DJ Glenn Miller - First Interview. Part 1.

Well here it is the first interview. Its been a funny business organising interviews for the blog. I have been contacting many dance scene related people. In doing so have come into contact with some really nice and helpful people. DJ Glenn Miller being one of the nicest.

Because Glenn gave such good answers and anecdotes (in fact loads of juicy stuff has been left out!). I am splitting his interview into three parts. The interview will be interspersed with pictures and links to mixes and videos.

I really hope you enjoy this new aspect to the blog.

Do not forget that all interviews will also be placed in full on the separate interviews page on the right as well as on the main page.

Enjoy.

DJ GLENN MILLER. INTERVIEW JANUARY 2011 PART 1.

Which Clubs did you play at in the 90s?

I played at many clubs in the 90's . I was lucky enough to have a few residencies. The first was Freaky at the George Robey in Finsbury Park it was a real hole but my £40 p/w wages paid for my tunes. Then there was Yum Yum in Bath, the promoter then went to Loco's in Bristol and called the night Infamous. At 4 am the club turned into Heresy which went on to 10am the night ran for years and was a great success. During this time the Trade and DTPM residencies came about. Just after came a short stint at Hard Muscle at the Fridge in Brixton. My last residency was Ripsnorter also in Bristol another great night.

How did the Trade residency come about?

My Trade residency came about in a surprising way. I had played Trade's test lounge a couple of times and was the only guest to be asked to play twice. It was Christmas day evening 1995 and Trade was on. I walked in to be met by Laurence Malice (Trade promoter) he asked if I had my records with me , I said no why?, so he told me if I go home and get them then the last set is mine. It was Christmas for me in many ways more than one, so I shot home picked up my box and returned in an excited and nervous state.

Once Steve Thomas had had enough he told me to get ready and off I went on. There was tape deck on top of the mixer so I popped in a tape to record the set. All was going very well when all of a sudden there was silence. What he had happened was a can of drink that I had put on the tape deck had moved because of the vibration of the bass and fallen on top of the deck that was playing, what a horrific thing to happen to me with a packed dance floor going for it, oops. I had to start the next record from the very beginning and it was just beats for a while, I nearly died. Then Laurence came rushing in to see what went wrong I thought that was gonna be the end of my short DJ life at trade, instead he said to me Glenn I did not know you could mix so well and do I want to play the last set in the leisure lounge on new years day , and that was how my trade residency started...

Who were your favourite DJs?

my fave DJ'S were obviously Tony de Vit, Dave Randell, Steve Thomas , Queen Maxine, there were many but these are the one's that i played with week in week out and knew what they were capable of.

Which DJs inspired you?

The DJs that inspired me were Daz sound and Trevor Rockcliffe, when I first went to Trade I knew nothing of mixing or DJing, it was Trevor who in the middle of his set showed me how to que up a record and scratch a beat, from then on that was what I had to learn to do, and I did.

What were your favourite clubs to play at?

I really loved playing at Trade and even though it was weekly I could never tire of the place. The sound at Turnmills was massive and very loud. DTPM was also fantastic I was asked to play there when it first moved to the END and it had only just opened. Both rooms had great sound systems and I was lucky enough to play the last slot, usually playing a more cheesey style of music. Plus I was sometimes put on in the other room, in which I could play much harder.

I also represented Trade in Brazil a couple of times which as you can imagine was fantastic. I went back another 6 times and ended up living there for a while because I was offered a residency in a brand new club that was being built , how could I turn that down.

My top 11 records are in no particular order.

Zero B , Lock Up

Marmion , Shoneberg

Number 3 , Rabbit City Records

Bush Babys, Belicious

The Shaker , Just Lick It

Baby Doc , Lover Man

Sourmash , Pilgrimage to Paradise

X-cabs , Neuro

Richard F , Cookie dough dynamo

XVX ,Illuminate

Praga khan , Injected with a poison