I’d intended to begin this month’s instalment with details of a weekend consisting of G’s, Bicester on Thursday 2nd, The Fez Club in Bristol on Friday 3rd and Butterfly High in London on Saturday 4th. When the Bristol and London gigs both got cancelled within two hours of each other, however, it left very little of interest for the first weekend of the month! I used the time constructively, anyway, working on my latest set of radio mixes for Fire FM, my February Podcast for this site, and my B&S and Touch magazine contributions.

'MD greets a promoter'

I’ve had a multitude of conversations with venues, promoters and DJs all over the UK since the start of the year, and it seems clubland has got off to a monumentally slow start. Promoters seem to lacking the confidence to put on major events or spend any money, and remain happy to let things just chug along for the foreseeable future. Part of the reason for this must surely be the new late licencing laws for bars and clubs, giving punters new late-night alternatives to hitting expensive clubs. Whatever the case, it’s hardly making for a healthy, thriving or creative UK nightlife scene at the moment, and any of us involved in it can only hope that things will get better as the weeks go by.

'MD with LJW at Milkshake, Bournemouth'

I was itching to rip into a meaningful set by Saturday 11th, and I got it in the form of a return visit to Milkshake at The Showbar, right on the main town pier in Bournemouth. Promoter Dave has opted to keep these sessions monthly, and it’s absolutely the right decision. Punters are hungry for their fix by the time each comes around, and weekly jams would dilute that. I joined resident LJW on the decks for another energetic and well-attended night. It was encouraging to get requests for UK tunes from the likes of Kano and Lethal B, too. Urban clubbers usually seem happy to settle for American fare all night.

Valentines Day wasn’t a particularly romantic occasion for me personally; I spent four hours of it bombing up the M1/ A1 up to Newcastle to play Love Dough, chatting to the wife on the mobile! I’ve played many Love Dough sessions, but this was my first at the city’s Digital nightclub since they started doing Tuesdays there at the end of last year. Digital’s impressive on all levels; a well thought-out club with a bone-shakingly powerful sound system that’s a real treat to play on. Resident B Naughty followed me with a characteristically extrovert set, and Love Dough management continued in their usual vein of adding value, this time having hired a troupe of dancers to put on a stage show directly beneath the DJ booth. As ever, the place was rammed - all the more impressive for a rainy Tuesday. After a night at the cool and classy Malmaison hotel on the quayside, I trekked back on Wednesday in Spring-like sunshine, a far cry from the vicious storm the weather forecasts had predicted.

'MD, B Naughty & MC at Digital, Newcastle'

Sad news during the week of the deaths of both British soul star Lynden David Hall, who’d been ill with Hodgkinson’s Lymphona for some time, and more unexpectedly, Slum Village frontman Jaydee.
The weekend turned out to be an exercise in efficient logistics, with Friday 17th all pinned around my Get Down gig at Bar Rumba in London. I set off with Wifey, who was to spend the weekend lodging with her folks in Middlesex - also a convenient overnight spot for me following the gig.

I’d played Get Down the previous year, and it really stood out. I joined residents Sharma, X Fader and Maurice (of Soul II Streets), who have created a lively and musically open-minded session that’s free of all the obvious commercial pap that gets rinsed in other West End venues. Bar Rumba is a real sweatbox with condensation dripping from the ceiling. Added to that, the DJ box was cramped and overcrowded, although this was largely down to the vast amount of records stashed there. Sharma explained that the residents play continuously from 6pm to 4am every week, so little wonder so much tuneage is necessary.

'Sharma, Erick Sermon & MD'

Midway through my set, the MC unexpectedly announced that hip hop legend Erick Sermon was in the house. Seconds later, he was in the box asking me to select a few tunes for him to spin, and he delivered an impromptu DJ set to great applause. It was a strange, but very welcome experience, and great to get to meet such an inspirational character.

'MD with Clinton Sparks'

To make the most of my night in the capital, after my set I headed South of the river to Ministry of Sound to take in the Heroes of Hip Hop night. I bumped into DJs Dodge and Manny Norte who explained that Pete Rock had been due to perform but hadn’t shown. Mixtape master Clinton Sparks had, however, and I got to meet the dude after taking in his old school set. After absorbing part of British MCs Micall Parknsun and Jehst’s show in The Box, I headed back for some sleep, a rewarding and fulfilling night in London firmly in the bag.

On Saturday afternoon, Parveen dropped me off at Heathrow for my Aer Lingus flight to Shannon, Ireland, to play The Trinity Rooms in Limerick. My time there in November had proved that Limerick has just as much to offer nightlife-wise as Dublin, and the Trinity Rooms is clearly the key spot in town. On the way to Limerick I quizzed manager Joe about the effects of Ireland’s smoking ban on business, now that the UK faces a similar situation in ’07. Punters seem happy enough to step outside for a puff, he said, with no noticeable effect on attendances. One thing a smoky room did used to do, however, was disguise other bad smells, which have now become more apparent!

'MD at The Trinity Rooms, Limerick'

Main room resident Paul took me for a bite and a beer at Michael Martin’s music pub, (coincidentally the name of the guy who owns The Vaults in Dublin,) before we proceeded to the club. I span a three-hour set to a switched-on crowd, making for another satisfying night. Less could be said for the departure from the club. As Joe navigated his jeep through a sea of revellers, an aggressive pisshead smashed his fist down on the windscreen so hard that it shattered. Joe brushed it off as an occupational hazard, but there’s no excuse for that kind of animal behaviour. I’d have got three or four of the club’s bouncers to take him down a dark alley to ‘correct’ him. In all, it was a great weekend, and pictures from London and Limerick will shortly be posted in the Gallery section of the site.

I spent the rest of the week furiously producing my Volume 20 mix CD. There’s no name for this one, unlike the previous ones – I feel ‘Volume 20’ kinda says it all. I’ve been doing these since 1998, and set myself the challenge of trying to continually improve by being imaginative with the music selection and the way it’s presented. To mark the occasion, there are freestyles and exclusives from Scotland’s Gift and Nafees, and Jade Foxx and Noelle from the U.S. The bonus disk is ‘Volume 20 – The Best Bits’, featuring all the freestyles, skits and comedy bits from the previous 19 volumes. I also completed a nostalgic 1996 mix consisting of all the big R&B and hip hop tunes I was rinsing a decade ago. This is to be posted on the site very soon as the latest addition to the Classic Mixes section. Look out for them.

'Bubbles & Fiddler at Z Bar here'

The last time I parked my car in South London, I got a brick through two of the windows for my trouble. So I took the wife’s car as I headed to Brixton to play at The Z Bar on Thursday 23rd! This might sound a little mean, but it was really just good logic. Far less interest is going to be shown in a five-year-old VW Polo than a two-year-old BMW. Sure enough, it emerged unscathed. Z Bar/ Restaurant is owned by Gordon Mac, original founder of Kiss FM, and is one of London’s best-known venues for representing all facets of black music all through the week. It was certainly impressive. The ‘big people’ clientele were friendly and into their music, Jigs from Choice FM was hanging out, and hosts Bubbles and Fiddler were helping to build the vibe with an interactive quiz on the mic. I played soulful R&B and reggae for 90 minutes or so, and Gordon was so impressed he invited me down the following night to play another set, along with dinner for Parveen and myself. It was an offer that was hard to resist - particularly as my scheduled London gigs at Purple and Capisce had both failed to materialise.

'MD, Bubbles & Gordon Mac'

Whereas Thursday had been quieter than usual owing to it being the night before most peoples’ monthly payday, Friday fell on the day itself, and Z was riotously busy as a result.

When I started my monthly spot at The Bridge in Oxford over five years ago, I strategically requested the last Saturday of each month. This marks payday weekend for the majority of people that get their salaries monthly, and generally makes for a lively as a result of people having some fresh cash in their pocket. Saturday 25th helped support the strategy once again. With five hours to play with, I generally use my Bridge sessions to try out new and different tracks, and I managed to get Yummi Bingham, Noelle, Juelz Santana, D4L, Busta Rhymes, the Ne-Yo remix, Sway, Kano and lots of other good stuff into the selection.

'Bridge girls'

… and that was February!

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