These are just bits and pieces that we've learnt along the way or been told by other people. There's lots of stuff here that we could have done with being told earlier along the way, so please learn form our mistakes and those of other people. If you have anything to add you think it would be helpful for people to know please contact us.

Check list

Torches, surge protectors, lots of spare cables (especially kettle leads and 4 way adaptors), lots of water, first aid kit & fire extinguishers (as well as being useful for emergencies they help for dealing with the police by showing them that you are responsible),

Generators

Always use surge protectors.

Make very sure of whether it takes Diesel or Petrol and then bring lots of it, keeping it away from light-fingered wankers.

For God's sake DO NOT USE LIGHTERS NEAR PETROL GENERATORS!!!!!!

Put them outside as far away as your cables will stretch.

Lock it to something, they are desirable objects and there are some proper nobbers in this world, plus plenty of coppers who want to stop your party.

There are lots of features which are specific to generator models- make sure you are familiar with them. I once yanked the ripcord from a geny cos people were saying it just needed pulling harder. When we got a better look at it there was a switch with I and 0, the dial pointing to 0. Luckily one of the PRANK boys saved the day by attaching his shoelace but this could all have been avoided.

Vans

Park them somewhere you won't get stuck in the mud for three hours the next day.

Buy one cos hiring them just isn't worth bothering with (same goes for genys) and the company will not look kindly on the kind of battering/ mud/ dirt it is likely to encounter at a free party.

Decks/ Mixer

One word- flightcases!!!

Block your mic inputs with chewing gum to avoid any randoms who want to shout Skibba's lyrics at the top of their voice out of time and key. It's a lot less hassle than having them try to negotiate with/ threaten you all through your mixes.

Venue

Try to make it as safe as possible- little things like gaffa-taping your cables down and removing anything munters can trip up/ fuck themselves up on can reduce the risk of injury massively.

As far away from houses as possible.

For some really useful info on squatting and the law order the Squatter's handbook from www.squat.freeserve.co.uk.

Bar

Neat trick this if you can be bothered: attach little raffle tickets to all the cans of beer and raffle it instead of selling it with an "every ticket is a winner" policy. The unlicensed selling of beer is illegal, but anyone can raffle it!!

LOTS OF WATER

Beer is a good deal cheaper in France even than in wholesalers like Macros, which are rubbish. I've seen special offers in Sainsburys on Stella which made it cheaper than wholesale.

Rig

Bassbins give out proper resonance so strap cabs that are stacked on each other down.

MONITORS ARE CRUCIAL!!!

More to be added as we learn it the hard way!