I struggle to recall if I shared this before.  I don’t think I have.  My internet went down earlier, while I waited for it to right itself I recorded some old tapes. I will share them over the coming weeks.
We go back to New Year’s Eve 1994.  It could be ’93. The more I think about it, the more I think it is 93 ! The scene is a  disused warehouse in Birmingham, just up the road from Bond’s nightclub.
 We all left Miss Moneypenny’s around 3am and stood freezing our tits off as we waited for the doors to open.  That’s all I really can say for sure about this night, oh and one other thing that I’ll come to shortly.
The night was ‘Cabello‘ put on by a local ‘well known’ character and was one of a series of parties that had some massive nights.  It’s safe to say that around this time, most nights that we went out we would have all been ‘in a happy place’ with a few little fellas.  It was the height of the feather boa, leather trousers and waistcoat movement.  I never wore either !
This night was a typical NYE.  Twatted by midnight, coming down slowly for the after party, ready to kick it all off again as soon as the doors opened.  In 1995 I was interviewed by Mixmag and asked about my worst experience as a DJ.  “Playing out one night, I was handed what I thought was a spliff.  Moments later I realised it was a crack spliff and I proceeded to collapse on the stairs.”   That’s the only other thing I remember about this night !
As I share these words I’m listening to the mix.  It starts off as you would expect with some big tunes. Obviously it’s all vinyl and there is the obligatory attempts at scratching.  Right in the middle, as the tape turns, the direction totally changes and I am pretty surprised at where I take it in the space of a few tunes.  The crowd must have been loving it as the tunes play for ages.. I can always tell how well my sets went down by how long I let songs play for.  I then go into a drum and bass tune played at the wrong tempo.  I am intrigued as to where it goes from here and whether or not it becomes apparent I’m wrecked.  The tape is slightly warped in places.. it’s not me  messing about with the pitch control !
**After listening to the rest of the tape I’ve come to the conclusion that I began where the last DJ left off and started to bring it back around to my own vibe, it’s a lot slower and deeper.  Of course, that’s the romantic review of the tape.  The reality is more like I came up HARD and got all spaced out !  You can clearly hear where I come out of the rabbit hole, right on cue with ‘Energy Flash’ (which coincidentally I played 2 weeks ago in Birmingham).  You can clearly hear me stop the record dead as the tape ends.  I have no idea if that’s where I run off to die or I play a new tune.  We’ll never know**
If you were clubbing in the early 90’s then I’d hope you’ll like this mix.  If you weren’t around then, take a listen to my early days on the decks.  This has put a massive smile on my face for today.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:12 — 125.3MB)

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