Which were your favorite clubs to go for fun?
Trade, Gatecrasher, Sundissential and Rise & Trash at the Leadmill, Sheffield.
To tell the truth nothing has really compared to Trade. The intensity of the place, the masculinity and the energy of the Trade sound and the people made it the best dance floor I’ve ever experienced or played to.
In some ways Trade felt like the last party on earth. They way it would keep on going at full speed right into the afternoon and how everyone, including the DJ’s, gave it their all. I think people overlook this and have forgotten about the challenges that the early Trade babies went through to give us the hedonistic playground that we all enjoy. I guess this might be the reason why gay club land is so disposable these days as no one has had to work to earn it and no one really cares.
One theory I have is that the AIDS scenario in the late 80’s and early 90’s pressurized and distorted the gay scene’s creative output, which I feel had a part to play in how we got to the harder, powerful, darker sounds that hear in Trade. The whole atmosphere of the disease was dark and the boundaries that the public raised in fear of it created a shadow. The freedom that people felt when being able to mix together without worry in a club without prejudice was rare. Limits were being pushed as people wanted to go out with the biggest bang possible. They simply didn’t care about tomorrow, which was reflected in the music.
Everyone had a cumulative input in having the fiercest, hardest, fastest, most intense party on earth. If there was ever a time for living for the moment it was Trade and Trade will always stand for this in my eyes.
The people who go out on the gay scene now as they are getting severely short-changed in comparison. Have you been to Vauxhall recently? The corporations have severely taken over. The music is soulless and it sounds like a musical version of painting by numbers – zero tracks stand out.
The décor is cheap, the sound systems sound worse than ever and the vibe is so flat and mundane. Overall it’s all become a one-dimensional money making venture. Something needs to change.
Worst club ever played at?
I was on a tour in Japan with DJ Ziad (who also used to be a Trade resident) and went to an after hours club in Fukuoka after playing at Club OD as we were still up for a party after playing together for 6hrs.
We got in and we were the only Western people in there and the atmosphere was awful, the dance floor was empty and people were sitting around the sides of the room just watching this guy play terrible music!
It was 8am and almost everyone was in a separate room where the music wasn’t playing. After another 30 mins of very bad music on what sounded like a very high pitched ear bleeding system, Ziad and I took the initiative and took over the decks. The DJ before was off his nut and had the treble on full throughout the whole of his set! We quickly rectified this did a back to back set for a couple of hours and got people dancing! I guess this is what you could call a resurrection set!
How did you become a DJ? How did the Trade residency come about?
My first love of music came from my Dad’s records. He was resident DJ at the Playboy Club in London in the 70’s and I used to listen to his soul and disco albums from an early age. He had a very good collection!
Back in the 90’s you couldn’t get the records that you heard in clubs on any other format than vinyl, apart from on CD compilations (which only had a selection of what I wanted) so when I was 14 I saved up my pocket money, washed cars and then bought decks and purchased the vinyl.
After messing around for a couple of years I started making tapes for my friends, which went down very well. One of the got me a gig at Sundissential and several clubs up north. then I was a flyer boy for Trade in Ibiza when I was 18 and I gave a tape to the glorious Laurence Malice who gave me my first gig for Trade in Ireland. I tore the roof off the place and Laurence offered me the residency straight after.
Favorite tunes?
Here’s a few in no particular order…
Aphrohead – In The Dark We Live (All versions)
Fruit Loop – Show Me Love
Ramirez – Hablando
Outlander – Vamp
99 Allstars – Chemical Generation
T-Total – Dangerous
East Anglia - 'Unmanageable' (Sharp Remix)
Barabas & OD1 – Deeper
Vainqueur – Lyot
JX - You Belong To Me
Armando - 100% of dissin’ you
Depeche Mode - Behind The Wheel (Shep Pettibone Mix)
Liberty City – Some Lovin’
Dave Randall - South
NRG – Never Lost His Hardcore (Original & Baby Doc Mix)
Bizarre Inc. – I’m Gonna Get You (Tee’s Rave Mix)
Ralphi Rosario - 'You Used To Hold Me'
Todd Terry Project* - Put Your Hands Together
Elevatorman - Funk & Drive (Grinstetcher Dub)
DJ Randy - Deception
Moby – Go
Altern 8 - Activ-8
S.A.S. - Amber Groove
Mission Control - Outta Limits
Petra & Co - 'Just Let Go'
Jambo - Drumattack
808 State - 'Cubik'
Sourmash – Pilgrimage To Paradise
Mike Ink – Move Your Body
Age Of Love – Age Of Love (Jame & Spoon and TDV)
Human Resource – Dominator (Joey Beltram Mix)
D’Jamin – Give You
Kitty Lips - Keep Rockin'
Logan Circle 'Disco Life (Check Dis Out)' (Sharp Mix)
Vincent De Moor - Flowtation
Committee - Welcome (I said shut up)
Hellfire Club – Bitch
Trauma - 'Higher'
Tony De Vit - 'I Don't Care'
Must – Understood
Untidy DJ's - 'Funky Groove'
Playboy - 'In Da Jungle'
Moonchild - V.O.A.T
Mark NRG - House Music (In My Brain)
Aztec Mystic - 'Knights Of The Jaguar' (Jeff Mills Remix)
The Disciples – Underrave
DJ Hell – My Definition Of House Music
Triple J – Deep House (Original & Paul King Mix)
CZR – Groove To This
Silvio Ecomo – Uprising
Tribalism - Reach
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