For the ninth episode of Tales From A Disappearing City I am joined by Ben McCusker, member of the Dead Silence Syndicate and co founder of  Audio Illusion Recordings. We first met in the 90's at an illegal warehouse party  and have been good friends ever since. In this episode we discuss Ben's early music influences including attending with his brother and his mum, the legendary UK Fresh event at Wembley Arena in 1986. This was a showcase for all the underground Electro and rap music that was being played from the Streetsounds compilations by the UK's youth at the time and was an inspiring breakdance Woodstock for the emerging UK hip hop generation. We also delve into Ben listening to Mike Allen's rap show on Capital as well as early Pirate Radio from stations such as Smart Boys FM and Green Apple. We finish this first part of our chat with Ben discovering the local renegade party crew, The Fear Teachers and getting the first taste of rave with all night parties featuring strobes and weird bleeps and tones in the Surrey countryside. Support the showhttps://www.youtube.com/@ControlledWeirdness https://open.spotify.com/artist/20nC7cQni8ZrvRC2REZjOI https://www.instagram.com/controlledweirdness/ https://controlledweirdness.bandcamp.com/ Theme song is Controlled Weirdness - Drifting in the Streets https://open.spotify.com/track/7GJfmYy4RjMyLIg9nffukt