Project West London
Birthed last Christmas, rose again at Easter; what miracles are in store for part 3?
Project West London provides music artists the space to explore what culture and community means to them. In the midst of a slow and steady ‘re-generation’ of the ends, PWL are becoming the movers and shakers of the underground music scene in West London, holding on tight to culture and community.
The PWL launch a year ago was the start of something. The team is on the edge of creating a space that feels ‘like it used to’ but also allows young people to explore their own identity and create new memories, by promoting emerging Punjabi artists from West London. I had a very nostalgic ‘Southall’ evening on their very first night; I got a Rockys, couldn’t find parking, skanked with the lads and then got cornered into a very LOUD smoking area, it felt like I was 16. Also, it was at Prince of Wales; iykyk.
PWL’s organisers are also held up very strongly by Southall’s dub community and are closely linked to the West London Dub Club and will be playing the same venue in Wembley on the 28th. Southall has a very strong history of roots and dub music with acts such as Aba-Shanti-I regularly playing Merrick Road, Southall Community Centre and the late-great Jah Shaka playing epic events at Tudor Rose in the 90s right through to the 2010s. Dub music was the soundtrack for a lot of Panjabi youth in the 80s and 90s; they felt a connection with the Black Caribbean struggle against fascism in Britain and both groups joined in solidarity as friends and comrades during a dark history of immigration and racism in the UK.
The children of the Southall ‘dub-heads’ of the 90s are now running their own sound systems and keeping dub alive, through further exploration of what culture and community means to them. PWL are taking this format and creating exactly what new West Londoners need: the space to explore the rich history of sound system culture, roots music and bhangra raves all fused together. A space for parents, uncles and aunties alike to come to the ‘early bit’ (or even stay right through) with enough time for the new-gen to keep going in to the night- or until the council come knocking.
The choices of venue were also significant. As mentioned, PWL’s inaugural party was held at the Prince of Wales pub. For the next event, we were about 15 minutes up the road at the Great Western Pub in Hayes. This wasn’t by chance but by design. Not just in Southall and West London, but up and down the country Pubs have become Desi. Desi Pubs are the perfect blend of British pub culture, but with proper Panjabi food (no Vindaloos, sorry Dave). In our communities, places like POW and Great Western have long been the choice of watering hole for West London’s Panjabi pub-goers, and so for the genesis of Project West London to begin in these bars, makes a whole lot of sense.
Crowd numbers started to get a bit tricky and the council got quite upset so venue 3 had to be carefully considered for the momentum to keep going. As mentioned, PWL sits within a larger underground scene in West London that has been on a steady rise in 2024. On the 28th December all under one roof at the Crystal Club in Wembley, Jungle and DNB ravers will be hosted by The Original Roast, skankers will have their final spiritual settings of the year with Iration Steppas, Ital Power and the West London Dub Club; and fan favourites ARJXN, Nav Mischief and Ramnik to name a few will be gracing the decks for Project West London Chapter 3.
See you there!