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Was listening to an old Judge Jules radio show this morning from 2003. It was a proper throw back, in terms of the tunes but also in terms of how DJ names were being dropped all the way through a Radio 1 show.
Jules talking about how he was doing a club in London and then going to Bristol to play with Ed Halliwell. How Seb Fontaine was on the radio after him. How you could win a guest list place to see Fergie, JFK, Yousef or Oakenfold. John Digweed was playing somewhere in Manchester and Tall Paul was playing in Birmingham.
So I wondered if big name DJ’s were still a thing? Do people still travel to a different city to see a specific name? Or go to a specific night?
Or is this a quaint habit that died in about 2005?
Here we go 🙄
Could just be me but I always got the impression clubbing died during the millennium New Years parties.
All the clubs were absolutely taking the piss in every way imaginable (but mostly prices) whilst massively underdelivering what they promised. After that people realised these people weren't our friends and drifted away from the scene.
I guess the momentum kept things going for a few years but I don't think it ever got back to the peak commercialisation of the late 90s. I could be wrong though. I'd stopped paying attention by 2001.
The Mericans have now discovered what we used to call house music, but they insist on calling EDM. And yes, I know it was them who invented it, but the pioneers of it couldn't get arrested in the US back then.
DJ's like Tiesto now have Vegas residencies and play to huge audiences. To be honest, in true American fashion, it looks absolutely dreadful!
All the clubs were absolutely taking the piss in every way imaginable (but mostly prices) whilst massively underdelivering what they promised. After that people realised these people weren't our friends and drifted away from the scene.
Its a fair point, but I think it also an age thing. Those of us who were going to the original warehouse parties just hit an age where we moved on and got married and got mortgages and had kids and stuff (and started spending too much money on mountain bikes 🤣).
The age thing is why I asked. I stopped doing it about 2005, but that as I was then at an age with a real job and some (looking back, fairly insignificant) responsibilities.
I guess I wondered if it still happened but I’m to old to notice it.
Some of the kids I knew who were a few years younger than me (kids who are now pushing 40) got into Hardstyle. I'm not sure if Hardstyle ever got that big but there do seem to be some pretty massive European festivals.
The age thing is why I asked. I stopped doing it about 2005, but that as I was then at an age with a real job and some (looking back, fairly insignificant) responsibilities.
I guess I wondered if it still happened but I’m to old to notice it.
i was late to the game with (what I'd call) big DJs so didn't ever go to any of the big club nights. But really enjoying the music as a late-40s dad. Paul van Dyk and Armin van Buuren are the only 'superstar' ones I listen to, it's more of the smaller ones like Franky Wah, Marsh, Ferry Corsten, etc that I listen to but can't imagine going to a club to listen to them. Got tickets to an Above & Beyond gig later this year (should I admit that?!) but only tickets I could get were for the seated balcony 🤣
Very few of the big names from back in the day are still going from what I can tell. But there are a few (went to the Hacienda thing in Warrington a few weeks back and Danny Tenaglia was on the line up). Think Carl Cox is still doing the rounds and the likes of Jeff Mills (just names I tend to look out for).
There are a few big names though like Fred again in this generation. A bit more crossover too with people like Bonobo and Bicep doing DJ sets.
Do superstar DJ’s still exist?
Absolutely - check out ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U. Amazing set, young crowd, and he's getting in some Prodigy and some Underworld to show the kids what it's all about.
Very few of the big names from back in the day are still going from what I can tell.
I wasn't expecting many of the names I know to still be around, though I suspect a few are. It was more if the concept still existed and if there were a load of new names that I haven't heard of taking Jules, Pete Tong, etc. place.
No idea but I seem Pete Tong Ibiza Classical Anthems at the Albert Hall a few months ago. Was an absolute tremendous night, I have tickets to see him in Avieka Newcastle next month for a gig but not sure I can make it now. Was at Vernon Kay’s, ok not a superstar, 90s Throwback live on Friday he was pretty good.
Always felt the same about the millenium thing, it marked the first NYE in years where we didn't go to an all-nighter...kinda did our own thing from then on, before drifting off into smaller groups and starting families etc.
Or getting the bike out the shed...
There was a time about 20 years ago where I could look through the lineups at big club events and recognise every name, but just looked through the upcoming events at warehouse project and fabric and only recognised about 5% of the artists at most.
I think these events still do well enough (some of the warehouse project events are sold out) but there are far less of them than there was in my day.
It seems most of the superstars in modern dance music are producers first and DJ's second, and their DJ gigs often involve playing a lot more of their own music, rather than the pure DJ's we had in the past.
There's definitely some big DJs around. Calvin Harris is the biggest, but younger Brits go absolutely mad for Fred Again. Diplo is also pretty massive but American. A bit older but Above and Beyond are in big demand all round the world too.
There's some names that crop up everywhere and are in real demand all the time - Peggy Gou being the main one I can think of.
Annie Mac is another one I can think of.
Jo Whiley still does 90's Anthems sets around the UK in cricket grounds etc and one of my mates tells me that one of the former club buildings have adult raves that start in the afternoon and finish about 8pm.
In the 90's we went out at midnight!
Watch all the Boilerroom sets. Now. Such an easy route back in.
Superstar DJs are bigger than ever. Far, far far bigger than they ever were at the turn of the millenium. It's partly because the scene has gone global - Seb Fontaine et al were never doing much in the USA back then, but now the big names are doing stadiums.
Marco Carola is on £200k a set. Calvin Harris was on $1.2 million a night in Vegas. Steve Aoki, David Guetta etc have reputed net worths in the hundreds of millions. The money nowadays is absolutely ridiculous.
In the 90s, the big names drove their Porsches up and down the M1 to their next gig (or paid a driver £200 for the night so they could get on it). Tiesto's 2017 tour rider specifies what food will be required on the private jet (which must be less than 3 years old, and provided by the promoter). He also needs a security detail, a bulletproof SUV (if the venue cannot be reached by helicopter) and a chase vehicle. And an attractive female bartender backstage. It's absolutely mental.
It's not just Tiesto, mind. Back when I was DJing (for £500 a set) i met a few people who occasionally used private jets. Massive names in the deep house scene of the time (2012ish) but still, they were surprisingly far down the list of meganames really.
Bigger than ever in europe but it's not the same.
Theres a distinct lack of Es and everyone in the crowd is holding a smartphone up to film a guy essentially operating a computer, instead of dancing 🙃
If you follow Graeme Park on Instagram most of the stuff he posts up is all the mountain biking he does
Both of those clips. The crowd isn't just not dancing. They're hardly even moving.
It looks phenomenally shit.
I was at this set... it was mental, they dont do it like that any more...
Theres a distinct lack of Es and everyone in the crowd is holding a smartphone up to film a guy essentially operating a computer, instead of dancing
Kids today,etc,etc 🤣 🤣
The technology involved has replaced most of the skill that used to be involved in dj'ing with auto beatmatching and the ability to mix tunes that would be in the wrong key /tempo and would've sounded awful when mixed on vinyl years ago. Very few these days do vinyl only sets, Carl Cox has recently and Sven Vath still does but a lot of them only use a laptop and mixer these days with quite a few probably used a pre recorded set and dancing around instead of actually dj'ing
Cocaine and social media has done a lot of damage
Crowds much less friendly as cocaine replaced ecstasy and the posing for social media kills the atmosphere
Ibiza is a shadow of its peak
Berlin clubs closing down
Here in Glasgow the scene is significantly quieter than it used to be. Most of the mini festivals that used to happen every summer have died off. Sub Club is still going. The Arches is sneaking back. SWG3 has been impacted by quite a few drug deaths but clubbing in general is very obviously dying off here
Living in the moment..
looks like the war on drugs has been won there anyway
but a lot of them only use a laptop and mixer these days with quite a few probably used a pre recorded set and dancing around instead of actually dj'ing
Not a bad nights work, getting paid over a million to essentially press play on your laptop to a crowd of awful, pissed up frat boys
hose of us who were going to the original warehouse parties
When I were a lad you were lucky to have a field to put your party in.
You youngun's with your warehouses that you broke into you don't even know you're born!
I'd insert a picture of grandpa simpson shaking fist at a cloud, but I'm too old to make the internet work.
Sure is bizarre, going to a dance music event and not dancing, just recording it on your phone. I'll never understand that!
Living in the moment..
looks like the war on drugs has been won there anyway
Hahaha...
I just don't get it... I've seen more exiting Sunday services at my local CofE.
It's not the djs fault though, people seem to just want to go to events like that so they can post pics on social meeja.
Expensive photo op if you ask me.
Dreamfields in Spain was much the same, just a bunch of lemons stood around holding their iPhones in the air.
Sad.
Carl Cox is still doing the rounds
He seems to be mostly concentrating on his racing team, see him a lot on telly at various motor sports things with his team!
a lot of them only use a laptop and mixer these days with quite a few probably used a pre recorded set
Yep. Very common at the big US festivals from what I hear.
It's difficult to get the fireworks, the lightshow and the visuals all running in sync with the music otherwise!
Some of the kids I knew who were a few years younger than me (kids who are now pushing 40) got into Hardstyle. I'm not sure if Hardstyle ever got that big but there do seem to be some pretty massive European festivals.
I love me a bit of tidy boys,, Lisa lashes etc. but that's about as hard as I go lol!
I still go out clubbing once every month or two. I used to be out every weekend for most of the 90s but the stamina isn't what it was. There are still some great nights that capture some of the old energy. I prefer places that put a sticker over your camera phone as this forces people into the moment. Some of the bigger venues like Printworks (RIP) and Drumsheds have epic lineups but are so big they lose the atmosphere although as a venue Printworks was epic just for the incredible setting and light shows. Theres a lot of the DJs from back in the day still doing the rounds, Saw Carl Craig a few weeks back and have seen both Jeff Mills and Marshall Jefferson in the past year.
It's not the djs fault though, people seem to just want to go to events like that so they can post pics on social meeja.
Blame the promoters I reckon. I mean, David Guetta sucks but the event organisers are the ones who hype that rubbish up so far that people want to tell the world they were there.
What you want is to suspect you may have been somewhere like here but who knows, it was all a bit blurred and sweaty and why would you be thinking of fumbling a phone at that point.. (I know, didn't have 'em then)
Classic clip. If you were in the clubs in the north west in 1990-1992 you knew what it could be like. I would have gone in the late 80s but I was born about 5 years too late.
Yeah I remember some night at nation in Liverpool.. That was pretty mental.. We ended up in one of the smaller bits.. Can't remember what dj it was but it was banging.. That might have been lisa lashes, or similar, I can't remember,, and I'm glad I don't have any photos hahah!
As we're reminiscing
Friday, Gods Kitchen at The Sanctuary or Storm at The Emporium in Coalville
Saturday, Sundissential at The Que Club, or maybe a trip North to Passion at the Emporium or Cream in Liverpool. Or if Sundissential was doing it's afternoon slot it was Wobble at The Steering Wheel after that.
Then Sunday you'd be dead on your feet and someone would suggest Polysexual at Air knowing it was a terrible idea and off you'd go.
I was going to finish by asking how we had the energy for such manoeuvres, but I think we all know the answer to that...
Well if we're going down this route...
I was listening to this the other day. i was there at the time. The roar of the crowd around the breakdown at about 1 hour 57 is proper hairs on the back of the neck stuff for me.
The fact that I was there on Easter weekend during the final year of my degree - I'd had to go on my own, because all my friends were sensibly knuckling down and getting on with their degree work, and I ended up at some random's house across Manchester with no idea how to get back to Salford - possibly goes some way to illuminating why I ended up with a drinker's degree.
I had a lot of fun, mind. I even still remember some of it.
Lunge that is WAY more hardcore than I ever was! I struggled to do two nights in a row, let alone two nights without sleep. Not that I never tried!!
The Emporium in Coalville
I never went there, but one thing that really strikes me about the 90s is how many clubs in random little places there were, that were able to sustain proper big nights out. Todd Terry in Coalville. Paul van Dyk in Hereford. I guess it was easier before DJ fees went mental - you could pull together a £2000 fee from a 500 capacity club fairly easily. By the early 00's I remember the owner of Sankeys telling me that Erick Morillo wanted £20k, MAW were £15k. You really needed a capacity of 1500 (and be sold out) to even have a hope of breaking even.
one thing that really strikes me about the 90s is how many clubs in random little places there were, that were able to sustain proper big nights out
It not like they made much behind the bar either. A bottle or 2 of Becks early doors and then a lot of water if memory serves...
I was chatting with someone yesterday about The Emporium in Coalville as she was a regular there around the same time I used to go. Some amazing nights were had there. I was never that into Storm, the harder stuff wasn't my bag. My favourite night out had to be The Bomb in Nottingham for Tyrant. Sasha, Craig Richards and Lee Burridge who are pretty much all superstar DJs in their own right. I think they are all still doing the rounds.
Yeah I love some of the dirtier darker techno stuff, as long as it isn't too crazy... needs a bit of vocals and melody IMO
Thats just reminded me of Mauro Picotto... Chooon!
Cosmic Gate are still going too, very 'mainstream' nowadays but superb DJs back in the day. look how young they look! lol
The roar of the crowd around the breakdown at about 1 hour 57 is proper hairs on the back of the neck stuff for me.
The intro of this Wigan Pier mix has exactly the same effect on me. A genius mix of news footage from the time, when the Pier was a pilgrimage every Friday, over Hardcore Uproar
https://www.mixcloud.com/richard-martin7/wigan-pier-piano-dayz/
doris5000 We had some epic nights in Sankeys around the same time. Weirdly, it’s now the offices of the Kings Trust and Mrs Binners ended up working in there a couple of years ago and her desk was literally what was BITD the centre of the dancefloor. She said it was an odd experience
But anyway, we seem to be heading down this route… 😃
I've gone off on one here too, difficult not to reminisce about those times
I missed the cooler stuff at the start-mid 90's but spent many nights in Passion in Coalville, I look at crowds now and think wtf!
I never used to drink and barely touched anything harder but the atmosphere in those places (all night) was insane, the way the sets would build and you'd nod and smile to the folks opposite or wherever then it'd just stay constantly sky high, and being regular you'd know what to expect, be mad up for it and in a weird way everyone being of the same mind just made those places amazing to be in.
I look at todays crowds and christ, the phones...its like a total opposite, everyone wanting to be entirely individual and not an individual within a larger collective. Eden in Metheringham quarry had the same vibe as Passion, people proper into and living the scene. The Bomb in Notts too! One of my fave sets there was Darren Emerson
Is there not too many niches for there to be Superstar DJs these days? I could easily have never left that era of music, my brother still goes to Passion nights in random places, JFKs still headlining, I think JJ is playing the next one, Tall Pauls in Cardiff this weekend, but I know what I'll want, those times from the 90's and they've gone, I don't want to try to replicate it, happy to just leave it be.
Anything on Bradley Zeros label, Chaos in the CBD type stuff is my bag now
Even if Superstart DJ's do exist, Fred Again etc, who would want to be in that crowd??
Carl Cox has recently and Sven Vath
Bloody hell, is Sven Vath still alive? Remember seeing him at the Orbit in Morley and he was monumentally pissed to the extent that he was being propped up. His mixing was very shoddy too.
In fact, the Orbit was the very definition of a proper club night that I’m sure you’d not see the likes of again. It had a few trainspotters on the balcony for sure but mostly it was people into their techno and they drew pretty much the best DJ’s from all over the world at the time. I loved it in there.
One of the best sets I've been to was Boy George, at the sound exchange in Banbury, way back in the day...
I lived local at the time so the exchange was our usual friday/saturday night club, I didn't even realise he was DJing at the time until may mate told me the next day...
Me: Banging tunes last night
My mate: Yeh Boy george was on
Me: Oh?.... Banging choons!
Thats about all I can remember!
Damn he can mix with the best of them... no joke, he could read the crowd and play the crowd up.
Used to go to Golden in Stoke a lot, when I first started going it was mostly prog house like Sasha and Digweed, Lee Burridge was on a lot, some weeks it was the big trance DJs. Then they started booking hard house and it got a bit shit.
Would drive up to Bugged Out in Liverpool too for a bit of techno, saw Jeff Mills and Dave Clarke there.
Moved to Leeds and was more into bass music - Subdub was the best night there.
Listened back to a bit of prog house a few years ago after a chat a bit like this with someone who was into the same scene. To be honest I found it bloody awful.
We were regulars at Orbit, Sankey, Bowlers and some dodgy D&B club in Moss side.. My straight edge mate used to drive and go off completely sober/ unenhanced.
That ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U
mix into Underworld Moaner is epic, the energy dies off a bit - the crowd is too young for it!
Give this a listen!
TBH I always thought the early 2000's was a bit cheesy. It was dominated by big arena Trance, which had become so by the numbers by then. Off beat donk bass to a 4/4 beat with 909 hi hats, suspersaw (sounds like synthetic string orchestra) synth chords, the odd choir pad sound, reversed crash cymbal into the breakdown, euphoric female vocal and bobs your uncle there's 90% of the tracks. Felt very much like corporate sponsored raving for the masses and what the majority of festivals are now.
In fact, the Orbit was the very definition of a proper club night that I’m sure you’d not see the likes of again.
I was wondering if anybody was going to mention The Orbit, it was mental. I think they had a fairly early closure time so everybody dropped early on and were going for it. Widespread video in there would have ruined it (like any proper club).
We weren’t usually into stuff that hard but used to periodically double the amphetamine dosage and head to Otbit for a night of Tanith, Sven Vath or Dave Angel. What an insane little sweat box it was. Utterly mental! In a good way!
If you follow Graeme Park on Instagram most of the stuff he posts up is all the mountain biking he does
He must have an account on here, by the look of his Insta, eh?
As others have said, yes there are still "superstar DJs", but they are mostly the wrong ones (i.e. EDM nonsense).
And you can see some of the bigger names of old - like Diggers or Tenaglia at medium-sized venues for a reasonable price. They're just two that have played in Mcr lately anyway.
It seems the market for older DJs has split into two anyway - the normal clubs/all dayers and the heritage/festival circuit. I don't have any real experience of the latter, but it seems to be regarded as a bit lame?
What do others think?
This thread is bringing back memories of some great times for me.
Amnesia at the Eclpse in Coventry in 89 was my first foray into allnighters and pills.
Quite literally changed the course of my life.
Was a regular a Shelleys in Stoke where I met Mrsstu. Quest in Wolvs along with all the bigger less regular parties (Fantasia at various different venues, all the different nights at Aston leisure center and Pandemonium nights around Telford).
Also had a stint of going to free outdoor parties including the infamous Castle Morton.
Had a bit of a change of scene towards the middle of the 90's and started going the Institute in Brum then when that finished on to Wobble or Cream in a variety of different factory units* that they seemed to "borrow" for the night.
As others have said we all kind of lost interest after the millennium thing and stopped going out.
Been to a few oldschool nights the last few years but while they were fun I'd rather be riding my bike these days.
*Chevron Shoe and a BT warehouse being memorable but also Robannas.
Yeah I love some of the dirtier darker techno stuff, as long as it isn't too crazy... needs a bit of vocals and melody IMO
Lol, tell me you don't like dark techno while telling me you do. You like dark techno, but you need a nightlight on.
That's why I hated superstar DJs, the direction club music went, the direction all music I liked seemed to go, was total infiltration by full on commercialization. I loved rave music from 91-93... Although it wasn't the best and was starting to annoy me but I hated club music, 4 to the floor was so boring. I went to less than ten raves I think though. Went to the occasional club but it never had the excitement of the few raves I went to and I was just a bored spectator. Drum n' bass never had the same impact on me. Aphex Twin became my favourite artist, and eventually I discovered Autechre when everyone who had liked their early work was complaining their new stuff wasn't as good, but Draft 7.30 and Untilted were just what I was looking for, kinda, at least they had something to get my teeth into and learn to appreciate.
Techno still seems to be thriving as a genre TBF — with a lot of young fans as well as the older chin-strokers like yourself Sirromj 😉
I liked the harder clubby acid sound back in the day — like Billy Nasty used to play on the London scene — but like a lot of middle-aged peeps I'm now more into either the slower leftfield Weatherall/Optimo kind of stuff or just nice tasteful house/disco.
Everything seems a bit slower now. We don't have the energy at this age eh?
I tend to like a greater mix of stuff these days also. I even occasionally try to reach out from my couch of electronica and listen to music made with real instruments and real singers!
I'm not sure about the energy, probably not. I went to see Luke Vibert DJ in a small local venue last year. By the time he came on at midnight, I had left because I'd been there too long by myself, and people were starting to piss me off 🤣. It's always been more about the music than the scene for me, but it took me a while to realize.
Still listen to acid/hard techno quite regularly, great for finding a good rhythm on the trainer!
Slap bang in the middle of the Sasha fabric mix right now, I should probs start from 01 and go back to front
It seems the market for older DJs has split into two anyway - the normal clubs/all dayers and the heritage/festival circuit. I don't have any real experience of the latter, but it seems to be regarded as a bit lame?
What do others think?
I was at the Hacienda event in Warrington last month with Leftfield and Orbital as the main names. The crowd was most definitely borne from the people who’d been there first time round so to speak, so a little more subdued than what they were probably like 30 years ago but still a good day. Just don’t go to that sort of event expecting it to be some kind of recreation of those long gone days as you’ll be disappointed. But go to catch up with old mates, listen to some great DJ’s and you’ll not go far wrong. My knees and back hurt though after eight hours on my feet. We were like a bunch of pensioners walking back to the car afterwards.
Some of the kids I knew who were a few years younger than me (kids who are now pushing 40) got into Hardstyle. I'm not sure if Hardstyle ever got that big but there do seem to be some pretty massive European festivals.
I think there needs to be a STW learn to shuffle dance thread 😂
I loved rave music from 91-93...
It was new, fresh, and totally unhinged, and unlike anything that came before.
Very few of the big names from back in the day are still going from what I can tell.
All the big names are still going. Jeremy Healey, jpw, Alistair Whitehead, Sasha, digweed, coxy, slipmatt, judge Jules, john Kelly, oakey, Graeme park, Danny rampling etc etc etc etc. seen most of this lot in the last 3 years and they're still bloody good!!
So I wondered if big name DJ’s were still a thing? Do people still travel to a different city to see a specific name? Or go to a specific night?
Or is this a quaint habit that died in about 2005?
It didn't die in 2005, but it was moving rapidly back towards the US, where they have since done what they always do and turned the capitalism and commercialisation of a scene (that ironically, they created but never understood) up to 11... I was still travelling for the occasional night to see decent DJ's until about 2010 (at least when I wasn't still DJing myself at the time), but then other things kinda took over, and from what I could ascertain that the "scene" basically withdrew to become a highly London-centric thing once again in the UK anyway...
I never went there, but one thing that really strikes me about the 90s is how many clubs in random little places there were, that were able to sustain proper big nights out. Todd Terry in Coalville. Paul van Dyk in Hereford. I guess it was easier before DJ fees went mental - you could pull together a £2000 fee from a 500 capacity club fairly easily. By the early 00's I remember the owner of Sankeys telling me that Erick Morillo wanted £20k, MAW were £15k. You really needed a capacity of 1500 (and be sold out) to even have a hope of breaking even.
I remember Mixmag doing an article about the spiralling DJ costs in about 98/99, back when Jeremy Healy had just been the first DJ in the UK to broach the £10k per set barrier... The consensus back then was that this was the peak, and things would come back down from there... How naive we all were!
Well if we're going down this route...
I was listening to this the other day. i was there at the time. The roar of the crowd around the breakdown at about 1 hour 57 is proper hairs on the back of the neck stuff for me.
The fact that I was there on Easter weekend during the final year of my degree - I'd had to go on my own, because all my friends were sensibly knuckling down and getting on with their degree work, and I ended up at some random's house across Manchester with no idea how to get back to Salford - possibly goes some way to illuminating why I ended up with a drinker's degree.
I had a lot of fun, mind. I even still remember some of it.
OMG... Hawtin back before he disappeared up his own arse in a minimalist fit of self flaggelation... 🤩 I was lucky enough to see him about 3 months after this (for the first time) "warming up" for Sven Vath @ Cocoon Club @ Amnesia in Ibiza, 2 days before my 21st birthday... Set list was pretty similar from the youtube link you just posted, some incredible builders in there with the odd banger, but all absolutely thumping rhythmical Techno... Sven Vath came on after and sent it to 11! What a night... Banger after banger after banger... Just me, my GF at the time, and around 3000 Germans (nobody in there was speaking English!). I remember it so vividly, even to this day!
If you follow Graeme Park on Instagram most of the stuff he posts up is all the mountain biking he does
Seems to be quite a theme going on here (or Supermoto racing if you're Anne Savage... I kid you not, in her mid 50's she's become a really quite successful Supermoto racer!)... Was out riding above Castle Morton Common (ironically!) the other day with another mate who was a former paid DJ (as in both of us had residencies, earnt reasonable money out of it at the time, but never managed to make it stick as a full time living) and reminiscing about the good old times... Even more ironically, I was too young to have gone to Castle Morton Common back in the day (I'm 45 now), he's 10yrs older than me though and I asked what it was like to which he replied... "Didn't go, thought it would be shit, how wrong was I?" 🤣
Also had a stint of going to free outdoor parties including the infamous Castle Morton.
Even more ironically... These days a venue more famous for the quality of MTB trails built above it, and you'll find lots of cars parked up on the verges of the fields where said party happened most weekends, their owners up riding the trails above on their Mountain Bikes!
TBH I always thought the early 2000's was a bit cheesy. It was dominated by big arena Trance, which had become so by the numbers by then. Off beat donk bass to a 4/4 beat with 909 hi hats, suspersaw (sounds like synthetic string orchestra) synth chords, the odd choir pad sound, reversed crash cymbal into the breakdown, euphoric female vocal and bobs your uncle there's 90% of the tracks. Felt very much like corporate sponsored raving for the masses and what the majority of festivals are now.
That very much depends where you were going and what you were listening to... I tended to avoid those kinda clubs and those DJ's like the plague myself! There was still a brilliant slightly more underground scene going on back then though, you just had to know where to look...
Lol, tell me you don't like dark techno while telling me you do. You like dark techno, but you need a nightlight on.
I had a similar experience, I'm not gonna lie... Ended up in the Fuse in Brussels for a Monika Kruse residency one weekend with a couple of uni mates... And I thought I liked Techno... 🤣 I DEFINITELY didn't spend most of the night wimping out in the 2nd room where the DJ was playing a much more chilled out House set after Monika had made my ears bleed for about an hour straight... Honestly! 🤣 🤣 🤣
He seems to be mostly concentrating on his racing team, see him a lot on telly at various motor sports things with his team!
He still DJ's quite a lot too, but mostly when he travels. He spends a lot of time in Aus now, having built more of a life for himself over there, and he's big into Drag Racing too, but also rides motorbikes a lot too (I kinda know one of his regular riding buddies funnily enough!).
Sure is bizarre, going to a dance music event and not dancing, just recording it on your phone. I'll never understand that!
So glad that camera phones weren't a thing when I was going out, that's for sure... Did start to see the odd person with a digital camera out and about as they became smaller/lighter/less expensive around late noughties, and by that time I could already tell the scene was heading downhill quite a bit anyway...
Living in the moment..
looks like the war on drugs has been won there anyway
Is he doing his tax returns, or writing a letter to his accountant and his promoter?
Thats just reminded me of Mauro Picotto... Chooon!
Wonder if Deep Forest got any credit for that?
Wonder if Afunakwa got any credit for that? 🙃
"Sweet Lullaby" is a song by French musical group Deep Forest ...
Although the inlay misattributed the samples to African Pygmies, the song is based around a traditional Baegu lullaby from the Solomon Islands called "Rorogwela", and uses a vocal sample of a woman called Afunakwa[4] singing
Afunakwa's rendition of the lullaby was also reused by Italian disc jockey Mauro Picotto in his song Komodo [Save A Soul], and the tune was covered by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, in his song erroneously titled "Pygmy Lullaby". Afunakwa died during the 1990s.
I never went there, but one thing that really strikes me about the 90s is how many clubs in random little places there were, that were able to sustain proper big nights out.
In Scotland in the early to mid 90s, there was a bizarre selection of small towns around the country with clubs that had busloads and carloads of youngsters descending on them at the weekend to see N-Trance, Q-Tex, TTF etc. Not a fan of that style myself and I hated it at the time, but it does hold a certain nostalgia for me. Back then you'd have loads of kids from all over Scotland going to
Room At The Top in Bathgate
Metro in Saltcoats
The Ice Factory in Perth
Hanger 13 in Ayr
Fubar in Stirling
If someone suggested a night out in Saltcoats nowadays I'd take a hammer to them
In Scotland in the early to mid 90s, there was a bizarre selection of small towns around the country with clubs that had busloads and carloads of youngsters descending on them at the weekend to see N-Trance, Q-Tex, TTF etc.
We drew a crowd of 1500+ to a damp midge ridden forest in Galloway, nr Carsphairn back in 93. The police left us “mostly” alone as it was on private land (they got politely told to f-off,) but anyone leaving the site in a car or on foot got strip searched.
We held a number of raves there throughout the 90’s but the police got wise and used to set up road blocks/searches of every car/van that was heading down the Ayr road or up from Castle Douglas. There was some right nasty ****s wearing the uniform.
Then we started to get hassled by the police in our daily/weekly lives so we eventually gave up on the large events and kept them to under 100 folk.
Was out riding above Castle Morton Common (ironically!) the other day with another mate who was a former paid DJ (as in both of us had residencies, earnt reasonable money out of it at the time, but never managed to make it stick as a full time living) and reminiscing about the good old times... Even more ironically, I was too young to have gone to Castle Morton Common back in the day (I'm 45 now), he's 10yrs older than me though and I asked what it was like to which he replied... "Didn't go, thought it would be shit, how wrong was I?"
Not Spaz (Justin) by any chance was it?
Tell you what I miss from those days, flyer packs! I really struggle to keep up with stuff on socials, tbh I cba, I'd welcome back the days of spilling out a club at 3am to have numerous options for the month ahead buried under the wiper + you know, multi use
Tell you what I miss from those days, flyer packs! I really struggle to keep up with stuff on socials, tbh I cba, I'd welcome back the days of spilling out a club at 3am to have numerous options for the month ahead buried under the wiper + you know, multi use
When the origonal sony play station came out the were 'pre-perforated' adverts getting handed out at certain establishments lol
Not Spaz (Justin) by any chance was it?
Yup... Bloody good rider too! Bumped into him again recently, was riding with him occasionally before I got ill 3yrs ago, then I've had 2 and a bit years off and slowly getting back into it, been out riding with him again a few times lately and he's even bloody quicker!
In Scotland in the early to mid 90s, there was a bizarre selection of small towns around the country with clubs that had busloads and carloads of youngsters descending on them at the weekend
I recently went through Portrush as work took me all over NI for a while, and as someone growing up in the UK Dance Music scene in the 90's who'd heard at no end about just how good Lush @ Kelly's was, you can imagine my disappointment upon seeing the venue and its location!!! Fortunately, I was able to get some great photos of the NW200 circuit and the grid itself, and me and my GF had a decent walk along the coast too (watching the golfers Tee off in 50mph+ winds!) which made up for the disappointment of Kelly's...
Tell you what I miss from those days, flyer packs!
Oh man, heady days! Running my own nights back in the early 2000's, there was always a battle to make sure that your flyer got noticed over and above everyone else's! One of the guys I was running a night with came up with the idea of making a flyer look like a car parking penalty notice, and we ran with it... Yes, we got some flack for it, but as they say, there's no such thing as bad publicity, and that was absolutely the most successful flyer we ever did by some margin!
Bloody good rider too!
We've been mates with Spaz since the mid 80's when we all first got into MTB.
He seems to spend a disproportionate amount of time on the floor when he comes up here riding.
Had to take him to Borders General Hospital last time he was up.🤣
Knocked himself clean out on a feature he crashed on the last time he rode the trail too.
Used to love the nights they put on. Splosh i think it was called. Mainly around the Kiddy and Worcester area. Seem to remember a boat party once or twice too.