D.I.Y collectives and figureheads have long been integral to movements that drive changes in taste. They often invite exploration of more open-minded views, breaking the monotony that can, unfortunately, creep into scenes from time to time. In a post-pandemic world where any rule book that once existed has been tossed aside, the nightlife landscape of 2024 feels entirely different. This shift has been so challenging for many music industry workers that it has led to an unprecedented rate of nightclub closures in the UK.
Given this context, it’s heartwarming to see individuals coming together to create a valued and personal experience for others, driven purely by their love for it. One such Bristol-based collective, made up of core members Ffi, Kate, Al, Sal, and Row, exemplifies this spirit.
Known as Full Spectrum, this forward-thinking collective delivers excellently curated nights, delving deep into the dance music world with offerings from well-established artists and true underground names alike—from scene veterans to those just starting out. We caught up with the crew a few weeks back to discuss their birthday celebrations, ethos, and a refreshing mindset that truly deserves appreciation.
Let’s start by running through who’s who and what they do within the brand…
Ffi: We realised quite quickly that we are very collaborative. We wouldn’t say that one person has one designated role. We all lean towards our own skill sets. Kate does a bit more of the art, Al does a bit more of the tech, it is all very collaborative. If someone has an idea, we will all just pile into it. There are four of us sitting here right now, but there is a fifth member; Row who is not here as any day she is going to be giving birth to the first Full Spectrum baby. We are so unbelievably excited for this new chapter in her life and in our lives. We just wouldn’t feel right sitting here without making sure to mention her.
This feels really clear-cut. Does that mindset to the operation come from previous experience in the industry?
Al: I’ve always managed to find a project to involve myself with. When I first moved to Bristol I was part of a drum and bass collective called Fuck About. We did a mix series and put on a couple of nights and then after that, I became more involved with the running of another night called Collective. That’s where I met all the Sofa Sound crew who I regularly still help out. Mostly my experiences are with the actual running of events on the night.
Ffi: I worked as a club promoter for multiple venues. It became apparent quite quickly in the drum and bass scene just how wrong things felt for me. That’s why we started Full Spectrum. Ultimately we all met from going on nights out and then during lockdown, we all had the time to digest what we wanted to change about the scene. We didn’t even realise how when we were in the swing of club land being open pre-pandemic, how white-cis-male-orientated nights on the circuit are. I think having the time in lockdown, especially with BLM at the forefront and a lot of promoters saying that they were going to be more inclusive in the future, but then falling short, we took stock of how backwards it all actually is. We also realised the opportunity in lockdown to educate ourselves. So when we started, we didn’t really see ourselves as promoters. I’d say we were very much activists I suppose.
With that being said, how did you all come together to form the collective?
Kate: Sal and I don’t really have that background in events, we wanted to do something that was a bit different. We wanted to start from scratch with what we were doing with Full Spectrum. We didn’t want to just follow moulds or patterns that were already there, because we didn’t know what they were. Our background is more as activists.
Sal: That’s where we come from. That was our angle. The DIY aspect of it too.
Kate: Just trying things out and not being afraid to put yourself out there and make a change.
What’s the unifying message for the brand that connects you all together and with the attendees at your nights?
Kate: For us, it is all about acceptance. We want to create spaces that are welcoming, supportive and safe for both artists and ravers to feel confident in expressing themselves. Being creative in an environment without fear of judgement. We want to push back against all forms of gatekeeping and exclusionary practices and barriers to entry that make so many people think that this scene isn’t for them. As a friendship group that’s very much how we operate anyway. We’re caring, we’re non-judgmental, and we’re open to anyone who shows that back to us. It really is just about having a safe space where people feel free to be themselves. We try to make each night as inclusive and as diverse as possible. I think you can see that reflected in the crowd that come to support. We put that energy out there and because we do that in a fairly friendly and non-confrontational way, we feel that a lot of people that come bring that energy back to us.
How do you find having this ethos present whilst still striving for the progression of the brand?
Sal: I think it’s just something that happens to come really naturally. It’s not something we’re trying to shoehorn into an existing collective. It’s what we came from and it’s the foundation of everything and how we started. Having that ethos guides every decision we make and every discussion we have, whether it’s to do with Full Spectrum or just as friends anyway. It’s a driving force and it develops organically and progresses that way. I think it attracts people. We’ve found new talent through just being ourselves.
I noticed that you’ve not opted for any headliners for your 4th birthday celebration at the end of July. Is this part of that forward-thinking ethos?
Kate: There has been a bit of a shift this year in how we’re addressing putting on nights. We started off booking bigger artists because that’s what we felt we should be doing. I think when we started, it was important to us to show that we were serious about the kind of collective we wanted to be and we were serious about pushing this message. We didn’t just want this to be a flash in the pan- throw a few little parties and then it never really progresses. We wanted to throw ourselves into it. Now we’re entering our fourth year and we’re more established, we’re thinking more about longevity and how we’re going to be able to keep doing what we’re doing in what is quite a challenging environment. When it comes down to us, first and foremost- we’re ravers. We recognise the challenges for ravers in terms of the money that they have. For us, it’s important for us to throw the best possible party that we can for the people and for us to enjoy.
Right now, it’s really not value for money for ravers to see one headliner where they spend £15 at a 200-cap venue when they can see ten headliners play for £30 at Motion or something bigger. If we’re booking smaller artists we can book so many more. I guess we realised the people who come to our events are truly coming through the door to discover something new. That is why people show up to our events. Without having to pay a headliner fee, we have so much more scope for introducing new artists and getting more people involved. Ultimately, that is what we’re all about. It’s not that we won’t ever go back to booking headliners, we just need to make sure we’re booking them for the right reasons and it’s going to be something special.
Not being repetitive is important for us too. We want to be able to give these opportunities to as many people as possible. One of the reasons we started wasn’t because we couldn’t believe they [other promoters] weren’t booking all of these queer, black and female artists that we knew all about. It was actually how few queer, black and female artists that we knew all about. So it’s been an educational process for us. Now that we know so much more, we have so many more people that we feel we should be making space for. It feels like narrowing it down should be hard, but it’s not.
It’s also to be greatly appreciated that you find ease in moving around Bristol’s network of venues to provide everything from day-time parties to all-night sweat box raves. One such relationship to be championed is the one with To The Moon in Old Market, can you talk to us about how this partnership came about and why it’s so important to the brand?
Al: Well funnily enough, it’s actually my sister’s place. Big up to Jem and Chris. That’s my brother in law. He does such a good job of running all the events there. They’ve been open about eight years now and they’ve just turned the place into such a warm and welcoming venue. We’ve met so many amazing people through that who all share the same values as Full Spectrum. Chris does a really good job of a wide range of events on the roster. They have comedy nights in the week or folk music and poetry, and then they have space for us to do our open decks. They also do a liquid monthly event called Liquid Lunar and that’s how a lot of us make friends. That’s really the big thing, it’s all come from them opening that space its just been a great place to bring like-minded people together.
Kate: All three of the venues that we regularly have events at The Plough, The Exchange and To The Moon all are venues that absolutely share our ethos. They share our values and they’re community places that go out of their way to promote diversity, inclusion and activism within the community. They’re all big on that and that’s why we that’s why we continue to work with them.
Ffi: I think it was really important for us as well with Old Market being the queer capsule of Bristol- it just reflects the audience we get. It’s details like that do help to be more encouraging of our message.
Al: It was a nice idea to do a little pre-party at To The Moon. People could come along if they were coming along on their own. They could come and meet some people and get acquainted with the environment. To be able to actually talk in the club, it’s more sociable. We did it once and thought we should do this every time, plus It’s walking distance to The Exchange; it’s a great partnership.
There really is an inoffensive in-your-face family affair vibe to your parties. How do you achieve this for your attendees?
Sal: I think naturally we are really sociable. We all like making friends. When we’re at a rave we will probably make some new friends that we’ll add to our group for whatever event we’re at. I think that’s organically grown from that. I don’t think I personally even really realised what effects it would have put on a diverse and inclusive lineup because it attracts a really diverse and inclusive crowd. It brings people who want to make friends and want to get involved or just create a really nice atmosphere. It’s all blossomed on its own in a lovely way, probably because of how we approach raves and socialising.
Ffi: When I first moved to Bristol before I met these lot I found it quite hard to meet people who were like-minded in the scene that didn’t want that weren’t lads at raves with their tops off. That’s why for me, having a space to genuinely make friends beforehand is so important. Online community groups and stuff are great for promoting yourself and having that online connection, but I think you just can’t take away from actually having the opportunity to just have a conversation.
Kate: We’ve chosen venues and we do things in venues that aren’t exclusively drum and bass or aren’t primarily drum and bass venues and that’s because we want to bring new people into drum and bass and jungle. We want to show that drum and bass and jungle don’t have to be that slightly laddy culture. By doing it in places that have a different crowd already where we’re performing to a crowd that might not necessarily have chosen drum and bass but they’ve chosen the venue and we’re showing them how we can fit in.
You’re not seen in partnership with other brands too much, if at all. Is this a conscious decision or just something that’s fallen into place?
Ffi: We’ve got a very clear set of values and if we want to if we collaborate with a brand, we want to know wholeheartedly they’re already putting in the work to be more representative. We’ve been presented with opportunities in the past to work with large brands, however, it became apparent quite quickly that they wanted to work with us as a short fix to fulfil their diversity quota. We’re not here to fix people’s problems or to fix how they run their organisation. They need to be doing that themselves. Don’t get me wrong, we’re open to working with collectives with like-minded principles but I think most importantly; it can’t feel forced and it has to feel organic. I think the last thing we’d want is to go into partnership with someone and then after they have worked with us, they revert to not being inclusive.
Are there brands that you would like to work with in the future?
Ffi: The Mothership, Sisterhood, Swhsh, Headspace, Optimystic & Friends, Elysium, PTRNS & Bristol Mix Sessions. Obviously EQ50 would be amazing. We can’t do this interview without shouting out EQ50. Furthering that we are open to working with a plethora of brands, but I think that just needs to be a really open and honest conversation about our expectations of if we are going to work together. What are we aiming for? We are completely open to working with other people. It’s just unfortunately, we just have had some experiences where it just hasn’t felt truthful.
How do you decide who you’re booking and adding to your ever-growing resident artist roster?
Kate: For us, who we book often comes back to who is already playing an active role in supporting diversity within the scene. We put that ahead of any ideas of online clout or popularity or how people are presenting. We want to find artists that maybe wouldn’t necessarily find a platform in other spaces. That’s really exciting for us. We didn’t start out as a collective because we were the diverse DJs we wanted to see on lineups. We started out because we wanted to support the principle of diversity in drum and bass and so we love to bring in anyone who has that same mindset and has those same principles. Whilst we promote queer, black and female artists, we do also want to make space for cis white men who believe as strongly and inclusion and diversity as we do. That’s why we have our mix challenge and why some of our closest allies have been in some gorgeous B2Bs. We really don’t want anyone to think that because it’s not about them, it’s not for them. For us, it is always been about backing others and we want Full Spectrum to be a home for anyone and everyone who gets that. Those are the main things that really drive who we choose.
Some people who have started at your open decks nights have then gone on to have places on nighttime paid events; such a real attitude to nurturing your own local talent. Is this natural behaviour or something that’s developed and grown over time?
Kate: It’s just what we’ve always really wanted to achieve. That’s why we try and have such as broader spectrum of nights as we’re physically capable of doing. Having people come to the open decks, people who are open to coming and playing half hour at a small venue for us shows us a lot about who those artists are and what their attitude is within the scene. It’s just a great way of us getting to know them. It’s so much more important to us who they are as people than necessarily the tunes that they play. What we’ve learned from the open decks is that so many people have so much talent. The scene is brimming with talent and quality selectors that we couldn’t possibly choose just based on that.
Ffi: I think leading on from this its access to equipment and the opportunities to do so has proven to be so important. For example, at our last event at The Plough we had Haydee perform and it was her second time playing a digital set. Neon Pumps only started DJing last year. Asha Binx; it was her first time on CDJs. It’s just so important to be able to create the spaces for people so they can just give it a go.
Where do you see the collective over the next 3 years? Are you looking at taking the collective outside of Bristol?
Sal: We have so much going on here in Bristol at the moment but maybe if the right thing presented itself we consider it. Continuing to foster new talent, and finding new people. There’s an endless stream of people ready to get out there. They just need that opportunity. It might be perhaps we can do workshops and set up networking events to help people develop those skills or the confidence to be able to go out and do things and meet each other and share information and help each other.
Kate: It’s not like we aren’t ambitious for the brand. We’re ambitious for the message and that comes first. If we get opportunities to spread that message, then we will take them, but we’re not looking to push ourselves to become massive. We just want to spread the ideas that we believe in.
The battle of inclusivity for all and for this not turning out tacky is something that feels increasingly at the forefront of brands these days, how do you navigate this in 2024?
Ffi: I think for us its because we’ve all come from a DIY background the foundations of it have made it easy for the message to come across, but I think in terms of navigating the landscape in 2024, people that really love the music can spot a gimmick from a mile off. Promoters can put out a campaign that will fix something for a month but then the hype falls off. We want to make sure what we’re saying and what we’re doing actually is serving its purpose we don’t want to miss the mark with our output.
Sal: I guess there’s a point with a lot of brands that during the pandemic made all these pledges but I went to a label night recently and it was a great night, but again; it was one woman on at the beginning and then and that was it for the whole day. It makes me think what really have you done? What have you changed?
Kate, you mentioned that it was you that does the artwork for the collective. How do you find the inspiration for what you create and still work it to be in keeping with the brand?
Kate: I come from an art background but I never really tried anything like this before Full Spectrum. I think maybe when I started out I tried to fit in more with the mould of what was out there already and struggled because I am not a natural on the computer. A lot of the art is me trying to make as much by hand as possible because that’s where my strengths lie. That I guess suits our DIY principles and our handmade personal touch. A lot of the inspiration comes from our lovely logo that was designed by my friend Lisa Williams. That was loosely based on the old TV waiting screen, which I guess was fairly apt for those pandemic years. That has led to lots of imagery of old, broken and obsolete tech, which is probably some kind of physical manifestation, breaking down the old to make space for the new. Mostly we like to keep it varied. We host such a range of different nights with all kinds of drum & bass being played, it wouldn’t seem right to present it all in the same way. We just want to create individual pieces that suit the vibe of the place and suit the vibe of us.
Outside of drum and bass, what do you all listen to?
Sal: We all have quite varied music tastes, although this is what has brought us together and continues to keep us together as well. I’m enjoying some hard acid techno at the moment.
Kate: Me and my husband Larry come from DIY punk background. I listen to quite a bit of hip-hop as well.
Al: I’m really bad, I don’t really listen to anything that isn’t drum and bass. There’s just so many styles for every kind of mood you’re in.
Ffi: I’m a heavy metal and emo girl through and through, but my introduction to drum and bass was Enter Shikari. I gravitate towards musicians with a more political message anyway.
Kate: I definitely think there’s scope within drum and bass for a more kind of political message. I think that’s definitely something that we appreciate in other music that doesn’t necessarily come through as much in drum and bass.
Do you think you’d showcase some of these non drum & bass styles at future events?
Kate: Possibly not although one of the reasons or inspirations behind starting Full Spectrum is a punk collective called Eat Up. Who teach people to play musical instruments and form bands. They run workshops and then they put on nights at The Exchange with bands that have been made through these workshops. We have at points talked about doing a collaboration that might be a punk evening, followed by a night of drum and bass.
Sal: We have had people playing other types of bass music at our events before. Someone might have opened with a bit of garage or some 140. We probably will return to do it again at some point but I think we’re all probably quite keen to keep Full Spectrum as a drum and bass and jungle label. Primarily because then people know what they’re coming for. People know what Full Spectrum is and what to expect. It is the one genre that we all really enjoy together as well. So even just for our own personal enjoyment of it, that’s a good enough reason.
Ffi: I think the imposter syndrome would really kick in if we started doing disco events.
Anyone you’d really love to have come through for an event?
Ffi: I suppose that’s the beauty of what we do. We don’t really know who’s going to come through. We like to surprise ourselves. In terms of future headliners, we couldn’t possibly say because then that would be ruining the surprise.
You’ve done specially curated a mix for the interview. Can you just share a quick thought on how it came together?
Ffi: We have a special announcement for this and would like to welcome a new member Chaand who has been a big supporter since the beginning and we’re so happy he’s joining in helping spread our message. The mix is a reflection of all of our styles and we hope you like it!
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