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December
2005
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'MD in December'
'The White House, Southampton' Maybe it was the foul weather that kept the punters away from the newly refurbished White House, or maybe it was pre-Christmas financial pressure. Either way, the night wasn’t busy. This was the second in a double-bill with DJ Flash following the previous Friday’s gig at Molokos in Winchester, owned by the same people. The early closure at midnight served as a reminder of how unpredictable this time of year can be in clubland.
'MD with DJ Flash' I was hoping for better fortunes as Parveen and myself set off for Southport the following night, a place in the extreme North West despite its misleadingly Southern-sounding name. Southport’s biggest musical claim to fame is the soul and dance weekender that takes place at nearby Pontins twice a year. I went through a phase of visiting these a while back, and even DJed at one, but stopped going in 1999. The gig was in the town centre itself, and was being put on by my good DJ mate Rick Star, who I’d played with in his hometown of Preston a few times.
'Homies at Havana, Southport'
The venue was Havana, a former swimming baths situated on The Promenade, and consisting of two rooms. One featured nasty cheese, and held the sole benefit of keeping all the nasty cheese heads away from our urban arena, where the real action was happening! It was an intimate gathering of clued-up heads who seemed to lap up every minute of my set, and we ended up slamming it until 4am. Rick’s the perfect host, (as well as a hot DJ and MC,) and always wheels out the champagne, so by closing time, we were all more than a little mullered. Fun at the time, but it hardly set me in good stead for the return motorway run after just four hours’ sleep at our hotel!
'Bratislava Christmas market'
On Monday morning, Parveen and myself headed off on an overnight visit to Bratislava, Slovakia, to visit the city’s renowned Christmas market. It’s famous for its mulled wine, but I resisted trying any, considering my alcohol intake to have been quite sufficient over the previous few nights. I looked around for potential urban clubs - as I always do on overseas visits - but the only venues in evidence were of the ‘gentlemens’ variety. Poledancing joints were not on the agenda this trip!
'MD & Roffie at Sweet As Taboo'
Thursday at G’s was quiet, victim again to the pre-Christmas lull. Friday 9th saw me re-joining Roffie and the Sweet As Taboo crowd at Bureau in Stratford on Avon, a night that defies its genteel surroundings by drawing in raucous heads from all over the South Midlands. The venue’s an odd one; on both occasions I’ve been there the dancefloor has been a sea of spilt alcohol and broken glass, and the DJ booth has sweated like a sauna. It’s also a low-ceilinged affair, where everyone in the building seems to be smoking, making breathing quite a task. Apart from that, it was pretty good!
'Preston girls'
Saturday held a sense of déjà vu, as Mrs. D and myself trekked up the M6 for the second Saturday running. This time, the destination was Preston, scene of my most appalling UK gig experience a couple of years earlier! I was slightly more confident of better vibes on this occasion as the jam was at 53 Degrees, part of Preston University. The event was the Christmas party for the regular Gin & Juice session, and was to have originally featured Lethal Bizzle in PA … until his management started getting delusions of Mariah Carey, amending the contract details to include specially-imported Evian water, a deep shade of lilac in the dressing room, etc, and promoter Ryan told them to forget it! It was also to have featured local DJ Shinobi, but he never showed, so the night was handled by myself, repping for B&S mag, alongside Preston DJ Trevor T, and an impressive PA from Liverpool MC Rage. The night took a while to get going, but we had them bouncing satisfyingly in the end. For the next three nights, I employed a strategy I’ve only attempted a handful of times in my life by going to bed as early as 10.30 and 11pm. The idea was to put my nights off to good use by gaining as much rejuvenating sleep as possible. To a certain extent it worked. I felt ultra-fresh on Monday. The problem was that I was wide awake by 7.30am Wednesday morning, which wasn’t really the ideal thing for a day when I was due to be out until 4 the following morning. I think I’ll just stick to the late nights! Wednesday 14th saw a return to Retrospect, another Ice Cold Parties presentation at Po Na Na in Bristol, where I was sandwiched between local heroes Brotha Nick and Tru Playa. The unannounced closure of the bottom end of the M32 would have made me late - if I hadn’t put to use my knowledge of some of the back streets of St. Paul’s that I’d picked up during my years working at Galaxy 101 there! The gig was all about revivals, and to get to rinse R Kelly’s ‘She Got That Vibe’, Cypress Hill’s ‘Insane In The Brain’ and Keith Sweat’s ‘I Want Her’ to an appreciative crowd is always a good experience.
'Ice Cold MC & Brother Nick at Three, Bristol'
The Love Dough promotions crew have been nothing if not consistent this season .. they’ve cancelled each one of the four dates they initially booked me for, and true to form, the latest casualty was my scheduled date at Evolution in Leeds. So, another Thursday at G’s Bicester it was. The following night saw my first visit to Germany since last New Year’s Eve, and one I’d been holding in high anticipation. This was Soul Heaven at 3001 in Dusseldorf with an all-star European DJ cast consisting of Chucky from Holland, Uneak from Belgium, Sillie Illie from Germany and myself. I flew out of Heathrow with Lufthansa, my 3.30-5am DJing slot allowing for a three-hour pre-club nap at the hotel. In the UK, such a late set time might be seen as a diss. In Germany, it’s still within peak time; clubbers don’t even arrive until after 1am!
'MD projection' I’m full of admiration for the clubbing scene in Germany. With characteristic efficiency, everything seems to run smoothly, and the jam had clearly been promoted well as the venue, a massive purpose-built spot in the newly thriving harbour district, was rammed. Within five minutes, I’d been captivated by Chucky’s set. This man is a beast on the Pioneer CDJ1000s, furiously ploughing through tracks and performing all the tricks you’d expect from a vinyl turntablist. It’s not often I’m blown away by other DJs, but Chucky was so good it was actually embarrassing. It certainly galvanised me to deliver my best possible set, and judging by the response, it went down extremely well. I ended the night conversating drunkenly with Chucky about future link-ups. This was a hugely enjoyable gig on an impressive scale, and certainly earns a place in my top three nights of the year.
'Dusseldorf girls'
11am flights never sound too painful – until you realise that you have to be up by 8.30 to make them! Dusseldorf Airport was being given a ‘muzak’-style cover version of 50 Cent’s ‘Window Shopper’ over the tannoy which was appalling, but hilarious. Parveen picked me up at Heathrow and I spent the afternoon resting at the in-laws’ place in Middlesex ahead of my second flight of the day, an 8pm Easyjet out of Luton, bound for Glasgow. One of my favourite UK gigs of the year had been my appearance at Blanket in September, and I’d worked hard to persuade management to get me back on the Saturday before Christmas, a pretty safe bet for a firing session. In truth, any Saturday night in Glasgow is a riot, and the club was as packed and upbeat as ever. As usual, I played alongside my good DJ mate Ray Woods. I also had a catch-up chat with Glasgow MC Nafees.
'MD with Nafees'
I’ve hugely enjoyed the handful of under 18s jams I’ve played. The energy levels are incredible as kids make the most of their legal entitlement to be in a club. I had one of these on Monday 19th, in Newport, Wales, staged by my old DJ buddy Marcus. He used to run Libertys in Cardiff, and holds the distinction of being the first promoter to book me anywhere outside of Bristol when I started doing my Galaxy 101 show many moons ago. It also saw a reunion with Da Dokesta, who used to DJ at The Forum in Cardiff. Several years ago, he asked me to sign his fridge – the first, and almost certainly the last time I’ll ever get such a request!
'MD with Da Dokesta'
I’d been pre-warned that the venue had no turntables, so I’d spent all spare moments in the previous week fiercely burning some essential bangers to CD. I felt bare as I strolled in with a single wallet of CDs under my arm and my headphones. But I could get used to this non back-breaking lark! Being a kids’ session, it was all over by 11pm, and I could easily get used to such non-exhausting early nights, too! This week could have been billed as the Mark Devlin United Kingdom Club Tour. Having played England, Scotland and Wales, the icing on the cake was a visit to Northern Ireland on Thursday 22nd to play Milk, by general consensus, Belfast’s hottest club. The event was billed as a Blues & Soul Magazine party featuring myself, David Craig, the magazine’s Scotland reporter, and Belfast resident DJ Hix, which made me want to crack ‘did you hear the one about the Englishman, the Scotsman and the Irishman?’ jokes all night. Hix was the perfect host. My flight from Birmingham and Dave’s from Edinburgh arrived at similar times, and we were scooped up and delivered to the Belfast Hilton, where we hooked up later to gorge a fantastic a la carte meal courtesy of the club.
'Milk, Belfast'
Hix had texted us to forewarn that Milk was packed – about 700 in on a night that normally attracts 450. The club has recently undergone a new refurb, and certainly looks impressive, with an industrial/ warehouse feel. In fact, it was a dead ringer for Avalon in New York, with the DJ booth up on a balcony, accessible only by a fire ladder that’s pretty deadly to negotiate when you’ve had a few! A major talking point is the ultra-powerful Funktion One sound system; apparently there are only ten in Europe. My only criticism is that the detached location of the DJ booth, far above the heads of the crowd, makes any kind of meaningful interaction impossible. Other than that, it turned out to be every bit the riot that you can expect a Northern Ireland club night to be. A hangover and a (delayed) early flight back weren’t the best start to Friday, and having to hit the shops for some last-minute presents purchases I could have done without. But that’s Christmas! I’d been due to play another B&S mag party at Atlantas in Northampton on Christmas Eve, but it got cancelled during the week, owing to licencing problems with the venue. This made Friday night’s excursion to NYT in London my last gig before Christmas. The West End was packed solid with jolly revellers, and the crowd at NYT was in equally high spirits, making for a highly enjoyable set. I headed back with the prospect of five complete days and nights off – the longest time of no work since Christmas last year!
'MD with LJ'
I arrived for my second week at NYT in London on Friday to find the place nicely buzzing with an even more clued-up and adventurous crowd. This ended up being one of the best nights I’ve ever played in the capital, confirming NYT’s status as possibly the most musically meaningful of all the ‘upmarket’ West End venues.
'MD with LJ 2' So, on finally to New Year’s Eve. People’s attitudes towards this night tend to be divided. Some buy fully into the idea that it’s the ultimate party night of the year, and deserves to be treated as such. Others argue that it’s over-rated and overpriced, and prefer private houseparties to indulging in overblown club nights. From a DJ’s point of view, it’s certainly important, and, with the exception of 2003’s disastrous farce, my NYE gigs have been some of the most enjoyable of my career. Last year I played in Germany for the third time. This year, New Year’s Eve falling on a Saturday coincided with my end-of-month residency at The Bridge in Oxford, and it made a whole heap of sense to actually keep things close to home for once and play the night there. The club had a late extension, giving me a six-hour set entirely to myself. This called for a fair bit of musical planning, and NYE being the night of crazed revellry it is, I decided to drop a handful of tunes I’d never normally play, alongside the usual sounds. Nothing too horrendous – we’re talking Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross, Cameo, Bob Marley, In Deep, etc, on the grounds that a major part of being a real DJ is being able to diversify (within reason!) when the occasion calls.
'MD & Parveen at The Bridge'
The club was rammed to the rafters, and many familiar faces passed through – Kid Fury and Nic Regisford, my mate/ booking agent from South Africa among them. Parveen made the ultimate sacrifice by agreeing to stay sober and drive us home. We’d probably have continued the party for a few hours, too, if we didn’t have social commitments for New Year’s Day. But good sense prevailed, and we staggered to bed at about 5. … and that was 2005. Diary Archive 2007 2006 2005
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