Last time we caught up with Santiago Genochio he told us all about the beast that is Rumpus; now he's back to introduce us to the clubnight's latest offshoot, The Travelling Tavern. Teaming up with musician Rebekah Robertson, the duo are giving the venture a life of it's own in the traditionally 'tavernous' setting of London Fields Brewery. 

Here Santi and Rebekah tell us about celebrating 'proper music', raving to a banjo and gambling with chocolate gold.

RR: You describe The Travelling tavern as Rumpus's 'little sister' – how is she a different beast?

Santi: Rumpus is an indoor festival- so you're going to get a huge range of content and musically it isn't based on any one or two genres of music- we'll happily play anything from jazz to drum and bass. The Travelling Tavern however is a much more curated affair with a stricter music policy, whilst at the same time drawing on that same crowd, same craziness, same dancefloor vibe as Rumpus.

RR: And what sort of musical tastes does the Travelling Tavern cater to?

Rebekah: Everything is either pre-60s or contemporary music that's been inspired by that time- so everything from 1920s and 30s style jazz and blues to contemporary music on acoustic instruments.

Santi: One of the ways this ties in to the overall musical direction Rumpus had is that we're still trying to get people away from relying on a DJ to rave to; at Rumpus we've always had real people making proper music on instruments and until fairly recently crowds would happily rave all night to that sort of music. That's been really successful at Rumpus so this is us acknowledging that; not having any DJs playing any electronic music, and just relying on bands and what I consider to be 'proper music'.

RR: One of the words you use to describe the Travelling Tavern is 'retropostneo'- can you explain what that looks like?

Santi: The mental image that I have is a smokey, New Orleans jazz bar in the 1900s full of a crowd of today's creatures, dressed up and raving. We're going back to the idea that you can rave- you can dance all night- to a banjo. A banjo, a fiddle and a double bass, that's all you need. So 'retropostneo' is a sort of tongue in cheek way of saying we can have the sort of fun we're used to having but with music that's been relevant for centuries.

Santi

RR: Is there a 'retropostneo' dress code?

Santi: Within the Rumpus family we've never insisted on a dress code- we think that good parties are where people look good, but really great parties are where people feel comfortable, so we won't ever insist on a dress code. However the theme of the event is that 1900s feel, New Orleans, a bit dapper, maybe a bit steampunk- cardsharks and bootleggers and rumrunners- but equally if someone shows up dressed as a unicorn, we're not going to turn them away.

Rebekah: It's also Halloween so you can be all of the above but dead!

RR: I was going to ask- around this time of year people tend to latch on to Halloween or Bonfire night to theme their events- is this something you consciously steered away from?

Santi: There are a lot of Halloween parties that often end up with people in Tesco value fancy dress, so I think it's nice to have a night that stands on it's own and doesn't rely on pre-made costumes and gimmicks. However, we do have a sub-plot running through the night, of a fabled ancient game of cards that comes from across the border, down south- of course that's also where the Day of the Dead is celebrated, so we encourge people to come in that spirit..

RR: Is that the chocolate coin card tournament?

Santi: There's an ancient fabled deck of cards, rumoured to have been created by the Aztecs.  They traded heavily in both chocolate and gold, so chocolate gold is the only currency you can place bets with in the game.

RR: The chocolate coin concept reminds me of what you mentioned when we last spoke about Rumpus- about rediscovering your inner child- is that still an ingredient for The Travelling Tavern?

Santi: I've made it my personal mission to never work on a project that doesn't hinge on people experiencing joy.

RR: There's also quite a grown up feel to the event though too- with rum-runners, bootleggers and so forth; a celebration of alcohol in an era when it was forbidden..is it going to be a very booze-based experience?

Santi: One of the things about joy and having fun is that you don't have to be wasted to do it. As for the bootleggers and other law-breakers; it's just like pirates;we're not glorifying bloody and unpleasant historical truths, we're creating narratives with romanticised archetypes. It's just about creating a vibe for the night which we can then explore.

Rebekah: Everything that's going to happen you can enjoy sober or after a few drinks- we're just trying to create a playground for everyone to enjoy. I imagine that's what it was like in the Depression too- when things get tough everyone just wants to have fun. Good company and good music- that's what we want to provide for people. There's also going to be a food court with What the Dickens who make Victorian style street food- there'll be serving through the night, up to and including breakfast!

Santi: It's interesting talking about the depression as obviously we're in a recession now- and globally when the markets crashed in 2008 more money was lost than during the Great Depression. People still managed to have fun then- we're managing now. I think there's an interesting correlation between where we're at now and the period we're harking back to.

Rebekah (on the double bass) and The Ceilidh Liberation Front who'll be playing at The Travelling Tavern

Rebekah: It might be why people are into this kind of music again too- there's been that huge swing-dance revival and all that stuff- people are looking to amazing music that came out of times of hardship.

RR: There's a revival of interest in the analogue in most industries at the moment; from music to photography..

Santi: We've had 30 years of people being overly obsessed with electronic beats, whereas we've had thousands of years of people dancing to instruments. And the great thing about the idea of a tavern for me is that conceptually, as an archetype, the idea of the free house throughout history is a place that people can get together and maybe let go of their political or social identities and be together- for me that's part of the concept. We've had discussion about where the tavern is set- or when it's set, but for me, I like the idea of it having existed forever. In literature too, there's the Restaurant at the End of the Universe in The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, there's that wonderful free house in Neil Gaiman's Sandman; there's the highway inn in Calvino's Castle of Crossed Destinies, there's Rick's in Casablanca; it's these kind of ideas that excite me; making a place outside normal social conventions.

Rebekah: The music is going to be different from a traditional line-up too; all these musicians know each other well and play with each other frequently, so it's not going to be a case of bands just coming on stage and then going off- there are probably going to be some pretty epic jamming sessions.

RR: And what's happening with Rumpus these days?

Santi: Rumpus has had a wonderfully successful and ridiculously fun time over the past three years, but as it's own creature it's crawled into a cocoon to have a little rest, and will be emerging as something a bit different; this is part of the process of growing wings and figuring out what's next.

Buy tickets to The Travelling Tavern on 1st November here and see the full line-up here.