Chris Tofu, and friends, including Headmix, bring an evening of festival vibes to Bristol.
Sitting in an industrial estate just on the edge of the city centre, Bristol’s Lost Horizon is far enough out of ‘town’ to not be a magnet for casual party people looking for a late night drink, but close enough for it to attract a discerning crowd that have an ear for quality music.
In a city with more than its fair share of top quality grassroots venues, the Lost Horizon calmly rocked up in 2020, sat at the table, and said, “Yeah, we’re here, don’t mind us”. With no fanfare, a relaxed vibe, reasonable ticket prices and an eye for quality talent, Lost Horizon has established itself as a venue on par with anything else on offer in the west country’s biggest city.
There aren’t many frills: you feel like you are walking into an industrial unit, or maybe a big barn on a farm. Perhaps this adds to the festival vibe of the place. It’s not totally free of bling though. There’s a wicked lighting system and a sweet PA that fills the three hundred and fifty capacity venue with perfect sound in every corner of the room.
Posters around the venue advertise record fairs, turntablist gatherings and a wide variety of community events.
According to their website, the venue is ‘a creative den for the Shangri-La family to showcase art, live music and performance’,
Which might explain how London-based Chris Tofu found himself throwing a party here. A founding member of the festival legends, Tofu Love Frogs, Chris left the band in 1996 to set up Continental Drifts, an events and production company that has become an integral part of the festival scene over the last thirty years, including running the Shangri-La space at Glastonbury. His work behind the scenes keeping festivals alive won him an MBE for services to the music industry.
Not only does he organise shit, he is also a well-respected DJ, with a penchant for remixes, mashups and world-fusion. Soul mixes of the Doors? Drum n bass mixes of Black Sabbath? Electro-swing mixes of Bob Marley? Chris Tofu is your man.
As the doors of the venue swung open, Chris was already on the decks to get the crowd warmed up. And, bizarrely, there was a crowd. At 8:30 of the PMs, the doors were closed and there were just two of us outside in the cold. By 8:45 when the doors opened, a small queue had started to form. By 9pm, when Headmix hit the stage, a very healthy audience had arrived to shake their thang.
The original Headmix Collective formed around the time the original Tofu Love Frogs disbanded, with members of Tofu Love Frogs and Doo the Moog combining to create one of the greatest festival bands of their generation.
They split in 2001 but got back together in 2014, albeit with a new line up, and have been pleasing old fans and winning over new fans ever since.
The first thing we notice is that bass player Ed is absent, but Darren, formerly of King Porter Stomp, makes a good fist of things.
In a world where almost every conceivable musical fusion has been tried, Headmix hit on a pretty unique sound and thirty years on have remained original and fresh. This, no doubt, is helped by the fact that the band are multi-instrumentalists, with bagpipes, fiddles, acordian, melodica and whistles being picked up and put down as if it’s the easiest thing in the world to swap between them.
There’s quite a mixed crowd, age wise, and as the set progresses, limbs get lubricated and shapes are thrown more and more enthusiastically. By the time they draw to a close the audience has been whipped into a state of euphoria.
There’s no need to wind down just yet though, this shindig is going on till 3:00 of the AMs. The drums and amps are moved to one side and a table of decks is brought back to centre stage. Next up is Fizzy, DJ, producer and, apparently, one time Tofu apprentice.
Blending swing with drum n bass, and a few other surprises up his sleeve, he provides the smoothest of transitions from live band to DJ. Whilst we had come specifically for Headmix, there’s still people rocking up late to immerse themselves in the eclectic smorgasbord of DJs on offer.
As the candle burns down towards midnight Chris Tofu is limbering himself up for his moment in the spotlight. And what an entrance he makes. To supplement the beats of his selection of remixes, he is joined by a full blown samba band. If that wasn’t enough, the stage becomes a platform for a series of burlesque dancers, bringing a touch of glamour to proceedings. Chris has come and long way since the days of performing on the back of a lorry at muddy free festivals with the Tofu Love Frogs.
After twenty minutes or so the dancers head back to the dressing room, the samba band go back to wherever samba bands go back to, and Chris is joined by a succession of super cool soul singers and rappers.
As we head into the wee small hours there’s still a Dutty Moonshine DJ set and WBBL B2B Extra Medium set to take the hardcore up to 3am. But there’s only so long I can last on energy drinks and cola, so we head back out into the cold, into the car, and back over the Severn Bridge.
The mix of live bands and DJs can be clunky on times, but if any live band can get people dancing, it’s Headmix. And Chris Tofu was never going to just stand behind the decks picking out tunes.
The bar for this type of event has been set high. It will take something special to match it. Although…. this is Bristol we are talking about.
Want to know more about Headmix? Check out the interview we did with Ed and Paul last summer.
HEADMIX INTERVIEW (2nd August 2024) – Peppermint Iguana Zine