So who designed flyers from the hardcore/rave days?

Fantazia had their own in house designer back in 1992 who did many of their classic flyers, Obsession similarly used some one they new and who was local to their home town of Cheltenham. Many of the other rave companies like Helterskelter, World Dance, Dreamscape, Raindance and more used either Junior Tomlin or Pez. If you click their names you can read interviews and profiles on both of them. Well worth checking out for a bit of scene history.

Current hardcore rave flyer designs

There is definitely a certain style to the present day rave/hardcore flyers. In 1992 Fantazia lead the way with computer generated graphics, like this one from the Second Sight. These days the look of hardcore flyers is very different.

The likes of Hardcore Heaven, HTID etc use a new style, bigger bolder text, with photos from the events. They seem very busy and the front image is either not prominent or secondary to the logo lettering. Things should change though and I like the look. If we still did the same old imagery it would be a back step and very unimaginative. Fantazia use a seperate style, similiar to the past but instead with the trademark (from the album series) girl picture. These are not stock shots either, but from photos shoots expensively styled and shot, which is why they don't look tacky like some other imitators who attempt to use the same format.

So whats different with the Rave Flyer Library?

We are putting lots of effort into the rave flyer library. It takes an ages to scan every flyer both front and back and internal pages as well. So whats the difference between our archive and other sites? Well we are making an effort to scan the flyers in a higher resolution than most sites have used (now that the internet is much faster, we think you deserve to get flyers of a resolution that can be printed. You can also read all the text on each flyer. Plus a smaller image pops up to see if this is the flyer you are looking for before having to open the main flyer.

But the biggest change is that we have also included the backs of the flyers, which most sites have not taken the efort to include. This means you can now read the details of who was on the line up, where the venues was etc etc.

We hope to also link the flyers to any reviews etc we have from the night. Lots more work to go but we hope you like what we have done.

Y is for Yikes

Yikes held rave style events from around 1992 one of their first being at the Rivermead Center in Reading. They were more drum n bass/jungle than classic hardcore with the pa at this one being 2 Bad Mice and DJs along the lines of JJ Frost, Randal etc. The image shown is from a party from New Year 92 that they did in conjunction with Kaos at the Academy in Brixton. Its our favourite of the flyers we have so far found.

Rave flyers now for sale

You can now buy many of the rave flyers we have in the archive as we have them on sale. Price and conditions of each flyer do vary and we hope to have bundles of flyers for sale soon for those who want a cheaper way to get their collection started. If you have any questions about the flyers do get in touch.

All will be sent in board backed envelopes for their protection.

Which brings us on to, if you have a collection of flyers and would like an offer, let me know and we will see if we can come to a deal. Send us any email to sales@fantazia.org.uk

Z is for Zest

Zest is for Zest at Venue 44 in Mansfield. Though why do so many flyers not have the year on!!!! We dont know to much about this night, so if you can help with the years, or reviews do get in touch.

We have just completed another big upload and loads more flyers are now in the archive.

Does Size matter?

As the rave scene evolved and I guess printing got cheaper, rave flyers went from A5 to A4 to A3 and then to designs with many pages or folds. Which ones do you prefer? I think the A3 ones have the most impact, but were easily damaged when collected at the end of the night. Plus they don't fit in any of my filing systems as they are so large.... A4 are perfect IMO. A5 just a little to small to get that visual impact...

A is for Amnesia House

Amnesia House have been around since 1989 and though there early flyers are not stunning examples of what a classic rave flyer is, some of their later ones are classic examples of how raves used popular culture to advertise events. Take the Benson & Hedges flyer as an example. Its unmistakable as the cigeratte packets but it Amnesia as well. A number of other companies used this same trick including the Eclipse (classic Eastenders one for instance) and Sterns/Interdance.

I don't think they are as nice to look at as some of the more computer imagery ones but they are a very distinct style. What do you think?

Growing up with Rave Flyers

Why are Rave Flyers so collectable and well loved by a large section of people? Many website have been dedicated to them and more than any other recent form of advert they are revered, swapped and collected. Is it because many people were at chool when they firt came out and they were an aspirational thing to collect, alluring to future parties yet to be experiance. Or was it because if you went to those parties their flyer, with list of attraction, mega turbo sounds sytems and a line soccer team sized lineup that would play the tunes you loved, would remind you of thoe nights....

Or do they jut look cool, with the new age style computer generated graphics combination or original artwork from the likes of World Dance & Dreamscape designer Pez who created magical scene....

I don't know but we are going to explore some of those flyers in this blog and hopefully get your opinions on whether i am just talking bollocks. Do post details of your favourite ones and comment on the rave flyers I post up.

If you want to look at a collection of those flyers from the past or just haven't got a club what I am talking about do check out the Fantazia Rave Flyer Archive. We are aiming to include all the main flyers on here and unusual this will include the reverse and inner pages which rarely get shown on fan website already on the web....