The Rave Must Go On is a new film from London-based director Jak Payne. We’re premiering it exclusively on Crack Magazine.
Director Jak Payne explores his love for raving as well as the wider impact of Covid-19 on UK club culture in a new short film entitled The Rave Must Go On. Clocking in at over three minutes, the film fuses archive club footage with still images, interviews with industry figures such as Rave Art author Chelsea Louise Berlin, artist liaison Vanessa Lunn and Joy Orbison and more. “I was lucky enough to talk to people who had interesting insights into how the past year had affected the UK dance music world,” says Payne.
The film also features a cast of solo dancers. The footage offers viewers a sense of both liberation and loneliness – “as if this need to move to music has overcome them in these unusual and solitary places.”
Speaking on the inspiration behind the new project, Payne tells Crack Magazine over email: “I used to go out to a club night most weekends. It was the thing we all did to let off some steam at the end of work. See some mates, get a bit drunk, listen to techno, wave our bodies around in a sweaty room, get some exercise. Not being able to do that’s been difficult for a lot of people, and, even though it’s one of the less tragic side effects of the pandemic, it doesn’t mean it’s unimportant.”
He goes on to elaborate that while the initial motivations were personal, and considered from a raver’s perspective, he later sought out alternative perspectives from others working in the music industry. “The thing that kept on resurfacing was how disappointed everyone was in the Government’s complete lack of support for the industry,” says Payne.
The Rave Must Go On was made in collaboration with record label Because Music. Payne has previously directed music videos for artists such as Prospa, Soak and Franc Moody.
Watch The Rave Must Go On in the player above, and stream the video’s track via Harry Move’s Bandcamp.