Megatripolis

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Megatripolis was an innovative London nightclub created by Encyclopaedia Psychedelica editor and founding Zippie Fraser Clark^[1] in collaboration with Sionaidh Craigen and other members of the evolution collective and Bugsy and JJ of Dream Records. The intention was to combine New Age ideology with Rave culture and create a vibrant, festival-like atmosphere where people would be confronted by cross-cultural ideas and experiences at every turn.

This venue proved visble and newsworthy to the general public, though some reporting of the club suggested a dichotomy between an avowed downplay of psychedelic substances and some perceptions of substance use by participants (BBC Two "yoof" DEF II news programme Reportage, Reportage on Megatripolis). In any event, the club provided a meeting place of like-minded people and served as a platform for social awareness and activism as well as more traditional nightclub fare.

Evenings combined lectures and workshops with live musical performances and DJing. It started at The Marquee club in Charing Cross Road with Tribal Energy in June 1993 but was thrown out of the venue. Heaven nightclub in the cathedral-like arches and winding passages under Charing Cross Station became home to Megatripolis in October 1993 hosting visits from Allen Ginsberg, Terence McKenna and Ram Dass and DJs including Colin Dale and Mr C with resident Nick Sequenci.

The usual bouncers were replaced with fluorescent jacket-clad minders called the Megatripolice (?), and new-age style stalls occupied the central hallway selling non-alcoholic energy drinks, body jewellery, alternative "small press" comics and magazines such as the short-lived, but influential Head Magazine, as well as T-shirts and other clothing. Also notable were early demonstrations of the World Wide Web at a time when most patrons were just beginning to be aware of what was then termed cyber culture, something seen as an important, if not defining, part of the Zippy future. Underground bulletin boards such as London's pHreak hosted live "cyber events" from the club. One of Timothy Leary's last public interviews^{[citation needed]} took place over a live video link projected on a screen over the main dance floor. The club also published a promotional periodical called the Megatripolitan.

Heaven was London's original gay-only nightclub, but had run non-gay (known as Pyramid) nights on Wednesdays for many years. The 'Festival in a box' on Thursday nights was mixed and attracted a diverse patronage from a wide age range, many of whom would not otherwise have considered going clubbing. By early 1994 it had also taken over the adjoining Sound Shaft nightclub and turned it into an ambient space with frequent all-night sets by Mixmaster Morris - the club's fourth separate sound stage. DJ Andrea Parker got her reputation for playing atmospheric music laden with sound effects spread and played along to films in the chill-out rooms of Megatripolis^[2]

Megatripolis also put on several massive parties at Bagley's in Kings Cross and escalated its political agenda by renting a small tank^{[citation needed]} to take on the Criminal Justice Bill protest rally in May 1994. The club ran until New Year 1995 when internal pressures tore it apart^{[citation needed]}. It continued with a diminished agenda until October 1996.