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November 2007 Michael Palin’s recent ‘New Europe’ BBC TV series has been a revelation. I’ve been amused to see him visit at least five specific locations that I’ve been to myself on my DJ travels in the past couple of years, (and I met him once at Sofia airport in Bulgaria while he was filming.) Just out of curiosity, I armed myself with a list of European nations and worked out the ratio of those I’ve visited, to those I’ve DJed in and those I’ve yet to touch. I was quite surprised to learn that I’ve now played in 20 nations, (with some big-name omissions like France, Italy and mainland Spain still proving elusive for bookings,) but equally shocked to realise that there are still 15 that I’ve yet to set foot in. Europe is completely obscured by a cluster of red pins on the world map in my living room on which I chart my travels. I treat any opportunity to visit a new territory as a worthwhile experience, therefore, and I was happy to be heading out on my debut visit to Latvia for the first weekend in November. Things didn’t get off to the best of starts. My flight, (Ryanair – say no more,) from Stansted was delayed from take-off by 75 minutes when a passenger announced that he felt unwell just as we taxi-ed to the runway. The plane had to return to the gate, and everyone else was made to wait over an hour while a team of medics arrived and finally took him away in ambulance. Just a suggestion, but wouldn’t it have been more fair on everyone if he could have been removed from the plane and taken into the terminal to wait, thus allowing the other 170 people on board to continue with their day? Interesting to reflect that Ryanair don’t usually give a shit about their passengers, but on this occasion were fussing over the sick guy like he was the Prime Minister.
MD at Club Tonnus, Latvia. We landed into the Latvian capital of Riga at 8.30pm, which still left comfortable time for me to check into my hotel, before being driven to the city of Jelgava, about 35km away, for the Friday gig. I was taken there by Merita, girlfriend of promoter/ DJ Ai-va. A couple of her girlfriends also came along for the ride, and we all crammed into an extremely funky Mini Cooper with a cool boutique interior. On first impressions, Club Tonuss looked like a regular Friday night mainstream club, the resident DJ spinning a whole load of Russian dance/ rock tunes, and I wondered how the crowd would respond to my urban tuneage. After finding my way for the first 20 minutes, however, the rest of my set was a blast and went down very well, aided by a group of three athletic female dancers who performed on the stage in front of me. The flyer promoting the event had a picture of me sitting alongside Talib Kweli, and the owner of the club had clearly got us mixed up, remarking ‘oh, you’re the white guy!’ when we got to meet.
Merita & friends at Club Tonnus. We arrived back in Riga at 4am, and headed straight to Club Essential, where Ai-va had been playing that night. Headlining was the legendary hip hop god DJ Premier as part of his European tour, and I was gutted to realise I’d missed his set. There was compensation, however, as I was led through a warren of corridors to the backstage area where Premo and his entourage were hanging out and tucking into their rider. I got to have a quick chat with the super-producer, and took the opportunity to hand him a copy of the Beatmasters mix I’ve done of all his greatest productions, in return getting a copy of his new mix CD mixing up a world of hip hop tracks that have utilised James Brown samples. It was a surreal and uplifting end to my first night in Latvia.
MD with DJ Premier. The following day it rained, which then turned into sleet with a cold wind. It was far from inviting, and it put paid to my plans to do some sightseeing in Riga Old Town. Instead, Ai-va, Merita and another friend took me out to eat, giving me my only real glimpse of the city. It’s very beautiful, and Latvia in general is very modern and presentable, with far more of a Scandinavian influence, (being just across the Baltic Sea from Sweden,) than feeling like a former Soviet Eastern Block state. Latvia recently joined the EU, which appears to have improved its financial fortunes, although, like many other nations, it’s resisted adopting the Euro. One Latvian Lat is virtually equivalent to a British pound, which made prices very easy to understand!
MD with Ai-va at Multiclub, Latvia. Later on Saturday evening, Ai-va and myself set off in the Mini to the city of Valmiera, much further out of Riga at around 100km to the North towards Estonia. Similar to Club Tonnus, the venue, Multiklub, took a while to fill up, but by 12 it was nicely packed, and I followed Ai-va on the DJ stage, playing til 2.30. This one was a real riot, and I found myself flitting through tracks like a demon, to a very warm response. I recorded the set, and you’ll find the download links on the homepage of the site if you fancy taking a listen. We drove back to Riga on deserted icy roads, arriving back at 4.30am. By 9, I had to be up and headed back to the airport ready for my return flight to Stansted. This one, thankfully, was on time. On Friday 9th, I played in Yeovil, Somerset, and it wasn’t until I arrived at the venue that I realised I’d spun there the previous year when it was under a different name. What was then called Dukes has now been renamed Tabu. The gig was staged by local promoter Sy Essex, with DJ Clifty, who I’d previously met at Club Ice in nearby Westbury, also spinning, (and nothing to do with James Clift, former proprietor of Blues & Soul magazine!) Parveen hadn’t been out with me for absolutely ages, so decided to come along for this one, and although I hadn’t asked for one, Sy put us up in a hotel, within handy staggering distance just opposite the venue. It wasn’t a hugely busy night, but we made the best of it, and I was happy to be able to play a fair bit of reggae towards the end of my set.
Clifty and MC Jordan at Tabu, Yeovil. The following morning, we passed Stonehenge on the way home. Later that night, I set off on a long round trip to Leeds, again playing a club that I’d previously spun at under a different guise. The Fruit Cupboard has now become Puro, and like its previous incarnation, is the only venue in the city to play proper urban music on a Saturday night. Many other spots have been turned off from the music for all the usual reasons – they think it attracts trouble, the bar spend isn’t high enough, etc, etc. R&B and hip hop has also been under pressure in the North from the ongoing ‘bassline’ house scene, (which itself seems to attract its own problems.) Hats off to Puro, and resident Jason Fakeerah, for sticking with the music. I’ve yet to have a bad night in Leeds; Saturday was every bit as firing as before, and was very enjoyable. I passed at least half a dozen high-profile clubs on the way out of the city’s streets, all still heaving with revellers, and arrived home after a high-speed motorway blaze at 6am.
Jason Fakeerah at Puro, Leeds. The scheduled session at Bar Mango in Reading on Thursday 15th didn’t happen. Apparently the venue had been forced by police intervention to suspend the night following an ‘incident’. I’ll just add it to the long and ever-growing list of excuses why nights don’t happen, say no more about it and move on… Opportunities to play full, varied and musically adventurous sets at peak time on a Saturday night are always greatly valued, but they usually come around about as often as Halley’s Comet. I’d been eying my first ’07 visit to The Apartment in Swindon on Saturday 17th for some time hoping this would fulfil, and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. There are multiple alternative venues in Swindon to cater for the mainstream/ pop/ commercial crowd, (including the long-standing Brunel Rooms, now owned by Luminar Leisure, just across the square,) which means The Apartment has got its edge by offering alternative music – usually on the soulful and funky side of things. This always seems to draw a bunch of old-school steppers from out of town who liven up the area in front of the DJ booth no end. I played for three and a half hours, happy to get the chance to drop gems like Chubb Rock’s ‘Treat ‘Em Right’, DJ Mark The 45 King’s ‘The 900 Number’, Cameo’s ‘Candy’, Ready For The World’s ‘Girl That’s A Lot Of Booty’, and so much other good stuff to an appreciative crowd. Baby J’s ska-style remix of Ronson/ Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’ tore it up, and I left everyone exiting the venue with J Holiday’s ‘Bed’ ringing in their ears, a modern classic end-of-night tune. I need more Saturday nights like this!
MD with Clive at The Apartment, Swindon. I confined myself to our spare room on Sunday night to avoid inconveniencing the wife, as I had to be up at 5 on Monday morning for a crack-of-dawn flight to Warsaw, Poland. A quick check of the weather sites revealed that it was due to be cold, and they weren’t kidding. The city was bleak, cloudy and –1 in temperature as I exited the airport. On the bus journey into town I noticed one of the stops was named ‘Gordona Bennetta Str.’. If I’d been drinking a cup of tea I’d surely have spat it out. That name will mean nothing to anyone outside of the UK, of course, but I found it hilarious. After a swift look around, I linked with Warsaw DJ Spox and his promotions partner Marcin for a coffee and exchange of CDs, and to talk about a possible series of gigs in Poland early in the new year. There’s such economic and political co-operation between Britain and Poland at the moment, that it only makes sense for the friendly links to exchange beyond plumbers and builders to the DJ world too.
Warsaw. My second visit of the week to mainland Europe came on Friday 23rd, on this occasion involving a touchdown in Basel, Switzerland. Basel’s in a key geographic spot; it’s right at the point where Switzerland, France and Germany meet, and the airport serves regions in all three countries. My Easyjet flight didn’t get off to the best of starts after I decided to change seats after boarding, and managed to leave my passport in my original seat. This resulted in one of the cabin attendants making the announcement that ‘if there is a Mark Devlin on board, please come to the rear of the plane where I have your passport.’ I then had to suffer glares, heckling and cheers on the long walk of shame up the aisle, which I could have done without!
Singerhaus, Basel, Switzerland. DJ Soulchild rightfully bills himself as ‘Switzerland’s Official R&B King’, but was originally a Brit, growing up in the Channel Islands before relocating with his family when he was eight. On the agenda was his Soul Boutique night at the intimate venue Singerhaus, which put me a lot in mind of Zoo Club in Zurich where I’d played three years previously. I went on around 2am, directly after an impressive troupe of breakdancers, and played another enjoyable, highly varied set, which appeared to find favour with the moderately sized crowd. The public smoking ban sweeping Europe has yet to reach Swiss clubs, and after a few months of smoke-free air (albeit occasionally BO and fart-infested!) it was quite a culture shock to be spinning in a smoky environment again. The return flight was a fairly civilised experience, touching down in Stansted slightly early, and giving me just enough time for a two-hour nap before setting out for my monthly residency at The Bridge in Oxford. It’s hard to think of new ways of describing this one, as I’ve played there for the past six years. Suffice to say the venue is always busy on a Saturday, and the session was as packed and high-spirited as ever.
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Diary Archive 2007 2006 2005
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