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July
2006
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The effects of long, sweltering days had already become apparent in club attendance levels in June. Another scorcher on Saturday 1st July didn’t necessarily bode well for the night’s party at The Apartment in Swindon – particularly as England had been knocked out of the World Cup by Portugal only hours earlier. I needn’t have worried; the place was packed and (very) sweaty for my 12-3am set. From my assorted previous visits, I had a clear idea of what sort of stuff would go down well. The Apartment attracts an older, highly mixed crowd, and music of the more soulful and funky variety, and lots of classic throwbacks is the way to keep everyone happy.
'MD and Parveen at The Apartment, Swindon ' These days, around 50 per cent of my regular sets are played off CD, but for a set consisting of so many revivals, much frantic mining through the vinyl archives was necessary during the day. I’m currently in the process of transferring any club track I could ever need on to to a series of CDs, but it’s a long job. In the event, the club’s CD players were knackered anyway, so the entire three hours got played off of vinyl. Parveen came along for the night, and everyone left with a smile on their face –apart from the guy wearing an Osama Bin Laden face mask; amusing, if not entirely appropriate in the current world climate. I got to finish the night on Eric Benet’s ‘Georgy Porgy’and Kelly Price’s ‘Live Sets You Free’–which doesn’t happen too often! The Summer months can be a pretty uninspiring time in UK clubland. The only real action to be had at this time is by hitting the Summer clubbing hotspots like Malia, Magaluf, Ayia Napa, Kavos, etc. Sadly, DJing opportunities at these tend to closely guarded privileges only open to a select few –a bit like the urban music world’s version of the Freemasons –and I’ve never been able to penetrate the inner circle successfully. I always prefer to seek out interesting new openings that other DJs haven’t targeted, anyway, and I usually get a reasonable amount of overseas action through the year as a result. In an interview a couple of years ago, I was asked what the biggest regret of my DJ career had been so far, and my answer was that I hadn’t played enough out-of-doors daytime Summer events. These bring a whole new element to the DJing experience, and I welcome any opportunity I get. I got one on Tuesday 4th July when I headed out of humid and thundery Heathrow Airport to Oslo, then on to the idyllic coastal town of Kristiansand on the Southern tip of Norway, to play as part of the massive four-day Quart Festival.
'Quart main stage' The programme included a diverse array of names, from Depeche Mode and Arctic Monkeys to Pharrell and Kanye West. The festival dominates the entire town every July, and the disapproval of the largely conservative population is balanced out by the huge amount of revenue the event generates for the town from the thousands of revelling visitors. My performance was at the area known as Odden, a kind of grassy cove looking out to sea, where people chill away from the madness of the main stage, and take a dip in the water. The booth was up on a stack of rocks, and I played from 6 to 8pm in blazing hot sunshine, with a stack of cold beers to cool me down. I’d arrived with no idea of what types of sounds I’d need to play. In the event, I opted for a lot of reggae and chilled hip hop. I recorded my set, and a large part of it is available for download from the news page of the site, if you want to hear how it went down.
'MD on the rocks at Kristiansand, Norway' I’d last played Quart in Summer 2003, and I remember discovering then that Norway was the most expensive country in Europe. As I sat down for a meal after my gig, I was unsurprised to find a Caesar Salad and a coke coming in at just under £10. I’d been hoping to go and check Sway’s live performance later on, but he’d apparently cancelled just hours before. On my way back to my hotel, I spotted Kanye West and his boys walking the streets looking for somewhere to hang out. I don’t have any photographic evidence to support this, sadly, so you’ll just have to take my word for it –it was him! Kristiansand’s airport is tiny, and there are no direct flights to London. So on Wednesday lunchtime, I travelled back to Heathrow this time via Copenhagen, Denmark. My luck ran out when the flight to Copenhagen was delayed by an hour, however. I just made the connecting flight to London by a whisker, but my luggage containing my records didn’t, and had to be couriered to my house two days later. The joys of travel. I’d been chasing an interview with upcoming hip hop artist and new Flipmode Squad member Papoose for a couple of days. Anyone that’s ever tried to pin down a US rapper at an allotted time will appreciate my pain! Typically, the return call from New York came through on my mobile as I driving through South London. Knowing this would be my only opportunity, I pulled over and hastily conducted the Q&A session in a layby somewhere near Elephant & Castle. I got what I needed, which will appear in the August issue of Touch magazine, but the diversion made me 15 minutes late for Z Bar.
'MD' I needn’t have worried. Owner Gordon Mac’s chilled-out demeanour has clearly influenced the overall culture of the venue, and nobody was too bothered. Besides, Choice FM’s Jigs was 15 minutes late taking over, so I got to play my full two hours. There’s no requirement whatsoever to play anything remotely watered-down in Z Bar, and I relished the opportunity to drop proper new R&B and hip hop tunes, plus a few classic throwbacks to an appreciative crowd. After my set, I headed back to my in-laws’ house in Northolt, where Parveen and myself spent the night. We had Saturday daytime to kill before setting off for East Anglia, so we used the time to exchange a particularly tight Rocawear T-shirt that I’d received for my birthday for a more reasonable size, (I like my sh*t baggy!), and to sell a few unwanted CDs to Soul & Dance Exchange in Notting Hill. Around 7pm, we set off on the lengthy trek around the M25 and up the A12 to Lowestoft, Tim Westwood’s original hometown, and site of this year’s Soul Village Weekender. This is kind of a Summer version of Southport, albeit on a much smaller scale, with the event taking over the Pontins holiday site at Pakefield on the edge of town. As we arrived, promoter Dave handed us the keys to our chalet accommodation. Having stayed at Pontins sites in Southport and Camber Sands, I knew what to expect. The Hilton it ain’t, and I had flashbacks to the days when myself, Kid Fury, DJ Diggz and four others used to share a chalet between us, each battling to get in the bathroom before the hot water ran out. The Pakefield accommodation was pretty much par for the course, but at least we didn’t have to share!
'MD at Soul Village Weekender' There were two arenas at Soul Village. I played an early set in the R&B and soul room, which again was musically satisfying, even if punter numbers were a little light on the ground, before fellow B&S scribe Bigger took over. A while later, I caught up with Gordon Mac, who introduced me to DJ legend George Power, the guy that originally owned Kiss FM before Gordon. I also got a brief chat with jazz-dance supremo Snowboy who like me, has written a book, and we discussed the difficulties of getting established as a first-time author. (His is a history of the UK jazz-dance scene.) The most notable thing about Soul Village was the age of the punters and other DJs, which seemed to average at around 45. I was clearly the youngest DJ on the bill, and the surroundings made Parveen and me feel like teenagers, which was definitely a good look! Weekenders such as these are largely favoured by semi-retired ravers now with sensible jobs and family commitments, who stopped going out regularly years ago.
'MD with Snowboy at Soul Village' After a sensibly-timed communal Sunday breakfast, (10.30am,) we headed back for home. For such a consistently popular destination, I’ve never understood why direct flights from the UK to Ibiza are at such ludicrous times; your choices consist of a dawn departure so early it’s barely worth going to bed, or a flight arriving so late at night that you’ve missed half the night’s clubbing action by the time you get there. I’ve now established a regular Summer pilgrimage to Ibiza. I go every July, on a Tuesday, and for just one night to play at Soul City in San Antonio then check out a few of the island’s other spots. I’ve become so pissed off with catching the 6am out of Stansted that this year I decided to do things differently by trying BA’s late departure out of Gatwick.
'San Antonio strip' I shouldn’t have bothered; BA switched their original departure time of 7.15pm to just before 10, resulting in the flight not landing in Ibiza until 1.30am, which neatly screwed up my plans. I’d intended to head to Pacha to check out part of Trevor Nelson’s set before moving on to Soul City. In the event, I had just enough time to collect my hire car, (for which I had to pay extra to justify the company keeping their office open late,) and speedily check into my hotel before hitting the decks of Soul City at 3am. The club is run by an English guy, Julian, and continues as Ibiza’s only venue specialising in R&B and urban seven nights a week, (although other venues dabble with the music on certain fixed nights; Shortee Blitz and Westwood are guesting at Eden on Mondays, Steve Sutherland and 3Style frrom Galaxy are at Pacha the same night, Trevor Nelson and Nigel G are there on Tuesdays, and Twice As Nice continue to hold Es Paradis on Thursdays.) The spot was lively as ever. Afterwards, I headed off with long-time resident DJ Kila Kutz to a poledancing spot where he plays, for a catch-up chat; it was all strictly business, you understand.
'San Antonio harbour' I had the whole of the following day to kill, so before a catch-up work session on my laptop at the airport, I virtually circumnavigated the entire island in my hire car, arriving back at the airport in good time for the equally ludicrously-timed 2am Easyjet flight to Gatwick. Last year’s visit to Ibiza had the memorable conclusion of me having to pay £150 for a new emergency flight home after I missed my first one due to my hotel forgetting to give me my passport back. I’d assumed that this was as bad as it could get. I was wrong.
'Ibiza, yesterday' As 122 very pissed-off people quickly discovered, our 2am flight to Gatwick had been completely cancelled, seemingly owing to the pilot having exceeded his allotted flying time for the week, and needing to get a specified amount of rest. Now, I’m no expert on aviation, but I fare pretty well on common sense; would a standby pilot really be an impossibility? Just a thought. In the end, we all had to be put up in a hotel right opposite Space in Playa D’En Bossa – the least the airline could do in the circumstances - and me and a few others re-booked ourselves on the next morning’s 10.10am departure to Stansted, the earliest possible opportunity to get back on British soil. This meant an expensive and time-consuming combination of trains via central London to eventually get me back to Gatwick to retrieve my car, and I finally rolled into my house at 5pm, tired, f*cked off, and with only five hours before my regular Thursday gig at G’s, followed by a long road trip to Scotland first thing in the morning. Yep, Easyjet have a lot to answer for on this one! The Scottish trip tied together three club dates, the latter actually being in Newcastle on Sunday night, which made logistical sense as it was on the route back home. Parveen and myself set off at 11am on Friday, knowing that if we left it any later we’d get screwed up by the afternoon traffic on the M6. Besides, it was an eight-hour, 400-mile journey to the West coast town of Ayr, and sure enough, we rolled up to the Ramada Jarvis Hotel at 7pm. After a brief nap, we set off for the night’s engagement at Club De Mar. The venue’s hosted an array of urban jocks over the years – Westwood, Nelson, Da Firin’ Squad, Blitz and all the usual suspects. This was my fourth or fifth time there, playing in the club’s Room Red. It was quite a bit quieter than usual, but that’s the Summer doldrums for you.
'MD banner at Club De Mar' Saturday 15th involved a North-Westerly trek towards Dundee. I’d tried to secure a hotel there a couple of weeks before, only to discover there wasn’t a room to be had on the entire Eastern seaboard of Scotland. I’ve still got no idea why – some kind of major sporting event, presumably. We had to stay in Falkirk, hardly local at 60-odd miles from Dundee. Port of call there was the confusingly-named London Nightclub. I played for just an hour which went by in a flash. The crowd were well up for a party, and responded well to a few of my new tunes, including a party break remix of Cassie and Nelly Furtado’s ‘Promiscuous’. All in all, a really rewarding session.
'MD at London, Dundee' On Sunday, we headed South, crossing the scenic border back into England, and ending up at our hotel in Sunderland. Last stop on the agenda was that night’s Smooch gig at Blue, on nearby Newcastle Quayside. Beforehand, we went into the city centre to get some food. At the moment I parked, a shirtless guy who’d quite clearly been punched in the eye started shouting abuse at a bloke further down the street, then proceeded to pull a kitchen knife out of his trousers and wave it around. Pretty worrying. But clearly not for the guy who was being threatened, who started running after the guy, shouting ‘drop the f*cking knife, you p*ssy’, They were last seen disappearing down an alley. We’d hoped not to see them later in Blue.
'Punters at Blue Newcastle' Thankfully we didn’t. Blue was formerly Julie’s, a pretty legendary R&B club in Newcastle nightlife. It’s basically a a large bar, but with a lively club feel, and within a short while it was banging. I DJed in between Lil Kriss P and North East kingpin Jay Rockwell, who delivered a highly impressive set full of bumping tunes, and not a slice of cheese in sight. After a rude awakening by a delivery lorry at 8am, we set off back home. The UK reached its hottest day on record the following week, and boy, did it show in the clubs. G’s in Bicester was a sweatbox on Thursday 21st. Teatro in London’s Shaftesbury Avenue, (which I remember playing when it was called Souk a couple of years ago,) was slightly more bearable. This was for Play, promoter Rachael B’s night formerly known as Soul Inspired, and now taking the same name as its Saturday night cousin at Mash in Great Portland Street. I played upfront soulful R&B, paving the way for JP to take over with the classic anthems. The streets of the West End were heaving with activity, making it feel more like 1 in the afternoon than 1am, and bringing the sort of sights you’d normally only expect at a summer hotspot like the Costa Del Sol.
'MD at Funkademia, Manchester' I found myself mining through the vinyl archives again on Saturday, just as I had for my Apartment Swindon gig at the start of the month. I was playing at Funkademia at The Zumeroom in Manchester, a long-running session for true connoisseurs of the soul and funk, so I knew I had to get my selection tight playing to such a discerning crowd. I dug out a few vintage gems that I never normally play, and I felt like Kanye West or Dr. Dre searching for a beat to sample as I blazed through the likes of Raze ‘Bounce, Skate’, Jones Girls ‘Nights Over Egypt’, Tom Tom Club ‘Genius Of Love’ and the like. Promoter/ resident Dave Payne was away for the night, so I covered the whole 11pm-3am set myself. I recorded the whole set, which will be made available as downloads for anyone that’s interested. It’s the sort of night I rarely play, and it’s always good to have a break from routine and enjoy a new challenge. It was a gratifying experience – which is more than can be said for having to drive the 150 miles home again after finishing, particularly as Wifey had scheduled a family barbecue for Sunday lunchtime.
I completed finished copies of ‘Hustlin’, the latest MD mix CD during the week, (further info. to come on the news page of the site.) One of the biggest fans of my CDs is my brother-in-law and his girlfriend, who eagerly await each new volume. Before I met him, he was a rock and indie fan. Now, they’re bona-fide urban heads. Nice to know I’ve done my job right there! I underwent a fairly severe haircut during the same week, prompting my wife to comment that I now looked like a neo-Nazi thug. Cheers. My first subsequent outing was to The Studio in Swindon, a worthy replacement for my usual G’s session on Thursday 27th. The Studio is a sister venue to The Apartment elsewhere in town. My sets there have always been of the more mature, soulful variety. For The Studio, I was requested to play my usual upfront hip hop, dancehall and R&B fare, which kept me more than happy. All signs pointed to the crowd having a great time, too. It’s a cavernous venue with an array of different spaces, and there were clearly a few hundred in the house. A great night.
I was back in Wiltshire the following night. I’ve now played for Jim, the owner of Bar OC in Devizes, and prior to that The Junction in Trowbridge, more consistently than for any other promoter, having spun at one spot or the other every year since 1997. The venue’s had a bit of a refit since my last visit, with new décor, and the DJ booth moved to the opposite side of the room. Bar OC remains the only venue I’ve been to where I’ve heard a bunch of guys comparing cock sizes in the toilet. The words ‘cor, yours is bigger than mine’ delivered with a drunken Wiltshire twang still resonate in my memories. The last Saturday of the month is normally reserved for The Bridge in Oxford, but I’d arranged cover for this one so I could play the Sugar Daddys night at Rehab in Leeds. This is the successor to the long-running UCCI night at The Fruit Cupboard, and is run by DJ/ promoter Umberto and the same team. The club was rammed, showing no signs of the Summer doldrums, and I ripped into an energy-charged two-hour set which, as predicted, contained a lot of reggae dancehall and appeared to go down a storm. Rehab is the only club I’ve been to where the toilets are unisex. It’s just plain bizarre to find girls checking their make-up and sharing gossip while guys take a pee just a few feet away from them!
Locations like Leeds are just on the borderline of whether it’s necessary to take a hotel for the night. At a drive of two and a half hours each way, it’s just about possible to do there and back safely in a night, which is what I opted to do. There’s nothing like sinking into your own bed after a long night and knowing you can just relax for as long as you want – even if you don’t get to hit it til 6 in the morning. … and that was July. Diary Archive 2007 2006 2005
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