Magic Ritmo returns with their second release, a highly demanded reissue of ‘G.F.X. – Eternal’ originally released in 1990.
Shrouded in mystery, the record has gained cult status among veteran ravers, record collectors and those who are allured by the spiritual and ethereal quality the record embodies. Magic Ritmo is delighted to lift the cloak and share the story of the record and artist through a fully licensed and remastered release.
“Eternal was a snapshot of a time when an opening up of alternative lifestyles, spirituality, political activism and music were creating an overall sense of freedom and separation from mainstream society. And for the first time in my life, I felt a sense of peace and belonging that I had never experienced before and that’s where eternal emerged from” G.F.X.
Liner Notes:
G.F.X. is the alias of Geoff Waterston, a musician, producer and engineer from the coastal town of Whitley Bay, North East England. G.F.X. was born from a youth spent tampering with electronics, taping drum beats off the radio and resourcefully discovering his creativity.
Performing originally locally, G.F.X. quickly became a name spotted on the line up of many acid house nights that were popping up across the North east, as the area began to receive their first transfusion of acid house.
With an early interest in electronics, Geoff began experimenting with any gadgets he could get his hands on; dismantling, customising and exploring techniques to create sounds. Using boomboxes and borrowed time with synthesisers, drum machines and cassette decks, Geoff would spend his days sampling records and playing around with cassettes, pausing and playing until the tape eventually snapped. It was through a similar initiative and intuition that Geoff would use to learn how to mix, asking a friend to recreate the drum loop of ‘House Nation by Housemaster Boyz’ on his TR-505 drum machine and recording it to tape. Geoff then relentlessly mixed his records into the looped drum tape with just one turntable, showcasing Geoff’s commitment to the DIY spirit.
This spirit continued in the form of his pirate radio station, aptly named ‘KL.FM’. Built with a homemade aerial and set up 5 floors up at ‘Tynemouth Plaza’, satisfying those craving the youthful energy of music and on the other hand, putting unexpected listeners half a megahertz away onto the sounds of the station; A Guy Called Gerald, Tyree Cooper, Fast Eddie, local MC’s and for an unexplained reason, “always a Madness record”.
Around 1988, Geoff started to get involved in local acid house nights in his local area, often performing live after the DJs. These performances quickly took G.F.X. from performing to 50 people at ‘Surfers’, a small bar on the local coastline to crowds of 5000+ in the space of a few weeks. G.F.X. quickly became a name spotted on the line up of many acid house nights that were popping up across the North east, as the area began to receive their first transfusion of acid house.
Often hidden away from the archives documenting this time, the North East of England was a pivotal and culturally rich scene amongst the acid house movement. Most prominently, and fondly spoken of, was Middlesbrough’s ‘Butter Loggie’, a bizarre sounding party that grew to crowds as big 10,000+ youths partying at the Herlingshaw Centre in Eston, a community centre by day and place of pilgrimage by night for those eager to experience the beginning of acid house. G.F.X. performed regularly at the Butter Loggie and recalls the impact and ferality of the event, a wild and loose party where the soundsystem shook through your bones. These early experiences provided Geoff with his first glimpses of spirituality, which provided much of the inspiration behind the EP’s title track ‘Eternal’.
‘Eternal’ was recorded in 1989 at Newcastle’s infamous ‘chill on the hill’, a house filled with bedsits, nomads and outsiders and a place that often acted as a destination for the after hours. With no one inhabiting ‘the chill’ who cared how much noise was being made, Geoff took free reign and utilised the building as his practice room. After months of persuasion, Geoff managed to convince an acquaintance to let him use their 16-bit studio. ‘BYTE mobile studio recordings’. The sessions began early in the morning and also finished in the early hours, reflecting the nocturnal culture he and his peers had adapted to. Working with custom synthesisers and a TR-606 drum machine, Geoff assembled Eternal with friends, strangers and ‘chill’ residents in audience, spending a full day programming the drums and eventually recording the vocals in solitary in the basement of ‘the chill on the hill’.
‘G.F.X. – Eternal’ would be released the following year in 1990.
Following the demise and ultimately, the commercialisation of the acid house movement, Geoff left the scene behind and moved on to focus on family and continuing his journey into exploring electronics.
By its very name and nature, ‘G.F.X. – Eternal’ remains a unique and timeless piece of music and cultural history.