So we decided to celebrate 10 years of The Ultimate Chill by stripping it back to an evening of art, music, film and other stuff… The marvellous Emma Goldstraw designed the publicity flyers, and our venue of choice was Braes on the Perth Road, which was suitably intimate. 

Art: We began by displaying artwork by KenART artists: a collection of 3D photography by Bill and a selection of pictures by Ross.

Music: The musical proceedings began with Elliot from the West, a lone guitarist. Liam Johnston and Stephen Henderson of Spanky’s Heroes followed; they were involved with The Ultimate Chill 2002, held in the Reading Rooms. The next musical event was Clementine’s Baby Doll, a duo made up of Ashley Christie and myself who have both been involved with The Ultimate Chill and currently work with Pure Media UK. Next up was Kitty the Lion, a Glasgow based band whose line-up includes Joe Rattray, a founding member of The Ultimate Chill. The penultimate band to play was Quiver and the Lady Snatchers an Arbroath band; the lead singer Gordon Crawford was on the Best Band competition judging panel the year Beth Wilmhurst won.  The final band of the evening was Sonnet 65, the winners in 2006, who travelled to China in 2007 to play at the Dalian International Beach Carnival as part of their prize.

Film: There has always been a strong film focus within Pure Media UK so it was inevitable that we would have a film screening.   And what better to show than a debut film by Core Team member, Emma Simpson, entitled Film No.1; the film was very well received.

Other: We told the story of The Ultimate Chill by inviting people from the past 10 years to come back and speak about how they were involved and what it meant to them.  Where better to begin than with the guys who organised the very first one – Elliot George and Paul Byrne, who put their hilarious spin on their reasons for beginning it. This was then followed by Ashley Christie who spoke about her original involvement with the event and what it means to her now as a burgeoning musician… Next up to talk: Joe Rattray, a past multiple winner of the Best Band competition, and Jenifer Ward, who was in charge of the 2002 Planning Group. The final person to talk was Catriona McNeish, who represents the future of Pure Media UK; she spoke about Urban Chillax – an amazing spin off urban street dance competition – and China..!

Stuff: The evening took an interesting twist when Chika (founding member of Pure Media UK), Nathan Brake (Pure Media UK’s current filmmaker in residence) and Adam Varjavandi (previous winner of The Ultimate Chill and good friend of Joe Rattray) phoned us all the way from China!  Even though it was 4am in China, they left us with the message: “enjoy the music, enjoy the art and enjoy the friendship.”  This phone call showed how much the organisation has grown over the years… All in all the evening was a great success, showing how much The Ultimate Chill had grown over the years and just left us with the question: what next for The Ultimate Chill?

Layla Brown
Creative Director

December 2009