On Friday I flew into Birmingham for the Masters of the Airwaves book launch in the second city.
As mentioned before I was honoured to have been asked by one of Birmingham’s most influential figures in the music scene from the early 80’s, Mr Anthony Quailey aka Frenchie.
The event brought a lot of guys out that I haven’t seen for some time and one or two of the ever-faithful Vocal Booth Family. I was actually very disappointed at the lack of effort many, many people had made by not attending considering how important Birmingham was in shaping the face of the 80’s soul scene in the UK and beyond.
The pre-party discussion was a lively debate and pretty informative although I look forward to recording a one-on-one chat with Frenchie at some point who will help me fill in some gaps in the early days for myself.
You can check out some of the photos and read all about the project here.
The venue was more of a conference centre than a place to have a party but the wonderful sound provided by Gillman Audio meant that a great time was had by those that attended. I felt I needed to cater to a lot of the crew who I knew had come to hear some of the early sounds they loved hearing on my Choice/Galaxy shows, this meant I couldn’t share a lot of the great new music out there but the footwork crew were definitely enjoying some of the sounds, alongside great music provided by Dave Hulme, Bruce Q and Gary Ward.
The rest of the weekend saw me in the studio with Timmy Vegas as we worked on a deeper number for Soul Central which should be mixed down and ready soon enough, watch this space. I won’t say anything about the track, you can make your own mind up on it. I also enjoyed some fun with his lovely family, taking in some great food and watching a few brilliant movies. If you want to see some classic photos of me going tits up off a kiddies scooter in the park, check out the Instagram photos to the right.
I fly home later today and look forward to an empty diary now for a few weeks, as I prepare more news regarding the Vocal Booth Weekender to be announced on Thursday’s show.