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September
2006
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There are two common misconceptions about DJing lifestyles. One is that the overseas jaunts are just glorified holidays. I can’t speak for others, but for me, that’s certainly not the case. My overseas gigs often consist of the airport, the hotel, the gig, then straight back to the airport, with very little leisure time built in. The other is that when DJs aren’t gigging,
they spend the rest of the week sleeping in, watching TV, and generally
lounging. This one couldn’t be further from the truth; the
gigs are the easy part of my job! Other than that, my entire week
is taken up with admin. stuff –setting the gigs up in the
first place, chasing up venues and promoters, handling my magazine
business, doing my chart, maintaining this website, sorting out
invoices, etc, etc.
'Cornwall' Prior to this, though, there was my set for Electric Parties at Sin in London on Friday 1st. Sin was formerly Rouge, frequently billed as the West End’s last remaining ‘superclub’. It’s certainly epic in scale. I was playing R&B in just one of seven rooms of music, and the place was bubbling nicely by the time I departed. The Cornwall break was just what the doctor ordered, and we still kept an active schedule, visiting the likes of Padstow, Tintagel, Boscastle, Newquay, St. Ives, Penzance –pretty much the entire county. The only work I did was an interview with a company in Falmouth for a business magazine I occasionally freelance for, followed by a gig over the Devon border in Plymouth on Friday 8th. This was a gig with a difference, as it represented my first set in a fully-fledged strip club! Five years ago, the missus would never have let me get away with this one. Thankfully, she’s now much more relaxed about such things, and took the view that this one was strictly business. The club, Temptations, is situated on Plymouth’s busy Union Street strip, and is hosted by DJ/ MC Flexx. I’ve never seen a man more happy in his job, and it was clear that this joint was Flexx’s own idea of being a kid in a candy shop!
'Flexx with the girls at Temptations, Plymouth' The club’s decor was just what I’d expected; red velvet fittings, dim lighting, and two poles on an illuminated dancefloor. As I played, various girls took turns on the pole. I had a clear idea of what to spin as so much US hip hop now is inspired by the Southern strip joints. Naturally T Pain’s ‘I’m In Love With A Stripper’and David Banner’s ‘Play’got rinsed. What I hadn’t accounted for was that each girl has their own favourite song to work their routine to, and I ended up feeling like a jukebox as I fulfilled each request. I tried to keep my ogling to a minimum all night –not always easy! After my set, I nipped across the road for a social call to DJ Jonezy, who was playing downstairs at Revolution Vodka Bar. What I didn’t realise was that spinning upstairs was house DJ/ producer Rob B, with whom I used to work at the Park End Club in Oxford many moons ago. We had an enjoyable catch-up chat before I put in the two-hour drive back to Cornwall. We put in the six-hour trek home on Saturday 9th, before I got back in the car three hours later and headed back in exactly the same direction to Bristol. Logistically, it would have made sense to stop off there on the way back and stay the night, but sadly this wasn’t practical, so I ended up driving something like 500 miles in a day - quite possibly my personal record.
'MD poster at River Bar, Bristol' The gig was a return to the River Bar on Bristol Waterfront, where I delivered a three-hour old-school set. These are always a breath of fresh air. The highlight was when a group of black girls visiting from London asked for Freeez ‘I.O.U”, a record I haven’t heard in years. It sounded great, and kept them gyrating throughout. At the end of the night, I bumped into soulful house DJ Deli G, who I used to work with on Galaxy 101 in Bristol a few years ago. Deli was distraught at having just had his ‘Touch’ show axed after 16 years, following the station’s takeover by the owners of Kiss FM. Radio is a harsh, heartless business, and for a specialist show to have made it that far is a major achievement. The lowlight was returning to my BMW to find out that someone who can only be adequately described as a c*nt had deliberately snapped off my wing mirror and damaged my paintwork. Sadly, an occupational hazard in this game, but if I ever caught the bastard, slow, agonising torture lasting several days before an unfeasibly violent death would still be too good for them. Back to G’s in Bicester on Thursday 14th. Then on Friday, I made my first foray deep into the North … of London, that is. I was guesting at The Hill, a bar/ nightclub/ eaterie in Muswell Hill, and having never been to this part of the capital before, I soon came to realise … it’s faaaar! It was well worth the trek, however, as The Hill turned out to be one of London’s real hidden gems, and one of the most impressive spots I’ve played anywhere in the UK.
'MD with the crew at The Hill, North London' The venue is owned by Steve Gutteridge, who came from a career as a professional athlete into the nightlife game. He now DJs at his own spot under the name of Running Man, supported by MC Sweet P. As the crowds started filtering in, it quickly became clear that this was going to be a great night. In West End clubs, getting pissed, pulling and looking cool tend to be the top priorities in clubbers’ minds, with the music ranking a poor fourth. At The Hill, punters come from miles around strictly for the music – R&B, hip hop, bashment and funky house. The place was buzzing with excitement by the time I handed over to Running Man, clearly a guy who’s completely on top of his game, as he proceeded to take the crowd in wildly different directions at breakneck speed, with some added extrovert MC work. Watch out for the photo/ editorial report in B&S Magazine soon. I headed off uplifted, encouraged that is still possible to get a proper, heavy, musically tight Friday night in The Big Smoke. Along with the rest of the crowd over for the MOBOs, Jay-Z was in town the following week, with a series of UK concerts lined up. I’d been due to play at the after-party for the one in Manchester on Thursday 21st. Unfortunately, the same kind of bullshit that only ever seems to affect hip hop/ urban music events saw the cancellation of this and others when the police apparently intervened and said they couldn’t go ahead, presumably for fear of riotous behaviour. Can you honestly see this type of thing happening with a Robbie Williams or Elton John party? Having said that, I’ve come across this type of scenario so many times now that I don’t know why I’m surprised any more. There was one benefit; the cancellation did allow me to get at least some sleep before setting off at 5.30am on Friday for Gatwick Airport, bound for my debut gig in Russia. I’ve played some far-out spots recently, and in many cases, flying direct to the city in question is so ludicrously expensive, the only realistic way to get there is to take a sensibly-priced flight to a neighbouring country, then make the journey across the border by road. The booking had been arranged by Raimis, who I’d previously played for in Lithuania the previous year, and the schedule involved flying with British Airways to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, then doing the rest by road.
'Lithuanian lagoon boat' Kaliningrad, our destination, is both the name of the Russian state and its capital city, and although politically part of the Russian Federation, it’s not physically in Russia at all; it lies between Poland and Lithuania, bordered by the Baltic Sea. Despite this, the road trip from Vilnius took around six and a half hours by rickety mini-van, (factoring in a roadside café stop and a ferry crossing over a lagoon.) If I’d thought my travelling day was gruelling, Raimis’ was even worse. His weekend involved travelling back to Vilnius with me on Saturday, then back over to Russia with two other DJs the same day, then back again on Sunday. And our driver was doing the whole lot. The poor guy looked done in when we left him! You can often think you’re alone in undertaking lunatic schedules in this game. It really helps to talk to other DJs and promoters and realise that life is just as hectic and exhausting for them. We eventually arrived in the city at 9pm, with time for a couple of hours’ shut-eye at the hotel before a midnight dinner, then on to the club. Universal is classy and intimate and wouldn’t look out of place in London’s Mayfair. Unfortunately, neither would the crowd, who didn’t really seem to know their R&B, responding only to the most blatantly commercial hits of the Black Eyed Peas/ Pussycat Dolls ilk. Ah well, you can’t win ‘em all.
'MD with Russian girl at Universal, Kaliningrad' We were already back on the road to Lithuania by 5.30am, my Air Baltic flight from Vilnius depositing me at Gatwick by 4.30pm. I had work for the next two nights, so after bombing it round to the in-laws’ sanctuary in Northolt, I squeezed in an essential couple of hours’ nap to recharge the highly drained batteries. By 10pm, I was on the road to Milton Keynes.
'MD with Mr. Flexx at Elements, Milton Keynes' MK’s a pretty unusual town. It’s a maze of vertical and horizontal-running grids which are featureless until you suddenly hit the central hub, which is alive and buzzing. Venue for the night was Elements, which is actually an oriental eatery, and ranks alongside the strip club as the most offbeat venues I’ve played this year. The event was the latest Addictive party staged by the very active Mr. Flexx, with the tables and chairs cleared aside to create a spacious dancefloor. The people took a while to arrive, but it was nicely bubbling by the time I’d finished my set, which consisted of a lot of bashment. Flexx took over, playing some wicked African rhythms, and I immediately requested a CD of some of the best stuff, which will work a treat alongside the dancehall I play at selected venues. I rarely play out on Sundays, but the following night, I found myself trekking to Liverpool for the Vibin’ event, held weekly at Baby Blue on the Albert Dock complex. The promoters had Terri Walker performing at another spot, Panam, on the same night, so I dropped in there first off, bumping into Liverpool DJ Spykatcha, before we all headed round the corner to Blue.
'MD with Terri Walker' It quickly became apparent that this was going to be a wicked night. The place bounced and gyrated to my two-hour set, which again contained a high abundance of bashment. It was still rammed as I left at 2.30am, people showing no signs of having to get up for work in the morning, and it was good to see Terri and her girls still partying strong This was possibly my hottest UK gig of 2006, so big props to Andy and CJ for running a truly outstanding night. Can’t wait to get back. It’s an unfortunate state of affairs that most of my good DJ mates live mileage from me, so we rarely get to link. One such character is North West legend Rick Star, based in Preston. When I got booked to play at The Hub in nearby Wigan on Friday 29th, we made a plan to hook up. The Hub is an old listed-building theatre that’s been converted into a hugely spacious bar/ club, and I was there as part of the venue’s 18-month birthday celebrations. Lined up for the following night was Richard Blackwood, who seems to have traded stand-up comedy for DJing these days. I met him several years ago at The Brunel Rooms in Swindon where he’d been hired simply for a meet and greet, but I’ve never heard him spin, so couldn’t comment either way on his skills!
'MD with Rick Star at The Hub, Wigan' The Hub was heaving with girls, and Rick and I recognised several who’s been there when we last visited in May, and had subsequently made it into the resulting B&S mag photo-feature. After Wigan, we headed to Preston to briefly check out DJs Kaos and Trevor T’s ghetto-style session at The Loft, before I long-hauled it back home, finally crawling into bed beside Wifey at 6.15am. After calling in for a quick social chat with DJ T Bone who was playing across town at The Escape Club, I headed for my end-of-month sesson at The Bridge in Oxford on Saturday 30th. Management were getting very excited at the news that Prince William was apparently due to visit that night. I took this as a wind-up, expecting some small-time impersonator, but it did turn out to be the real thing. He spent time in all three rooms, including mine, and I couldn’t help wondering what he made of some of the stuff I played. I can imagine Harry being into urban, but somehow not Wills. I would have loved to have seen him doing the Dutty Wine! Sadly, I was unable to get a picture, so you won’t be seeing our future king in the Gallery section of this site. I was astounded that he’d arrived with only two low-level security guys. If P. Diddy or 50 Cent had visited, you could be sure of ten times that number. … and that was September.
Diary Archive 2007 2006 2005
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