Acieeed…Acieeed

The late 80’s…I loved that time. From 87 to 89 was a very good time for me or at least my Brain Synapses seem to recall! House was born!

Early to mid 80’s wasn’t all about Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet etc There was a sub culture…an underground movement…that went hand in hand with the ‘Break Dancing’ I used to do. Hip Hop had arrived and just to let you know, Hip Hop wasn’t a style of music, it was a culture, combining Music, Art and Dance, but one that fell for!

Rap was one of the main, core types of music around and of course, Electro music was a huge part of this also. Around 86, the music started to change, with the tempo slightly raised to a Disco Beat (120 bpm+) and when certain pieces of Musical Instruments (Synthesizers) became affordable…The whole scene was kicked off in the US (Chicago, New York) and changed my life!

I left School in 87 and went straight into Engineering…Yes, drilled holes in bits of Metal, but it’s here that I met two guys who both had the same idea and love of music that I did…Jasper and Gaz! We all wanted to be Dj’s and back then, dance music was rap, house, soul…hard to explain, but they weren’t separated as much as it is today.

A favourite early house tune for me:



For me though, it was House and when it started to appear…it was like nothing else. Really simple beats, up-tempo and had sounds on the tunes that I’d never heard before. Myself and the other 2 guys, each bought a Record Deck and a Mixer (which is a story in itself) and started teaching ourselves to DJ (Scratching and Mixing).

It kind of exploded in 86/87, because there were new types of synthesizers that came out that Musicians wanted (Digital) and they just got rid of their old pieces for next to nothing. These were then picked up by the pioneers of House…using machines that weren’t intended to be used in the way they were using them…for instance, 2 of the main Drum Machines at the time were the Roland TR-808 and TR-909…these didn’t sound anything like real drums and were intended for use by Guitar and Bass players to go out and gig with…they hated them!

House pioneers, picked up these ‘cast aside’ pieces of equipment and used them as the core of their sound, rather than trying to apologise for using them! These bits of kit are still used as the raw source of electronic music today!

Pic of me and my Mum, when I was 17!

Anyway, in 88 we each go our own bits of kit and one thing I also did…don’t laugh…As well as working in a Factory during the week, I worked in a Bingo Hall calling Bingo! Yep…I did...though I was going out with the Bosses daughter and got paid for 5 shifts instead of 4! What this allowed me to do though was spend my money on Vinyl and to get all the latest US imports…because at that time…UK house music was a bit dire! So every Saturday morning, I’d get a Taxi into town, jump on the Train to Birmingham and be sitting outside Don Christie’s Record shop, before the bloke had even opened up!

You see, he used to get a delivery of Imports on a Friday afternoon and sort them out when he was closed, ready for the weekend. Now, I was really bad at this, but as there might only be a handful of Imports in the whole Country, the shop might only have 2 copies of a tune…if it was a good tune…I used to buy both! Just so, nobody else could have it for that week!

Back to Coventry on the Train, clutching my prized 12 inch’s under my arm…you know…I’ve just had a Flashback of the bag it they used to come in…lol. Once in Cov, it was off to ‘The Three Tuns’ Pub and I’d got to know the Dj there. Here, he would play out my tunes over the PA and I’d see who was ‘bopping’ to them…Bare in mind, this was quite a normal Pub…and here was this complete underground House blaring out…quite funny when I think of it.

The drinking laws changed and Coventry was one of the places to trial 12 hour drinking…before, the pubs shut at 2 in the afternoon. There was a ’fun pub’ in Cov (The Tally Ho) that opened in the afternoon from 1 until 4 and myself and the rest of the guys started to go.

Now, the Dj there (Shane) was playing chart music…all commercial crap that we hated and there was probably about 20 or 30 people in there (upstairs). We got chatting to him and I’d just got my Vinyl for the day and asked “Will you play them?” He was a sound bloke and did...then an empty dance floor started to fill!

He asked me to buy him the same tunes, but they were quite rare, so I made a profit on top...think I charged him £50 for 3 tunes, that cost me £15…lol Got him his tunes the following week and I’d just bought a load more, which he loved and I asked him if we could bring down our Mixer and have a go the following week? “Sure, no problem”.

All 3 of us practiced all week and got a few mixes sorted out and there I went on Saturday morning, with a ton of Vinyl and my mixer. Jasper turned up with some tunes and another deck (they only had 2 at the Pub) and we set up. I have to say the first time was one of the best times i've ever had. We were droppin' underground House, rap...scratchin' over tunes...the place went mad.

Shane was happy, 'cause he was getting paid and doing his favourite thing...chattin' up the girls, but for us...you can't describe it...playing all your latest tunes, scratchin', mixin' and it was loud as foook! ;-) After that first afternoon, nobody in the place wanted it to stop...we had massive beams on our faces, but unfortunately I'd drank quite a few Diamond Whites and smoked...err...a few things...came home and slept for 36 hours...my Mum can tell you about that (blush).

It then became a permanent fixture every week and in the space of a month, we changed the place from 30 people on a Saturday afternoon, to a place where they had to turn people away...200+...serious! We ended up getting Dj's from London coming up and doing 30 min spots...it was mental...and one the best times of my life...so far ;-)