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December
2006
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There are certain traditions that occur like clockwork every December; the TV channels put on a load of shite for the first three weeks as they save up all the good stuff for Christmas; Jamie f*cking Oliver puts another book out, (like he’s not rich enough already.) And I bring out the latest in my Bangers mix CD series, (because I’m certainly not!) bringing together all the big tunes that have torn it up for me over the previous months. The 2006 instalment offers separate R&B, Hip Hop and Reggae Dancehall mixes. The hip hop is the one I’m most happy with, and there’s a chance to hear it via the News page. Otherwise, the full CD’s available from all the usual sources, with a track listing on the Mix CDs page.
'2006 Bangers – have you got yours?' December’s first stop-off was at Shikara’s nightclub, (not to be confused with ‘Shakira’s’) in Bracknell on Thursday 7th. This was the latest venture from the enterprising DJ Mr. Jay in association with the venue, in a bid to create a quality R&B/ soul night on a Thursday. Sadly, various factors, including appalling weather and pre-Christmas consumer financial pressure combined to make sure it wasn’t busy. All parties took the optimistic view, however, with plans to try again in the new year, this time on a Friday or Saturday. And it was good to have a catch-up chat with Jay and put the world to rights! Although I lived there briefly I the late 80s, the town of Reading seems to have changed beyond recognition since then, and feels like it’s doubled in size. The combination of absurd one-way systems, interminable traffic lights and limited parking didn’t bring the best of starts to my set at The Fez Club on Friday 8th. Neither did a confusing mix-up with DJ bookings leaving both resident Swiss and myself thinking we were playing the same slot. Happily, it all got resolved, and the rest of the night turned out to be really good. Flick The Bass has occupied the Friday slot for quite a while, with an emphasis on quality, club-rocking urban joints and zero cheese. Headlining the night was DJ Swerve, who I’d not seen for a fair old while. Swerve now works off Rane Serato, and delivered a firing set that kept everyone guessing as to what he’d play next – just the way it should be.
'DJ Swerve at The Fez, Reading'
The weekend concluded with G’s in Bicester. I normally play there on Thursdays, but had swapped with Saturday DJ Cecil in order to incorporate Bracknell. The only differences to a Thursday were that the crowd seemed a little less chavved and more well-behaved, and the fact that things ran to 3am, rather than the usual 2. During the week, I interviewed Kaine and D-Roc, aka the Ying Yang Twins for B&S magazine. What was interesting was getting them out of crazy strip club banger mode for a short while and talking about the more reflective and mature tracks on their ‘Chemically Imbalanced’ LP. It’s always good when you can get below the surface veneer of artists and get them talking to you as regular guys about regular, everyday life.
'Ying Yang Twins' The weekend began with a surreal moment at G’s on Thursday 14th, when I found myself reminiscing with owner George about ‘The Dying Fly’, ‘The Bucket Of Water Song’ and various other elements of cult 70s and 80s kids’ TV show ‘Tiswas’, which it turned out we both loved. Very bizarre. (Apparently, Chris Tarrant is organising a nostalgic show for 2007, reuniting many of the characters from the original shows.) Right – back to urban music! The Hill in Muswell Hill shot straight to the top of my list for best night out in London following my visit there in September, so I was more than happy to be heading back up there on Friday 15th. Resident/ owner Running Man and sidekick Razman continue to blaze it up with a fierce mix of hip hop, funky house, garage, bashment, old school and slow jams, (all delivered off Serato,) and I had a great time starting the night off, mainly through being able to play quality, proper music both old and new, without any pandering to predictable, commercial requests. I need more nights like this!
'MD with Running Man and Razman at
The Hill, London' After lodging at the in-laws’, Parveen dropped me off at Heathrow Terminal 1 the following afternoon for my final away trip of the year, a hook-up with DJ David Craig to guest at his regular Saturday spot, Opium in Aberdeen. The distance between us means me and Dave only get to meet two or three times a year. So after hitting the bustling city centre, we caught up on things over a long drink, before I headed to my Travelodge, conveniently located about thirty paces across the street. Unexpectedly for such a remote town, I’ve always found Aberdonians open-minded and reasonably easy to please, compared to their highly opinionated and fussy Southern cousins. Once properly warmed up, Opium turned out to be a lot of fun, and some strong tuneage got played and appreciated. Dave’s fiancee, singer Clarita was partying in the place, among the regular Saturday night crowd.
'Clarita and friends at Opium, Aberdeen' The only downer was having to be up at 7am on Sunday after too many beers and not enough sleep. There’s a distinct lack of BMI flights to Heathrow, and the only alternative to going back as late as 5.45pm was to fly at 8.50 in the morning, so that’s how it had to be. Much to Parveen’s frustration, I was forced to go back to bed for a couple of hours once we arrived home if there was to be any hope of me functioning competently for the rest of the day. So on to the last weekend before Christmas, when, despite the seasonal financial pressures, people always seem happy to throw caution to the wind and go out on the lash. G’s was drunkenly bubbling on Thursday 21st. The following day was miserable from the point of view that the wife dragged me Christmas food shopping, and the fact that much of Southern England was still shrouded in the ghostly pea soup fog that had caused three days’ worth of flight cancellations at Heathrow Airport. I fully expected the roads to be just as chaotic, given the combination of people heading home for Christmas, the appalling weather, and the fact that I had to travel all the way to Wigan, near Manchester. So Parveen and myself set off at 5.30pm, leaving stacks of time. Typically, the route was flowing freely, and we arrived early in time for my set at The Hub.
'MD with Wes and friend at The Hub, Wigan' The Friday before Christmas is lively anywhere in the UK, but in the North West, ‘Mad Friday’ is apparently considered as much a party occasion as Hogmanay is in Scotland. The streets were littered with revellers as we arrived, some climbing lampposts in Santa hats, others rolling around in the gutter. The Hub was just as lively inside as outside, and bubbled nicely throughout my fast-moving three-hour set. We hit the freezing fog-bound road immediately after I finished, and were just about tucked up in bed by 4am. The remainder of the weekend was lived in reverse. I had the whole of Saturday off, working instead on Sunday, Christmas Eve, which marked the second in my trilogy of Hub Wigan appearances. I’d requested an early set for this one, enabling me to be home by 3am, so I’d theoretically be in half-decent shape for the usual gathering on Christmas Day. The streets were fairly quiet, and The Hub drew only moderate numbers – not really surprising considering people had already had the two key nights of the weekend to party. Bombing home was a breeze as the motorways were almost entirely deserted.
'MD at The Hub Wigan' Next night on the agenda was Boxing Day, usually second only to New Year’s Eve as a night for punters to let off steam. This marked a welcome return to Bel Air nightclub on the Belfry luxury hotel/ golf course complex just outside Birmingham. The venue’s run a hugely popular Monday night ‘big people’ soul event for the past twelve years or so, with DJ Robin Holland in place as resident throughout, and draws coachloads of clubbers from all over the midlands and beyond. The Bank Holiday events are always a gas. I’ve played a few over the years, but it had been a fair while since I’d last visited. Kaine, one of the bouncers from G’s and his mate came along for the ride.
'MD with Robin Holland at The Belfry' It was satsifying to get to play some quality revivals to a knowing crowd. The only downer was an opinionated woman coming to the booth to moan that I wasn’t playing ‘the tunes that Robin Holland would play’ before storming off in a huff. This, I feel, is the whole point about guest DJs. If all I was going to do was to turn up and play exactly the same set as Robin would, then there would be no point in having me. The value of guest DJs is that they bring variety and a different musical outlook to a night, which can only enhance it. Minor gripe aside, the rest of the night was hugely enjoyable, and I hope I get the chance to guest at more soon. As you may have seen from the news page of this site, I start a new radio show from 10th January on Oxford’s FM107.9, the station I used to be on in its previous guise as Oxygen a few years ago. As a prelude to the first show, I did a shift from 8 to 10pm on Wednesday 27th December, to get climatised to the studio. It felt good and natural to be back doing proper radio again. Podcasts, mixes and on-line stations just don’t feel the same as the real thing, even though I was the only person in the entire building – never an unusual thing in commercial radio.
'MD on Oxford’s FM107.9' I was recently interviewed by David Craig for his radio show in Aberdeen, during which he asked me my New Year’s resolutions. On the spur of the moment, I told him I was never going to play Shakira’s ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ in a club again after 31st December. He didn’t believe me, so I’ve set myself quite a challenge on this, but it’s one I’m happy to rise to! I figured a good place to start would be G’s in Bicester on Thursday 28th. On Saturday 30th, I rolled up outside The Bridge in Oxford ready to play my regular end-of-month residency … only to find the club all locked up and a sign on the door saying ‘The Bridge is now closed until New Year’s Eve.’ Nice of them to tell me. Oh, hang on … they didn’t. Naturally, I was none too impressed, but a phone call to management confirmed that I would still get paid, as it wasn’t my fault, so I returned straight home to wifey and sunk a few drinks. One of my easier Saturday nights, I feel.
'MD, Rob Ellis and Rick Star at The Hub, Wigan' New Year’s Eve itself involved my third visit to The Hub in Wigan. On previous occasions I’d driven up and back the same night. This time, we’d booked a hotel, and settled in there before heading up to Chorley to pick up my DJ mate Rick Star, who was hanging out with us for the night. The stormy weather had already brought the cancellation of the big open-air events in Edinburgh and Belfast, and it may well have been keeping the North West’s revellers in, too, as Wigan town centre was unusually quiet. The general consensus, though, was that people were simply pissed off with the taxi cabs charging double their usual rate, and had decided it wasn’t worth the expense of going out. I started spinning at 9pm. By 10.30, The Hub was moderately buzzing, with Rick handling the mic, but the party failed to ignite into anything resembling a New Year’s Eve, even immediately prior to midnight. Galaxy DJ Rob Ellis had fixed up a big screen to count down the minutes and seconds. Unfortunately, it was running six minutes slow, meaning it was already 12.06am by the time everyone in the club was raising their glasses. … and that was 2006! Diary Archive 2007 2006 2005
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