Art, Anarchy and Acid House - Interview with Choci

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

by Tat

There’s much in common with the embryonic UK hip hop, graffiti and acid house scenes which shared the ‘can do - fuck you!’ ethos of punk rock from the previous decade. One artist who not only embraced the mindset of these energetic movements but ran full pelt with it, is Choci. Starting his own journey as a punk, he soon picked up a spray can and made his way over the Atlantic to hang out with and learn some of the key figures of the subway art scene. Like so many who were fascinated by the rich culture of New York, his head was turned to the anarchic drum machine tracks coming out of Chicago and took to DJing and hosting some of the best parties in the south of England, including the legendary Tonka sound system parties. It was inevitable that such a creative and proactive soul would then soon move into music production, starting a successful record label and shop by the name of Choci’s Chewns. Still intensely passionate about his music and art, Choci has stayed active behind the decks and recently collaborated with Stay Up Forever to release music in support of the people of Palestine - a cause he last long fought to bring to people’s attention.

I want to start with something you recently posted on Facebook. It was that classic photo of you shirtless, digging in a box of records surrounded by sweaty ravers at a Tonka Sound System night. You said: “Boiler room before there was a boiler room - capturing the essence of acid house ethos”. Just simply, how intense were those nights? 

Not sure I would call them intense or maybe I would call them intensely peaceful if it’s possible to juxtapose those two words together. At that point in the time (the genesis of acid house) there was an incredible feeling of solidarity, most of the people in the club were mates, or mates of mates which lead to an incredible fusion of like mindedness – ie whatever goes. It was a new dawn for everyone with the Tonka ethos and inclusivity and arguably unique along with a house music sound system. It was so exciting and a great privilege to be able to play music for everyone involved, we were pioneering acid house by mixing disco, garage music, rock, house, acid house and punk. Those nights were life changing for many people till this day.

Where did the idea to sit the decks right in the middle of a hyper crowd come from? 

I believe that was Harveys idea so we could be amongst the crowd and feed off their energy and play with them rather than to them. Be on their level rather than in some high-level booth.

It seems like a symbiotic relationship. Were you infused by the crowd being all around you, which fed the music and the ravers which fed back to you in the middle? 

As I said above the intention was to feed off the crowd’s energy and to look into their eyes before dropping the next 303 – 909 driven jam fresh out of Chicago and witness the effect the music was having on their soul.

Given people were really going for it, did you have any episodes where people got a bit too excited near the vinyl and you had to be a tad protective or was that just part and parcel of the vibe? 

Yes there were all sorts of accidents like a beach ball bouncing on my stylus arm which led to the stylus bouncing in the groove or the time I took the needle off the record that was playing. The crowd were thunderstruck and looked at me - all it took was one great big smile and they went back to their world of acid house music grinning , thinking it was all part of the programme.

What and who inspired the whole ethos behind the soundsystem?

As punk misfits in Cambridge (I sang with gothic punk band 13^th Chime on occasion and Harvey played in bands too) throwing illegal squat parties playing electro, hip hop, house music and reggae etc, we naturally drifted into acid house whilst Tonka Rob in his typical ‘I don’t give a fuck’ attitude inherited a large lump from a rich Grandma and went and bought the turbo sound system which we then painted yellow and christened Tonka.

What was the definitive Tonka record if you had to pick one? 

Crikey – Hamilton Bohannon ‘Let's Start the Dance’ was one of many definitive Tonka records. Harvey would often play it at the end of the night and the crowd would go wild.

You were an integral part of the emerging London graffiti scene back in the day with We Roc Hard (WRH) and Team Robbo, how much did this shape the way your ethos as you discovered acid house? 

RIP KING ROBBO – the interface from graffiti to acid house was a natural fusion – both were young kids going against the grain. They were underground scenes that broke with the zeitgeist – a rebellion – a big ‘fuck you’ to the norm and the establishment.

How instrumental was going to New York? How old were you at the time? 

New York was mind blowing – I was 21 at the time. I could probably write a book just on the city and its culture back then - which was so inspiring to this day - meeting some of the most famous writers and break dancers and hanging out with them. I was welcomed into this family that was taking their art worldwide from the streets of the Bronx – Uptown – Brooklyn etc. Big Up Carlos Mare 139 – Leo Roc (RIP) – Dondi (RIP) – Kel 1^st – Sen One – Normski RSC – Frosty Freeze RSC (RIP) – Kaze (RIP) – Cos 207 – Mandy – TC5 – IBM – RTW – CIA – FC.

I’ve got a white label copy of your Hoovers and Spray Cans record from 1991. It's a record that seems to connect two major passions with graffiti and the rave scene. When was that point like some of your peers where playing and making music became more important than creating art and was that a conscious decision? 

It just blended together, the music took over and led me down the path to production, studios, international DJing and record shops etc. The graffiti was still very much integral to what I was doing but rather than creating art on train yards or leaving my scent on the walls (tagging) I was getting up with very little effort on fliers and record labels in magazines etc….

Do you still write and would you leave your tag in DJ booths if you had the chance?

I still write and leave my tag wherever I can. I got banned for going mad in Club Gold in Tokyo for bombing all the walls in the back of house in big chrome letters.

I never attended a Tonka night sadly, but was very well aware of it, such was the legendary status. Were you aware of how unique it was compared to some of the other notable parties at the time? 

It didn’t dawn on me how unique they were simply because they were an evolution of what we were achieving in Cambridge; the inclusivity and ethos was just part of the programme and came naturally.

There are a few iconic images and some incredible footage of you and the Tonka crew from back then. Was there a conscious decision to capture what was going on for posterity? 

No there wasn’t, not from my perspective anyway. I was just a young man having the time of my life, pushing boundaries, and bringing a whole bunch of mates with us.

You strike me as someone with incredible drive and energy, even over 30 years on. You must have been one of the busiest people on the scene throughout the 1990s. There was the label and shop Choci’s Chewns, all of the sub labels and the nights you were running. What is your fondest memory of that intense period?

I think being able to build a shop from scratch and then start making music and building a studio from scratch. It was my own small cottage industry and it got to the point where even my mother Lily was impressed LOL.

You’ve witnessed a very changing scene throughout the 1990s - how would you sum that decade up to a younger generation?

 The early nineties were like “we’re going to change the world to a better place” - by the end of the nineties it was a capitalist industry.

You are still DJing and making music and from what I can see are still full of that energy and passion to play out and have a good time. What kind of sounds would people expect to hear in one of your sets in 2025? 

At the moment I like to warm them up with underground classics and then interface those classics with my new productions. I like to play the record from beginning to end so the people get an idea of what the artist wanted from their production. My ideal set is acid house I guess, but I don’t stray away from any type of dance music genres if the crowd can handle it.

Your Choci’s Chewns label returned after almost a decade away with four EPs titled Acid People for Palestine. It was a collaboration between yourself and the Stay Up Forever guys. How did this come about? 

Chatting with my long time friend Chris Liberator we discussed starting labels again and as I had come back from one of my tours in Palestine we agreed to release some music for the charities I work with on the ground and that series was born. We’re just about to launch another series to keep the ball rolling. Can I say many thanks to all who have bought the records as I know money is tight and vinyl isn’t cheap so many thanks to Japan – Brazil – London etc for your support. Many thanks to Stay Up Forever – The Liberator DJs Chris – Julian and Aaron – DJ Tiddles – Tonya and the Sov – Kundi Bear for her support – The Sov In Hackney – and all my People in Palestine Abed – Sameh – Issa – Badee – Rajjaaaabi – Moe 1 Mohammed (Jenin Camp) – Abdulkarim – AbdulFattah – Marwan (Jenin camp) – Al Rowwad (Charity) Cadfa (Nandita) ( Charity) Al Jaleel (Charity) – Ahmad (Jenin) – Beit Leid family – The Tamimi family - and everyone in Palestine who lives proud and in dignity under the most vicious apartheid.

The series brings together several notable artists, what has been the reaction to the series?

Are there any plans to release new music in 2025? 

Yes Chris , dear Sam and I have a new acid house project called Servants Of Struggle (first release at Juno distributed by Spencer at Prime). I’m building a new studio so expect lots of music from electro to acid house to drum and bass (hoovers and spray can remix).

As someone of many talents, out of DJing, graffiti, music production and party organising, which one has brought and still brings you the most pleasure? 

They all hold the love in my heart DJing to people and watching their reactions to new music is always a thrill. Making music is such great fun and organising parties is wonderful and of course graffiti is my first love XXXXX

How do you discover new music these days?