The Scene Magazine — 1st Birthday Bash: “Off the Cake”

Catalogue note

Original double-sided flyer for The Scene Magazine’s first birthday event, “Off the Cake”, at the Rhythm Station, Aldershot, on Friday 4 August 1995. The object is unusually useful because it joins rave publishing directly to event promotion: the reverse celebrates one year of The Scene, carries a subscription form for the magazine, and programs two explicitly named musical spaces — happy hardcore in Arena 1 and uplifting house & garage in Arena 2. The main bill includes Slipmatt, Sy, Seduction, Dougal & Vibes, Ramos, Vinyl Groover, Hixxy and Unknown, with six MCs and a Dougal & Vibes live PA. The physically printed Design Asylum credit and the magazine/event hybrid function make it strong documentary evidence of mid-1990s rave media infrastructure.

Advertised programme: Arena 1 — Happy Hardcore Selectors: Slipmatt; Sy; Seduction; Dougal & Vibes (exclusive back 2 back set); Ramos; Vinyl Groover; Hixxy; Unknown. MCs: Magika; Sharkey; Free & Easy; Marley; Freestyle; Tails. Live PA: Dougal & Vibes, performing three advertised new exclusive tracks. Arena 2 — “Up-Lifting” House & Garage Selectors: Jon “00” Fleming; Richie B; Alan Littlewood; Martin P.

Graphic-design significance: Large-format colour flyer built around a surreal birthday-cake/candle image and metallic The Scene masthead. The reverse carries a physically printed Design Asylum ©1995 credit and combines event programming with a detachable-style magazine subscription form, directly linking rave promotion, publishing and graphic design.

Historical context: The reverse states that The Scene had been “in the rave scene for 1 whole year” and had secured the Rhythm Station for its birthday celebration. It advertises Arena 1 as “Happy Hardcore Selectors” and Arena 2 as “‘Up-Lifting’ House & Garage Selectors”, preserving contemporary genre terminology rather than imposing retrospective labels.

Condition note: Visible handling and storage wear across both sides, including multiple vertical and horizontal creases, edge/corner wear, small surface marks and localised wrinkling. The upper edge has a noticeable central undulation/fold. Printing remains strong and the programme and subscription text are substantially legible; no major paper loss is visible in the supplied photographs.

Through the flyers

Explore the club-culture timeline to follow advertised dates, places and billed performers across the held flyers.

Event details are drawn from the held object and the qualified catalogue research above. A printed bill establishes an advertised booking, not confirmation that a performer appeared.