BBC Introducing Spring tour 2008 the story so far: We began on MARCH 1ST at SE One Club, in some cave-like tunnels underneath London Bridge. All very Lord Of the Rings meets Glastonbury indoors and underground, with troll like people brewing up chai and the overwhelming perfume of cardoman. Bewildering. Had I stepped in fact into an alternative universe in the middle of the night in the middle of London? Maybe I had been teleported to a backlot of a digital studio in Burbank or Culver City USA? (they probably, on reflection, don’t have back lots at digital studios, that’s the whole point…). Or was this the set of yet another Dr Who episode?. Whatever the dream like fantasy experience it really was, it all worked out very well. Far Too Loud were on first, excellent, they are going places. Then the fab Ils, and later I took to the CDJs and hopefully got the people jumping around as well.. I was waiting to meet Blatta and Inesha from Sicily , which I finally did only as I was leaving, and tried too quickly to get out of the back of the van taking me home. I caught my foot under the driver’s seat in my scramble to get out and twisted my foot, which made me hobble for the next thee weeks. Stupid, stupid.
The re visited Plug n Play at Reading waa next, which was rip roaring that night, the stage vibrating and wobbling in its scaffolding cradle every time anyone grabbed hold of any of the side poles. Slyde were my BBC Introducing guests and Ed Bigland and I gave them a ride back to London after the show, Slyde they told me all about getting permission from Ian Dury’s estate to do their new version of Sex Drugs and Rock n Roll. A full circle indeed. I’ve kept that tune in my set as well and journos seem to like the story that having been instrumental in getting Ian Dury known in the beginning, here we are , bringing him back to the public via the brand new Slyde... I don’t tell Slyde at the time that Ian actually once said to me in that deep sexy croak:” let’s elope!.” Anyway at Reading once more was Bloco Electro and with their live lap top ‘n’ percussion outfit which I would love to see doing festivals this year..
I was aware that we had to drive back to London that night then drive back the next day almost on the same route to go to Spektrum in Birmingham, a gig that was to be recorded by Radio 1,.I’d had a run of not the best gigs in Birmingham , it had become an unlucky place, for me, so I needed to break the bad spell. It was also Easter Sunday,… and it was snowing --- who would want to come out? Well lots of people fortunately, a really rocking crowd, it was a great relief to break the Brum bad vibe..And EVIL Nine did it, they broke the spell and brought back the happiness.! They were headlining and the Introducing element was the equally well named HEXadecimal.. , so I did my usual thing when meeting a new dj of asking him to tell me his worst travelling story. Hex’s was in Eastern Europe, travelling hundreds of miles to a festival and then another and never getting paid. I thought he had a good heart, and a lot of soul!
Then back to Brighton, its always a strange feeling --- where my post acid house dj ing started. I used to be a punter at The Escape club, now called Audio, and its been really spruced up back stage in favour of the djs, except so dark you couldn’t see your headphones in front of your face! I was so glad by the time I got there, for the famed breaks night called Supercharged, that I ‘d spent as much time as possible practising, and continue to do so, on the Pioneer 800 mixer because this was a techie paradise. Adsorb who was on before me knew every trick in the book, every tune in the universe and every button to push. He’s Krafty Kuts’ flat mate apparently so that said it all A hard one to follow, I really couldn’t tell whether the crowd liked what I did or not, they were all so ON IT in a way not seen anywhere else. Jackie a friend from Brighton raving days turned up which was great, it was mid week and she’s a young mum and a teacher now, so good of her to be there and party!. Our mutual friend Tim, well we big upped him, and marvelled at the way his life has gone, from being a rave boy to working on The X Factor! Hiding things under flower pots, that’s what I remembered about those days. Then special guests Splitloop arrived at Audio.,, waving leads and laptops in every direction and playing some really mean breaks, en route to Miami.
One first trip to Snowbombiing later…..and we’re back on the BBC Introducing tour trail, this time to Cardiff. To famed breaks night Sumo. It was fantastic.Vandal and Robosapiens rocked it, all the girl breaks fans jumped on the stage,. looking like Aimee Duffy and dressed like Kate Moss. …. Breaks isn’t all blokey!!! One of the best nights of the tour.
Then its wheel and come again to London, finally to meet JMekka, my Introducing guest at The White House in Clapham. Here its all stilettos and sequins,(er, that’s not JMekka, he’s in a red t-shirt) and big up and thanks to Spin Out Records for hosting the night. JMekka is a dj, a producer, runs his own label, and internet radio station. He comes from Tenerife, now based in London, and with that amount of activity I’m not surprised we’ve never met before.. He’s hardly going to be hanging around street corners and divey bars, doing nothing, with all those escapades on the go. And as it goes, of course a dj booth is not built for subtle conversation, its made for djing and sign language. So I mime as best as I can:’ I am so pleased to meet you at last…have a very good one!’ I still don’t know what the J in JMekka stands for!
And now….GLASGOW. The famed Sub Club. I have never played breaks there, I have never heard breaks there…how will it go? The Glaswegians I respect a lot, they are known to be tough to impress. Once, playing to a bemused crowd at Stirling University I was told, “;Be glad its not Strathclyde Uni, if they don’t like you there, they throw chairs at you!” However, it was sweet ness and light, and they threw kisses. In fact this was the nearest I’d been to being mobbed. Just outside the club, the hardcore partiers were all gathered with cameras and hugs. Well, it could have been that it was at that moment everyone had run out of the club at the same time to smoke! .Note to any djs reading this: since the new no smoking laws have been in force in the UK, you will find that mid way through your set the floor mysteriously may clear. You think: Oh no, what have I done? They’ve all gone home, disaster! “ In fact, everyone has gone out for a cigarette at the same time --- they will return!
So Glasgow was a very happy experience. Someone actually said:’ Will ye no come back again?’ Yes please, like a shot!
Now on to Edinburgh, Sugar Beat at Cabaret Voltaire, with Utah Saints, Drummatic Twins, and the King of Breaks Krafty Kuts. Quelle line up. And quelle lot of people. You know that déjà vu when you walk into a building and think: ‘I’ve been here before. ‘ Well, I think I really had been,, and under the most different circumstances possible. Back in the day, before I’d written my last book Wicked Speed, I was supposed to be writing a biography of Mike Oldfield. He had written the Tubular Bells album music when he was starving, it then sold millions, which set up the whole Virgin empire. By the early Nineties he had decided he wanted to re-record it, and did, and the album was launched with a live concert at Edinburgh Castle. Because of the book connection with Mike, I was invited. There was a very swish after show party, in a place not far from the castle, felt like it was cut straight out of the rock,. all interlocked caverns, and twisting corridors, tastefully candle-lit at every turn…and now it’s the home to Cabaret Voltaire. Another sense of full circle! Well the night couldn’t be more different to a corporate record launch --- Cabaret Voltaire rocked to the rafters, you couldn’t have squeezed another body into the building, it was hot, so hot the organisers were handing bottles of water out from the stage --- like it was Bennicassim Festival in Spain in the middle of summer. Sweat and condensation dripped from the ceiling… one of those nights. Amazing. The whole place a total buzz, special thanks to Sarah, and Wee Rach who charged like a dynamo to get me through the crowds to the dj area. Hopefully you can just hear what a night it was, on the Radio1 broadcast!
Third night in a row, was yet again organised by Utah Saints, deservedly enjoying being successful all over again, at their regular night in Leeds. This involved my second favourite train journey in the UK, the first being where the train goes right along by the sea at Dawlish and Teignmouth in Devon, but that cross -the -border route from Scotland to England, through Berwick, Newcastle and tracing the coast line all the way – it’s a close second. Leeds? I love it. Never never not had a great time there. Here was another chance to meet in person an Introducing artiste, this time 601 whose tune ‘Hit That Switch’ has become such a fantastically top tune. What a great set they played as well, And the up-for-it crowd gave me a great welcome, and even more and deserved to King Krafty.
And that was where this tour it was supposed to finish --- but we have one more treat in store… a Bank Holiday Special in Nottingham on May 3rd, also to be broadcast on Radio 1 --- with an a line up including Breakfastaz, rising star Alex Metric and playing material from his much anticipated new album, Adam Freeland. And that’s another full circle….just a decade almost to the day when Adam played live on my Radio 1 show at the What’s Up bar, in the Republique district of Paris, just as France hosted the first game in of the World Cup in May 1998. Adam and I vowed that night, after the show, that we would always keep trying to change the world. For the better, of course. Check.
