Kol Dimond, Main Arm
There are great people; those that have a steel rod of determination, focus, drive and ambition to see something through to its conclusion.
Most of us live good lives, we try to be fair and fun and get on with living, but for those who attain greatness there is another level reached. Greatness however, can come at a cost. It may require being aloof, maybe hard to crack, singular, obsessive, maybe even addicted to the cause at hand – once that path has been visualised and set, there is no turning back.
Olli Wisdom was a great man. He always had an X factor that made him stand out in the late ’80s when he started the famous gothic club in London called The Batcave. His band, Specimen, were also one of the hardest working and committed bands on the circuit. A few years later Olli arrived at my shared house in Newtown spearheading the emerging party scene… trance, techno, doof were some of its other monikers, but the underlying aim was to create safe spaces where us underground folk could gather, perform, dress up, challenge the staus quo and dance all night.
His cutting edge music, his beaming smile, and his complete commitment to the psychedelic-infused tribal gatherings made him an instant legend in the lives of those that came into contact with him. He was larger than life.
After many years of touring the hills of Main Arm and the Byron Shire on his sonic shamanic journey he ventured back to the UK where his productions, under the guise of Space Tribe, took over the global trance scene and helped turn that genre into a joyous community that remains healthy and robust today… sadly for Olli his health took a nosedive in recent years, which he never quite managed to recover from.
His passing this week has left a gaping hole to all those that loved him and all those that encountered his merry ways. It is of no surprise that he left us on the cusp of a full moon and with a new double album of his latest tracks ready to be released. His timing always was impeccable.
Thank you Olli for allowing us into your magical world, making us fly… bringing us safely back down to Earth, and still being there in the chillum circle when dawn breaks to hail the great Gaian spirit.
Bom Shanka
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