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POINTING THE FINGER
THE FIRST FINGER PARTY TOOK PLACE ON NEW YEAR'S EVE IN 2000, BUT SINCE THEN THE SECRETIVE GATHERINGS HAVE BECOME LEGENDARY AMONG CLUBBERS.
DAMIAN POINTON / TNT magazine / London /
reports:It was like a scene right out of The Night Of The Living Dead. As the night closed in on the witching hour, I was determinedly pacing along an arterial road in Park Royal, gripping my battered A to Z and the directions I'd scribbled onto a scrap of paper about 30 minutes earlier.
This is the nondescript location that the gravelly, and ever so creepy, voice of The Finger at the other end of the phone line had told me to come to. So where was the party? And then they appeared. Like zombies drawn to the scene of fresh brains, the Finger disciples started to emerge from the shadows and spill into the street before and behind me.
Walking as if one the same hypnotic beat, they zeroed in on a sparsely lit industrial estate just ahead of me.
The pulsing of an earth-shaking bassline reached me ears about the same time the warehouse at the far end of the estate came into view. First met, knuckle to knuckle, in wordless greetings as the growing herd of individuals and groups start merging into a haphazard line leading to the entry point somewhere at the back of the building. “It's going to be awesome inside,” one of the drones announced as the glowing, dry-iced threshold to the inner sanctum edged closer. Meanwhile, other line dwellers feverishly texted and called friends to spread the word– The Finger was on and it was heaving.
Today there are more so-called finger parties in London that you can point, well, a finger at, but The Finger was the first and, according to revelers, still the best. The first Finger Party was born out of an Antipodean yearning for something different, less extortionate and easier to get to and from on New Year's Eve in the capital. It was held in Acton on December 31, 2000 with a main room playing hard house, and twisted funky house in a second room; the rest is history.
“The Finger Party was only meant to be a one-off, but it seemed like everywhere we went people were asking, ‘when's the next one?, ”reveals Mr. F who, to this day, remains unidentified for fear of legal repercussions. Since the Government passed the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994), people suspected of organizing, waiting for, being on their way to or actually attending a rave can be moved on by police, fined or even jailed. Hence the venue is always revealed at the last moment via a recorded phone message.
In 2001, five parties were run and the reputation and the popularity of Finger grew. The basic premise stayed the same: find an empty building in a non-residential area with at least one big room (and serviceable toilets), move in a sound system and pray the police don't show up.
Despite a few brushes with the law (indeed, the police apparently turned up before the crowd did on the night of my visit, but were foiled), there have now been 17 parties. “We try to do about four a year, providing we can find suitable venues- we never use the same venue twice, which can be hard work,” Mr. F says. “Things don't always go as planned, but this is always going to happen when everything has to be built from scratch in a day while maintaining a strictly low profile.”
Although it sounds rough around the edges, the DJ talent is anything but. As the fame of The Finger has spread, higher profile DJs started asking for sets including Spencer Freeland, Marc French and Billy Daniel Bunter. DJs of such caliber play alongside up-and-coming Finger residents to give the parties an original and fresh edge. And the name? “It was thought up by two of the original organizers referring to their deviant sexual practices, but the name was supposed to mean several things,” says Mr. F. “I've heard loads of stories and ideas of where the name comes from and what it means from people who have no idea.”
“With only word-of mouth advertising, the whole things has developed its own mythology. This can lead to far-fetched rumors which can be irritating, but mostly we just stand back and laugh.”
Besides, the mystique of The Finger is part of the appeal and finding out about one and getting there is half the adventure. So how do you become a follower of The Finger? The best way is to simply ask around, suggests Mr. F.
Someone will have their finger on the pulse and point you in the right direction. Once you discover the location and you're in, you'll be united in a mutual throwing off of inhibitions, a sense of camaraderie and an utter abandonment rarely found in a licensed club. I could tell you more about what to expect behind the elusive, ever changing doors of The Finger, but where's fun in that?
