In this episode, DJ Malochemey introduces guest Guy Neillin, also known as BZG or Bass Generator, who shares his journey into DJing. Guy's passion for music began at birth, as his parents ran pubs where he would lie near the DJ box as a baby. Growing up, he was drawn to new tunes on jukeboxes and started collecting records, with his mother buying him disco albums. He immersed himself in BMX and breakdancing culture, sharing music between groups and buying vinyl from local stores. At 16, he frequented nightclubs, often standing beside the DJ box to identify tracks. A DJ named Gary Manius gave him his first opportunities, letting him play short sets. The arrival of acid house in the mid-1980s was transformative, shifting his focus from electro and hip-hop to hard acid and techno. Early club nights were sparse, with only a few dedicated attendees, but interest grew over time. Guy also recalls taking Gary to underground clubs in Sheffield, which expanded their musical horizons and led to new sounds spreading in Newcastle. The conversation highlights the importance of mentorship and shared passion in the early dance music scene.
[Music] DJ Malochemey. You're listening to Malochemey's Excel Podcast. Hi and welcome back to another episode of the Excel Podcast. Before we crack on with this guest, I've got to tell you a bit of a couple of gigs coming up. I hope to see you all on New Year's Eve for 1994 Love Me Right. Tickets are available from Skiddle and Ticket Scotland at only £20. To see rhythmics, date, active force, ultrasonic, Jodie can travel Riley, David Forbes, Malcolm X, Live Singers, a paper at midnight all for £20 right in the city centre of Glasgow. So joining us for that, we've also got a Christmas family fund in our 1994 club tour up in Lock Hill Head. So get involved and I'll see you there. Now, onto the podcast. [Music] Finally, after I was going to see months, but probably years are planning. I've managed to track down and tie up. Well, no tie up. A man called. That's a little bit of a man called Guy Neillin, BZG, bass generator. How are you guys and where are you? Good morning, Mal. I'm in my bed. [Laughter] I'm really out of it. You've escaped from reality. How are you guys in the world, are you? Well, we're still in Newcastle. Hello, Ian. I'd say a sunny Newcastle, but it's absolutely right now inside the doing. Oh, it's the same here. It's terrible. So you got a day off today then, is this the start of the off? I'm having a nice, lazy day and then I'm going to go meet my mom, just take us out from the Italians, so I'm going to get nice and fat later on. Oh, but I'll wait a minute. Well, see with the premise to this podcast, what we spoke about before is basically just talking through your journey as a DJ. You know from getting into it as a kid to where we are right now on a dinosaur pillow in Newcastle. We're not going to remember of it. Exactly. I hope it'll be a bit of a cut like Ray Patchis, but we'll get there. So as a young guy, can you remember what we are fussard, our interests, or when music fussard, our two, grab you? [Laughter] We're all the way back to the very beginning, basically. Ah, exactly. When I was born, my mom and dad used to run pubs and we used to have the place, you know, where it's actually near where we are now. And it had a function room on the back where they used to do Northern soul nights on a weekend. And basically, my mom would have us up stairs in a cot or whatever and I was still a baby. And then on a night time when it was put busy in the pub, she'd be downstairs with her in the pub, what she'd bring us downstairs and we'd be basket or whatever. And she'd stick us in the function room bit next to the bar, which was where the DJ box and stuff was. And she'd just lie there happily all night until she was finished work. And it would just be listening to the tunes. The DJ was on every night kind of thing, just putting soul. And I'd just be lying there happily using it, happily doing that. [Laughter] So from the day I was born, basically. That's proud of it, so even though you're on there, I'd really aware of music from the back of your life. Right, because then from then on, I always grew up with it because each pub move was on. It would always have a function room and there was always like a DJ thing going on. I was a jukebox, something playing and it would always be anything fancy on the jukebox. I'd be like, "Oh, like this." So even though I'd go back when I was sort of six, seven-year-olds, when I'd start to remember, people ask me these questions, but when did it first start? And I'd start to remember tunes that were back on the jukebox back in the sort of mid-70s that I was like, "Ah, I just used to love that back then, I used to love that back then." So it went on and on and on from then. That's amazing. See, as a young guy as well, did you ever get access to, remember when you changed the jukeboxes over, did you ever get to keep the records or anything like that? Well, there wasn't any bothered. I think it used to take me away, but I think the main interest was, is when I would be there in the pub when they'd come and fill the jukebox up with the new tunes. And I was always wanting to hear the new stuff. Yeah, yeah. And then I'd say to the bout, "Oh, what are you putting in, what are you putting in?" And they're like, "Oh, don't take me that one, I can't." Or was more key on the new stuff, you know? That's amazing, isn't it? I mean, anybody else who's kind of like is probably recorded stuff off their A-D-L-L-S-O-M-L-A, where you're actually in an environment where there's new music coming and going in a DJ or a jukebox kind of thing. I mean, it's the one thing that went on from then, because obviously when I got to like sort of 19, when I got the job, where it in the tracks records in Newcastle, it was that thing again, where I was getting the new tunes every day, there'd be a box of new tunes coming in. And that was the main thing for me, the excitement of getting a box of new tunes and being the first to listen to stuff. It's like, you know, I can't wait to see what's coming in the day right here. Yeah. I mean, before we get to your days in the records shop, was there a certain age when you started collecting records for yourself or started taking our preference to a different, as specific genre and like. One of them things again, it was back, I mean, it was the mid-70s. It was about 77, 78. My mom started buying his disco albums. She goes like macro or whatever, the big local, like a trade warehouse, cash and carry kind of place and like it's just upstairs. And you start like a record department. And like she's like going and she's like, oh, I'll get a miss album, you know, it'll be like a disco compilation of something and she'll bring it home to you. I've got this for you, you know, I'd slap it on, I'd be like, wow, that's amazing. It was about the tunes, but just fantastic. All the soul tunes and things that they put on these disco albums. But did you have like a set of decks of the jissos and stuff in the pub? Just started, I had a turntable sort of thing, but it's built in speakers. And I was just a crappy new thing, but good not me bedroom, you know. And when I was hard to turntable and me bedroom, that was another thing I remember back. Even like, I think, you know, when I was about 12 or 13, I worked for one Christmas, she was like, oh, what you want? I was like, I want a new turntable kind of thing, you know, because I had a pretty good collection of albums, you know. That's probably it, isn't it? Because it's no like you're just using like your parents or something like that and getting to spend with a slap. If you broke it and you had your own and your room at an L age. Oh, Tristis, that did. We had a big red-old collection when he was sort of younger. Obviously, he was in his sixties or whatever. And we're all 78s. And it was quite fragile, you know. And I've bust a few of them when I was like, I'd be like, oh, I just slapped this one. I've listened to you dropping on the deck and it would crack and open. He's going to kill it as you thought it was a thing that's probably worth about a thousand pounds now. I know, man. I know. So like, are you building up a collection and then you're thinking about doing your own? Nights or something. Where's the progression going on here? DJ, how's that coming about? DJ, I mean, it was again. It was listening to the new music sort of thing. So when I was old enough to start going out in nightclubs when I was sort of 16 sort of age. I was like, I want to go out in nightclubs every night. And there was a set of sort of nights around Newcastle where you could go out every night in the weekend. It'd be like an early house sort of night dance night on the go on this and the new stuff. Obviously, they played a lot of the same tunes every night. And it was all a lot of commercial stuff, but the DJs would drop in some sort of underground stuff now and again. And it was you'd go out for a whole night out. And if you heard two or three tunes that were good in five hours, that was you happy kind of thing. Yeah. How you just that was when I was like 16, but I'm standing in the DJ box. Sorry, not in the DJ box at the side of the DJ box constantly trying to see what they're playing to get the name so I go to record shop in the morning and buy. If it was any good kind of. Yeah, I was just there thinking I could be doing this because you know, it's like you know, they're like nice pitch. Yeah, I could do better than. So it was one of those things I was in the club and I was there regularly. We'll go into this one place. It was like sort of three or four nights a week. And then obviously got what started talking to the DJ. It was one of those things. He's like, I need to go to the toilet or I'm going for beer stick a tune on for us. And I'll be like, what's yeah. Yeah. You know, it progressed to when I was getting like a half hour or he disappeared for an hour. Sometimes I'd be doing, I'd be like doing an hour. But I'll be. It's never went from there. You know, but see was it straight in dance music or like a lot of people are looking at DJs that you probably know that I've spoke to. And we're all of a kind of similar age. The record shop or your group of friends was kind of like our internet back then. You know, our information, you know, and get to know what tune is and before maybe like a dance music kicked off. Maybe like skateboard and break dancing all that kind of stuff and even the music that went with it was you have not running about a group of friends that shared interest, you know, and the culture. Can I think it wasn't. I mean, the music as I was, but we were all went through the different things like the BMX and the electro sort of break dancing music was bigger. The time you had a bunch of people who weren't at BMX and you had another bunch of people who weren't at break dancing. But I used to hang out with both sort of crews and I'd be out with me later BMX is made all be into the electro stuff that I'd be getting off the break dance lots. And I'd be playing the tapes to them and they'd be like, well, this is amazing what's this. So I converted a lot of people who were at the time in the, you know, rock and pop and all that into the electro and like hip hop early hip hop stuff. So that was the main grabber for me. I went from listening to sort of mixed bunch of soul jazz funk sort of students into while this electro hip hop stuff is amazing. And it sort of like just going until house music came in and sort of 86, 87. All the old electro albums were just incredible, weren't they? You know, like I just used to think they came for their moon. You know, like I couldn't believe the sound on them. Electro 5 was like the one of the best albums that we've ever used to play. I think they're deathy. You made an album for them. Was you making tapes back then? I just favoured it records and sharing them with mates and stuff on the boogie boxes or whatever. Did you know tell me, Joel? I love this stuff on vinyl because as soon as I got it in like a new tape.
I'd pick out the best cup of tracks off that tape and I'd be up to the local record store and I'd be saying I need a copy of this record Can you get it? And they were like yeah, where they heard this sort of thing is there got on this tape from such and such and they're like oh I could I and they'd go out the way it order in for anything you know But I will tell me you will in a BMX competition or something you was really well in The BMX and the market mix. I mean, we used to race around the country We used to go up and down doing the nationals and sort of 84 the five times and then I got into the free style in a bit more than the race And so I got a free style teams like local freestyle team doing displays and things That's amazing man What was quite a high standard or What you told me Good enough to get paid to do displays when we've sort of fought in 15 year old, you know, we used to get money in That's amazing man. So it was all right. What can a BMX did you have or what once can you remember? I mean, I had a skyweight a One point but I got it the race and I got a JHP pro So it's right It was it was well built up. That was it was worth a fair few quit like about it She asked all look at pictures of BMXs and it makes me go wicked the knees No, I just I don't know for just unlocked or the memories like your childhood and all that I'm just been looking at some stuff recently. There's a red line of just released An exact copy of the RL-22 freestyle from back in 85 86 time and The southern for some like three thousand dollars. I mean, don't it It's it's just looking at it. I mean, you see these guys who buy these bikes and put them on the wall in the living room I For three grand man even even look guys your size on a BMX now you just feel like I'm fucking giant Oh my so I mean, I think I don't know about you, but I think like see that that feeling of The breakdancing the BMX and it's just that collective of running about with people who are into the same kind of things Like you were saying you were jumping between the two and sharing the music, but I think that really can I helped When when dance music sort of culture on the rave scene kicked off it was still that feeling now This is your thing in it's your group of pals and stuff like that Are you seeing sorry? Are you seeing in the clubs? The change from like commercial pop to slowly getting into dance music or did that happen when you were more DJing I would I'd used to notice or to see how we used to talk about going on these nightclubs in Newcastle We used to go every Monday Tuesday Wednesdays Thursday Friday night I guarantee we'd be able to go to somewhere There was some nights that me and my group of friends which was about you know Anywhere between five and twelve people maybe it would only be us in the club And we'd be going there I'd be there for the music, but my mates were all into the dance scene Like the sort of jazz dancing sort of things so they'd go and just dance all night and I'd just go there and listen to the music All night none would buy any drinks Clubs made any money and we used to go in some nights and just go you know that could be a thousand people in here And there's like ten of them and it's just our group But after a while it started you know like more people would start filtering in as the sort of got into the house music sound It was mainly these the specialist nights They weren't very well promoted and I think a lot of people just used to come through the door Just thinking are they going to come and have a drink and go what's this music they're playing in here And they would just leave kind of thing but we'd be there all night But it gradually over you know like a couple of years it started getting busier and busier And people got sort of more exposed to the music and they would go to these nights But like you see at the start it was as if it was our thing Yeah is there any particular tracks you remember at that kind of period that you're just like what fucking hell that's amazing Um at the periods I mean the main thing that changed for me obviously was acid house I mean I was in the club and heard future acid tracks and it just blew my mind Yeah that was just like straight on the phone record shop I need to copy this record and it was another future track Future Jax was another one I heard and I didn't realize it was on the base side of it And so I got this one vinyl through with a two massive tracks Oh my god Just getting the shakes been on the deck and all that It changed me because listening to that from what you were used to at the time It was just mind blown But you got to have the sort of Chicago house sound albums But that you know when the acid really the real hard acid stuff came in that change me It's all I wanted to listen to I just switched off from everything else I didn't listen to break dance hip hop stuff anymore It was just acid house acid house Well I want to hear it's a little detrived techno It came in around the same sort of time just wanted to listen to that you know It was a club next popping up specializing in that All the rest of that I can't imagine I wouldn't say there was specializing in it They said that they would play it But like you say you would be there all night And if the Gigi dropped two or three good tracks you'd be happy kind of But the Gigi didn't like playing stuff like that in the mainstream nights Because it just killed the dance floor straight away You know you'd stick this on the goal You know there's 500 people in the end There's 300 of the dance floor up with that on I'm going to clear the dance floor Yeah it's not my job because back then your DJ Yameen job was keep the dance floor full no matter what you know Yeah so we were never keen on playing anything too hard 200 ground Did you start doing your own wee nightstand or anything like that That was the main thing I was obviously saying it was the same thing when I started getting guest spots in the club It was one of the time I was only 17 And the manager found out that I was still 17 Me bothers from the club What we bothers for about four months until I take it He birthday and he's there 18 come back You said would seriously me job would be on the lane if the phone out you were waiting in you You weren't even 18 Was it a DJ that you knew just from pasting on about what records are that's gave you a shot I just wrote a life out of them But you know what I was saying was keen about it because I went in and I was keen as well And we talked about the tracks as well I wasn't just there doing his nothing Actually because I showed an interest you know You have probably switching him on to some tracks that he probably never even heard of as well On our cassette never we we took him to some club nights at we used to go down With him in the Sheffield the city hall down there which was run by Winston Hazel and Forge Masters And they played a different kind of hardhouse down there you know Them early days acid nearly early detracts sort of stuff They obviously they were the Forge Masters and all the LFO sound came in and they Oh wow One thing to think and we took him down to there and like you say we opened his mind big time He was like wow you know and he started going to the record shops and buying the stuff that he'd heard down there And then he'd start dropping it in the club open new castle So it started spreading you know what was his name? Gary Gary Manius Is it something to keep touch with yours? I know where he is now I've actually funny enough I bet he's brother and Law I think I booked in just mad to a couple of year back I don't know how it was just talking to this guy And he just I can't remember how the conversation went But it turned out it was he was he's brother and law and I was like oh my god small really That's amazing I mean it's great because guys like that Giving a kid time I mean it's I don't even know if that happens as much now you know I mean where it's Everybody seems to be like focused on their own thing and all that kind of stuff You know and if somebody's pissed and you're just like I mean later on or whatever you know It's difficult I mean you must have been through it I've been through it Well through the years is made agent and you get guys coming up in the club and they just do you know And you just like Jesus Christ give us a break and I mean but somebody would come through Who would be that keen and on the same level you couldn't help but You see it I'll tell you exactly the same story it was technotrans Alex Me and like best of buds now But at the time it was borderline it came up to me and he started doing that And that was who was starting you know started chatting and it's uh hooked up for life for this relation I mean uh but oh looking well we could get get to that what you look focused on On you so let us guys garrie's gave you a break You're getting like 10 minutes 20 minutes sometimes and I will you're getting kicked out because you're 17 Nine you're back at your 18 Are you just solely playing what you want or are you still trying to keep everybody happy? I would take a bag of records in with his stuff that I'd like to play But I was really playing his out of his body. Yeah, yeah And while I was in there I used to go through his record I'd probably know his record collection better needed Because I'd be zooming through them all the time so I'd know exactly what I would play If I had to take over from him, but I'd always think I'll sneak this one in and he'd always be like saying I don't do it don't risk it Who's a cup of tangy was right? I said I'm gonna try this little dance and I sweat the god within five Good within We're in a minute and it going on the dance floor was empty and you're like oh Rewind But I it's a way how to learn the trade you know what I mean? Yeah watching it watching a good DJ keep the dance floor going all night long It was something I know but appreciate it and respect what they could do you know The particular this is where I got my DJ and style from He was a guy called little Jeff and he did the Friday nights in this club and walkers and new castle And I'd go in and I didn't really know him But I just wanted to go to the club because I love the club and I wanted one in one night to see what he was like He's basically like a wedding DJ playing all like just Well like uptempo dancing stuff that you'd hear in a wedding disco kind of thing But the way he did it was he used to drop every track in at the chorus the bit that you'd know He didn't mess around with the intro or the rest of it He just dropped it in and it would be like attune every 30 seconds and he would have the default He did this for I think we'll listen for six hours one night and he did that constantly for the six hours And he had the dance floor full on light just 30 seconds of a track 20 seconds of a track Just every bit just the chorus the anthem the bit that you sing along to Yeah, just thought wow That's that's DJing that's how I'm gonna DJ Yeah, just keeping up there 100% Don't mess about the mix and then funny and I'll just drop it in how Where the bits of the note and just watch the crowd go Woo! And well that's how I'm working
That was getting a mastile. Where the when we're in work for a lot of people, a lot of people give us grief for it, but you know, what it is, the majority liked it. So when I said, I don't think it's so bad now, but I remember back then it was kind of like the pressure was on and it was usually the five other DJs in the corner, bitching about your set, rather than, you know, you're rocking a full house and you just feel on your back, the five people in the back just laugh, or that mix or whatever. You know, it's more of a dance floor, right? It's totally all about the dance floor, but unfortunately, some of these DJs don't realize it, and they're all about the mixing and it's all you didn't do that very well. I would have done that better. It's like, it's not, it's all about the dance floor. That's what I learned from my early days. Yes, you've got to keep the dance floor going. Doesn't matter about the mixing. And what he's there listening to the mixing, the many persons listening to the mixing is the other DJs who they were and then you and they should be on. Nobody on that dance floor is giving a shit about the mixing. Ah, they're just what I hear the tunes and dance. And the other tunes, which is what I used to do, didn't use the Ki to go in and get drunk and have a right good laugh, party on with the rest of the crowd and just clear the tunes, don't care about how technically perfectly or you know what I mean. What do you mean, you used to? We were doing it like this from and you were part of the whole of the dance. I just dare to prove a point something. It was now. So I mean, are you quickly starting to think about doing your own nights? How what's the next move from just like helping out? Gary and getting a spot here or the house? It was it was the same thing was like we weren't getting the music we wanted. So there's mainly, mainly group mates with singing. We're gonna have to do our whole night where I'll be the resident DJ and therefore we get to play up the music that we want. And hopefully we'll have enough people interested in a filler club. And we did a few, we're new castles, just we're the wee clubs, little 200 capacity sort of things. And you know, the first one we've got like 30, 40 people to the next one we've got 50, 60 and the next one we've got 80, 90 sort of things. So gradually built it up and built it up. Did you have a name for these nights? Just now we used to just do random, just different names all the time kind of thing. When we did, we did a couple of things which were like on a saturday afternoon, where we did sort of an electron break dancing stuff as well. We played a little bit of house to kind of get the break as into the house music. Yeah. It did because when the rave scene sort of kicked off in the early years, a lot of the old break dance crew were into that kind of up tempo housey sort of beat sort of thing in the guy in the music from there. And we also sat in next progression. Are you feeling at that time? I'm a fucking DJ or is it still all new in the seat? I mean, I didn't have a DJ name or anything. It was just, you know, you just outcore, pre to get into a club and play some tunes that you liked on a nice, loud sound system. This is the nice thing you want to hear on a nice, both system and club. What kind of years are that guy? This was 80, 89, which is around about the time I got the job work and the tracks records in you, Castle. I get exactly your love of music. I just like, I walk and I record shop. We're looking for somebody to come work in the shop and some one of the, the day one of the DJs from the club here used to go to said, yeah, there's a guy guy. He'd abs. The music. There's nothing he doesn't know because I was a complete train spotter about everything. And it wasn't just that the sort of current stuff I could ask his questions about 70 soul and disco and funk R&B stuff. And I would know everything about everything. So he's ideal to have him in a record shop. Plus that it's still shit. I know you just enjoyed the full process. You just enjoyed the full process. And I did absolutely loved it. Imagine being like a complete music lover and getting a job in a record shop. Yeah. Couldn't have, couldn't have wished for more, you know. I mean, but it's kind of a double edge sold in it because you're getting your money from them, but then probably spending it back in the record shop and you're records. Hi. I know where you're just. I don't know. I didn't mean to eat. You know, everything on vinyl. But obviously working in the record shop, you've got DJ works straight away because you were with the main play, sort of promotion place in the town and you were having the sales. So every promoter were like, you know, you need the guy working in the record shop because he would promote it and sell the tickets and put the post several prime positions and all the rest. Yeah, yeah. He started getting, you know, paid gigs from working in the record shop, which was nice because it was malvine, like, but probably. I mean, also as well, like I was saying, the record shops are hub for the community. So you're probably getting to meet other people like promoters, DJs, every day of us, everybody. That's just said, became like the face of it all in Newcastle because everybody came to our shop. We were the main shop in Newcastle and it was absolutely rammed constantly. And people would just come in and it was the good thing. People would trust me on what I would say what a good tune was. Kids have come in the shop with 50, 60 quid and just say give us, give us the best tunes and I'll pick the best tunes out for them. And I wouldn't try to screw them over and give them a cup of dodgy ones because I want them to come back and bring them on in your game. So I think I'd pick out their best tunes for them and they'd go home and go, wow, check these tunes out, man, he's great, great selection kind of thing. And then come back. Yeah. And that and Tom is helping just promote dance music. And it's just like seeping out further and further. You know, they're going to then say to their friends, check this out and as well as it's a business, you're selling records, but you're also spreading a new music. I seen making a scene building at Newcastle. I mean, was there other record shops in that area? Was that the main one? There was one way one, but it's sort of they were the main shop where we opened up. We kind of completely screwed them. We took all the big time because they were like an older crowd in the that shop was we were younger crowds. So when they've seen, when they've seen came in, they didn't want anything to do with it. Where we took it, like totally took it on the work. Yeah, I know on it, like, you know, I mean, the money's coming through records shops back in the day. It's been frightening. It was absolutely sick. I mean, the money, the ticket sales, especially when we were selling thousands of tickets for like a res in the tape sales when the tapes started. Oh, man. Taps, tapes were always there, but when they went big, so the 92, 93, when I started doing my own res tapes and things and then obviously for on run for them, the judgment of the tape started sort of 93, we used to sell thousands of them. Taps, just overflowing with cash constantly. Yeah. As, as resurrection and your other guest DJ spots, as I just slowly building up over the early 90s, like you're saying, people are getting in the shop. It was res sort of made, made 1991 and it was about sort of two months before hand when they came into the shop looking for, you know, they were, I'd looking for ideas. They've which artists were big at the time because we were going to put some live bands on and they obviously they came to me to say, who's the, who's the one who's biggest selling? What's the, who's got a new release coming out in the next sort and one thought to, because that's the main thing when you used to put a PA on at the gig, you would put a PA on who was currently at the time, because I had a new single coming out or a new release or some, you know, something that you can promote on the back of it. In the KM and it's a old, you fancy DJing because obviously the thought get him under the thing as you sell the tickets, you put the posters up and out like what? And then fucking rave, I hated rave at the time. I was, that was totally at the house music, technical acid and the actual thought of me playing rave music. I was like, I'll come along, but I'm not playing rave music. I'll come in and play a techno because of the first few resurrections. That's all I played for tech and then I didn't use to play anything ravey. And but obviously it gradually got under me skin. Is that the Ferdinand Foss? What did you played with you involved in the Ferdinand Foss one? The first one, yeah, which is being 91. Exactly. The Mayfair and the KM and you said, would you do it? And I said, you know, why not? And you at that time, that was that probably your biggest gig at the time. And had you done other big stuff? Yeah. I don't know if you were big house sort of events, you know, same sort of capacity. I think the Mayfair held about 13, 14, 100. So done a few things like that, but nothing, nothing on this scale. Yeah. Are you feeling confident as a DJ at that time? You thinking I'm a DJ? This is what I'm, I'm here to do. I would say, I would say, I would say, confident, yeah, I would never, I wouldn't say I was out of a nervous. Yeah. I just knew I could do it. So I would just be happy, you know, go up there and play some tunes because I wanted to hear, I wanted to, I wanted to, I wanted to hear the new stuff that I had. King. And it was one of them exciting feelings that used to get used to love playing a tune to somebody and here watching them go, ah, this is, yeah, that was a buzz you'd get out of it, you know? No, nobody's even got this or heard this stuff. You're going to hear it. And so it's technical. Any year, last year, what other DJs are playing around the bow here? Are you just focused on what you're all about? I never used to listen to other DJs. I never have, never used to listen to DJ mixes. Anybody because I didn't want to lose what I had in my hand. I didn't want to try to create another person's style. But there was a couple of times when I'd be in res having to walk around after my set, watching the crowd and then there'd be another DJ going on any play in particular tune that to me was rave and it was awful. I didn't like it, but I'd say they react off the crowd and go, oh, well, I saw. OK, that record. I could play that next time I'm on kind of thing. Yeah, yeah. It blew from there kind of thing, you know, and end up playing basically. I'm going to have to play a whole rave set here because the tunes make the crowd go absolutely nuts. That's what I want to do. Are you pretty much becoming reservations, sort of, resident DJs, sort of thing at that point? It was pretty much from day one, yeah? Because obviously they wanted me because I was made for the promotion side of things and then they also needed me because he used to come in the shop again all the time, need and the information because they weren't a part of the rave scene. They weren't a sort of the rock scene, the run resurrection. So they weren't clued up at all. So they'd come to me and say, all right, who's the big DJ who we should put on? Who's the big act? Who should put on? So from now onwards, right the way up to the ones in Scotland, these two always come to me for input on who was the best person to put on kind of thing. That's amazing. I mean, I knew you were part of the fucking foundations of Raze, but I never even thought that it was like,
much further than that, you know, as in right on a promotion, selecting an artist. And there's probably a lot of artists that probably owe you a lot of, oh yeah, a pint or two because you probably said you want to book them or you want to book him. - Well, it's a say, the list's quite long. It was the same thing the first Alex Tittentran, his first gig at Res, was because I was sitting in the office on a Monday after Res and I had his tape that he'd given me on the Saturday in me pocket and I hadn't actually listened to the tape. We were looking for a DJ because we were looking, I think I had some guy that had a mind to do the first thing, the warm-up set or whatever and he couldn't do it for whatever reason and they were pulling the hair, I got all, I need somebody, I need somebody and I said, oh yeah, this is a techno trans DJs, really good, I've got this tape, yeah, have the tape. And they listened to the tape and it was obviously good enough because they booked him for the next one. - Well, he was, well, he's probably bought you a few bites or they used it. - Would he couldn't believe he thought it was a wind up when he got the phone call the next day kind of thing? He was like, "Short one because he thought it was me winding him up but they were like, no, no, I get with the tape and it's good, you know?" - Absolutely, I don't know. - Even looking at early flyers and all that, no just a phrase, but I was raising that time. What I loved about it is it was like a real mixed batch of artists, you know, like from techno, right through to maybe like the early hardcore kind of stuff, you know? And I found that more interesting. - I would greatly, really, raise lineups because it's like, it exposed the crowd to different sounds that they would have known, which was great for the scene, you know? - I mean, and as the majority of that's coming out your head, could you go on, that tunes massive, that tunes massive, that's massive, and then they're putting it the lineups together. - And you're just getting bigger and bigger and new Castle at that time, or is that other gigs coming in for further a field? - It was just, I mean, it was mainly new Castle, but once the first Reds hit Open Scotland, which was 92, I think, was it the Castle? Was it up May, was it about May 92? - I'm not sure. - It wasn't much longer after that when BCR was open Scotland every weekend. Once I'd done the Reds, I think I was in the Colton Studios in Edinburgh, the Colton Studios, it got the times, and then it just exploded from then, you know? - The Colton Studios was some club back in the day when I was just madness. - Oh, it was madness, it was ramdye, I think you used to go. - I don't know if you remember, did they ever used to give you just cases of this damn, it's called damn beer. Focknows, I've never seen it since, they must have got, we once they get paid in damn wagon every time we play, they'll just give us cases of beer. That's what I remember. - They had done the guys behind it, they'd done, I think it was Holocaust or Tech Road, or something. They would remember the earlier raves and the air sure feels, I think. - When they were involved in some other stuff, some other business as well. - The guy took his massage parlors and all that kind of stuff. - Right. - I've never been, you know, he did tell us, I believe we're good times. - So, I mean, is it a point at these resurrections and then you're starting to get gigs in elsewhere? What I'm trying to get is, is it a point where sort of penny drops and you're going, "Fuckin' hell, I'm, you know, I'm a DJ, this is what I'm, this is what my job almost is, is it a time like that when it's like, I don't know because you've got to remember that at the time, but when res went mental sort of 93, when the raves scene went mental in 93, when I was open-scottin' every weekend, Day-Jay, you know, four, five, six, seven, eight times a week in kind of thing. I always drove back down the road because I had the shopping new castle. The shop always came first, I always had the shop run and obviously the start, the label started in 93, and had the gigs run in the judgment day stuff as well. So, the day-Jay was always like a weekend hobby thing to me still and my day job was still running based generator records in the past. So no matter what happened, I had to be back at work the next morning at a clock, so if I'm opening in Venice, Day-Jay, I'm on Friday night at four o'clock in the morning, I had to think, "Can I go out and have a tan again, back to the new castle that I've been opening at shop at night?" Fuckin' hell. And I did that for a good few years. The party's over, knew your switch and the business mode or try to get to business mode. Fuckin' hell. Back then I didn't really call it, I wouldn't say it was party mode because I didn't use to drink and get carried away on a weekend. I used to just go up and I was day-Jay and find anything. It was later on, it was sort of 94 when the drinking and the party went a bit overboard. That became the priority over everything else. It kind of took over, you enjoyed it, were you back too much? Well I did because I liked being in the same frame of mind as the people in the club who were dancing to what I was playing. And that's what I felt was important at the time. I had to be on that level. Yeah. So it's me I did. To the point where you were mabbing on a different level. (Laughter) That's another story. Well, I mean, so you mentioned you're a shot based on your records and all that and even judgement night. I mean, make it make it talk about that. Is that you're just a natural extension for you. You're working on a record shot and you're thinking I could start a moan shot here because I know what to do. That was the same thing. The scene in Newcastle at the time when the rave start stuff came in in 1991. It killed the house music scene in Newcastle. The house music scene came back around a bit in sort of 93 time. In the shop where I was up it was kind of split. And it was hard to sell rave music and house music to the two lots of people because they clashed. They didn't get on. You couldn't have a shop for the rave as well. You were playing house music tunes to a house DJ or a house DJ playing rave tunes to when the creature in the house was coming up and it was just a few shops full of house people and it was became too much of a clash in our two. I saw I could move away from here and take the rave with me to my own shop. Because it really down the road and I'll sell everything rave and use just sell everything house. We'll not step on each other's toes and then when I fell. We'll do that. It was a wee bit pretentious. More so from the house crowd one at the can I look down on rave or something? Look down on the rave is. And which it caused a lot of friction. It was a business idea straight away. I was like well I'm just going to walk away from this because I'm not just be taking all of the vinyl and the tape sales. It's the ticket sales as well. Because you've seen it for years by working there aren't you? You just know where it's worth. I mean I suppose that's more a business idea than a music idea in it. You're just thinking this is a career here or a job or whatever. I should get two minutes I'll end this session I'll send you a link and then we can start for the best year in the year. Right. Hold on a minute. Fucking here we go. End this. I'll just send you a link guy right? Right. That's probably man. Get a close off of the next shot. Hi. You want to get into the bed with the service? Is it this room? Look at this room. Excel port. You've left its tracks was it? The left. And you're started up. Beijing. Are you called it straight away? I was thinking there was called looney tunes. Which would make the Warner Brothers logo was spelled differently than we had the coyote. Is it like the logo kind of thing? But there was a Warner Brothers cinema in Newcastle. And obviously they'd somebody must have driven past the window on day and seen it in the grass window. I got a lot of fun. I'm not letting it from Warner Brothers legal department. It's a cease and desist. Remove. Remove. Oh no. It was the Tasmanian devil. That was the logo. I said I wouldn't need you to remove it. And I just spent about a thousand pound on carrier bags. Oh fuck. Full color printed carrier bags and I've been them all. That's good. Well, had a nice sign in the window. I had to pull the sign down and all that. And I just said, you know what it is? We're just going to call it base anyway. I know. A bit of a mouthful. When people say that, you know what I mean? I know. I know. A bit of a mouthful when people are going to phone up. You've got to say hello, base generator records on the phone. But I said, you know what it is. People know it. So I'm just going to use that. Well, there's a thing. I forgot you ask, how did you get your DJ name? How did that come about? It was. It was. I'd already used it on a couple of things. As sort of a name for a night. We did a couple of electoral nights, which I used the name base generator on. I was just going to use it on a couple of things. But it was mainly when it was the first thing res when they came into the shop and said, or because at the time I used to DJ around Newcastle just as guy from trucks. Everybody knew it was this guy from trucks. That be on the flyer as guy from trucks, but normally playing house music. And they said, oh, you know, we've got this rave kind of thing going on. Did you really want to have guy from trucks when people know you from trucks, and they had stuck in my head. And it was mainly sneaky. I was standing in the shop one day. And it was, I think it was a final came in from the states by dynamics too. And it was like, Oh, tune. And it was called base generator. And I said, you know, it is just just call it base generator. I've just did your base generator. Why not? Because at the time that was a kind of stuff. I was in there. All the heavy base sort of techno stuff from wall records and things like that. So just, yeah, we'll use that and it's stuck. It's a cool name because it can I conjure up shit in your head? You know, before you even hear or whatever. It sounds like a good solid kind of name. That's a thing on the front of the first res flyer. It said plus base generator at the bottom. We'd had the listed whoever the artists were. The sati was scientists and enjoying whoever else, bizarre or whatever. And then at the bottom it had plus base generator. And there's loads of people that came in the shop afterwards and said, the thought it was like a new sound system thing. We speak underneath the stage. And then we just went to the next stage. the bass generator that was going to be playing on the 9th turn of the year. Remember in Older Elef, Ray Flyers almost advertised the sounding lights more than the DJs, didn't it? It was like million watts sound system, amazing lasers and then it was like, "Everybody's names are just like, below that." Right, get a priori, Zoo. So finding a pitch for your record shot, now did you spot somewhere right away or did you see something? It's open quite faster. It was a guy used to run the East to sell sound and lighting gear, like speakers and lighting systems and high used to hire DJs stuff out and he had a shop just down the road from where the tracks was. It was like a two-floor shop and he used the top floor and he said you can have the basement for like next day. Now if you want it and I was like, "But people know the shop already because he's in town." I thought, "Well, you know, it'll do, but it's looking down the road from tracks record because I didn't want it to be too far away because people would still call in the trucks first or come and make anything." It was an ideal spot, dark little dingy basement meant I could get a big sound system and we'd play the tunes as loud as one or one pissing the neighbors off. That was a problem with trucks. There was a restaurant above trucks and we could play install the time for the people upstairs saying, "You can't play that. You can't play this music." The fucking eight-man. So, I mean, this is early 90s and all that. You must have been chucking out vinyls and tapes fucking by the bucket load. I take shoots, the clothing would start. I'll fucking hate me, I shouldn't have it. And is this just things that I necessity? You're gone bliss. Let's get t-shirts on your list. Let's fucking, you know, you're just adding things like a shop. I just constantly, I just anything that we thought of. You know, we did the slipmats, jackets, bags, just emulating the people you'd want, just thought, yeah, do it. Is it obviously a group they are helping you? Is it all pretty much on your shoulders? It's pretty much me doing everything. I manage the shop, did all the buying, did all the accounts, and then on a weekend I was the way to Deji, you know, again. Fucking hell, man. Because that's, can you imagine trying to do all that now? You can see for the amount of work it is in it, you're just like, fuck me. You'd spend all day now just on the market. Yeah. The rest of the work at the same time, you couldn't, you couldn't do it, you know. I know. It's fucking right. If I look back at hindsight, I should have had more people in helping us. But I used to just be one of those guys who just had to do it myself, I just do it myself. How many hours of talk? Just do it, you know. Is there res, is grown, your kind of name is grown, DGN, fucking every weekend, and at that time, you know, it gets, like you said, sometimes you're doing three-fourth gigs of night and all that, cause of the old nighters and stuff like that. Did 7-1 night fucking hell? That one sat at night, apparently there was an unofficial world record set doing seven DGS spots in one night. We're all all over the country. It was all, it was all in Scotland, I'm fucking hell. It was a thing, I think it was Rachel Stevens from S-Club 7, has the record in the record books of doing seven gigs in one night, but that was only doing like five, ten-minute slots in an official world record. And I was saying I would have had it, but you obviously have to prove it to them. So I would have had to keep the flyers and the proof that I'd done it, which at the time I didn't, you know. I could have been in the record books for a good few years. Rachel would have had to do it eight and not as often. Is that you're going to do an uno, I will say? I'll eat. I'm, so seven hours. I started in under eight Eames in Glasgow, but I think I did like five to six, and then ended up doing the full bar, seven to eight. And in between we did, it run through, up through Glasgow, and somewhere else, cross Edinburgh, we did the forum, and then back again, somewhere else, and then the full bar, and it was seven gigs in the one night. Amazing. I think, she just looked, with that kind of work, she thought, I mean, just work, work, can you, even when you're working in the shops, people know who you are, know your music, get music from you and all that, you're, you're can I engraving yourself in just the fucking folklore almost. And then I think I remember I was on tour in fucking Germany somewhere, and I'd go up in the book, Trainsport, and I remember reading that they mentioned you. I'm sure it was Trainsport, or was it? I think it was Trainsport. Either that or it was the Acer Touse. It was the Acer Touse. But I think you get a mention in Trainsport as well, because he talks about the count studios and going to see DJs and stuff. But I, I, I actually, I remember the film I actually talked to me, mentioned bass genre. But I was, but he was outside somewhere on a roundabout, or something. That's right. That's right. Go on that bass generator. It was fucking sound. Now that, that for me, even like, watching that, I was so fucking juffed, seeing that, because I was just like that. I used to go to the rez, I used to be sitting backstage, I used to do his fucking nutting, talking on some nights. I used to meet him at the count. She do, as you probably met on the, I forgot, he used to come sit backstage and all that. Well, I think at the time, I thought he was just one of the fucking people who worked for Resl, but he was on the same guy's ass. I just used their backstage chat another time. It was the guy Kenny Mason, the promoter of the count, she do is that he used to introduce me to him at the start. And his eyes right in a book. He's just, is all right. If he sits backstage and just hangs out and he'll be like, I cool. And he just sat quiet in a corner and then conversation was just, all right, mate, maybe talking about football. That was it. And everybody else was just getting mad at it. And he would just kind of observe. He wasn't really involved in it. He was just kind of watching. I watched it, which I always thought was kind of weird. And at some point, you're gone, fuck, this guy, DS, I saw something, what's going on? I never used to leave him alone. He used to be like, you see, so he's sitting sort of watching everybody. And I would just go and sit next to him and talk to you, Zero. Is this after he's released, transport, not before when he's still. Yeah. So when you see that in the film or whatever, and I'm sure you get, I'm near a double check, but I'm sure you get, I'm mentioning an actual transport in the book. You just buzzing on that, because it just shows that you're part of the fucking foundations of that kind of scene. What did it feel like? Just great. I mean, it's the fact that, you know, he looked back like sort of a few years after the scene finished, and then you speak to people who all they have to say about is the tapes. There was many of the tapes that got everywhere. All the school kids used to trade the tapes between Phila and it just a new castle. It was across the whole from Newcastle over. The edge of Scotland. I'd go to Elgin or somewhere or, you know, crazy place to be the head and all that. And everybody would be there saying, oh, I know you're cause I used to get all your tapes from back in the day and that's always, it was based generator tapes and it was like, you'd come back after school, you'd go to school, you're walking on and missing the base generator tapes and it was like, that was the thing where you thought you were everywhere. You're also saying, I hope you bought it, you never recorded it. That was the thing that we were just trading, no, isn't it? Yeah, that's it. It was a currency. But then again, you're tapes and all that was like, and then it's actually sold. I mean, you're talking hundreds of thousands of tapes and you think each one of those tapes could have been copied 10, 12 things. And then you've all the copy ones that used to be in the bars and all that. And then most of them being millions of tapes. Yeah. But that was like, that was equivalent to download now, isn't it? Like download is fucking endless. Like cassettes where all of a sudden it was a physical product, but it was just copied and copied and shared until it's just more hiss than music. I mean, but then even that I even remember as a punter getting like bootleg copies of DJ sets or live acts and the copy was shit, but you still enjoyed it because you're really fucking more into the music and you're listening. You're in the new music, and you're hearing the fucking the crowd and all that. I think it was like the first of a big, it was a phantasia for your down south castle, Donington or something like that. It was like rap pack with the fucking crowd. I think it was like a new year record and fucking blew my mind just with the crowds. Fucking hell man. And then playing like a res and actually hearing a crowd. You're just thinking, how is this possible? It was just constant noise, whistles, horns. And it's just like, if you've never been to it and you could hear this on a tape, you would totally want to be there. I would make it 100%. So you're you're fucking you're riding the wave of rave. Like many is what we're right, but you're I'm obviously almost kind of like the figurehead of fucking rave almost. And then when did you start developing or pushing more the kind of harder sounds? Because you had your base genit and now it's more the harder edge. And I know you've done sets and we spoke about it before where you've played a title right through and stuff like that. Actually, one of the sets that you played at 94's, 94's one of my favorites, you started with Italian house and you bolted right up to fucking hardcore. But when did you start focusing more just doing what fucking fast and furious? Just got a bit bored with saying this, playing the same stuff a lot of the time in the lot of the clubs. Like you say, it might mean priorities of dance floor. You know, is it like resists people are like, you know, you used to play like an Italian tune and then drop a garbage tuning and then create a techno tune. It's like, because I was just constantly watching the dance floor. And if I played two Italian tunes in the dance floor, start to sort of lose it a bit. You know that you don't want to play a third one. So you play something else. Yeah. And I just sort of noticed the fastest stuff sort of 94, 95. Well, 94 when the fastest stuff starts to have more reaction in the dance floor, people would go more mental. The fastest stuff you played. Yeah. And he was like, oh, I'm
I'm gonna have to up this stage a little bit here and then we got faster and faster and faster, you know. It was people weren't happy at 170 anymore. It had to be 180, 190. - That's fucking crazy, just be doing it. - It went really crazy, it was at the 200s and 240s and 250s, the kind of stuff Smith was playing and I mean, so much to play over and over again, but you would drop that one track and people would go, "Wow, my God, I was really good." You'd have to think, "Drite, I've just killed Dan's "flopely and that, I'm gonna have to put some of the bouncy "spawn on me." (laughing) But I mean, it's almost as if you're pushing barriers as well, just to see how magic you could take it to see how the Pondors would react, can I think? - But it was the way that English music had gone at a time, sort of, you know, back in '93, when the breakbeat stuff, when people in Scotland weren't interested in that really, with it. But then obviously, Scott Brown was the main man, he came along with the bouncy stuff. - Yeah. - That changed everything. 'Cause everybody's what that's the stuff, they liked that's the word that they wanted to hear. But obviously, again, it got faster when they wrought a damn stuff, Scott, 94, got faster and faster, and you had to ride that way of kind of thing, you know? - Yeah. - I guess, Israel, you're again, you're still on a cut and edge, because you're working on a record shop, you're seeing what tunes are fucking flying out the door, so you're saying, "That's what people are wanting." So, I know what was selling. At your point of view, is obviously, I'd also know who was on before as if I was going to a gig. So far, new Tom Wilson was on before me, playing fucking cheese. I'm not gonna play any cheese in my set. I'm gonna play a hard stream or the way around it could have been somebody on before me. I could be on after Scott Brown. So I'm not gonna go on and play Scott Brown style. So I'm gonna have to play faster. Sort of things, so that would sort of dictate what I was gonna play in certain venues. - Yeah. - Special devices. - Sorry. - And say, "Special out the big ones like Resis, I'd have to think right, who's on before me?" I can't, I'm gonna have to think about what they're playing to what I'm playing, 'cause I'm gonna have to go on and play the same stuff as somebody else. - Yeah. - You mentioned, sorry. - You mentioned Sneaky, it's working with an MC, something that you enjoyed, or is it just something that came out of working with pals, or whatever? - It was something I knew I needed to do from hearing other DJs sort of at the time. I knew I wanted to have an MC with me, because I used to be sort of the Reggae scene as well, and I know what a Reggae, MC would sound like over a Reggae scene. - Like a real MC sort of thing, innit? - So I was thinking it would be great to have that in a rave set, whether the time sort of techno set would then build in the rave set, and a new Sneaky, I would be ideal for it, 'cause I knew what he's part I was like, and I'd heard him MC know of a sort of Reggae stuff before, and he was in the hip hop and rapping and stuff, and I said to him, that's what I said, "You fancy coming in doing this for me?" And I said, "It'll be a laugh, trust me, it'll be a laugh." He got a right to buzz out the roller, walking out on that stage, and just dropping daff-fucking-reggae sort of lines. - Yeah. - And they were all like, 'cause he had never heard anything like that before either, and they were like, "Fuckin' out of this man." It's been all, he's playing mental fucking tunes, and that MC's opposite. (laughing) - A marriage made him. - It was a great match, it was a great match. - I never thought about the Reggae angle, but now you mention it, it does kinda make sense, because his kinda MC's still was really sort of laid back. It was just really fucking laid back, and amongst the madness that you were playing. - It was just heightened the crowd up, and it was just an occasional sinning, you know? - Ah, but I'll get mad. You're, I mean, are you seeing, I know it's all highs, and things are rising, but in the mid-90s, things start to lose its weight. Are you seeing that, or maybe we should talk about your own nights, because they were fucking massive. - They were massive. - Is that again, you're seeing what Rez is doing and going, "I could fucking put my own night on." - With the Judgment Day things, yeah. - Yeah. - It was so, when we did the first one in 1993, it's Rez had finished in '92, that when they decided not to do any more, that they may have been Newcastle, and they were just gonna concentrate on doing the big ones up in Scotland. - Oh, okay. - There was no clubs in Newcastle playing the horror sort of music, 'cause Rez was the hard place. Everybody'd go to Rez, it was on every three weeks. Everybody'd save their money up, and go to Rez every three weeks. So the people who weren't into that horror sound were going to the club nights, and they were typically playing Italian, and they saw a borderline happy house kind of stuff. So that had taken over in Newcastle. So when Rez finished, it was just all cheese, all the clubs were playing cheese, and I was like, "We need a fucking hard night in Newcastle. "I'm gonna do one." And approached a few of the venues, and they wouldn't touch it. They weren't interested at all, 'cause they knew that kids come to clubs, they don't buy drinks, so they're not gonna make any money on the night. I was like, "Yeah, but I'll pay you a bigger high-efe, "to cover the loss of the bar money." And they were like, "Oh, never thought of that." So you were playing ridiculous high-efe, so they get some of these venues, but it kept the manager in top, because we were making that money on the night, you know? - Yeah. - We found a wee club, it was only 250 capacity, and it sold out the first one. We did a few there, and then obviously knew this was gonna be massive. We need to find a bigger venue, so we're winning a Newcastle, approached a couple of the venues to see, "Oh, can we do this?" But we need a thousand people minimum. - Did you move to the University equate? - I'm sure it was a university. I can do it and play that couple of times. - The two universities in Newcastle were moved to the first one, one of the universities, and it was all right, but they weren't really into what we were doing, they were kind of not keen about it. We weren't the main Newcastle university, and they were totally into the idea, they were buzzing on the, you're not to give with a venue, and it was a bigger hole as well, it was 1200 capacity kind of thing. I mean, and again, DJ and working the records shop, me just saying, "Ah fuck, it lets this be a promoter as well, we'll fling that on my shoulders." - All right, I'm running a label. - I'm running a label, so that, and again, the label's coming out, are you just going, "Alec these tunes?" Are you starting to think, "Or meet other guys giving you tapes?" Is this a tune that I've made? Is that how the label's coming about? Or are you thinking about doing production? - It was, well, I'd already had the label running, I'd just done a couple of daff releases myself, but it was mainly, it was Scott Brown. - Well, if I thought it was the res, when they did the first event gig in 1993, that's me to do a tune for an album that they were going to release. And I'm sorry, they asked us to do a DJ mix for the album that they were going to release, and they've got me and Carl Cox, and somebody else were going to do, like I think it was a half hour mix, and they were release it in time. But they couldn't get the licensing on the trucks, 'cause I think I picked ropes, I don't know, about 12 trucks, and I said, "What I wanted to do instead of doing a DJ mix is I was going to sample all the 12 trucks and make a 30 minute tune out of those trucks." So it wasn't like a DJ mix, it would just be a 30 minute truck, using all of those trucks, bits out in each one of them. And they said, "Yeah, yeah, that sounds amazing, we'll do that." So I went in, we were studio made this truck, and then it was ready for release, and they couldn't get the authorization on some of the, they couldn't get in touch with some of the artists, so some of the licensed trucks, so they said the whole thing, so it wasn't just me with some of Carl Cox's, they couldn't do either. So they said, "Well, scrap the idea." And I said, "Well, you know what it is, "that we take everything that I put together "for that 30 minute mix and make a sort of six, seven minute tune "out of it, which is what the event was." And I said, "I'm going to release it as a single." And they said, "Yeah, yeah, just do it whatever." So that's when I released the event, and that's how that came about. But it was the same time I got a demo of Scott, but I think again, I was, I was like, "Is the Carl Cox studios? "I've been chatting them up there." And he had a date, and he said, "Oh, I've got this tune that I've been putting together. "I want to release it on a different label." Like, "Do you want to have a listen to it?" And I was straight away, I was like, "Yeah, it's a bang, I've released that." So the event came out straight after it would put a violator and the experiment out from Scott. But I mean, they just fucking flying out the door as soon as you put them breast and mouth. I was unbelievable. Did you go into this studio? Was that studio a new cast? Was somebody you knew or how the dark come about? The guy, go on, you remember MIC? Did that tune bounce, bounce, bounce? It rings a bell, or a problem. It was a big impact in the day, I. So it was him, he made a day for Yara Studio, set up in Awood Gestoo, the engineering work, had going with the ideas, and that's how that happened. Is it a time when the fucking label was fucking. Everything you put out was it just flying, sort of thing, a stole a big vinyl. The time when I got everybody was just buying anything, 'cause they had the bass generator sign on it, they were just, yeah, that must be Google buying, you know? Was you know fucking paranoid working in that shop? Were all that cash and all that? I don't know any fucking heavy guys, new cast. You were going, "Honey, watch myself here." Extra locks, no doors. I get a stick when I was well connected at the time, so I wasn't worried about getting in the air. (laughing) You were like, "I'm so shit, I'm shit, I'm shit." Nobody would mess with us basically. Oh, that's good, man, that's good. So, I mean, the bubble's going to pop at some time, all these things happening, nothing lasts forever. I never thought it would. I never thought it would, I was going to ride that wave to the very end of the day. I think we all did, you know what? And when did you think, or when did you start seeing things, can I start to get sticky? What kind of year are you putting it on? - '97, sort of the end of '96, obviously I was resident in the football at the time, in the football struggling to sell out every weekend, where it used to right away through the '94, '95, it would sell out every weekend, no matter. Same with the rest, the last couple of the rest is the weren't selling out. Then you just knew this is something funny. It was, again, everybody puts it down to the music, it was too much happy hardcore, and it wasn't going down very well. - But I think it was also just a switch. People started getting any of that. - How's your stuff and all that, what did I change? - People got older, that's the main thing you had to think most of these things, I think we worked out and it has like a four year lifespan. And then the people get bored of it and they move on. People settle down, they have kids and stuff, they stop going out. And then, you know, you need a new breed of people that come into it, which weren't, and that's when it started.
dip you know but seeing that adiped in Scotland but it was getting busier in Newcastle because you know I could say a di now in Scotland a bit but Newcastle the Judgment Day events were still selling out every week and we were still doing the monofers the night sometimes we'd sell a cell of any of our monofers the night you know. Last mad in it. Rowie. Obviously the last res whatever that was was a 97 or whatever and then they did the Cup the Marjor Kingdom gigs which weren't you know the weren't full and then we stepped in and thought we'll do the Judgment Day the Hoggwiney 97 we tried to bring it back around we did a massive line up it was just all the names everybody knew all the locals all the big bands all the big DJs and we thought it's going to be a great you know Hoggwiney party and it wasn't even half full so when you then it's kids is being trouble yeah like. Yeah I mean that's a big fucking investment as well putting an event on on top. Was I a lost a fair bit of money on that one. I mean that's the thing and it's like it's great when it's great but when you lose you fucking lose hard on especially events in it. Newly do I because obviously we did the Hoggwiney one and then we thought we'll get M8 involved as they were going to do a big promotion on it and we're trying to revive the same kind of thing we'll put a massive line up on for Easter and we really went overboard on the budget thinking with this line all this promotion it was sell out so it's going to be busy and again it didn't and throw us through the shit going on again. And when when did you when did you when was there a period when you just went I fuck it I'm out it's over for me or you just gradually getting tired of the scene or it is at a turning point because again in this podcast guy I want to talk about the highs and the lows kind of think if if you could talk about it. It's got no Scotland by the sort of up the fucking Antonets. I can't remember the whole story about everywhere that's you know most of the big 90s. The Antonets connections kind of got them down here. All right. I hope that's back now. I'm not fed. Back now. But I could say what was happening but we were still busy as hell down in Newcastle but again it got a sort of this I'm not going to say the start and ending because that was still really busy. It was about the middle of 1999 when it eventually was the last of the judgment days at the university there was some water bit of butter with some local kids cause and trouble ever you want the gigs. And the guy the manager said look I've had enough this is going to have to come to an end we'll let you have one more. And I said all right fair enough it'll still be okay it'll still be busy I'll just find a new venue but as soon as I left to find a new venue nobody in Newcastle would touch it the whole mention of the rave that police the new they're going to have to just said it's not happening like so I couldn't get another venue and that's when I was saying to myself it's all gone wrong now because a record shop would shut that would release the run out and record shop and sort it when it was a hack in it was about 98 sort of time and there there was no shops I could move to when Newcastle the rents and the rates were gone absolutely ridiculous and the amount of vinyl was selling the dip to the tape sales adiped and the ticket sales obviously cause there was no events and it's just the money wasn't there and I had to say to myself look I'm going to have to shut the shop and I'm not re-opening it in the shop there's no there's no enough money in this to do it I've got the other things I've got the gigs I've got the label and I've got the tape sales in Scotland still going well but the shopping new castle itself's gone after shut you know but then as I say couldn't get a venue new castle either so by the end of 1999 it was pretty much dead and buried there was there was not going on I wasn't getting any BG bookings the shop was shut the gigs had finished nobody was buying tapes anymore the label had finished kind of thing and it had balls stopped abruptly it went from really high within six months to nothing yeah and it was a backlash one it was like the media Mac like news magazines everything kind of just tundra against rave and like as if this was the fucking the problems the answer to everybody's problems was get rid of their Aves scene and it's because their Aves scene this and I really just felt it was unfairly fucking bastardized one as a scene you know like it was the Kool-Ainemone you know there's no way I'm in it lot of problems with the drugs obviously the police were on top of all this and they know about this for a while because they've been building up sort of a case to stop the rave events happening in Newcastle and they even pointed out that when there was a rave on the two weeks leading up to the gig the shoplifting offenses around Newcastle went through the roof because kids were coming in stealing stuff from town to sell the buy rave tickets had all of this in a big big dossier for the reason why they were stopping all the raves in Newcastle I don't know I mean it's probably the truth I know I know but then it's no look in it and change because they just fucking took the rave name away and and super clubs fucking came about and DJs started to get football players wages and everything getting expensive at the bar and all that you're going this is just a fucking rave with people who are dressed up and being fucking snobby what's what you know there's nothing changed here there's still a fucking dance music scene all right some of the seven and ninety go to just basically raves but on paper it wasn't a rave hi exactly because it took all the boxes but obviously I'll add people sent me all you know at the time you could have you know changed converted into doing trans music and so that and I said but it just didn't give me the buzz yeah we did it throughout the judgment day we had a trans soon with the back in you know for about probably about a year and it was never busy the music was never excited it is at the time I mean I like listening to trance but I would never have thought about playing it and I didn't see the crowd reacting to it the rave has reacted to rave music so it just didn't give me the buzz and I just said you know I'm not in the house music scene in Newcastle it's already got people running that I'm not going to go in there and try to step on toes and say I'm going to start doing house nights because it's going to cause too much friction so you know I'm just going to have to call it a day can I think did you I didn't I played that a few year retirement parties I had a bit I specifically remember you deciding you've had enough and you were retiring and when was that what year was that oh god still in his early year um it was early 2000s maybe or something or no no I mean there was nothing going on in the early 2000s yeah when I decided it was about 2000 and named maybe 2010 when I said that it was um I just wasn't getting the buzz off it anymore um it was it was one of those things when the when it sort of reappeared when the colors guys started doing the big fantasies and the things that they'd be braided arena and that and you went from playing nothing to back in front of yeah only 10,000 people I was like wow this is amazing the first couple of gigs I did I played in old school set because people are based January old school set but then I was like this new hardstyle stuff would come along and I was like but I don't want to play this old school stuff I've done it for years and it's boring and this new music's fucking amazing I want to play this yeah and I said I'm gonna play this from now on and that's all I'm interested in I'm not doing anymore old school sets and this it's something special special night if I'm DJing I'm playing hardstyle stuff and it absolutely went mental but that only went on for a couple of years and it got to that point when you know I'm hitting 30 year old and I'm thinking that sorry this was in 2009 so I'm hitting nearly 40 year old and I'm thinking I'm just too old for all this comp here every night jumping around like a flunatic and then I've got to drive back in the roads get up in run a business and I just said you know I'm just gonna have to see how I'd enough of it you know but it's hard walking away that's a big deal man it's hard I always said I'm retiring but I'll still come up and DJ occasionally for mates running a big thing or it was a charity they got something massive so it got at a point where it was every next gig was always gonna be the biggest gig ever and it's gonna be massive you've got but like you're saying you know it is it's a big party of life and you can't just fucking close the door on it and I think it's always going to be there you know even a few people are at to me right now right from today almost I'm not doing an art gig it's impossible to say that and it man because it's such a huge party of life it always will be I love doing it that's a thing it's like taking something away from you that you love and you realise you don't have to have a take in the way yeah why have a take in the way but you know I still stick with the same thing I wouldn't want to be up there DJ in two three four times a weekend I mean I'm happy doing two three four a year that's my I think physically mentally it'd been possible to do fucking two three four a night and all that again they did get what point now and again and so I'm trying to think back again when it all kicked off in sort of 2008 when I was doing two or three gigs a weekend again and again just at the time it was a bit too much you know you were you were just doing the big ones at Briahead you were doing wee clubs and stuff thought about it as well yeah so I did wait once the hangover's last I go three days four days and I'm doing that's the main problem I definitely couldn't do anything like a two do we get going to Friday night and then do a couple on a Saturday because you'd just be absolutely bust off the Friday thing because Saturday you just like crying good no I can't do it I know I always think as good as the big gigs are I always think you need a wee are we club night and I'm not even possible say are we shitey club night just as you realize when I get good it's fucking good so some of my best nights like if you'd ask me a crappy question and said oh guy what was your favorite gig of the 90s you know you know you'd say oh he's gonna say a full event three or whatever you know I mean it wasn't the some of my best nights of the 90s were ones that drive up to some cheesy little fucking town hall in the middle of nowhere and there'd be 60 70 people there and it would kick off and more than that.
nights that you got into the vibe and it was just the year with the nights that were the best ones that stand out in my mind, the wee ones, you know. The weekclub with a couple of underpeat, somethings they were the best nights. I think as everybody's, you're just all on it together. Right, you know. The bishops up in Elgin, that was a favorite of my nights, I love going up there because they say, we tiny club, low ceiling, hot and sweaty, but you were right in the front of the mall and you had to go from the door at the back, you had to fight your way all the way through the crowd to get the front, you had to say hello to everybody because everybody could see you come through the crowd, you get a daily box and it would just always kick off like it was always great. I think all those sort of times and all that, I think they just appreciate you taking a fucking journey up there. I just look there, they do appreciate they know how fucking far it is and they're just like, well here we go, we're fucking partying tonight. There's a lot of them couldn't believe that I used to drive up, you know, used to be fingery dayg, used to go, used to be flying up from London or whatever and I'm like, well I'm up from Newcastle, you know what I mean, it's yet to five hour drive, but like, fuck it, I've got to be back away in the morning. Even now, now that we're new like Atlas and I need to drive down the road and fucking hell, you're just like, fuck me man, you must be fucked with the time you get home, you know, just shatter. Today I know it's be driving, but you've got to think back in the 90s, I always had a driver. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that was never never the salty, you know. But even that, you're traveling in the car anything. I'm just wiggle, Louis. Fucking hell, man, exactly. Off the port, you was in the car. I have to, I mean, how many fuck about that? I'm maybe no you, but I just remember like, fucking New Year's or whatever or what you're doing on a fucking motorway somewhere sometimes, fucking partying when the bells are coming because you're traveling from a gig tour gig or something like that, just mad shit. But are we convoying or something? Everybody can I spoke about it? When you know what, it was the same for me, like the fan tasers really can I fucking opened up my eyes till it. It was almost like a new generation of kids who'd fucking missed it first time round and listening to the tapes and just went, this is my shot to do it. And it kind of got me excited and then I guess I can at hard house and hard stuff like that gives you the abbey buzz again to keep going. And then we can find ourselves now when there's a, there's still a massive old school scene. You know, the raises came back. It's fucking dragging in thousands. There's loads of brilliant old school nights up and down the country and all that. How are you feeling a bit, but that chance again, because we're all kind of getting a second chance to enjoy it a wee bit more this time almost. It's one of the things I just want to see how far it goes, because you know, I'm not expecting it to be like become massive again, but it would be nice if it did, you know, imagine having four years of doing this. It just depends what this sort of turnouts like. A lot of these people who are going to these are the older crowd, but then you're getting all the younger ones who are all seeing the new hours too young at the time. So I couldn't go to these gigs, but now I can. And it's will they get input enough to see I'm going to go to the next one and the next one and the next one. That's, you know, I'll fingers crossed I hope it does. But you know, it's a big ask, especially the times where things all of them want me thought to have all these gigs, to not be happening whether I'm every weekend, you know what I mean? I know they can afford that this now. And I also think I've been a cut like gigs where it's been like, I can I younger, you know, I've been there, it's a pointer and it's a younger, younger audience. And it is still very much like they're filming the gig, Rowling, enjoying it. It's a bit of a weird situation. And sometimes I think if the kids come to like an old school night and they see everybody around them, nobody's holding a phone up all night, you know, maybe it's certain bits for favorite tunes, but people are there to share their experience with their pals and listening to the DJ and all that. And remember, they're learning because I still think they just, I don't know, maybe it's a generation. I don't think they are just obsessed by music as much as what a world generation was. I think it's because at the time to us, it was a new sound. Yeah. It was a new sound. Whereas to them, it's you know, it's kind of been around. So it's it's not like an exciting new sound to them. Because we were hearing things for the first time on it, the first time you're sounding a snare roll or a fucking drum part and you're like, wow, what is that? Yeah. Where do you see hangs going? Do you think there's only a few years left now? You just know Gavin, I fucking enjoy it. Just what does it say? Not really giving a fuck just to play. Play how it goes. See where we go. I just say, I'm happy just doing a few gigs a year. Whatever, you know, your stuff, these residues come off. There's not much else going on, you know, because he can't afford to have too many gigs. If you start ripping the off, trying to people start trying to do club nights every night, sort of thing every weekend, it'll just not happen because people can't afford to come out. It's not just the ticket prices, which, you know, the ticket prices are crazy now. We've got to think of drinks prices and getting the places. It's an expensive thing just to go to a night now. Yeah, you can fucking buy a haul of this on me for the price of the night out. Like, is it so right? Well, the judgment day, and then things in Newcastle, the tickets were only like eight or nine. You quit at the time. Yeah. There wasn't a bar. So you just drink water all night. So it was free. Free, you know, there was not really costing any money to get there. And it was in Newcastle City Center. So all the locals were basically bought and home afterwards. So that's a cheap night out. You couldn't be the man. Do you know what? All the people have spoke to you. I've never actually thought about it in that way. It was a cheap night back then. You know, just cause a ticket price, like for exactly what you said. These are the black drinks. I know it's fucking nice. I know it's frightening, man. I remember the Metro and Salco. It's fucking six sold pizza water for a pound. They shut the water off and the fucking toilets and all that. You're going, this is fucking crazy chat, man. This is mental. But that was probably a bit of desperation because nobody was buying any fucking drink. They needed to get money in there and draw that to them. Fuck, man. Because they've seen Joe making all the money for the tapes. So I just, I mean, rounding hangs up. You've got it off. So there's a good few gigs coming up. And it was for me. It was great. We went to that lindis farm. And I was looking up here. Couldn't see it. Then I spotted you in a dance floor, having a fucking time in your life. And honestly, I was just, it was probably to see because I totally get it. You know, you know, there we are. Messies in it. And it's now becoming a night out and a fun night out. And when you can make a gig, almost like a fucking night out, I think that makes it even more better. It takes a pressure off things than it. And it always has to, it always has to be, see, from the days of the early res, it used to surprise everybody because when main sneakily, I'd come off stage at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock, whatever. We didn't used to run and get the security to take the backstage and then go off and we're fucking to the whole telling a bus, whatever. We said just fucking claim over the barrier and fucking go wander in this ground. It just to joy yourself. To joy yourself. Just chat everybody and everybody like, "Oh, shaking your hands and getting, obviously, now it would be photos taken every two seconds." But back then it wasn't. So it was just all patterned. Just could crack, walk around, talk everybody. That was the sale was part of the night doing that, you know, used to love that. But you're just making something of it and it's no like, I like you're fucking rocking up down your own and then fucking off. And I think the punters really appreciate that, don't they? They can see, I mean, even for me, as a DJ, when I seen you enjoying yourself, I was just like, fucking, that's probably, you know, it was the local gig for me. I was fucking driving the next day. The table was probably tonned, but it was probably to see you just fucking enjoying yourself, you know, and you said to me, that's a fucking local gig and you'll just stop your old, it's not a stressor. I'm not going to drive you off an hour away from the house. You've got, yeah, I've got you. I finally talked to you in a day and like, I opened to close set up with Glasgow and I'm looking forward to that. And we've talked a bit of music and you as a DJ, you get the challenge and you're looking forward to that just to be able to play what you want all night. I, I mean, when I used to do the rest of the new Castle East, I have the side room, which was called the escape room. Nice to do the warm-up sit in the main room and then go back and do the side room. Well, days six, seven hours or whatever it was in the side room, playing techno acid jars. So whatever I wanted to play, I could play it in that back room kind of thing. And it was a sort of small audience, captive audience, they kick off in that big time. I mean, because you can just play anything and you know that all the people who are in there are going to appreciate whatever you play it doesn't matter. They're going to appreciate it. It's the same thing for me for this all to say thing. I know I can play whatever I want to play. Of course, mate. All those people who have come there to see me are going to appreciate whatever I play. So, you know, I can test new boundaries that I'm faced with that would never normally play in a rave night because I think well, you've got a lot of the appreciators. And that's why I think, as amazing about it. And bizarrely, a lot of DJs that have spoke to him asked, don't get that. And I know you get that. People are there to see and hear you. And it's no other that they're seeing hear you play fucking that one style all night. They're just there to celebrate. Use a DJ and they're on boat. They bought a ticket. They're on boat to whatever the fuck it is you want to play. Because they're having a good night regardless. I hope for a lot of the people who are going to buy all the tickets already are people who have been through the call scene who started in the early 90s and they've been through the sort of
the 2000s and the wind through the new gigs and they're still going out. So they're going to be in everything in the hood at all. I don't know, per se, man. It's going to be fucking mega. It's actually nearly sold it. You know, there's only a few tickets left, which is fucking brilliant. You know, you know, you know, you're selling a promote. Just they fucking sell something out before the gig. Just takes a nrb level of stress off. You're just like, I'm just full. I have an it's fucking paid. We just need a fucking switch of lights on and here we go. So it's going to be great. Um, you're, you're not doing the record label anymore in that. Again, your website, social media, you're not a year and about it. Is you? What? I'm just, it's one of those things is I'm typed for time and I've got to think about anything that I put my time into, which takes us away from me family. Yeah. Or whatever else I'm doing. Is it worth me time? So I'm thinking, doing tunes. I would love to. I'm getting asked all the time. You know, Tentatrans is really launched judgment day records and he's wanting to do an album him in Martin Glangeth. So they're doing a full bar album and something else is coming off. Alex is doing his own album, which is going to release on judgment day records, but he wanted to do a trap with me. Yeah. I'm seeing. Oh, yeah. Man, I've totally put it in the buzzer's fantastic, but I got the time in, am I getting anything out of this other than just put my name on a tracking and then and I'm going to do one with Alex, but you know, he keeps on saying, you should go into the studio. I would love to say, yeah, I've got ideas. We heed all the time going to the studio and put a four track around or something like that just for the buzzer doing it, but I haven't got the time to do it because I'd want to spend, you know, a good if you is thinking about it and putting it together, I wouldn't just rush it out and I haven't got that kind of time free anymore. If there was a bit near to the end of it, I'd say, it's worth my time. But if I'm just basically doing if I'm nothing, I'm thinking, you know, I can't really do it. I want to, the buzzer's there, but I just kind of day. I know, I totally get it and it's no way back in the day when you know you're going to sell X around the records and there's a wage at the end so you can justify. I do it like anything. I, it's a hard thing just juggling time in it. I totally, well wait, I'm sure. You know, I've got kids and stuff as well. You're always thinking, you know, I can't be away from home because I should be here. I 100%, I 100%, it just changes, changes everything. I've changed things for the better, but like you're saying, your time management, you need to think about it a lot more. But I just, I just make again, thanks for spending the time today. This because I know even we spoke about doing this fucking over and over trying to do that. I'm trying to get the time because I you were always saying, oh, I mean, you'd be half an hour. I was like, it's not going to be half an hour. It's going to be a couple of hours at least three hours. And I've got to find time when am I going to get three hours for either I do this way, you know. Yeah. Well, wait, I've had a blast chat. Yeah, I really appreciate the time you spent the day. And I'm sure all the punters appreciate the time that you've spent over the fucking years and the gigs that you do now. I mean, I used to, I used to, would you say, you know, DJ now or is a hobby? I mean, where are you mentally, be all this? You're just fucking enjoying, I don't like it. Wards in your mouth. But hardcore has been no, no, no, no, no, no, I don't, I told him because we're all fucking getting the second chance. But where are you, where are you now? We all mentally work. Just, I just go along with it, you know, it's, it's, it's, to me, if I'm doing a gig now, if I get asked to do a gig, like you say, Linda's fond thing, to me, it's like, am I getting a night out of it? Yeah. That take the missus, can I go on the train or have a lot of mate, the drivers, so I can just go get past, have a fucking dancer, but have a laugh. And how you get paid at the end of it as well? Fantastic. Yeah. Other than that, you know, I'm just, you know, just living life. Oh, that's great, man. Well, I said, thanks a lot for spending the time doing this fucking podcast. I really appreciate it, guy. And I look forward to seeing you at OTC, man, and I'm going to try and get this entity to knock out tomorrow or the next day or whatever. So I look forward to that. Get those last couple of tickets sold. Wait a minute. They're, they're, they're, they're, it's going to be, but I'll wait, man. And you're, you're going to enjoy it. I'll just need a fucking prepare myself for the drinks, but we'll end in a night. I'm sorry. I'm going to pace myself. I made people a little bit too early. Linda's phone. When you see this dancing, was that way? When you were on, was that when I was on? No, I think I remember the party I left the decks for a while. I was, I gave a slap, that was on. And I'm just fucking looking at the crowd. And I just seen your fucking head dancing away. And I just, and I took, I took a double take. And I said, it's that, and that's that fucking, but I'll just need to fucking, charging away. I was gutted because I actually missed out. I know you went to see, was that fucking band again? Oh, I, I went, I wanted to go and see them, but they put me in the fucking, the whole island and the tide came in and they couldn't come to get me and told the tide went out because it blocked the road. No, it's so the time I got there. I'd fucking missed the gig. So was it mega? I think a lot of people missed the many, because everybody was in the tent and it started really pissed down and they got too many people in the tent. So the security stopped people from coming into the tent. Oh, fuck. People didn't get to see them either, because they couldn't get into the tent. Oh, right. But it was a gravy phase. The first of the moment, the backers were standing at the ball. We went in to get drinks, so we were at the ball and the start holding it up, holding the bar. But I think we faced those like that again, because it was really kind of mixed crowd and all that as well, wasn't it? As one of the best gigs of ever, don't I be honest, I loved it. I love the vibe of it being a mixed crowd. I've been there everything. We mad tension playing different kind of music and all that. People say to me, afterwards, I love to be said, but they've never been, were they've never heard that kind of music before, because they're like reggae or whatever, dancing the way you know, and I'm like really? And they're like, yeah, they're totally amazing thingy thing, you know, but they're just in the music. I was in the music and the vibe and having a good dance about, you know what I mean? I don't know if you've even ever tried it. I tried down there. They've called it meat, which is here. I can't. I can't. I can't. But it's made it a honey and water. It's, it's, it's like a dessert wine, but no, sweet as a dessert wine. It's a bit fucking man. I did, it's just down the peel, but it's actually all right, because I was drinking it before I came in the guy who was serving it in a pub. He's like, that's a local drink feed down here. So I bought that and I bought a gin, took it up a road. But anyway, I'll let you go, mate. Thanks very much. I'll lend this to him. We'll get a wee chart before you go. Facebook, DG, my localy. I've been up for four days. I don't want to write in Rome anymore. Oh wow, that's something incredible.
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The podcast host, DJ Malochemey, announces upcoming gigs, including a New Year's Eve event in Glasgow and a Christmas family fund in Lock Hill Head.
The guest is Guy Neillin (BZG, Bass Generator), who discusses his lifelong connection to music, starting from being placed near a DJ box in his parents' pub as a baby.
As a child, he was fascinated by new music on jukeboxes and began collecting records, influenced by his mother buying disco albums.
He transitioned from BMX and breakdancing culture to DJing, starting by standing next to DJs in clubs and eventually getting short guest spots.
The shift to acid house and techno in the mid-1980s was a pivotal moment, changing his musical focus entirely.
Early club nights were niche, with few attendees, but gradually grew as house music gained popularity.
A DJ named Gary Manius gave him his first break, allowing him to play short sets, and later introduced him to underground scenes in Sheffield.
Summary:
In this episode, DJ Malochemey introduces guest Guy Neillin, also known as BZG or Bass Generator, who shares his journey into DJing. Guy's passion for music began at birth, as his parents ran pubs where he would lie near the DJ box as a baby. Growing up, he was drawn to new tunes on jukeboxes and started collecting records, with his mother buying him disco albums.
He immersed himself in BMX and breakdancing culture, sharing music between groups and buying vinyl from local stores. At 16, he frequented nightclubs, often standing beside the DJ box to identify tracks. A DJ named Gary Manius gave him his first opportunities, letting him play short sets.
The arrival of acid house in the mid-1980s was transformative, shifting his focus from electro and hip-hop to hard acid and techno. Early club nights were sparse, with only a few dedicated attendees, but interest grew over time. Guy also recalls taking Gary to underground clubs in Sheffield, which expanded their musical horizons and led to new sounds spreading in Newcastle.
The conversation highlights the importance of mentorship and shared passion in the early dance music scene.
FAQs
He was exposed to music from birth because his parents ran pubs with function rooms where Northern soul nights were held, and he would listen to the DJ as a baby.
He started collecting records around age 12 or 13, using a turntable in his bedroom, and built a collection of albums after his mom bought him disco compilations.
He began by standing near the DJ box in nightclubs, asking about tracks, and eventually got opportunities to play music when the DJ took breaks, leading to guest spots at age 17.
He moved from soul, funk, and jazz to electro and hip hop, and then was heavily influenced by acid house and early techno in the mid-80s.
He was part of BMX and breakdancing crews, and he shared electro and hip hop tapes between the groups, converting others to the music.
Gary gave him his first break by letting him play at the club, and the host later introduced Gary to harder house music from Sheffield, which expanded his style.
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