Holly Dicker, author of Dance or Die: A History of Hardcore, spent 2025 balancing months of manuscript edits with voracious reading, new musical discoveries and a run of unforgettable hardcore parties across Europe. Touring her book became both exhausting and energising, reconnecting her with rave communities and reaffirming the defiant joy that keeps her dancing.

What have you been reading this year?

Reading is my passion and I try to get through a book a month, ideally a book every fortnight. This year has been tricky as I was mostly reading my own manuscript for the first four months. But I was also catching lots of trains…

• Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous **stunning**
• Rachel Cusk – Second Place
• Peter Schneider – The Wall Jumper
• Peter Fleming – One’s Company: A Journey to China
• Michel de Montaigne – The Complete Essays
• James Bridle – New Dark Age **essential**
• Robert M. Pirsig – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance **surprising**
• Richard Powers – Playground
• James Ellroy – American Tabloid
• Iris Murdoch – The Sea, The Sea **abandoned**
• Ursula K. Le Guin – Dancing at the Edge of the World **inspiring**
• Peter Ackroyd – London: The Biography
• Pitigrilli – Cocaine

Have you been listening to any podcasts, audiobooks or radio shows?

Martha on NTS Radio, whenever I need a rave at home, a great source of new bass-driven music.

BBC Radio 4’s The Limelight for thoughtful culinary or sofa sessions. The Betrayed really nailed our polarised greyscale times.

Mystical Magpie YouTube channel, because I have dreadful insomnia and need stories to fill the long sleepless nights.

Heard any standout DJ sets or been to memorable parties or events in 2025?

Duran Duran Duran, The Outside Agency and Somniac One delivered the best breakcore, hardcore, and party hardcore sets at Bang Face Weekender in Butlin’s Skegness … Somniac One for the Bang Room next year, please, James!

Kilbourne and Reeza’s sets at Worm for the Dance or Die Rotterdam launch were epic. Massive thanks to Baseck and the rest of the PRSPCT family who made this event a real homecoming.

Explity Music presents ENDLESS HARDCORE SUMMER 3 at La Station Gare des Mines was the ultimate neo-gabber queer party of the year. Such an honour to be invited to collaborate on this as part of the Dance or Die Paris launch.

HARDWeRK IV: WUNDAWeRK at Soup in Manchester got me nicely spangled for the Dance or Die Manchester launch – but then Mark XTC’s own history of hardcore set (from the Hacienda to hardline DnB) at Renae closing Dance or Die Manchester kept us raving into the next hangover 🙂

The Dance or Die London launch at STANDALONE was pretty much a rave without DJ sets 🙂 A huge thanks to everyone who participated and turned out for this.

Other standouts:

• 33EMYBW and Blawan at Draaimolen Festival in Tilburg.
• DJ EZ at Perron in Rotterdam.
• Alberta Balsam at Nar for CLONE JACK FOR DAZE in Utrecht.
• Thanos Hana at Berghain in Berlin.
• Abstract Division at BRET in Amsterdam.
• Fossil Archive’s Sunday residency at The Glove That Fits in London.
• Coki & Joker at Dekmantel in Amsterdam.

What are your reflections on your book now that it’s out?

I never thought Dance or Die would be finished. In a way, I never wanted to finish it, because it’s a story that should never be complete. It’s why, despite feeling reluctant to ever talk about this project again – as much now as back then – as soon as the book landed in the summer, I pushed myself into a series of launch events in various cities (and countries) to keep the stories and conversations evolving. (I was also homeless, so it made sense at the time to take my life and book on the road, until something happened.)

The last six months have been exhausting, but also deeply rewarding on many levels that are still resonating. I’ve met such a diverse range of people at these Dance or Die events, from enthusiastic Gen Zs to OG hardcore heads in their fifties. All as diehard about music and rave culture as I am, who have later shared their appreciation for the book in the middle of a rave or in a random dank basement where this music has called us to dance away the waking nightmare that has been 2025.

This year has been a real shit, for many of us, and surprisingly – or not surprisingly – raving and reconnecting with my clubbing community has been the reason to keep going, in spite of it all. Has anything surprised me? Despite imminently turning forty, and feeling uncomfortable on most dancefloors I’ve encountered in these weird post-pandemic times, I know I still have to dance, dance, dance or die!