Sheryl Garratt’s ‘Adventures In Wonderland’ has been updated and re-released

Originally published in 1999, Sheryl Garratt’s Adventures in Wonderland is a fascinating account of the first decade (or thereabouts) of club culture, documenting house music’s rise from the underground Chicago scene to international prominence.

Now, the book has been re-released with a new cover, new introduction, and updated for a modern audience.

It’s available from today (6 July) via Amazon, priced at £5.99 for the Kindle edition and £12.99 for the print version. Click here for more information.

“I didn’t try to bring the story up to date, because what happened in clubland after then isn’t my story to tell,” Garratt put it in a recent social media post.

“It does however cover the origins of the music in New York, Chicago and Detroit, with in-depth interviews with Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson and many others. It covers the scene in Ibiza. And all the strands of UK club culture that contributed, from Northern Soul to sound systems, warehouse parties to the original rave/rent parties.

“Then there are literally hundreds of interviews with the DJs, dancers, door staff, promoters, musicians, designers and everyone else involved in the explosion of 88-90 – including the police who tried to stop it. And then what happened after: a network of clubs across the country, the innovations of drum’n’bass, and the rise of the superclub.“

Garratt, who started writing for NME while still in her teens, edited The Face from 1989 to 1995, covering the nascent scene first hand. She currently runs The Creative Life, a coaching vehicle aimed at helping artists, musicians, writers and actors overcome creative blocks.

A couple of years back, 909originals caught up with Sheryl as part of our ‘Postcards from 88’ series, in which we asked her for her memories of that kairotic period in popular culture, while at The Face.

“It wasn’t just about music, or even the parties,” she explained. “It gave us the impetus to change the way we covered fashion, to discover a new generation of photographers, to start using new models (such as Kate Moss), to bring in new writers, to cover everything from science to big social issues. For me, it energised everything.”

You can read the full interview here.