It started as nothing

Before any of it, there were stickers. Cut out by hand, handed round at school, stuck on the back of a phone where everyone could see them.

Nobody was buying anything. People just wanted one. That was enough to keep going.

Four years later the first drop landed. Since then there have been seven, and not one of them was a restock. A season arrives, and then it's gone.

The graphics come from somewhere. The Creation of Adam. The koi. Wu wei. Mjölnir. Nothing on the label explains them. You either catch it or you don't, and the people who catch it tend to stay.

Nothing gets made in numbers big enough to stop meaning something. Everyone gets a piece of gold.

Exeter was full of DJs with nowhere big enough to play. So we made somewhere.

The first one ran on 2 September 2023 at The Royal Oak, out in the beer garden by the river. Two stages, twelve names on the bill, nearly all of them local.

Four more followed at the same pub. Tickets from £3, because the whole point was that everyone could get in. Day sets that ran on into after parties. A competition slot so somebody new got their first booking. A send off before New Year, and a White Party to finish the run. Collateral Soundz became the house sound, and half of Exeter came through that garden.

Then it left the country. Four dates in five weeks. R10 Hostel in Bogotá, twice. Los Patios in Medellín. Ô De Casa in Vila Madalena, São Paulo. Free entry at every one.

None of it landed on top of anybody. Local DJs on every bill, open decks all afternoon for whoever turned up with a USB, a free shot at half seven in São Paulo, flash tattoos going in the corner with Calamaro Studio. Chuku played all four.