Formed in 2000 by musicians sharing the stage on Nerm’s DJ sets, it became a band, and eventually evolved into a sprawling collective shacked up in a large warehouse HQ in Hackney.

At The Warehouse, Shiva Soundsystem threw some incredibly well recieved, highly produced parties that established them in East London’s clubland.

“Fire” was the first residency at the Bluu bar, formerly the legendary Blue Note club on Hoxton Square in London. The nights got so packed they simply had to turn into something else.

A two year weekend residency at Herbal began and saw some amazing and diverse acts share the decks at their nights, amongst them DJ AFX (Aphex Twin), Colin Dale, Andrew Weatherall, State Of Bengal, Ecostani, Swami and EZ Rollers.

Alongside larger club bookings at places like Fabric and Cargo, a slew of festivals was hit starting in 2003 to right now including Glastonbury, Bestival, Rise and Lovebox. India became a favourite tour destination and has been toured every year since 2002.

A second residency in the form of Supersonic Buddha began on Brick Lane’s Vibe Bar in 2004. The idea was to give Sunday clubbing a twist and “snarl in the face of quiet Sundays”. Live music was key with a band or two playing every event, often being the home of some luminary début performances. Supersonic Buddha continues to call Vibe Bar home.

At around 2005 The Warehouse closed it’s doors and Shiva Soundsystem became a record label with one-off events exploding sporadically across clubland.

It now has a bunch of releases, a healthy roster of artists, some great behind the scenes crew and a continuing passion to challenge the norm.

They punks. Not hippies.