Playing a key role in the illegal rave at Castlemorton Common Festival

The DiY Collective was co-founded by Harry Harrison, Rick “Digs” Down, Simon “DK” Smith and Pete “Woosh” Birch in Nottingham as a reaction against the growing commercialisation of pay parties , especially Orbital raves such as Biology and Sunrise. DiY’s standpoint came from a merging of anarchist principles and a history of attending both free festivals and clubs such as the Haçienda . They wished to form a cohesive, collective, political front against the prevailing anti-rave legislation that was beginning to come into force at that time. This became more marked around the time of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 , with DiY playing a key role in the illegal rave at Castlemorton Common Festival prior to the Bill in May 1992. After hooking up with a group of progressive travellers at the 1990 Glastonbury Festival, they began to throw a constant stream of illegal, outdoor parties (often at travellers’ sites, quarries and disused airfields) all over the country for many years. Simon Reynolds wrote that DiY threw “free parties at abandoned airfields or on hilltops, drawing a mixed crowd of urban ravers and crusty road warriors”.