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May 2007 A glance at my upcoming schedule for May brought a serious sense of déjà vu, with a whole host of things echoing my diary of exactly a year before – the Southport Weekender, my birthday weekend in Prague, and my latest visit to Australia with stopovers in Singapore. It’s my birthday month, so I usually try and line up a few good things to look forward to. Before all that, though, something worth mentioning was a recent quiz night in Aylesbury which Parveen and myself enrolled for. We don’t generally go for these, but figured this one might be a bit of fun. Although it was broadly general knowledge, I was praying for a music round. In my days at Fox FM, we always used to enter a team for music quizzes, and there was an insistence that I was on board as the secret weapon – my living room has several trophies as souvenirs. Opposite us was a team of beer boys crossing their fingers for a sport round – if there’d been one they’d have cleaned up. Fortunately, the music round came, and it was all about UK number ones. I distinguished myself by getting nine out of ten right. The only one that foxed me was ‘what was Simply Red’s first UK number one?’ I never cared for Simply Red, so I wasn’t going to get this one. (The answer was ‘Fairground’ if you’re wondering.) Chuffed as I was at my persisting trainspotter knowledge, sadly we didn’t win the overall quiz.
'MD with Robin Thicke' The first weekend of May was another Bank Holiday one. This kicked off with my radio show on the Wednesday, (in which I aired my interview with the dude Robin Thicke,) G’s on Thursday, and a return to Sleepers Bar in Basingstoke on the Friday. Although my long set gave me the opportunity to dig deep into the CD wallet and pull out many forgotten gems, I did have a fair quota of dumb comments to contend with – exactly the kind of stupidness I devoted an entire chapter of ‘Tales From The Flipside’ to! Those old chestnuts, ‘can you play something with a bit of a beat’, ‘can you play something a bit funky’, and ‘can you play something we can dance to’ all got an airing. That last one is so dumb it defies belief. It’s like going up to a chef in a restaurant and saying, ‘can you cook something we can taste?’! I’ve fared pretty well with gig cancellations so far this year… (I’m touching a wooden desk as I write this.) The cancellation of the scheduled event at The Mint Club in Leeds left me with an enjoyable and unexpected Saturday night off on the 5th, so, just like normal couples at weekends, me and Mrs. D went to the flicks in Milton Keynes to see ‘This Is England.’ Broadly, it’s a British film by writer/ director Shane Meadows, set in a Northern town in Summer 1983, and following a young boy’s induction into a gang of skinheads, who start veering towards National Front territory when a psycho gets released from prison and joins their number. It sums up the mood of the era brilliantly, and is gritty and superbly made - if not exactly perfect Saturday night mindless entertainment for the masses!
'MD at RB’s, Chester' It was back to work on Bank Holiday Sunday with a return visit to the multi-floored and heaving RB’s nightclub, in the impressive city of Chester. The place was rammed as we arrived at midnight, and my 150-minute set on the R&B level was hugely enjoyable. The atmosphere was on fire, and kept all the more lively by a bunch of guys bouncing around directly in front of the booth. It was amusing to observe the less clued-up people watching this group intently to see which tunes they responded to, and then trying to follow suit on the basis that it must be cool! Saturday 12th was my birthday, and although I woke up to it in my own bed with my own wife (!), before long I was headed to Heathrow Airport en route to Prague, Czech Republic. Bizarrely, I’d last visited exactly a year before when I’d played Soul Train at Radost FX, one of the city’s most celebrated underground clubs. Promoter/ resident DJ Rico had rebooked me several months before, and it’s a testament to his overall professionalism that the night has now been running for over nine years, the previous weekend having marked its big birthday bash with motormouth Fatman Scoop as host. If only all promoters could be as switched-on and focused as this!
'Rico and crew at Radost FX' Radost has a restaurant which serves food through the night, and I enjoyed a pre-club Caprese salad, at the same time being interviewed by a Prague magazine journalist about everything from the London club scene, to the rate at which DJs are now switching over the Serato laptop-based systems. Not sure me slurping on slices of tomato and mozzarella mid-sentence will come out too good on the tape, but I was happy to oblige. The party was every bit as much fun as the previous year. I played from 1-3am between Rico and second resident Big J outta the US. The crowd seemed happy enough, if the hordes of people dancing spontaneously on the stage in front of the booth was anything to go by. There were a fair few Londoners in the house, and some other birthday crew as well. After only three hours of vodka-induced slumber, I was awoken back at my hotel by inconsiderate room maids and noisy bastards, and made my way back to the airport bleary-eyed and zombie-like. It had been a beautifully warm weekend, and the Sunday morning marked a big marathon race through the city, resulting in several road closures and general traffic chaos. It became one of those hairy situations where I started to wonder if I was going to make my flight. Mercifully, we got there with just enough time for me to grab some fags, booze, cheese and sausage for the folks back home, before rushing on board.
'MD and dudes at Radost FX' After a couple of days’preparation at home, I was back at Heathrow on Tuesday evening ready to fly out to Australia, via stopovers in Singapore. For the second year running, I’d opted for the highly impressive Singapore Airlines. This lot have really got it right –impeccably presented and polite cabin staff, a highly user-friendly website allowing you to choose your preferred seat …even the food’s not bad. The long flight was made more bearable by the personal on-demand entertainment system. This offers over 80 film choices, and you can start, stop, pause, rewind and forward them at your own leisure. Singapore apparently pioneered this technology. Now that it exists, there’s no excuse for any long-haul airline not offering this! I was also surprised to find I’d struck lucky with my seat, because I usually leave any luck behind in the departure lounge. Checking in on-line, I’d selected the aisle seat at the very rear of the plane. It wasn’t a busy flight, so happily, I had the entire row of four seats to myself, allowing me to stretch out and enjoy some decent sleep. This has never happened to me before!!
'MD with Bosco and Titus at Attica, Singapore' Singapore was apparently cooler than usual for this time of year, which suited me. It was still humid, but I happily slipped into the air-conditioned luxury of the Mercedes sent by the club to pick me up and take me into the city. Once there, I hooked up for a Starbucks with John Bosco Lopez, prominent promoter and agent for the Asia region. After a restorative sleep at the hotel and a good meal, we headed to Attica, on the city’s trendy Clarke Quay area, site of the night’s gig. This was my first time spinning in Singapore, and I’d been warned by both Bosco and long-time resident Titus that the crowds can be tough ones, only responding to certain types of tunes, and not hesitating to clear the floor the second they hear anything they don’t like. The key seemed to be to keep it uptempo and lively throughout, with few of the style fluctuations that I usually like to pepper my sets with. With every country I visit, the attitudes to DJs talking on the mic differs, too. In Singapore, nobody does it. Although I allowed myself a brief vocal intro, it went against all my DJing instincts to avoid shouting out to the crowd to hype them up every now and again. I did drunkenly do it once, and was put in my place as a result! Overall, though, it was a busy, buzzing, and highly enjoyable night. I recorded my set, and it’ll be available to listen to shortly via this site, (if it’s not already.) Attica was a little on the smoky side, but that’ll change from 1st July when Singapore gets the same public smoking ban that’s hitting the UK. The revolution has begun.
'MD at Attica, Singapore' After less than three hours’sleep, I was chauffered back to the airport in time for my 9.30am flight on to Sydney. Singapore Changi markets itself as ‘the best airport in the world’, and it might just be that. Hanging around it for a couple of hours is a pleasure rather than a chore, with a multitude of shopping, entertainment and treats like massages and saunas to pass the time. Incredibly, I struck lucky for a second day with four plane seats to myself, and arrived into Australia slightly less knackered than usual. Thursday was my night off, and I took a stroll around the sleazy King’s Cross area, every bit as seedy as its London namesake, passing up several offers of ‘business’before retiring to my hotel room. On Friday lunchtime, I flew with Qantas Domestic up to Brisbane, getting picked up by Scott of the Brisbane R&B promotions crew. On the agenda for the next two nights were the same events I’d been at exactly a year before at hotel clubs situated in suburbs of the city. My room in the motel section of the Alexandra Hills Hotel was a bit reminiscent of Norman Bates’ joint in ‘Psycho’, but comfortable and quite likeable. At 11pm, I took a cab to the Pressure Lounge at the Calamvale Hotel, which was reassuringly heaving and jumping as I walked in. As with last time, the night didn’t disappoint, and the enthusiastic crowd was a credit to the Aussie clubs scene.
'Calamvale Hotel, Brisbane' Not too far to go on Saturday night. The action was in the Squeeze Club, just a short walk from where I was staying in Alex Hills. The venue was similar in size and feel to the previous nights. Overall, it was another good one, my English accent appearing to go down well as some sort of novelty with certain factions of the crowd.
'The Squeeze Club, Brisbane' The plan had been to spend two days in Sydney before heading home, but once back at the airport, I decided spontaneously to look into the possibility of coming back a day early. I was missing the wife, and with many other trips coming up, I figured I could use an extra 24 hours at home. I didn’t really expect it, but amazingly, Singapore Airlines said they were happy to fulfil the request at no extra cost. Full credit to them, as it’s hard to imagine the likes of British Airways being so accommodating! That just left Sunday evening for a hook-up with my Aussie DJ friend and female turntablist D, her hubby and another DJ. We headed to an Italian eaterie for pasta and a catch-up chat, all about the perils of the self-publishing book game, among other things.
'MD with DJ D & friend' I spent all day on Monday 21st flying back to Singapore. Besides the welcome overnight stopover, this also allowed me to pick up my mobile phone, which, in a zombie-like state, I’d left in the car to the airport the previous week. The last (very) long haul leg was back to London the following day, finally arriving at my front door at 10.30pm. The look on Wifey’s face as I surprised her by arriving home a day earlier than scheduled was priceless. The amount of catch-up work required following a week away almost makes you question whether it was worth going. (It always is, of course.) The bulk of the tasks encompassed opening mail and assorted admin stuff - though fortunately I’d been able to keep up to speed with e-mails and new music listening while I was away, otherwise things would have got completely out of hand. By Friday, I’d just about got back on track, and was ready for another Bank Holiday weekend. Saturday night’s outing was to The Bridge in Oxford, a place where my all-night set always gives an opportunity to test out some new tunes. Kathleen Deluna’s frantic pop-dancehall collaboration with Elephant Man went down well, as did the new uptempo remix of Bobby’s ‘Anonymous’. I got to finish on a few reggae jams, getting a good reaction to Da Ville’s ‘Always On My Mind’remix with Sean Paul.
'Pulse, Lincoln' The following night, I headed with Parveen to Lincoln to play the massive Luminar-operated Pulse, where fellow B&S scribe and North East legend Wayne McDonald had spun the previous night. The club is part of a three-tiered venue. My level is known for dealing with R&B, leaving the Ritzy and Jumpin Jaks parts to handle house and pop/ chart respectively. This turned out to be a very slick arrangement, keeping the annoying cheese merchants away from polluting the R&B level with their annoying requests and comments. In fact, if a night’s success can be judged on this basis alone, then Sunday was a really good one. Pulse was well attended, and my two-hour set zipped by in a flash. Another striking element was the politeness of the people; doormen and lobby staff smiling and saying ‘goodnight Sir’, and guys apologising when they accidentally step on your foot is etiquette on a level that Southerners like me are just not used to! The club had put us up in the nearby Holiday Inn, and we took breakfast. This was something of a novelty. Either I stay in hotels where breakfast isn’t part of the deal, or I wake up too late to partake in it, but the 7-11am sitting was more than comfortable, and we hit the road suitably fuelled up to last til dinner time.
Diary Archive 2007 2006 2005
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