all the food groups and offered a variety of healthy, tasty options set in a shaded area overlooking the Berg river. The Playpen featured various games, as well as water sports and entertainment. Tree nets and chairs were placed in and around the Playpen for relaxing.

The official line-up included:

Lineup
Riverbank Stage	Grassy Knoll Stage
Romz Deluxe Darscan Tyrell Selekta Soul White Nite Ahlvinator Nastie Ed Fidget Sibot Dank Mr Wilson live Mix n Blend Live Microstripe + Quake Niskerone & Natalia Live Malone + Quake One Track Mike Moody Magnum Hi Fi Cue A Blunted Stuntman Hyphen Tempo DJ Low Hamma Slew Dada Optimus Prime Incredible Fungus/The Truth Live Wilson Ainslie Ford Optimus Prime Boogiman Terry Shmaneeli	Melissa Slew Dada The Cutt Liver Mr Chipps The Boogieman Atari The Skam Ozmo + Audiophile Afro Whitie White Nite Rawkiss Never Danja RudeOne Anti Alias Counterstrike White Nite Dekade POW Ty Benji Richard Marshall Just be...? White Nite Binary Silver Soulo Starr Afro Viking Selekta Soul Mighty

2008 - 2009

The fourth Revolutions festival was held on Nelson's Creek Wine Estate, a stunning venue with a swimming pool and two stages. The main stage hosted live acts as well as DJs.

Lineup
Amphitheatre Stage	Poolside Stage
Melissa Selekta Soul Boogieman Selekta Soul Dank (live) Smokey B Mix n Blend (live) SFR Hyphen Niskerone Dr Moody (UK) Malone One Track Mike Twelv Enough Weapons Chesh and Anton Ainslie Ford Tempo (UK) Ish Eko Unit (live) Chamber Concept (live)	nme30 & Afro Wisdom Romz de Luxe Optimus Prime The Cutt White Nite Just be..? Atari Backtrack Orlando Doom The Skam The Duel Enterprize Rascal (UK) Danja Felon (UK) Impact (UK) Anti Alias Kamashe J-Breakaway Headtrip Ryan Dunn Deaf Penalty JDL Quake Nick Knuckles Slewdada

Locations

• 2005/6: Lievland Wine Farm, Stellenbosch

• 2006/7: Mola Adventure Centre, Sir Lowry’s Pass Village

• 2007/8: De Drinken Farm, Morreesburg

• 2008/9: Nelson's Creek Wine Estate, Wellington

References

External links

• Official Sound Squad Website
• Official New Years Revolutions | Myspace