DESA BASSHEAD
1. Year / Place of birth.
I was born on the 14th November 1961 in Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, U.K.
2. What first got you into music / who were you into / what was the first record you bought?
When I was about 10 years old, I remember sneaking a small portable radio under the covers at bedtime, attached to it was a cream hearing aid type of earpiece so I could listen to late night radio stations like Radio Luxembourg. I can remember hearing songs like Mungo Jerry "In The Summertime" and the Mixtures "The Push-bike Song" I didn't particularly like any of these tracks but the melodies were catchy enough for me to remember... or it could have just been, that I wanted a bike or was looking forward to the summer holidays, whatever the reason, every time I turned on the radio, the same songs seemed to be getting played. I also remember hearing a lots of Motown records, especially The Supremes.
The first record I owned was a song by Candlewick Green called "Doggie" this was bought for me by my family as a compromise to stop me asking for a pet, however, the first record I ever bought with my own money was "Ben" by Michael Jackson. I remember going to the record shop in the Co-op building in Grange Road, Birkenhead with my 11th birthday money to get it, I remember taking it home and playing it over and over again. On reflection it probably wasn't the song that captivated me but the pure emotional depth of his voice.
The first record I bought for somebody else was "Doctor My Eyes" by the Jackson 5, it was for a girl at school called Juliet Billie, and this gesture also won me my first proper kiss. Incidentally, Juliet's younger sister Kiki went on to become the singer and face of the late 80's band Mirage. I didn't know it back then, but this was the beginning of my lifelong obsession with music.
My eldest brother John (who is a successful film director and producer) had quite a large selection of pop 7" singles and a mixed selection of albums, ranging from Elton John, Rod Stewart to Deep Purple & Led Zeppelin. Although, I was open minded enough to listen, like and accept his taste in music, I was searching for something else, something I could relate to, something of my own, something I could FEEL!
3. What got you into Soul music?
It wasn’t until I was about 14 that the penny finally dropped and I realised that I was a fan of "Black Music", by then I had worked out that all the music I was listening to and enjoyed the most, was rooted in "SOUL" The defining moment was upon hearing "Blue Magic’s album "The Magic Of The Blue". This was lent to me by a friend of my other brother, Charley (an independent businessman and also a big County & Western fan). This was my first lesson in what is commercial and what is underground, The Stylistics was commercial, and Blue Magic was underground. I remember when Barry Biggs had hits with ‘Sideshow’ and ‘Three Ring Circus’ I was telling people they were cover versions and that they should check out the originals by Blue Magic.
I played that ‘Magic Of The Blue’ album constantly for weeks, until I could afford to buy it for myself. This was no easy task, as finding 'Soul & Funk' records in Birkenhead at that time was almost impossible; however, there was one shop that I’d heard about, half way up Argyle Street, Birkenhead, opposite the old ABC cinema called Skeleton Records.
People may think record shops of today as intimidating places for first time record buyers, but just imagine how I felt as a fresh faced 14 year old "Soul Boy" walking down a long pitch black corridor with illuminate skeletons on the walls into a frightening bong and petunia oiled smelling room. Once I got inside, it was full of much older long haired Troggs, Hippies and Hells Angels. I didn't look or dress likes any of them and I was scared shitless, but I did this, all in the pursuit of finding some quality "Music" and to my relief. They had a 'Soul & Funk' selection. This is where I first bought records by artists like Blue Magic, Tavares, O Jays, Isley Brothers, Barry White, Labelle, Isaac Hayes, Brass Construction, Commodores, Earth, Wind & Fire, Ohio Players, War, Bohannon, Creative Source, etc…
4. Did you meet Jon Williams and John Cecchini at school?
Yeah, when Jon Williams first joined our school St Werburgh’s, the teacher sat him next to me, we must have been about 10 years old then and we've been friends ever since. I met John Cecchini when we went to our secondary school St Hugh's. I knew him in school but only got friendly with him when we found our common denominator; he was a big Earth, Wind & Fire fan.
We were all enjoying and discovering music at about the same time, so the three of us were a bit of an oasis at our school cos most people back then were into rock or blatant pop music. One of the funniest stories I remember at that time was about Jon Williams. It was trendy back then for people to write the name of the artist or band they were most into on their canvas school bags. 99% of the people at that time had Yes, Uriah Heap, Queen, Free or Mott The Hoople on theirs, and they were mostly written in black felt tip pen... Jon Williams came in one day with Gene Page painted on his in bright orange, yellow and green day-glow paint, everyone was like "Who the fuck is Gene Page" (a string arranger for Barry White & The Love Unlimited Orchestra) I think he got his head kicked in for that : )
I also took some stick at that time from people at school, cos I couldn't afford a proper canvas bag. I used to carry all my books in a plastic ASDA bag. How ironic, that year’s later; ASDA would be selling my records. : )
There’s nothing like a bit of friendly rivalry as an incentive to locate and track down those exclusive must have records, and in the past, I have been known to walk increasingly faster as I was approaching record shops in order to get to the counter first to get that latest piece of hot vinyl. Most of my after school and weekend activities were spent listening too or in the search of records, either at record shops; record fair’s or second hand bargain bins!
5 What were the first clubs you went to?
When I started going to youth clubs, the two most influential were Friday nights at the Birkenhead Catholic Youth Centre AKA (The Joey’s) and Saturday nights at St. Saviours. The Joey's youth club was on every night of the week for snooker, table tennis, football etc…. and then on Friday nights it was the Disco. The DJ’s at that time were older youth leaders and fortunately for me they were into "Black Music" I remember one of them, a guy called Siddy, he was a big Temptations fan and I used to have many conversations with him about music.. I was mainly into The Sound Of Philadelphia at that time and I only liked a few tracks by the Temptations, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" was my favourite which I had on 7" vinyl, we were lucky that amongst all the pop stuff at the Friday night disco, we would get to hear tracks by The Temptations, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Fatback and the Average White Band etc.. It was here that I also got my first taste of proper Dee-Jing to an audience.
I always used to make tapes at home on a cassette deck, using the pause button as an edit tool to chop tracks together without any gaps. These tapes would then be played during the week at the youth club nights, however, I didn’t realize at the time, that I was also learning myself how to programme the room by selecting tracks like "Fame" & "Golden Years" by David Bowie for the older crowd, alongside all the new soulful "Philly" "Disco" and "Funky" stuff that my mates and I were into.
These tapes were well received and once my confidence grew, I approached the youth leaders about starting a mid week radio station instead of me doing tapes at home. I used the weekend mobile DJ console, hooked it up to the in-house speaker system and Dee-Jayed from a room at the back of the club, and in that one bold move, ‘Radio Joey’s’ was born. The first record I played that night was "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" by Tavares, and I finished off with "Harvest For The World" by the Isley Brothers. So with this new found experience it wasn’t long before I was occasionally filling in the Friday night slots at the main disco when the regular youth club DJ was off or went on holiday. At first they would get professional mobile DJ’s in to do the Friday’s, but it was soon apparent that they weren't as musically educated as some of the audience, so quite often the dance floor would empty when a blatant pop selection was played and the floor remained that way until something more funky or danceable came on.. So it didn't take much persuasion to let me get behind the decks on a Friday night.
I used to start and finish the night with the same 12" single, a live promo version of the Bee-Gees "You Should Be Dancing" on one side and "Jive Talking" on the other, both Jon Williams and John Cecchini also occasionally Dee-jayed Friday nights at the Joey's and eventually John Cecchini became the resident DJ there. He then went on to become the UK "DJ of the Year" and he also managed my Bassheads career from 91-95 with John Saunderson from DMC. It was them who recommended that I should sign Bassheads to De-Construction Records in 1991. Jon Williams went on to become a successful A&R manager and has worked for record labels like 4th & Broadway, Malaco, Phonogram, Jive, Nu Life, Simply Vinyl, and Slip n’ Slide etc …
St Saviours on a Saturday night was the bridge between youth clubs and nightclubs, the main DJ was John Hazlehurst, a DJ who always played the right music at the right time, "Aint No Half Steppin" "Brickhouse" "Shack Up" "Which Way Is Up" "Galaxy" "Do What You Want To Do" were all massive tunes there and he was a big influence on my Dee-Jing and a really top bloke.
I also used to listen every Monday night to Terry Lennaine's BBC Radio Merseyside 'Keep On Truckin' Radio Show. He was the main man in Liverpool at that time and his shows, along with James Hamilton’s Record Mirror column were essential to finding out about all the forthcoming and latest 'Soul & Funk' releases. I would tune into his show religiously on a Monday night and make lists of the tracks I wanted to buy the following weekend. I would also become a regular at his 'Get Together’s' at the Hamilton Club in Birkenhead; I also used to go to his gigs at Westwood Grange, The Zoo and Ma Bakers. Terry Lennaine was probably the biggest DJ influence on my career at that time, he gave me something to aspire to … a club full of people who loved the same music as I did, in fact on 'The Defhouse EP Volume One' I used his Terry Lennaine Soul Climber jingle influenced tune, 'Do It Any Way You Wanna' by Peoples Choice as the inspiration for my 'What Is Love' track.
I was also a big live music fan at that time and I saw some amazing concerts from artists like Heatwave, Tavares, Earth, Wind & Fire, Crown Heights Affair, T-Connection, Isaac Hayes, Average White Band, Rose Royce, Hi Tension etc..
6. What's the story behind the Commodores Bridge?
I was a massive fan of the Commodores, I was first aware of them through their instrumental track 'Machine Gun' from a Motown compilation album but it was when ‘Easy’ came out that got me hooked, it had ‘Machine Gun’ & ‘I feel Sanctified’ on the b side, I realised then that they weren’t just an instrumental band, 'Brickhouse' came next with 'Sweet Love' on the flip and that was it, I went out and bought the 'Zoom' album and started finding out more about them and started to track down their entire single and album back catalogue. When 'Commodores Live' came out, I knew I'd have to go and see them in concert. I was still at school at this time and I managed to get tickets for their 1978 Manchester Free Trade Hall gig. I'd seen other artists live but this gig gave me the most amazing, exciting feelings I'd ever had, it was such an influence on me, I just remember seeing Lionel Richie on stage and thinking he looks like a giant up there. They were amazing live and that concert left such a big impression on me. I didn't realize it at the time, but years later, this gig, would become the inspiration for 'Bassheads'.
The Commodores Bridge in Prenton was painted by Me, Jon Williams & Robbie Devlin on 21st July 1979. Jon and I did the painting and Robbie kept look out. We got arrested, charged and fined £120 each. It stayed up there for 3 years and was only painted over because the Queen had to pass by it on the way to her official opening of Arrowe Park Hospital in 1982. Even today everybody on the Wirral still knows it as 'The Commodores Bridge'.
When the Commodores announced their 1980 'Midnight Magic' UK tour dates in London's Wembley Arena & Stafford’s Bingley Hall, I was first in the cue for tickets, in fact, I got front row centre stage Sunday night tickets for the Wembley Arena gig. My intention was to travel to London and try to meet them, so I photo-copied the press cuttings from the Birkenhead News & Liverpool Echo about the bridge and took some photo's of our artwork down with me to London. I set off on the Saturday morning the day before the concert and just hung round the outside of the venue, I saw roadies bringing the equipment into the venue and thought I might get a chance to see them if I stay here a bit longer, about 20 minutes later, a stretch limo pulled up outside the back of the Arena, I saw Ronald La Pread, Milian Williams & William King getting out, so I called them over to the fence where I was standing and started telling them the story about the bridge and showing them the photo's. They started laughing and told me they had already heard about this through Les Spaine who was working for Motown Records at that time, they then invited me into the sound check. I was given two free tickets for that Saturday night performance and they also told me that when I came to the Sunday night gig, I could go back stage after the show to meet the rest of the band!
The Saturday night free tickets were about 100 yards from the stage and the concert looked incredible from there, but on the Sunday, I had front row centre seats and it was amazing, just being that close to the stage was fantastic and all throughout the concert the Commodores kept acknowledging me, giving me the occasional nod and smile, they could see how much I was enjoying it. After the concert was over, I was told by their security to wait by the side of the stage. Then their manager Benny Ashburn came over and introduced himself to me, he then took me backstage to meet the Commodores. It was unreal, these guys where my biggest heroes at that time. I spent about 15 minutes chatting and having my photo taken with them and Walter 'Clyde' Orange even gave me the drumsticks he'd used for that nights performance. I told them I had tickets for the Bingley Hall gig the following Wednesday and they told me to get there early that day and I could hang out with them before the concert and they would also sort out Backstage Passes for the VIP area. It was amazing and I was so elated and then, to top it all, as I was leaving Benny Ashburn took me to one side and gave me $200 towards my fine for painting "The Commodores Bridge".
The next time I met the Commodores was backstage six years later at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on their 'Nightshift' tour; they still remembered me as the guy who painted the Commodores Bridge, but unfortunately by then, Lionel Richie had left, I remember feeling disappointed and saddened with his decision to leave the group and even more frustrated by this concert. The magic of the group dynamic had gone, Lionel as a writer, producer, singer and a front man was impossible to replace. He went on to have a successful solo career and the guys never recorded anything of that original, quality, Commodores vibe, ever again. The Commodores were a funk band and did some amazing tracks; it’s a pity they are remembered only for their commercial releases.
I met Lionel Richie again in May 07 backstage at one of his concerts, I told him I would love to work with him and the Commodores, if they ever got back together? I live in hope!
7. Can you remember when you met me / did you ever come to the Golden Guinea?
I first met you through Jon Williams’s brother Adrian, it was at the Horse & Jockey pub in Upton, Adrian was promoting a mid-week night at Leighton Court and he wanted you to DJ there. I went to that gig, it wasn't that packed or we left early cos it was in the middle of no-where and we didn’t have a car. I don’t remember that much more about it, other than this was the first time I'd been to Leighton Court. I did however, go to Golden Guinea all-dayer, this was a big event for the Wirral, this was well attended and I went back there a few times on the weekend on the strength of that gig and the quality of music being played. My lasting all-dayer moment was hearing the A Taste Of Honey & GQ versions of "Boogie Oggie Oggie" being mixed together, and I thought these guys are just like me, and are doing what I've been practicing at home, I've got to get myself a DJ gig.
8. At what point did you start dee-jaying in the clubs yourself?
Around that time, I was going to clubs like The Hamilton on Friday nights and Sir James on Saturday's & occasionally to Ruperts, which was an over 21's members club in central Birkenhead. I was still buying records regularly but no closer to becoming a professional DJ (i.e. getting paid for it) I had a good social life and a real great set of mates and most of the time we were out at these local clubs or checking out other places like The Chelsea Reach, Leighton Court, Westwood Grange or clubs in Southport or Chester.
Sir James, a large cabaret club behind Hamilton Square Train Station in downtown Birkenhead was probably the one I visited most. It held about 800 people and was always full; it was also a good meeting place for everyone. The main room was open seven nights a week and then on Fridays & Saturdays they would open another part of the building which was the disco. Years later, this became the home of my underground house club 'The Bassment' I used to get to Sir James early on Saturday's usually around 9.30pm, and then I'd wait for the disco room to open. The DJ there at that time was a guy called Pete Tullis, I vaguely recognized his face from other places like Leighton Court, but I didn't really know him that well.
At that time, I could never understand why he would play all his best records at the beginning of the evening when hardly anyone was there and then play all the shite records when it was full? The only reason I'd get down there so early was to listen to tracks like 'Holdin On' by Tony Rallo, Haven't You Heard' by Patrice Rushen and Mystic Merlyn's 'Just Can't Give You Up' on a loud & powerful sound system. When he eventually left or got sacked they went through a phase of replacement DJs until they decided on a local sound & lighting engineer and DJ, called Mike Boylan. I got to know Mike on a personal level and he was another big influence on my early Dee-Jaying career, watching him work taught me a lot about programming, he was also one of the nicest and 'generous of spirit' blokes I ever met.
At this time, I was expanding my network of friends and checking out other places and I hadn't been to Sir James for a while, so this particular night I was really looking forward to it, only to be disappointed when I got there and realized that Mike the resident DJ was on holiday and his replacement was crap. The music he was playing was shocking, he was more of a mobile DJ than a Club DJ, so I spent most of that evening in the cabaret and lounge rooms instead of the disco. At 2am as I was leaving, I was walking out, when the receptionist asked me if I'd had a good night and I told her, "the night was shit and the DJ in the disco was even worse", she then asked me if I was a DJ and of course I said YES, she said "wait here a minute" suddenly one of the managers appeared, his name was Michael Demetrois, we had a brief chat, and he told me to come back tomorrow evening with my records at 8pm for an audition.
I spent all that Sunday afternoon, going through my records picking out what tunes to bring, I was so excited, I'd been waiting for an opportunity like this for such a long time. I'd only ever auditioned once before and that was for acting. I was 15 at the time and was lucky enough to land a lead roll in a four part BBC Children's Television series called 'Rocky O' Rourke' My character was called Billy, a member of a teenage gang called 'The Cats' It was filmed on location throughout Liverpool during the long hot summer of 1976 The series was adapted from a book called 'A Pair Of Jesus Boots' by Syliva Sherry and was originally broadcast nationally on the BBC in 1977 and then repeated again in 1978. So with this as my only reference, I didn't really know what to expect at a DJ audition.
When I arrived at the club, there was no sign of any management, only the bar staff setting up for that evening. A few minutes later the receptionist from the night before came over and told me I could play some records while I was waiting for Michael to arrive. An hour and half later and after a selection of 'Dyin' To Be Dancin' 'Try It Out' & 'Body Music' type tunes, he appeared and told me I had the job and that I could start on Tuesday, I was shocked, as I didn't realise that me playing some of my favourite tunes was the actual audition, I was just killing time waiting for him to come and interview me. We became good friends and years later when we were Dee-Jing together for a summer season in Corfu at a club called 'Paradise' in Benititz (1985) he told me, the only reason he gave me the Sir James gig was because he had been listening to me Dee-Jing for over an hour that evening, without recognising any of the tracks I'd been playing and thought both he and the club were missing out on something, so they better employ me. I started Dee-Jaying there in April 1981 and worked there for about 2 years and eventually took over the Saturday night's from Mike Boylan in the downstairs disco room.
I left Sir James after being offered four night’s a week working in a brand new Whitbread concept venue called 'The Zoo' in Borough Road, Birkenhead. It had an amazing light show but they were refused an extended club licence because of the location. It was difficult decision leaving Sir James as I'd become friendly with all the Demetrois family, so that conversation with the owner Jimmy was tough, I told him I'd had an offer from Steve Ellison the manager of ‘The Zoo’ to do 4 nights work for him but I didn't want to leave Sir James and asked him if we could we find a compromise where I'd do the Zoo until 10.30pm then his place from 11pm, but he wasn't flexible and wanted me exclusively to work for him and no-one else, his parting words were, "If you think you can find a better job than working here, then I wont stand in your way – DJ’s are "two a penny" It was tough decision for me to make, as this was my first residency, but I had "inner belief" and ultimately it was the right decision.
9. When Terry Lennaine stopped doing 'Keep On Truckin'', were you surprised? And did you continue to listen to the show with its new presenter, Kenny James. Why do you feel that Kenny failed to make the impact Terry had?
When Terry left 'Keep On Truckin', Kenni was in a difficult position taking over such an influential show and I guess he had a musical direction that he wanted to take the show in and this was different from mine, he played more traditional "radio soul records" rather than embracing the "club boogie and electro tunes" that I was into. I was now buying my records in London, Manchester and Liverpool and tuning into Mike Shaft on Piccadilly Radio, who still played quality ‘soul music’ but he also incorporated the contemporary productions of the day and I liked the fact that he had guests in the studio like You, Colin Curtis, Kev Edwards, his show gave a better reflection of the scene and back then, Kenni’s show times were always changing, so you never knew exactly when it was on, and how long it was gonna be on for, even though Kenni built up his own loyal radio followers, tuning in for me on a Monday night wasn't as essential as it used to be, when I had "Mike Shaft, doin’ it on a Sunday afternoon"
At that time in Liverpool and the surrounding area's there were very view places playing 'Dance Music’, most of the bars and club owners had a negative attitude towards 'Black Music' and I think Kenni's choices on radio reflected the fact there was a dwindling 'Club Scene' on Merseyside, Quinns closed and that was by far the best place in Liverpool along with Kirklands. Even though Kenni’s track selections were soulful and of high quality, over time they became more "listen too rather than dance too" tracks. As for Terry, I guess he had been Dee-Jaying for a long time and at that point he probably felt he needed a change, and as the record goes … "you can’t fake the feeling" … it was an end of an era … but I was young, full of energy and focused on what I wanted to do.
Years later I invited Terry down to The Defhouse, it was great to see him again and even though he had moved on in his career, I still recognised that without his influence, I wouldn't be doing what I was doing, the foundations he laid made it possible for me … I guess we're all just 'stepping stones' for the next generation, I realised back then, how important it is to remember, respect and acknowledge your peers and what contribution they made towards the scene, cos at the end of the day, we’re all part of the same ‘Family Tree’.
10. You came to my Tuesday night at Wigan Pier quite a few times. John Cecchini once told me that his first visit there was one of his all-time clubbing moments - I think that this was following a night you'd done on the Royal Iris, when you brought a coach load of people along afterwards. Do you remember this night (or others) at The Pier?
I started organizing yearly river boat cruises (1981 to 1983) on The MV Royal Iris with Jon Williams and John Cecchini, we would hire it, decor it out, bring in a sound system and sail up and down the River Mersey for 3 hours with 200+ friends and like minded music lovers from Birkenhead, New Brighton and Liverpool. At that time we also used to organise coach trips to other venues around the country, like the 'Epping Forest Country Club' in Essex. This is where I first met the 'Mighty Chopper' himself, James Hamilton. His record reviews in the Record Mirror were essential to finding the newest and best US and UK releases. I met him a few more times over the years at the 'Prestatyn All-Dayers' and the DMC Music Industry Conventions and I was immensely proud when I personally gave him my first release 'The Defhouse EP Volume 1' and his subsequent reviews of this and my other releases in his Record Mirror column, confirmed to me that I was moving in the right direction.
The Wigan Pier trip after the 'Royal Iris River Cruise' was such a buzz, it was my first experience of 'something like an ‘all nighter', travelling to Wigan on a coach after already dancing on a boat from 8pm was completely unheard of back then, so there was a massive buzz of anticipation as no-one knew what to expect. When we arrived at The Pier, the first thing that hit you was the clarity of sound and the big open mouthed frog DJ booth and lads (break) dancing together without girls!! The DJ console was the main focus of your attention and combined with the sound and lights, made tracks like ‘Magic’s Wand’ & 'Buffalo Gals' sound amazing, this was defiantly a club ahead of its time. My most memorable movement that evening was seeing close up the 3 deck DJ booth. I think they were the Technics SL1400's with the digital vari speed. I also remember you playing tracks like the ‘League Unlimited’ from the dub album.
11. You never came to Legend in Manchester, did you?
I only went to Legend's once, around 1983 cos I was Dee-Jaying four times a week back then. I got there early and having only experienced the Wigan Pier at ‘peak time’, I was interested to see how the night built. I recall lots of slow groovy soulful/funky down-tempo tunes were played early and then as the night and the audience built up so did the tempo and style until the electro peak and back down again. Everyone was on it and well in tune with what was being played, Legends was busier than the pier and I preferred this venue and as it was more intimate, helped by the fact that it had a lower ceiling and the DJ console was on the same level as the crowd.
12. During the early 80's, following on from the Les Spaine / Terry Lennaine era, Liverpool lost direction as far as the black music scene was concerned, with only bar venues like Kirklands and Quinns really continuing the tradition. This was further complicated by the riots in Toxteth in '81, which gave an institutionally racist club scene in Liverpool the perfect opportunity to tar the black community as 'troublemakers' and refuse entry to anything other than a token amount of black people. What are your thoughts on this?
I come from a tough Irish Catholic working class background, my father was a factory worker and my mother a dinner lady and racism undertones were part of everyday life back then " no Irish, no Blacks, no Dogs". I did come across people who objected to me playing music that they didn't understand, it was very difficult to find DJ work, that’s why I started promoting my own gigs like the 'Royal Iris' or take over a quiet night in a 'wine bar' or 'club' and play the music that I loved. It was really difficult at that time because there wasn't the volume of people going out and being a DJ back then wasn't a glamorous profession, in fact, it was far from it, but I had an deep passion for music and it felt natural to me, it wasn’t even about the money (my first gig I got paid £15) Dee-Jaying was just something I had to do.
I worked in a succession of places over the years including Stairways, The Zoo, Pagoda Park, Secrets and The Coconut Grove. Musically things changed and dance music was going through a down-cycle, we’d had all this great original disco music from the 70's and early 80's that then fused into the Electro period of 82/83, where you would see kids with their 'Dance Lino’ spinning on their back, heads and hands learning to ‘break-dance’ but for me … the 84/85 years were musically lean, this was a transition period for me both personally and musically. There were some great tracks around like Aleem's 'Release Yourself' Hugh Masekela 'Don't Go Lose It Baby' 'You Don't Know' by Serious Intention and 'Din Daa Daa' by George Kranz, but I was finding it increasingly harder to find a ‘home’ for my music, all the bars/clubs on Merseyside continued with their Anti Dance Music policy and it was a lot harder to get a venue to specialize in any form of 'Black Music' The city’s soundtrack was mainly commercial chart music or Indie/Rock/Hi-Energy. So I accepted and offer at that time to DJ in London at 'Shafbury’s On The Avenue' even though what I played was well received; I couldn’t afford to travel to London every week for a residency. I was kinda 'stuck' and 'going through the motions', then one day, I got a phone call from John Cecchini.
John had Dee-Jayed in Corfu the previous year and asked me If I would be interested in working the 1985 summer season in club ‘Paradise in Benitiz, it didn't take long for me to make up my mind, I phoned Michael Demetrois who is Cypriot Greek to see if he was up for it, he was, so I left ‘Secrets’ and ‘The Coconut Grove’, packed my records into a couple of suitcases and set off. This period was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Paradise was one of about six clubs in Benitiz at that time, it was smaller than what I was used to but it was always busy, Micky would do from 10pm till 12am and I'd do from 12am till 3am or 4am, depending on the time of season and we’d do this seven nights a week. We’d just sunbathe in the day and DJ at night, it was fantastic, this opportunity came at the right time for me and it was just what I needed.
People from all over the UK came there and I could play anything I wanted, from James Brown to Maze. ‘Paradise’ had a reputation for playing the best music on the Island as all the others clubs were commercial. We always used to get groups of London 'Soul Boys' in there or Glaswegian 'Dancers' and I met some fantastic people, loads of my mates came out for their holidays there and each time they would bring with them the latest new imports and UK releases. Dee-Jaying 7 nights a week improved my programming skills and people got used to my DJ style. Between May & September of 1985, I finished off every night with Nina Simmone's 'My Baby Just Cares for Me' and this was my most asked about record that I played along with Donald Byrd’s ‘Falling Like Dominoes’, These tracks were unique to me & the Paradise Club (I put into practice something I learned from Mike Boylan back in the Sir James days – always finish with a tune that signifies the night is over) Two years later, it appeared on a TV commercial and was a hit single for her in 1987, I often wondered if my contribution, filtered down and somehow played a small part in this records success? Corfu became a haven for Merseyside Dee-Jays in the following years as DJC, Rob Jaye, and Steve Parry all worked summer season there!
On returning to England, I landed three Dee-Jing jobs in the first week I was back, Atmosphere, Promises & Bonkers; I'd had enough of a break from Merseyside to evaluate the state of the scene....there wasn't one...! A few people were doin their own ‘commercial chart dance’ thing but no-where had a 100% crowd, club or a night just playing ‘Dance Music’. At that time Liverpool was "Fun Pub" city, full of party music DJ’s. It was around this time I auditioned for the second series of a programme called 'Blind Date' hosted by Cilla Black on ITV, I was selected as a 'picker' and went on a mini cruise with my date to Cherbourg in France on the QE2. So when I was in London, I'd go to clubs like the Wag or Browns, but the most impressive was Nicky Holloway's ‘Do At The Zoo’ gigs.
I'd been playing up-tempo tracks like 'Got To Find A way' 'Set Fire to Me' 'Jump Back' 'Turn Me Loose' and 'Love Can't Turn Around' in Atmosphere on my weekend nights and slower grooves like 'Chief Inspector, Hanging On A String', and Tell Me (How It Feels) on the mid-week Wednesday’s, I was getting great reactions on the dancefloor to both styles, and I was in tune with the London ‘Rare Groove' & ‘Hip Hop’ soundtrack, so I thought of combining all these styles under on roof and calling it.....The Defhouse.
In 1986, I had a meeting with all my various DJ's mates who were into ‘Dance Music’ who were forced by club owners to play commercial music in there venues, I told them about my idea to start a club called "The Defhouse", at this meeting were Pez Tellet, Dave Ralph, John Cotton, and Simon Edwards etc … I told them that it was gonna be at Atmosphere Club in Birkenhead once a month on a Monday night and I wanted them all to play there, but, under one condition .... They could play any style of ‘Dance Music’ they liked from Soul – Funk – Electro – Rare Groove – Hip-Hop to Underground Disco but they also had to play some ‘House Music’ in their set … and collectively they all said "WHAT IS HOUSE MUSIC"? They all had this type of music in their record boxes; it just wasn’t an established ‘term’ back then, as it was all just ‘Dance Music’
I knew I had a nucleus of about 100 people that I could attract to The Defhouse thru the music I'd been playing at my gigs, and knew I had the support of my friends and fellow DJ's, but I still needed to make sure the content was right. I knew in my heart that if I got everyone under one roof, give them a soundtrack of various styles & era’s, but kept it "raw & funky" and then introduce them to the new Chicago type sound I was buying, they’d love it too.
I knew Kenni James from the Terry Lennaine ‘Keep On Truckin’ days, I used to meet up with him every couple of months at the Holiday Inn bar in Liverpool for a drink and a chat. So when I told him about my idea about The Defhouse he was 100% up for it. His show was broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside and even though he was on the radio playing ‘soul music’, even he couldn’t get a regular gig in Liverpool. These were the "dark days" of dance music on Merseyside, a tradition stretching back to the 70’s, the ‘funk, soul & dance scene’ had now been replaced by an 80’s Indie/Rock/soundtrack, there was a musical void, but … I had a vision.
John Cecchini was a good friend and had a great DJ reputation on the Wirral, but after winning the 1986 DJ of the year competition, he got kinda side tracked from his musical roots. I knew he was still passionate about his music and I knew instantly that I wanted him to be a resident at The Defhouse with me and Kenni. At that time I also had a 2 hour ‘radio show' on a local pirate station called "Radio Merseywaves" and all the DJ’s on there supported what I was trying to do.
The Defhouse was coming together … and now with John & Kenni on board I booked 2 London DJ’s for the opening night. Ralph Tee (Expansion Records) and Damon Roachfort (who went on to have a hit single in 1991 as Nomad with 'I Wanna Give You Devotion') and a PA from Sharon Dee Clark (who in 1989 recorded 'Going Back To My Roots' with the FPI project), So with the opening line-up complete, I knew in my heart if Merseyside’s ‘Dance Music’ tradition was to survive, this had to work … It was shit or bust … This was the biggest gamble of my life.
On Monday 27th? April 1987: The Defhouse was BORN!
No-one knew what to expect on the opening night, this is April 1987, Mel & Kim, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Pet Shop Boys, were the chart music of the day, but at ‘The Defhouse’ we played … Marshal Jefferson, JM Silk, Master C&J, Nitro Deluxe, Gwen Guthrie, Loose Ends etc … The music policy was Soul, Funk, Electro, Rare Groove and Hip-Hop, House, Disco Boogie, my philosophy for the night was, if you can’t find anything new that’s good … play a classic instead.
We had over 300 people on the opening night, the vibe in the room was electric, musically the night seemed more ‘soulful’ than ‘raw’ – this was probably due to the DJ line up, as Kenni and Ralph were both ‘Soul DJ’s’, however, as The Defhouse progressed, we got the balance right, I’d bridge the DJ sets and play whatever style I felt was missing in the room, so if lot’s of soul was being played, I’d go on and do a house set or if it was mainly house, I’d drop some classic disco or hip-hop.
The Defhouse reputation was spreading locally and we had now broken the old taboo that Liverpool people wont travel through the Mersey Tunnel for a night out, they did, they came because this was the only place playing ‘The Music’. We also had regular visitors from Southport & Chester … however, support from Record companies was proving more difficult, I was on all the major mailing lists and had good connections in London but I still had to get those A&R guys up here, so they could see what was happening, remember, London’s club soundtrack at that time was mainly ‘rare groove & hip-hop’ … London was at least a year behind Merseyside, Manchester and Notttingham for playing ‘House Music’
I decided the only way I could get more artist support at ‘The Defhouse’ was to film the night and send the video to the record companies so they could see what was happening with their own eyes. I’m was very passionate about what I was trying to do, so the letter I wrote to accompany the video probably came across as very acidic, even today, some people who don’t really know me, can mis-interpret my passion as aggressiveness, however, the video worked and The Defhouse saw PA’s from Soul ll Soul, Robert Ownes, 52nd Street, Hotline, T-CUT-F, Unique 3, Chapter & The Verse etc… as well as displays from World Mixing Champion "Chad Jackson", European Mixing Champion "DJ Trix" and dancing displays from Manchester’s "Foot Patrol", by August 1987 we had 500+ people regularly coming to ‘The Defhouse’.
It wasn’t long be for ‘European Leisure’ the owners of the ‘Atmosphere’ club in Birkenhead where The Defhouse was held, were making enquiries, they wanted to know how I could get so many people to come to a club on a Monday night, The Defhouse was their second busiest trading night after a Saturday. The area manager at that time was a guy called Dave Allen and he and other club managers would be pay regular visits to check out the night. A year after I started The Defhouse, I got called into a meeting and was told that my original agreement with Atmosphere had to change. I was told that they wanted the terms more in their favour now that the night was successful. I was so pissed off, I walked out of the meeting, they had 500 people in on a MONDAY NIGHT and now they were trying to screw me … FUCK THAT SHIT, the club wasn’t even open on a Monday until I approached them.
Three months later I opened my own club "THE BASSMENT"
I was born on the 14th November 1961 in Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, U.K.
2. What first got you into music / who were you into / what was the first record you bought?
When I was about 10 years old, I remember sneaking a small portable radio under the covers at bedtime, attached to it was a cream hearing aid type of earpiece so I could listen to late night radio stations like Radio Luxembourg. I can remember hearing songs like Mungo Jerry "In The Summertime" and the Mixtures "The Push-bike Song" I didn't particularly like any of these tracks but the melodies were catchy enough for me to remember... or it could have just been, that I wanted a bike or was looking forward to the summer holidays, whatever the reason, every time I turned on the radio, the same songs seemed to be getting played. I also remember hearing a lots of Motown records, especially The Supremes.
The first record I owned was a song by Candlewick Green called "Doggie" this was bought for me by my family as a compromise to stop me asking for a pet, however, the first record I ever bought with my own money was "Ben" by Michael Jackson. I remember going to the record shop in the Co-op building in Grange Road, Birkenhead with my 11th birthday money to get it, I remember taking it home and playing it over and over again. On reflection it probably wasn't the song that captivated me but the pure emotional depth of his voice.
The first record I bought for somebody else was "Doctor My Eyes" by the Jackson 5, it was for a girl at school called Juliet Billie, and this gesture also won me my first proper kiss. Incidentally, Juliet's younger sister Kiki went on to become the singer and face of the late 80's band Mirage. I didn't know it back then, but this was the beginning of my lifelong obsession with music.
My eldest brother John (who is a successful film director and producer) had quite a large selection of pop 7" singles and a mixed selection of albums, ranging from Elton John, Rod Stewart to Deep Purple & Led Zeppelin. Although, I was open minded enough to listen, like and accept his taste in music, I was searching for something else, something I could relate to, something of my own, something I could FEEL!
3. What got you into Soul music?
It wasn’t until I was about 14 that the penny finally dropped and I realised that I was a fan of "Black Music", by then I had worked out that all the music I was listening to and enjoyed the most, was rooted in "SOUL" The defining moment was upon hearing "Blue Magic’s album "The Magic Of The Blue". This was lent to me by a friend of my other brother, Charley (an independent businessman and also a big County & Western fan). This was my first lesson in what is commercial and what is underground, The Stylistics was commercial, and Blue Magic was underground. I remember when Barry Biggs had hits with ‘Sideshow’ and ‘Three Ring Circus’ I was telling people they were cover versions and that they should check out the originals by Blue Magic.
I played that ‘Magic Of The Blue’ album constantly for weeks, until I could afford to buy it for myself. This was no easy task, as finding 'Soul & Funk' records in Birkenhead at that time was almost impossible; however, there was one shop that I’d heard about, half way up Argyle Street, Birkenhead, opposite the old ABC cinema called Skeleton Records.
People may think record shops of today as intimidating places for first time record buyers, but just imagine how I felt as a fresh faced 14 year old "Soul Boy" walking down a long pitch black corridor with illuminate skeletons on the walls into a frightening bong and petunia oiled smelling room. Once I got inside, it was full of much older long haired Troggs, Hippies and Hells Angels. I didn't look or dress likes any of them and I was scared shitless, but I did this, all in the pursuit of finding some quality "Music" and to my relief. They had a 'Soul & Funk' selection. This is where I first bought records by artists like Blue Magic, Tavares, O Jays, Isley Brothers, Barry White, Labelle, Isaac Hayes, Brass Construction, Commodores, Earth, Wind & Fire, Ohio Players, War, Bohannon, Creative Source, etc…
4. Did you meet Jon Williams and John Cecchini at school?
Yeah, when Jon Williams first joined our school St Werburgh’s, the teacher sat him next to me, we must have been about 10 years old then and we've been friends ever since. I met John Cecchini when we went to our secondary school St Hugh's. I knew him in school but only got friendly with him when we found our common denominator; he was a big Earth, Wind & Fire fan.
We were all enjoying and discovering music at about the same time, so the three of us were a bit of an oasis at our school cos most people back then were into rock or blatant pop music. One of the funniest stories I remember at that time was about Jon Williams. It was trendy back then for people to write the name of the artist or band they were most into on their canvas school bags. 99% of the people at that time had Yes, Uriah Heap, Queen, Free or Mott The Hoople on theirs, and they were mostly written in black felt tip pen... Jon Williams came in one day with Gene Page painted on his in bright orange, yellow and green day-glow paint, everyone was like "Who the fuck is Gene Page" (a string arranger for Barry White & The Love Unlimited Orchestra) I think he got his head kicked in for that : )
I also took some stick at that time from people at school, cos I couldn't afford a proper canvas bag. I used to carry all my books in a plastic ASDA bag. How ironic, that year’s later; ASDA would be selling my records. : )
There’s nothing like a bit of friendly rivalry as an incentive to locate and track down those exclusive must have records, and in the past, I have been known to walk increasingly faster as I was approaching record shops in order to get to the counter first to get that latest piece of hot vinyl. Most of my after school and weekend activities were spent listening too or in the search of records, either at record shops; record fair’s or second hand bargain bins!
5 What were the first clubs you went to?
When I started going to youth clubs, the two most influential were Friday nights at the Birkenhead Catholic Youth Centre AKA (The Joey’s) and Saturday nights at St. Saviours. The Joey's youth club was on every night of the week for snooker, table tennis, football etc…. and then on Friday nights it was the Disco. The DJ’s at that time were older youth leaders and fortunately for me they were into "Black Music" I remember one of them, a guy called Siddy, he was a big Temptations fan and I used to have many conversations with him about music.. I was mainly into The Sound Of Philadelphia at that time and I only liked a few tracks by the Temptations, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" was my favourite which I had on 7" vinyl, we were lucky that amongst all the pop stuff at the Friday night disco, we would get to hear tracks by The Temptations, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Fatback and the Average White Band etc.. It was here that I also got my first taste of proper Dee-Jing to an audience.
I always used to make tapes at home on a cassette deck, using the pause button as an edit tool to chop tracks together without any gaps. These tapes would then be played during the week at the youth club nights, however, I didn’t realize at the time, that I was also learning myself how to programme the room by selecting tracks like "Fame" & "Golden Years" by David Bowie for the older crowd, alongside all the new soulful "Philly" "Disco" and "Funky" stuff that my mates and I were into.
These tapes were well received and once my confidence grew, I approached the youth leaders about starting a mid week radio station instead of me doing tapes at home. I used the weekend mobile DJ console, hooked it up to the in-house speaker system and Dee-Jayed from a room at the back of the club, and in that one bold move, ‘Radio Joey’s’ was born. The first record I played that night was "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" by Tavares, and I finished off with "Harvest For The World" by the Isley Brothers. So with this new found experience it wasn’t long before I was occasionally filling in the Friday night slots at the main disco when the regular youth club DJ was off or went on holiday. At first they would get professional mobile DJ’s in to do the Friday’s, but it was soon apparent that they weren't as musically educated as some of the audience, so quite often the dance floor would empty when a blatant pop selection was played and the floor remained that way until something more funky or danceable came on.. So it didn't take much persuasion to let me get behind the decks on a Friday night.
I used to start and finish the night with the same 12" single, a live promo version of the Bee-Gees "You Should Be Dancing" on one side and "Jive Talking" on the other, both Jon Williams and John Cecchini also occasionally Dee-jayed Friday nights at the Joey's and eventually John Cecchini became the resident DJ there. He then went on to become the UK "DJ of the Year" and he also managed my Bassheads career from 91-95 with John Saunderson from DMC. It was them who recommended that I should sign Bassheads to De-Construction Records in 1991. Jon Williams went on to become a successful A&R manager and has worked for record labels like 4th & Broadway, Malaco, Phonogram, Jive, Nu Life, Simply Vinyl, and Slip n’ Slide etc …
St Saviours on a Saturday night was the bridge between youth clubs and nightclubs, the main DJ was John Hazlehurst, a DJ who always played the right music at the right time, "Aint No Half Steppin" "Brickhouse" "Shack Up" "Which Way Is Up" "Galaxy" "Do What You Want To Do" were all massive tunes there and he was a big influence on my Dee-Jing and a really top bloke.
I also used to listen every Monday night to Terry Lennaine's BBC Radio Merseyside 'Keep On Truckin' Radio Show. He was the main man in Liverpool at that time and his shows, along with James Hamilton’s Record Mirror column were essential to finding out about all the forthcoming and latest 'Soul & Funk' releases. I would tune into his show religiously on a Monday night and make lists of the tracks I wanted to buy the following weekend. I would also become a regular at his 'Get Together’s' at the Hamilton Club in Birkenhead; I also used to go to his gigs at Westwood Grange, The Zoo and Ma Bakers. Terry Lennaine was probably the biggest DJ influence on my career at that time, he gave me something to aspire to … a club full of people who loved the same music as I did, in fact on 'The Defhouse EP Volume One' I used his Terry Lennaine Soul Climber jingle influenced tune, 'Do It Any Way You Wanna' by Peoples Choice as the inspiration for my 'What Is Love' track.
I was also a big live music fan at that time and I saw some amazing concerts from artists like Heatwave, Tavares, Earth, Wind & Fire, Crown Heights Affair, T-Connection, Isaac Hayes, Average White Band, Rose Royce, Hi Tension etc..
6. What's the story behind the Commodores Bridge?
I was a massive fan of the Commodores, I was first aware of them through their instrumental track 'Machine Gun' from a Motown compilation album but it was when ‘Easy’ came out that got me hooked, it had ‘Machine Gun’ & ‘I feel Sanctified’ on the b side, I realised then that they weren’t just an instrumental band, 'Brickhouse' came next with 'Sweet Love' on the flip and that was it, I went out and bought the 'Zoom' album and started finding out more about them and started to track down their entire single and album back catalogue. When 'Commodores Live' came out, I knew I'd have to go and see them in concert. I was still at school at this time and I managed to get tickets for their 1978 Manchester Free Trade Hall gig. I'd seen other artists live but this gig gave me the most amazing, exciting feelings I'd ever had, it was such an influence on me, I just remember seeing Lionel Richie on stage and thinking he looks like a giant up there. They were amazing live and that concert left such a big impression on me. I didn't realize it at the time, but years later, this gig, would become the inspiration for 'Bassheads'.
The Commodores Bridge in Prenton was painted by Me, Jon Williams & Robbie Devlin on 21st July 1979. Jon and I did the painting and Robbie kept look out. We got arrested, charged and fined £120 each. It stayed up there for 3 years and was only painted over because the Queen had to pass by it on the way to her official opening of Arrowe Park Hospital in 1982. Even today everybody on the Wirral still knows it as 'The Commodores Bridge'.
When the Commodores announced their 1980 'Midnight Magic' UK tour dates in London's Wembley Arena & Stafford’s Bingley Hall, I was first in the cue for tickets, in fact, I got front row centre stage Sunday night tickets for the Wembley Arena gig. My intention was to travel to London and try to meet them, so I photo-copied the press cuttings from the Birkenhead News & Liverpool Echo about the bridge and took some photo's of our artwork down with me to London. I set off on the Saturday morning the day before the concert and just hung round the outside of the venue, I saw roadies bringing the equipment into the venue and thought I might get a chance to see them if I stay here a bit longer, about 20 minutes later, a stretch limo pulled up outside the back of the Arena, I saw Ronald La Pread, Milian Williams & William King getting out, so I called them over to the fence where I was standing and started telling them the story about the bridge and showing them the photo's. They started laughing and told me they had already heard about this through Les Spaine who was working for Motown Records at that time, they then invited me into the sound check. I was given two free tickets for that Saturday night performance and they also told me that when I came to the Sunday night gig, I could go back stage after the show to meet the rest of the band!
The Saturday night free tickets were about 100 yards from the stage and the concert looked incredible from there, but on the Sunday, I had front row centre seats and it was amazing, just being that close to the stage was fantastic and all throughout the concert the Commodores kept acknowledging me, giving me the occasional nod and smile, they could see how much I was enjoying it. After the concert was over, I was told by their security to wait by the side of the stage. Then their manager Benny Ashburn came over and introduced himself to me, he then took me backstage to meet the Commodores. It was unreal, these guys where my biggest heroes at that time. I spent about 15 minutes chatting and having my photo taken with them and Walter 'Clyde' Orange even gave me the drumsticks he'd used for that nights performance. I told them I had tickets for the Bingley Hall gig the following Wednesday and they told me to get there early that day and I could hang out with them before the concert and they would also sort out Backstage Passes for the VIP area. It was amazing and I was so elated and then, to top it all, as I was leaving Benny Ashburn took me to one side and gave me $200 towards my fine for painting "The Commodores Bridge".
The next time I met the Commodores was backstage six years later at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on their 'Nightshift' tour; they still remembered me as the guy who painted the Commodores Bridge, but unfortunately by then, Lionel Richie had left, I remember feeling disappointed and saddened with his decision to leave the group and even more frustrated by this concert. The magic of the group dynamic had gone, Lionel as a writer, producer, singer and a front man was impossible to replace. He went on to have a successful solo career and the guys never recorded anything of that original, quality, Commodores vibe, ever again. The Commodores were a funk band and did some amazing tracks; it’s a pity they are remembered only for their commercial releases.
I met Lionel Richie again in May 07 backstage at one of his concerts, I told him I would love to work with him and the Commodores, if they ever got back together? I live in hope!
7. Can you remember when you met me / did you ever come to the Golden Guinea?
I first met you through Jon Williams’s brother Adrian, it was at the Horse & Jockey pub in Upton, Adrian was promoting a mid-week night at Leighton Court and he wanted you to DJ there. I went to that gig, it wasn't that packed or we left early cos it was in the middle of no-where and we didn’t have a car. I don’t remember that much more about it, other than this was the first time I'd been to Leighton Court. I did however, go to Golden Guinea all-dayer, this was a big event for the Wirral, this was well attended and I went back there a few times on the weekend on the strength of that gig and the quality of music being played. My lasting all-dayer moment was hearing the A Taste Of Honey & GQ versions of "Boogie Oggie Oggie" being mixed together, and I thought these guys are just like me, and are doing what I've been practicing at home, I've got to get myself a DJ gig.
8. At what point did you start dee-jaying in the clubs yourself?
Around that time, I was going to clubs like The Hamilton on Friday nights and Sir James on Saturday's & occasionally to Ruperts, which was an over 21's members club in central Birkenhead. I was still buying records regularly but no closer to becoming a professional DJ (i.e. getting paid for it) I had a good social life and a real great set of mates and most of the time we were out at these local clubs or checking out other places like The Chelsea Reach, Leighton Court, Westwood Grange or clubs in Southport or Chester.
Sir James, a large cabaret club behind Hamilton Square Train Station in downtown Birkenhead was probably the one I visited most. It held about 800 people and was always full; it was also a good meeting place for everyone. The main room was open seven nights a week and then on Fridays & Saturdays they would open another part of the building which was the disco. Years later, this became the home of my underground house club 'The Bassment' I used to get to Sir James early on Saturday's usually around 9.30pm, and then I'd wait for the disco room to open. The DJ there at that time was a guy called Pete Tullis, I vaguely recognized his face from other places like Leighton Court, but I didn't really know him that well.
At that time, I could never understand why he would play all his best records at the beginning of the evening when hardly anyone was there and then play all the shite records when it was full? The only reason I'd get down there so early was to listen to tracks like 'Holdin On' by Tony Rallo, Haven't You Heard' by Patrice Rushen and Mystic Merlyn's 'Just Can't Give You Up' on a loud & powerful sound system. When he eventually left or got sacked they went through a phase of replacement DJs until they decided on a local sound & lighting engineer and DJ, called Mike Boylan. I got to know Mike on a personal level and he was another big influence on my early Dee-Jaying career, watching him work taught me a lot about programming, he was also one of the nicest and 'generous of spirit' blokes I ever met.
At this time, I was expanding my network of friends and checking out other places and I hadn't been to Sir James for a while, so this particular night I was really looking forward to it, only to be disappointed when I got there and realized that Mike the resident DJ was on holiday and his replacement was crap. The music he was playing was shocking, he was more of a mobile DJ than a Club DJ, so I spent most of that evening in the cabaret and lounge rooms instead of the disco. At 2am as I was leaving, I was walking out, when the receptionist asked me if I'd had a good night and I told her, "the night was shit and the DJ in the disco was even worse", she then asked me if I was a DJ and of course I said YES, she said "wait here a minute" suddenly one of the managers appeared, his name was Michael Demetrois, we had a brief chat, and he told me to come back tomorrow evening with my records at 8pm for an audition.
I spent all that Sunday afternoon, going through my records picking out what tunes to bring, I was so excited, I'd been waiting for an opportunity like this for such a long time. I'd only ever auditioned once before and that was for acting. I was 15 at the time and was lucky enough to land a lead roll in a four part BBC Children's Television series called 'Rocky O' Rourke' My character was called Billy, a member of a teenage gang called 'The Cats' It was filmed on location throughout Liverpool during the long hot summer of 1976 The series was adapted from a book called 'A Pair Of Jesus Boots' by Syliva Sherry and was originally broadcast nationally on the BBC in 1977 and then repeated again in 1978. So with this as my only reference, I didn't really know what to expect at a DJ audition.
When I arrived at the club, there was no sign of any management, only the bar staff setting up for that evening. A few minutes later the receptionist from the night before came over and told me I could play some records while I was waiting for Michael to arrive. An hour and half later and after a selection of 'Dyin' To Be Dancin' 'Try It Out' & 'Body Music' type tunes, he appeared and told me I had the job and that I could start on Tuesday, I was shocked, as I didn't realise that me playing some of my favourite tunes was the actual audition, I was just killing time waiting for him to come and interview me. We became good friends and years later when we were Dee-Jing together for a summer season in Corfu at a club called 'Paradise' in Benititz (1985) he told me, the only reason he gave me the Sir James gig was because he had been listening to me Dee-Jing for over an hour that evening, without recognising any of the tracks I'd been playing and thought both he and the club were missing out on something, so they better employ me. I started Dee-Jaying there in April 1981 and worked there for about 2 years and eventually took over the Saturday night's from Mike Boylan in the downstairs disco room.
I left Sir James after being offered four night’s a week working in a brand new Whitbread concept venue called 'The Zoo' in Borough Road, Birkenhead. It had an amazing light show but they were refused an extended club licence because of the location. It was difficult decision leaving Sir James as I'd become friendly with all the Demetrois family, so that conversation with the owner Jimmy was tough, I told him I'd had an offer from Steve Ellison the manager of ‘The Zoo’ to do 4 nights work for him but I didn't want to leave Sir James and asked him if we could we find a compromise where I'd do the Zoo until 10.30pm then his place from 11pm, but he wasn't flexible and wanted me exclusively to work for him and no-one else, his parting words were, "If you think you can find a better job than working here, then I wont stand in your way – DJ’s are "two a penny" It was tough decision for me to make, as this was my first residency, but I had "inner belief" and ultimately it was the right decision.
9. When Terry Lennaine stopped doing 'Keep On Truckin'', were you surprised? And did you continue to listen to the show with its new presenter, Kenny James. Why do you feel that Kenny failed to make the impact Terry had?
When Terry left 'Keep On Truckin', Kenni was in a difficult position taking over such an influential show and I guess he had a musical direction that he wanted to take the show in and this was different from mine, he played more traditional "radio soul records" rather than embracing the "club boogie and electro tunes" that I was into. I was now buying my records in London, Manchester and Liverpool and tuning into Mike Shaft on Piccadilly Radio, who still played quality ‘soul music’ but he also incorporated the contemporary productions of the day and I liked the fact that he had guests in the studio like You, Colin Curtis, Kev Edwards, his show gave a better reflection of the scene and back then, Kenni’s show times were always changing, so you never knew exactly when it was on, and how long it was gonna be on for, even though Kenni built up his own loyal radio followers, tuning in for me on a Monday night wasn't as essential as it used to be, when I had "Mike Shaft, doin’ it on a Sunday afternoon"
At that time in Liverpool and the surrounding area's there were very view places playing 'Dance Music’, most of the bars and club owners had a negative attitude towards 'Black Music' and I think Kenni's choices on radio reflected the fact there was a dwindling 'Club Scene' on Merseyside, Quinns closed and that was by far the best place in Liverpool along with Kirklands. Even though Kenni’s track selections were soulful and of high quality, over time they became more "listen too rather than dance too" tracks. As for Terry, I guess he had been Dee-Jaying for a long time and at that point he probably felt he needed a change, and as the record goes … "you can’t fake the feeling" … it was an end of an era … but I was young, full of energy and focused on what I wanted to do.
Years later I invited Terry down to The Defhouse, it was great to see him again and even though he had moved on in his career, I still recognised that without his influence, I wouldn't be doing what I was doing, the foundations he laid made it possible for me … I guess we're all just 'stepping stones' for the next generation, I realised back then, how important it is to remember, respect and acknowledge your peers and what contribution they made towards the scene, cos at the end of the day, we’re all part of the same ‘Family Tree’.
10. You came to my Tuesday night at Wigan Pier quite a few times. John Cecchini once told me that his first visit there was one of his all-time clubbing moments - I think that this was following a night you'd done on the Royal Iris, when you brought a coach load of people along afterwards. Do you remember this night (or others) at The Pier?
I started organizing yearly river boat cruises (1981 to 1983) on The MV Royal Iris with Jon Williams and John Cecchini, we would hire it, decor it out, bring in a sound system and sail up and down the River Mersey for 3 hours with 200+ friends and like minded music lovers from Birkenhead, New Brighton and Liverpool. At that time we also used to organise coach trips to other venues around the country, like the 'Epping Forest Country Club' in Essex. This is where I first met the 'Mighty Chopper' himself, James Hamilton. His record reviews in the Record Mirror were essential to finding the newest and best US and UK releases. I met him a few more times over the years at the 'Prestatyn All-Dayers' and the DMC Music Industry Conventions and I was immensely proud when I personally gave him my first release 'The Defhouse EP Volume 1' and his subsequent reviews of this and my other releases in his Record Mirror column, confirmed to me that I was moving in the right direction.
The Wigan Pier trip after the 'Royal Iris River Cruise' was such a buzz, it was my first experience of 'something like an ‘all nighter', travelling to Wigan on a coach after already dancing on a boat from 8pm was completely unheard of back then, so there was a massive buzz of anticipation as no-one knew what to expect. When we arrived at The Pier, the first thing that hit you was the clarity of sound and the big open mouthed frog DJ booth and lads (break) dancing together without girls!! The DJ console was the main focus of your attention and combined with the sound and lights, made tracks like ‘Magic’s Wand’ & 'Buffalo Gals' sound amazing, this was defiantly a club ahead of its time. My most memorable movement that evening was seeing close up the 3 deck DJ booth. I think they were the Technics SL1400's with the digital vari speed. I also remember you playing tracks like the ‘League Unlimited’ from the dub album.
11. You never came to Legend in Manchester, did you?
I only went to Legend's once, around 1983 cos I was Dee-Jaying four times a week back then. I got there early and having only experienced the Wigan Pier at ‘peak time’, I was interested to see how the night built. I recall lots of slow groovy soulful/funky down-tempo tunes were played early and then as the night and the audience built up so did the tempo and style until the electro peak and back down again. Everyone was on it and well in tune with what was being played, Legends was busier than the pier and I preferred this venue and as it was more intimate, helped by the fact that it had a lower ceiling and the DJ console was on the same level as the crowd.
12. During the early 80's, following on from the Les Spaine / Terry Lennaine era, Liverpool lost direction as far as the black music scene was concerned, with only bar venues like Kirklands and Quinns really continuing the tradition. This was further complicated by the riots in Toxteth in '81, which gave an institutionally racist club scene in Liverpool the perfect opportunity to tar the black community as 'troublemakers' and refuse entry to anything other than a token amount of black people. What are your thoughts on this?
I come from a tough Irish Catholic working class background, my father was a factory worker and my mother a dinner lady and racism undertones were part of everyday life back then " no Irish, no Blacks, no Dogs". I did come across people who objected to me playing music that they didn't understand, it was very difficult to find DJ work, that’s why I started promoting my own gigs like the 'Royal Iris' or take over a quiet night in a 'wine bar' or 'club' and play the music that I loved. It was really difficult at that time because there wasn't the volume of people going out and being a DJ back then wasn't a glamorous profession, in fact, it was far from it, but I had an deep passion for music and it felt natural to me, it wasn’t even about the money (my first gig I got paid £15) Dee-Jaying was just something I had to do.
I worked in a succession of places over the years including Stairways, The Zoo, Pagoda Park, Secrets and The Coconut Grove. Musically things changed and dance music was going through a down-cycle, we’d had all this great original disco music from the 70's and early 80's that then fused into the Electro period of 82/83, where you would see kids with their 'Dance Lino’ spinning on their back, heads and hands learning to ‘break-dance’ but for me … the 84/85 years were musically lean, this was a transition period for me both personally and musically. There were some great tracks around like Aleem's 'Release Yourself' Hugh Masekela 'Don't Go Lose It Baby' 'You Don't Know' by Serious Intention and 'Din Daa Daa' by George Kranz, but I was finding it increasingly harder to find a ‘home’ for my music, all the bars/clubs on Merseyside continued with their Anti Dance Music policy and it was a lot harder to get a venue to specialize in any form of 'Black Music' The city’s soundtrack was mainly commercial chart music or Indie/Rock/Hi-Energy. So I accepted and offer at that time to DJ in London at 'Shafbury’s On The Avenue' even though what I played was well received; I couldn’t afford to travel to London every week for a residency. I was kinda 'stuck' and 'going through the motions', then one day, I got a phone call from John Cecchini.
John had Dee-Jayed in Corfu the previous year and asked me If I would be interested in working the 1985 summer season in club ‘Paradise in Benitiz, it didn't take long for me to make up my mind, I phoned Michael Demetrois who is Cypriot Greek to see if he was up for it, he was, so I left ‘Secrets’ and ‘The Coconut Grove’, packed my records into a couple of suitcases and set off. This period was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. Paradise was one of about six clubs in Benitiz at that time, it was smaller than what I was used to but it was always busy, Micky would do from 10pm till 12am and I'd do from 12am till 3am or 4am, depending on the time of season and we’d do this seven nights a week. We’d just sunbathe in the day and DJ at night, it was fantastic, this opportunity came at the right time for me and it was just what I needed.
People from all over the UK came there and I could play anything I wanted, from James Brown to Maze. ‘Paradise’ had a reputation for playing the best music on the Island as all the others clubs were commercial. We always used to get groups of London 'Soul Boys' in there or Glaswegian 'Dancers' and I met some fantastic people, loads of my mates came out for their holidays there and each time they would bring with them the latest new imports and UK releases. Dee-Jaying 7 nights a week improved my programming skills and people got used to my DJ style. Between May & September of 1985, I finished off every night with Nina Simmone's 'My Baby Just Cares for Me' and this was my most asked about record that I played along with Donald Byrd’s ‘Falling Like Dominoes’, These tracks were unique to me & the Paradise Club (I put into practice something I learned from Mike Boylan back in the Sir James days – always finish with a tune that signifies the night is over) Two years later, it appeared on a TV commercial and was a hit single for her in 1987, I often wondered if my contribution, filtered down and somehow played a small part in this records success? Corfu became a haven for Merseyside Dee-Jays in the following years as DJC, Rob Jaye, and Steve Parry all worked summer season there!
On returning to England, I landed three Dee-Jing jobs in the first week I was back, Atmosphere, Promises & Bonkers; I'd had enough of a break from Merseyside to evaluate the state of the scene....there wasn't one...! A few people were doin their own ‘commercial chart dance’ thing but no-where had a 100% crowd, club or a night just playing ‘Dance Music’. At that time Liverpool was "Fun Pub" city, full of party music DJ’s. It was around this time I auditioned for the second series of a programme called 'Blind Date' hosted by Cilla Black on ITV, I was selected as a 'picker' and went on a mini cruise with my date to Cherbourg in France on the QE2. So when I was in London, I'd go to clubs like the Wag or Browns, but the most impressive was Nicky Holloway's ‘Do At The Zoo’ gigs.
I'd been playing up-tempo tracks like 'Got To Find A way' 'Set Fire to Me' 'Jump Back' 'Turn Me Loose' and 'Love Can't Turn Around' in Atmosphere on my weekend nights and slower grooves like 'Chief Inspector, Hanging On A String', and Tell Me (How It Feels) on the mid-week Wednesday’s, I was getting great reactions on the dancefloor to both styles, and I was in tune with the London ‘Rare Groove' & ‘Hip Hop’ soundtrack, so I thought of combining all these styles under on roof and calling it.....The Defhouse.
In 1986, I had a meeting with all my various DJ's mates who were into ‘Dance Music’ who were forced by club owners to play commercial music in there venues, I told them about my idea to start a club called "The Defhouse", at this meeting were Pez Tellet, Dave Ralph, John Cotton, and Simon Edwards etc … I told them that it was gonna be at Atmosphere Club in Birkenhead once a month on a Monday night and I wanted them all to play there, but, under one condition .... They could play any style of ‘Dance Music’ they liked from Soul – Funk – Electro – Rare Groove – Hip-Hop to Underground Disco but they also had to play some ‘House Music’ in their set … and collectively they all said "WHAT IS HOUSE MUSIC"? They all had this type of music in their record boxes; it just wasn’t an established ‘term’ back then, as it was all just ‘Dance Music’
I knew I had a nucleus of about 100 people that I could attract to The Defhouse thru the music I'd been playing at my gigs, and knew I had the support of my friends and fellow DJ's, but I still needed to make sure the content was right. I knew in my heart that if I got everyone under one roof, give them a soundtrack of various styles & era’s, but kept it "raw & funky" and then introduce them to the new Chicago type sound I was buying, they’d love it too.
I knew Kenni James from the Terry Lennaine ‘Keep On Truckin’ days, I used to meet up with him every couple of months at the Holiday Inn bar in Liverpool for a drink and a chat. So when I told him about my idea about The Defhouse he was 100% up for it. His show was broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside and even though he was on the radio playing ‘soul music’, even he couldn’t get a regular gig in Liverpool. These were the "dark days" of dance music on Merseyside, a tradition stretching back to the 70’s, the ‘funk, soul & dance scene’ had now been replaced by an 80’s Indie/Rock/soundtrack, there was a musical void, but … I had a vision.
John Cecchini was a good friend and had a great DJ reputation on the Wirral, but after winning the 1986 DJ of the year competition, he got kinda side tracked from his musical roots. I knew he was still passionate about his music and I knew instantly that I wanted him to be a resident at The Defhouse with me and Kenni. At that time I also had a 2 hour ‘radio show' on a local pirate station called "Radio Merseywaves" and all the DJ’s on there supported what I was trying to do.
The Defhouse was coming together … and now with John & Kenni on board I booked 2 London DJ’s for the opening night. Ralph Tee (Expansion Records) and Damon Roachfort (who went on to have a hit single in 1991 as Nomad with 'I Wanna Give You Devotion') and a PA from Sharon Dee Clark (who in 1989 recorded 'Going Back To My Roots' with the FPI project), So with the opening line-up complete, I knew in my heart if Merseyside’s ‘Dance Music’ tradition was to survive, this had to work … It was shit or bust … This was the biggest gamble of my life.
On Monday 27th? April 1987: The Defhouse was BORN!
No-one knew what to expect on the opening night, this is April 1987, Mel & Kim, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Pet Shop Boys, were the chart music of the day, but at ‘The Defhouse’ we played … Marshal Jefferson, JM Silk, Master C&J, Nitro Deluxe, Gwen Guthrie, Loose Ends etc … The music policy was Soul, Funk, Electro, Rare Groove and Hip-Hop, House, Disco Boogie, my philosophy for the night was, if you can’t find anything new that’s good … play a classic instead.
We had over 300 people on the opening night, the vibe in the room was electric, musically the night seemed more ‘soulful’ than ‘raw’ – this was probably due to the DJ line up, as Kenni and Ralph were both ‘Soul DJ’s’, however, as The Defhouse progressed, we got the balance right, I’d bridge the DJ sets and play whatever style I felt was missing in the room, so if lot’s of soul was being played, I’d go on and do a house set or if it was mainly house, I’d drop some classic disco or hip-hop.
The Defhouse reputation was spreading locally and we had now broken the old taboo that Liverpool people wont travel through the Mersey Tunnel for a night out, they did, they came because this was the only place playing ‘The Music’. We also had regular visitors from Southport & Chester … however, support from Record companies was proving more difficult, I was on all the major mailing lists and had good connections in London but I still had to get those A&R guys up here, so they could see what was happening, remember, London’s club soundtrack at that time was mainly ‘rare groove & hip-hop’ … London was at least a year behind Merseyside, Manchester and Notttingham for playing ‘House Music’
I decided the only way I could get more artist support at ‘The Defhouse’ was to film the night and send the video to the record companies so they could see what was happening with their own eyes. I’m was very passionate about what I was trying to do, so the letter I wrote to accompany the video probably came across as very acidic, even today, some people who don’t really know me, can mis-interpret my passion as aggressiveness, however, the video worked and The Defhouse saw PA’s from Soul ll Soul, Robert Ownes, 52nd Street, Hotline, T-CUT-F, Unique 3, Chapter & The Verse etc… as well as displays from World Mixing Champion "Chad Jackson", European Mixing Champion "DJ Trix" and dancing displays from Manchester’s "Foot Patrol", by August 1987 we had 500+ people regularly coming to ‘The Defhouse’.
It wasn’t long be for ‘European Leisure’ the owners of the ‘Atmosphere’ club in Birkenhead where The Defhouse was held, were making enquiries, they wanted to know how I could get so many people to come to a club on a Monday night, The Defhouse was their second busiest trading night after a Saturday. The area manager at that time was a guy called Dave Allen and he and other club managers would be pay regular visits to check out the night. A year after I started The Defhouse, I got called into a meeting and was told that my original agreement with Atmosphere had to change. I was told that they wanted the terms more in their favour now that the night was successful. I was so pissed off, I walked out of the meeting, they had 500 people in on a MONDAY NIGHT and now they were trying to screw me … FUCK THAT SHIT, the club wasn’t even open on a Monday until I approached them.
Three months later I opened my own club "THE BASSMENT"
