Culture

PT389 – The Art of Ecstasy: The 90’s British Club Scene and MDMA

February 14, 2023
Featuring: Rupert Alexander Scriven

In this episode, Joe interviews artist and photographer, Rupert Alexander Scriven.

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In this episode, Joe interviews artist and photographer, Rupert Alexander Scriven.

Under his brand, Vintage Disco Biscuit, Scriven recently released The Art of Ecstasy: a coffee table book that pairs high definition images of ecstasy tablets he collected over the course of 25 years with interviews and compositions written by himself and a host of other notable names from the 90’s British club scene, documenting the culture and rise of MDMA, while also promoting harm reduction and the work of UK drug charity, The Loop. The book has received some notable high praise, with Dr. Ben Sessa calling it “absolutely fucking awesome.” 

Scriven discusses why he started collecting ecstasy tablets and how the book came to be, as well as details behind the photography and writings, which he likes to think of as conversations at an afterparty. And he talks about his days in the club scene and how it was like his church; how MDMA changed culture; UK drug policy; talks with his parents about drugs; differences in the club experience when people are on different substances; and whether or not dancing on MDMA can be the therapy people need. And he asks a question many of us wonder regularly: Why are we, as a culture, so far behind with drug testing?

Notable Quotes

“It really did change the culture and society as a whole, because at the time, there was ‘Thatcherism’ ([from] Margaret Thatcher, our Prime Minister), and there was a lot of disdain, there was a lot of discomfort. And this was just an outlet for everybody to enjoy themselves, whoever they were. So you could be a street cleaner, you could be an MP, you could be anybody. Everybody came together on a Saturday or Friday night and you just partied.”

“Each of these pills, even though they’re only eight millimeters across, that stamp; it didn’t signify just quality, it signified somebody’s memory of meeting a friend, a loved one, an experience, a time. You can go on any forum and people will go, ‘Oh, can you remember the dove?’ …You can ask them, and they’ll be able to recap a full story or an experience they had just from that one on element.”

“A few years ago before the lockdown, [there were] only three festivals that didn’t have The Loop or some form of drug awareness testing charity at them in the UK, and those were the three festivals that there were fatalities. Now that just speaks volumes. It really does.”

Links

Vintagediscobiscuit.com

Wearetheloop.org

Dmagazine.com: How the Starck Club Changed Dallas

Wikipedia.org: Vague Club

David Nutt’s Drug Harm Chart

Sen1.squarespace.com

Imdb: “Once Upon a Time in America”

Britishculturearchive.co.uk: Blitz Club, London, 1980 | Photographs by Andrew Holligan

Thedea.org: What is Molly? (Leo Zeff is who had the penicillin quote)

Wikipedia.org: Marshall Jefferson

Sciencedirect.com: Drug safety testing, disposals and dealing in an English field: Exploring the operational and behavioural outcomes of the UK’s first onsite ‘drug checking’ service

Awaknlifesciences.com

Lawenforcementactionpartnership.org (LEAP)

Carlcox.com

Kollectiveshop.com

Rupert Alexander Scriven

In this Episode

Rupert Alexander Scriven

The history and culture of the 1990’s British club scene is being celebrated in a new luxury hardback coffee table art book published by artist Rupert Scriven, who has documented a decade of house music through a portfolio of striking, witty images of ecstasy tablets that he collected and stored in his father’s garage for over 25 years. Created under his brand name, Vintage Disco Biscuit, Scriven’s provocative but sensitive collection of humorous but thought-provoking photography aims to both celebrate and educate about the club drug scene throughout that period, through a balanced narrative of the ecstasy and house music culture, while promoting the work of drug safety charity, The Loop.

“Recreational drug use is a serious issue, of course, but there are many thousands of people who are now in their more mature years who took ecstasy sensibly and responsibly as part of the dance music scene 30 years ago.  My artwork holds a lens to that generation, that time, and that culture which is as much a part of our music history as rock and roll and punk. The aim is not to glorify recreational drug use but to stimulate memories for older people and start a valuable conversation for today’s young clubbers.”

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