RAPHAEL MANN, DJ-ing at Scar Studios, 2003 or ’04 (Photo by Nick Richards (?))

Scar Studios in Camden Town was a second home for me for many years. I first made use of their rehearsal facilities when I was a member of Art Terry‘s group the Fairys, and ended up with my own room within the complex (we called it ‘the yellow room’ because, well, because I painted it yellow), which was base camp for August and for Art, and hosted some of the earliest Mr Hudson & The Library rehearsals as well as Renu, Anna Calvi’s group Cheap Hotel and many others. Scar was more than a rehearsal space though, it was a community hub. I could write a book about the people I met there, and about the parties we used to hold there every few months in the early 2000s. August cut our teeth playing at the Scar parties, and I was inspired to get back into doing some DJ-ing by the spirit that was in the air on those long summer nights. Going back another decade to the mid-90s, I made my living for a while as a club DJ, but I’d become disillusioned with the lifestyle and been determined to start making records rather than playing them. I couldn’t resist the opportunity at those parties though to be free to play anything and everything to a room full of open-minded people from all walks of life… Another motion-blurred Lomo photo here from, I think, Nick Richards, capturing the feeling…