'HAPPYDAZE' THE BOOK  

Samantha Williams was given her first camera on her 21st Birthday 1989.

She became a passionate photographer in the days of the Acid House Era and the youth culture of yesteryear.

 Her 35mm camera accompanied her to most parties she went to. Within this book you can see how she captured a personal insight and an unbiased, uncensored account of the musical revolution back in 1989. Her photos were collecting dust underneath her bed for nearly 20 years, so she decided to dust them off and share them with the world.

Paperback: 163 pages

Publisher: Samantha Williams; Revised edition edition (31 July 2011)

ISBN-10: 0956575129

ISBN-13: 978-0956575128

Product Dimensions: 25.2 x 20.2 x 1.2 cm

FEEDBACK & REVIEWS :

THE ACID HOUSE BLOG SITE REVIEW - TIM RIVERS

Here is another book I have just read that I can highly recommend. Happydaze is a pictorial delight filled with wonderful images from photographer Sam Williams of the underground party scene from 1989 to early 90s that she closely followed. This steps up a gear from the Ravin 89 book I picked up last year, as it not only beautifully captures the moments in time delivering excellent photographic content , but also there is plenty of text to read of stories from the memories of party goers who were part of one the most important youth and musical culture movements in the last 25 years. What I really loved  is at last someone has produced a book on the party scene that was not City Centric, yes there was life outside of London and Manchester. Ok there are reference to London clubs, but many images of the parties are from outside of the metropolis, Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Somerset, Avon, following the important free party sound systems that held legendary parties throughout the UK, a scene that I hold close to my heart.

TIMS LINK > http://www.theacidhouse.com/

DJ HISTORY.COM - REVIEW

It’s great looking at pictures from your rave-past, great to make a personal album with flyers and stories. Sam runs RaveReunited.co.uk and this is her time capsule, mostly of the early ’90s free parties. It's zigzaggy jpegs, and acres of average snaps. But though the images are flat the moments are timeless, and hey, isn’t that what it was all about?

OLD SKOOL FLYERS 29.7.10

K MAG INTERVIEW - 29.7.10

http://www.kmag.co.uk/editorial/blogs/old_skool/happydaze-book

Sam Williams has been one of those people that have beeninstrumental in keeping the memories of the acid house/old skool era alive. She runs her own website Ravereunited and also heads up the Radioactive FM online station that has been pushing all sorts of buried old skool treasures through a host of DJs spanning the globe.

Her latest venture is Happdaze, a coffee table book that hosts the best of her photographic work from the '88 to '94 period. The thought provoking images are backed up by snippets of text from ravers that were there at the time and the whole package is one of the best photojournalistic memoirs to date. Here is a little insight into the book and how it came about....

Tell us about your journey into the rave scene...

For me it was a mutual feeling amongst all of my friends and acquaintances. One minute we were nearing the end of the eighties and then bang! After a decade of the new romantic and early electronic era, we were given this new music which just blew us a way. We all fell in love with it and found ourselves doing almost anything to hear it. The rest is history.tly, but not all the time. Photography was an expensive hobby 20 years ago and I only used to be able to afford to take a couple of films to events, which made me very thrifty with my shots, all 72 of 'em (featured in the book anyway). Nowadays I think nothing of taking an average of 500 shots at an event as it's all digital. I guess you could say that I had to think more about my shots back then.