Monday 25 June 2012

Shine Leeds Warehouse 23-06-2012



Hey, thought I would add a new entry for June, its been great this week and as ever I have been so busy with music on many levels also the radio show at PickeringFM, speaking to lots of people from all over the world, spent less time on Face book this week I guess…...not.

That being all said, I have been seeing the efforts that Leeds promoter Micky Reilly and his team have been putting out with a night of Retro Classics including a Live PA from the mighty KKLASS feat BOBBI… after speaking to local Scratch DJ, Tyrone Mclaughlin, Mark Watson & Linda and Mark the Ledge Holliday, I thought I best pop along just to see what it was all about, I thought I’d take my camera and just soak it up.

Again as I have said in previous blog posts I tend to think that unless these are done very well, these nights can have very limited scope to the broader audience, me I love my cutting edge Techno & Progressive, something that has stayed with me from the early days of renaissance and the warehouse.



Having been clubbing since about ‘88/89 to the present day, the ethos is still the same, its about the Music, Soundsystem, DJ, and the crowd get that right and it will be packed to the rafters everytime. Having been to the Warehouse many, many times over the years I dunno what it is, but I just love this club, the people the atmosphere, even the Door staff are just happy people and I managed to have a chinwag with a few of them, at Shine if not to keep them awake and alert later in the evening.




After Arriving to meet Tyrone in Leeds, we had a coffee and a chat about many aspects of the music scene in Leeds and Europe and the night that would be, even having some sensible debate on Guetta and his achievements and downfalls… then off we went to the Club, Sound check was already underway and we met up with Micky and the crew and had a chat a beer & a laugh.

Earlier sets of the night in the main room I witnessed were Marc Osikka and Mark Alexander, both smashing it up in the main room, the dancefloor full and that Soundsystem proper is doing its job. Both focussed on their craft and serious about what they were delivering, real quality stuff.

Here is Mark Alexander in action on the 1210's


Marc Osikka seen here focussed and smashing up the main room.






As the night unfolded it was just insane, upstairs were Steve luigi & Mark Holliday and Carl Whitehead & Tyrone Mclaughlin they were on fire, Steve was all over the Vinyl’s and not having time to listen to his entire set, from what I heard it was floorless, Carl Whitehead also delivered a quality pumping session, see some of the footage I captured here, quality....








Here we had proper classics being played by an absolute Leeds legend DJ, I have to take my hat off to him, I would pitch this guy anywhere and against anyone on the 1210’s from the early daze, really enjoyed it, but not as much as he did… great to see this, and I have a lot of love for Steve both for his DJ productions & the countless records he has helped me purchase when I have been a little worse for wear over the years….;-)


Mark Holliday was whipping the people into frenzy with his set and his energy behind the decks, Mark would later Join Alistair Whitehead and KKLASS behind the deck in the main room later we caught up there and had a chat and a boogie

Coming downstairs from this the main room was packed and the bar area was over flowing with people buying drinks and dancing and having fun, smiles everywhere, it was so great to see so many people from the old daze and dedicated clubbers from around the UK.


I was now getting into the swing of things and taking plenty of photos and having a laugh and enjoying the non end of monstrous beats coming out of that funktion one Soundsystem….managed to hit the front stage just in time to see the live PA with BOBBI and KKLASS this was awesome, the crowd were really engrossed & focussed and She had them in her hand, everyone was involved here and it was indeed a focal point within the night (I am bound to say that coming from a DJ’s perspective)







That said KKLASS just seemed to play on and on…Russ Morgan was in his element and there certainly was a great atmosphere both out on the dance floor and behind the decks, lots of happy, happy faces everywhere.

After a while it was time to get upstairs for the Start of Tyrone’s set upstairs, so offski… Carl Whitehead is caning the decks and the room upstairs is buzzing once more, DJ Tyrone makes an entrance with something special and starts cutting up the 1210’s, again I could not stay for the whole session, but many people were asking and complementing on his style. This mixed with the classics and scratching made this a wonder to watch and listen, the opening two tracks and the intro was phenomenal 






By this time it was about 3am and I was asking who was up next in the main room, I was then informed that Alistair Whitehead had been involved in a car crash, but was still on his way too the gig. Luckily this was true and Alistair did turn up at about 3-3:30ish.




How he managed to play a set after that was beyond me, but he managed very well, also being constantly in demand by just about everyone in the building as soon as he arrived, naturally like a true pioneer he played his cards well and his mixing did not suffer and he executed some very big drops and soon the crowd were in awe and going mental…What a lovely fella, and a fantastic Professional



That set and just Alistair’s story ended up to be a classic Shakespeare story for me which made for just about every emotion one could ask for, both in the music and the events that night for him, however he was still all smiles and still very much alive & kicking by the end of his set, hard act to follow maybe..?
Alas for me......not……..



Last up to play was in my opinion technically the best delivery of the night which would be Mr Paul Murray steering the mothership home, this was simply a stunning display of precision and a smattering of brilliant DJ’ing the sequencing was fabulous and for me as I love my technology and new equiptment this delivered a very tight and flowing session this had to be technically the best of the night for me…Well done Paul….









Upon getting to my car at 06:30am I was shattered, but what an epic experience, can’t wait for the next Shine At leeds Warehouse, for me next will be another Epic adventure in Leeds this time at the VOX with Lee Softly (Blue Amazon) and the Mighty Mighty frikken Awesome man Ian Ossia for Unite, Lastime in the Same Place Both Ian Ossia & Dave Seaman Completely destroyed that back room, and I would not miss this for all the tea in China...



See you at the Front @the VOX..... this with out doubt will be the hottest ticket in the City of Leeds. Just to wet your whistle for the VOX in July, this is a clip from what happened lastime, with the Legend that is Ian Ossia




Friday 8 June 2012

Hard Times - Leeds Warehouse Queens Jubilee 03-06-2012




Well just recovering from yet another fantastic weekend in the Best city in the world Leeds, So I hear you giggle and mock, but I have to say if you missed it you missed out big time, here's why? I Rang Paul a while ago after the Renaissance gig at the VOX and told him this was on at the Warehouse, I remember all these nights from Back in the Day and as I have stated in Previous posts I am not into big retro nights as I feel that they are hard to recreate, it was a time and a space way back when in Mirfield, or as I remembered Camden Palace (London) and Glasgow I have travelled to Hardtimes, on the point of back in the good old days I do remember Leeds when Armand Van Helden's Witchdocktor [possessed mix] was on the platter - I was a little worse for ware - I looked to the dance floor MIXMAG had huge cameras with t'aud VHS cassettes in lol spinning and circling round the dance floor, I looked right folks were choking and bouncers were rushing over to the fire exit..

At a point in the record a fog horn goes off, I look at all the chaos, then look at everyone enjoying themselves on the dance floor, fire doors fling open I am grabbed and ushered outside, Apparently some buffoon put a CS gas tablet in an ash tray left a ciggie on it and left. folks were getting gassed lol. Well soon back inside and we carried on till the early morning.... needless to say first chance Steve luigi's record shop opened in the corn exchange I was in - looking somewhat spangled, I said I am after a toon ....something about a witch and a doctor.. £6 quid later it was in my bag and I was heading home... very special that track is for me, truly Awesome night, another time when HardTimes went to Glasgow I would witness a mad Glaswegian pull off Barbara Tuckers Wig... but that is a blog on its own...lol
a couple of months before the gig at Leeds I decided to do a little tribute session to get me in the mood, the memories of 1994/5 for me were awesome at Hardtimes.. below is the Mix for you to checkout :-)



So after a few radio shows and the hype of Hardtimes gathering momentum I eventually persuaded Paul to get some tickets, Young Hollie from Pickering who is an excellent clubbing partner also wanted some of this action, so I have two people going who are not that convinced right... Speaking also to Mark and his missus Linda and meeting up with many clubbers on FB and a fellow DJ Tyrone McLaughlin who has already played there arrives with with Nicole, Tamsin and her friends, through FB we decided to meet up at Distrikt - Euan Mitchell & Malcom we love Lewis's Den... We had Joked about a Flag as its the Queen's Jubilee and lo and behold Mark and Linda turn up with this bag containing the biggest flag ever... it was/is fantastic - I am now the proud owner of this legendary artifact.....

Malcom We Love Lewis @ Distrikt is in action right here alongside Euan Mitchell :-)


It was lovely to catch up with these guys finally, I have seen all their hard work that goes into their productions, we had a couple of drinks here, reason I was smiling so much was that I had 2 pints of Duvel...9% proper strong beer, I loved the atmosphere it was pumping, great music & upfront pressure :-)



So here is the Handy work of Linda & Mark Fantastic mates from Guisley in Leeds, absolutely fantastic people and as a couple, really looked after us, proper clubbing community people, this is how it should be... :-)



Me and Young Hollie having a magic moment, without her dazzling good looks and speed at technology I would not have got in cheers for sorting out my ticket sweetheart :-)



Here we are, Army Pal's and have stayed intouch ever since, Clubbing, Mixing, Technology & Fine music is the Glue that keeps us Dancing into the future, still got lots to do my lad! Love ya man! :-)



So we all piled down to the Warehouse it was a lovely evening quite warm summer evening! chatting to each other about the days of the Warehouse and who we had seen there etc..Gets to the queue we have a ticket issue, easily rectified in the end as the door staff were more brains than brawn tbh and we were pleasantly surprised at how swift they handled the situation and sorted it out, everywhere was clean including the toilets, a nice friendly atmosphere and a great crowd a mixture of young and old.

we soon got our dancing spot at the podium in the back corner over looking the decks and the dance floor, had a walk around and saw some old old faces, smiling bright and everyone was well up for this.. Have to say hats off to the Warehouse on this one, no trouble, even the big Muscle Monsta in the Pink T-shirt was in the zone and had a boogie with us!

So Jason Shaw is on the Decks and I started gathering footage with my Canon compact which captured some fantastic stuff, the majoriy of the footage can be found on You-tube here:



with this in mind and now being 40 year aud my ears are not what they used to be but I will say that the sound system in the Warehouse is second to none absolutely stunning sound, I would really love to play on it its on my list of things to do before I die (play at Warehouse) Check....lol anyway here is a little picture of it cos I am such a geek....



By this time I am being weaved into a dream by the Hardtimes DJ's what a fantastic night, just once again have to say a big thankyou to all the DJ's and the Boss Steve Raine for keeping this dream alive, We have Little Louie Vega next in the August Bank Holiday 26th 2012 and I can't wait.... Right I think that's about it but only to leave you with my favourite clip of the Gig at the Warehouse, which is simply staggering:-)

I hope you enjoy it, I sent it over to DJ's in the States such as John Julius Knight and Sheldon Prince, also got a lovely Reply from Morales saying how fantastic it was, and as I said it was such a fantastic Moment I sent the clip to A scottish Auntie of mine who lives in the US Ar Julie McKnight - Finally you getz it...hahahahaha onwards and upwards people, see you on the 26th at the front..... lets make this even better.... LEEDS I LOVE YOU.....XXX



So this is it for Hardtimes till August 26th for 19th Year Anniversary - I feel both a mix and a flag comming on strong, See you lot at the front, as an update I could not resist it and have mixed up a Hard Times Session for you all to Enjoy please feel free to Listen and share, see you on the August Bank-Holiday 26th :-)