An indication of my music tastes and clubbing experiences
Music
I love music. I love the power it can have over me. Whether it's a trance track that has been bouncing around the bedroom while I'm ironing, a rock song that has me singing with all my heart in the car or a film score that makes me melancholic when I'm dozing in bed.
Isn't music great the way you can hear something for the first time and a collection of notes, a sequence of sounds or a chorus of words can stop you in your tracks and/or rock you to your very core. How something in the lyrics or melody strikes a chord and from nowhere you can find your eyes welling up, your hair standing on end or a wave of euphoria come racing up your throat in a croaky 'yeah'.
The first time I got the Edward Scissorhands album and ice dance came on I just started crying and couldn't eat the tea I'd just prepared, the first time I heard watermark on Enya's album it has a similar powerful effect, when I heard the delicate sounds of the piano from the Indecent Proposal soundtrack I wanted to imagine how much I'd like to be listening to this with my arms wrapped round someone special, the first time I heard Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day and listened to the words " I walk this lonely road, the only one that I have ever known, don't know where it goes but I'm the only one and I walk alone" it struck a huge chord with me and I've just bought the soundtrack of the Butterfly Effect and listening to the piece that plays at the end when Evan makes the ultimate sacrifice and you see the payoff of his actions just brings a lump to my throat.
They might not evoke a sudden forgotten moment or a feeling of connection but there are some trance tracks that I've got (Sweetest Dreams by Corderoy is one) where they have these great breakdowns in the middle. They make me wish I had been in a club dancing close to girl all night but yet just as that mellow, synth piece comes on I could step over and without saying any words but conveying everything in our eyes cup her face for a long and passionate kiss. See, they even have the power to make my imagination soar!
When music makes you want to do something noble
I love the power music has to affect my emotions. Naturally the easier side to identify with is the part that makes me happier and prone to jumping around dancing or playing air guitar. Yet I find the greatest power comes from the quiet, gentle pieces normally found in movie soundtracks. A piece of music that makes me want to do something brave, honourable or sacrificial that will define my life. Almost as if when the time came to step up and be a man or make a sacrifice that this music would be playing in my mind, inspiring and urging me on.
It's like the tune gives me a brief glimpse of the man I'd want to be and that all the years of boredom, banality and amounting to nothing could be removed and the chance to be memorable taken if you could fulfil the actions of where that piece of music takes you. Without sounding morbid it's as if you had the music playing in your mind you would be able to act with greater conviction, doing something worthwhile for others and maybe find an inner peace before slipping off. Pieces that have taken me to this elevated and slightly melancholic place would be tracks from Crash, For all Mankind, Lost, Green Mile, Butterfly Effect etc.
My music taste is hugely varied and eclectic. I can’t stand music fascists / snobs who only listen to music that is considered to be hip, cool and right. Music is music, how can it be right and wrong?
Music is about personal taste and the individual finding something they like or identify with in the song, tune or lyrics. Who can determine what is good and bad. Yes you can highlight what is a badly produced song or bad singing but if the song is well produced then who can say that a Stock, Aitkin and Waterman track is better or worse than the latest Kasabian track? For me if the tune is good, if fills a hole, elicits an emotional reaction (happy, sad) or a physical one (dancing) then job done and I like it.
As a child I was brought up listening to Abba, Boney M, Roger Whittaker and other tracks through the 70’s. There weren’t as many distractions in that time and no i-pods, Xbox’s, personal stereos or portable TV’s to keep the children locked away in their rooms. Hence if my parents listened to music at home or in the car then I was growing up with it. To this end I was closer to my mum (aren’t most boys) and it was her music I mainly listened to, especially when she got divorced and gained hero status in my eyes for being a mum, dad and big sister. She enjoyed music and in turn so did.
I always liked Abba for the way they matured as songwriters and their music seemed to grow as the public did with them. Obviously I was too young to understand the meanings behind some of their later songs but as mum was going through the divorce I could tell she was listening to them more. Now that I’m older I can appreciate the brilliance behind their music and although being a pop group they progressed from happy songs (dancing queen, ring/ring) through to coupley songs (chiquitita, one man / one woman, name of the game) to break-up songs (one of us, winner takes it all). All done at the pace that relationships come and go and with fantastic tunes and lyrics. A truly great band and probably one that has provided the most consistent joy for me in the way that maybe the Beatles did to the previous generation.
Mum met a new guy, who later became my step dad, and he liked The Carpenters who again became a stable part of what we listened to when out driving along with the occasional Barbara Dickson. Meanwhile I toyed with classics. Hooked on classics performing its namesake task and getting me into them. The first album I ever bought was Adam and the Ants, my only real stab at rebellion and my first live performance was ‘pass the dutchie’ at an infant school disco when I was in junior school! I was aware of the charts and heard the songs but few things seemed worthy of using my limited funds whereas I became more connected with the instrumentals of Jean Michel Jarre (saw him at docklands) and Tangerine Dream.
As I got older I used to listen to endless version of mellow madness and I remember Chiltern FM with Adrian Love having a great couple of late night slots where I would listen with headphones to peoples love stories and related choice of songs. I seemed to forever be compiling the latest, all encompassing and definitive love song tapes with an assortment of breathtaking names 'The love zone' and 'Mellow moments' to name a few. Tapes eh! Spent a lifetime ensuring I got the best quality to offer the best noise reductions, amazing.
I wasn’t particularly daring or quick onto any particular scenes but the first proper dj mixed dance album I heard was Reactivate 10, back in 1995 although it seems earlier than that. I bought it and it blew me away particularly Lost in Love by Legend B and Access by DJ Misjah, which even now rank as all time faves. I’d been aware of the booming rave scene but I’d not liked the music or image of the scene whereas this nu-nrg stuff seemed to offer the electronica of Jarre mixed with a kicking beat. I loved it and my next album was Sherbet mixed by Pete Wardman where I got my first taste of Tony de Vit with his Burning Up track. The only trouble was that I enjoyed the music but didn’t know the scene and my friends weren’t into and hence I couldn’t go clubbing etc as I didn’t have the confidence to go on my own. I will explain more in clubbing but suffice to say I didn’t let go of the scene and followed it through to nowadays enjoying a lot of Tidy stuff and mixes by Guyver and Proteus. His music is as fast I would go, yet to me it still a tune running through the music that you can hook onto.
I enjoy rock liking Bon Jovi (seen them three times in concert, Astoria, Wembley arena and stadium and this was prob the biggest rock band in my late teens and early 20's), Guns ‘n’ Roses, Def Leppard and even up to Marilyn Manson, which is particularly good when in a bad mood.
I love 70’s and 80’s purely because it’s good fun to dance to and evokes some great memories. It's music that doesn't take itself too seriously and is therefore perfect when you want to just let go, kick off those shoes and enjoy yourself. Drop let’s hear it for the boy or footloose on the deck and I’ll go ballistic on the dance floor. Not in that I think I’m a great dancer but just that I like to let my hair down and go mad.
I also like some rap and this is mainly down to my brother for getting me into Eminem, Obie Trice, some Tupac etc. Apparently I’m not a fan of rap until I own an album by a black rapper so I own Obie Trice’s cheers. His song Hoodrats is a great tune especially if feeling pissed off with women and then I also like to play superman.
My enjoyment for classics grew into a real passion for films scores whether it be the works of Williams, Zimmer, Horner or Barry. I love my films and the scores are such an important factor when contributing to the films overall effect. I won quite a few and am quite good at now picking out who did the films score. Not due to a amazing mermory but purely because you learn the subtle tunes and instruments that particular composers like to use.
So as you can see quite a wide taste which would probably had been easier to sum up by saying what I don’t like which is mainly Jazz, R’n’B and garage.
Fav dance song. Lost in love, my lovin, music is moving
Fav dance album. The Hellfire club - Proteus (I've bought quite a few dance albums before and after a year of listening this is still the best and freshest one)
Fav rock song. Here I go again, Wanted dead or alive, Animal
Fav rock album. The Vault - Def Leppard. (what a collection of tracks)
Fav Abba song. One man, one woman
Fav Carpenter song. Masquerade.
Fav Boney M song. Sunny
Fav Eagles song. Desperado
Fav Pink Floyd song. Comfortably numb (live. I know that sounds oh so pretentious but it really is special)
Fav Marilyn Manson song. Tainted love (cover)
Fav 70's song. Music by John Miles, Free Bird is an extremely close second.
Fav 80s dance song. Let’s hear it for the boy - Denise Williams.
Fav love songs. How deep is your love, Power of love (FGTH)
Fav rap. Runnin, When the music stops, Superman
Fav rap album. The Eminem show - Eminem (top of his game before the quality began to drop)
Fav TV score. Cagney & Lacey, Magnum, Mike Hammer, Quantum Leap, Airwolf
Fav film score. Tought one as there are so many. Titanic, Last Samurai, Forrest Gump, Armageddon, Edward Scissorhands.
Fav foreign language song. Voyage, voyage - Desireless
Fav Jarre. Rendezvous 4
Fav karaoke number. Rhinestone cowboy. Circle of Life. Wonder of You. Coward of the County. When you are in love with a beautiful woman.
Clubbing
"In my heart I feel electric fire, coloured lights run through my veins. I see pleasure in a thousand eyes, I feel love inside my veins." - Remember this night, Kansai
This is what real clubbing means to me. It might sound pretentious and utopian in ideal but this is what I want to feel when I go proper clubbing.
I enjoy clubbing and for me a club is always a lot more exciting than a pub as there is a better, more spontaneous atmosphere. I don't dislike pubs but I look on them as a place to get drunk in before moving onto somewhere else. If I'm feeling the effects of the alcohol and haven't moved on I do get very itchy feet.
I basically enjoy dancing, whether it’s cheesy 70's and 80's or banging hard house, and just like to have fun. I always used to have this notion that although I might not be able to chat girls up at least if I looked like I was having a good time women might be interested. I also thought that if I can't rely on interacting with a female to have a good time, I could have a little drink or two and then cut some moves, with the requisite little scream and crotch grab when the right song came along then that would do nicely for a night out.
I think the first club I went to was a local one above a Co-op. I went when I was about 19 which was quite late on considering everyone else seemed to be going since they were about 16. I went along wearing a tie and a nice brown suit and must have looked a right treat! No matter though I had fun and from then on would always strive to be the first one on the dance floor amongst our gang and get the guys moving. Even if I was driving I looked at a night out with the boys as something that had to be grabbed with both hands and so dancing was always on the cards.
My confidence with girls though was always pretty poor. I'd rarely have the courage to go and chat up a girl and was useless at spotting a girl if she was giving me the eyes to go over. I never used to like the 'erection section' at the end of the evening when it seemed the girls surrounded the dance floor while the guys prowled around asking it seemed every other girl to dance. I used to think that if you did ask a girl, you could only ask one as that would appear rude if she said no and then you went and asked another.
Me and a friend, N, used to be great dancing buddies. Not that we rated ourselves but just that we really enjoyed showing off and being silly. We'd cut many a dance floor up with some hilarious moves particularly if it was 70's / 80's where we would know the words and could not only sing along but also do the obligatory movements i.e. SEE that girl, WATCH that scene, DIGGING the dancing QUEEN (the upper case words being where you would denote that with a hand gesture!)
As I hit my early 20's I began to become interested in dance music but my friends unfortunately weren't and thus chances to experience this kind of clubbing were frustratingly very limited. The first proper dance club I went to was Club
A few more years passed and then I discovered Strawberry Sundae at Cloud 9 in Vauxhall. This seemed to be more like what I'd wanted, though it always seemed that just when the kind of music I loved was starting to be played (around 3.00 pm) everyone would want to go home. All I really needed was just another person that was also into the scene but unfortunately they weren't or were busy with girlfriend commitments. At that point I wasn't comfortable going on my own. I went to a big event, I think a Godskitchen, in
I remember that place as well as there was this lovely girl dancing in front of me who had this blonde, bobbed haircut. She kept stepping back into my body space and I wasn't quite sure if she was doing it intentionally or just didn't realise. I ummed and ahhed about saying something but as usual chickened out and waited until I was leaving before telling her that she was the nicest girl I'd seen all night.
Another night I went with a friend to Strawberry Sundae when it moved to the Coliseum and this was one of my best ever nights of clubbing. My friend sat most of it out but I found myself in this corner with about 10 other raver's and we all just seemed to bond purely through the shared experience of dance. We didn't chat but by all smiling at each other and whooping at the same songs we all just seemed to unite together. I wasn't taking drugs and haven't (not that I have an issue with those that have) but I felt a real magic and empathy with those I was dancing with. It was great and when a good track would drop we all seemed to rise as one to try and make our dancing faster to keep up. When the night finished I remember hugging all of them and shaking hands etc. For making a connection with other people through a shared appreciation of the music and dance I've never had a better night's clubbing and is probably what I have compared subsequent clubbing nights out to.
After a few more years I got fed up trying to arrange others to come with me and decided that I would simply just go on my own to a club called Trinity at the Chunnel Club (hard house and trance). I got my hair spiked, coloured and glitter sprayed but even up until 9.30pm was undecided about going. I wanted to enjoy the music but walking into a place on your own was going to be hard I thought. I remember watching Parkinson while I debated what to do and Kirk Douglas was being interviewed. He'd had a stroke and even though he'd lost the ability to speak properly and hence had to re-learn how to, you could see that behind his disability he was as sharp as ever. Watching him proved really inspirational and I thought fuck it I'm just going to go. Up I drove, parked up and walked to join the queue on my own and still feeling very self conscious.
Trinity was a great place made up of two arches. One for Garage (not my scene) and the other for Hard house and trance (HHT). It wasn't particularly flash but the HHT arch wasn't pretentious and people just got on with dancing and having a great time. I felt like people were looking for about the first 1/2 hour (which of course they weren't) and then I thought sod it and started dancing. I had a brilliant night and although didn't make the same kind of connection with others as I had at strawberry sundae about 5 years previously, I really enjoyed myself. I danced until it closed and it was the first time that I'd entered a club in the dark of night and then staggered out into the brilliant sunshine. That morning was great, my first solo clubbing experience and I wandered over the road to the banks of the
When my brother hit 18 we went to a dance club called Smile, and had a really good time. It was good to try and open my brother’s eyes to that world and give him some of the experiences that I certainly didn't have at that age. We've also been to a couple of the Tidy weekenders. (Weekend long of raving at a Pontins). They've been good fun but the first time we went, which was just my brother and I, we did feel that everyone else seemed to know everyone else despite our efforts with our own designed laminate tags etc to try to encourage what is perceived to be a really friendly crowd to be a bit more approachable.
We did go to a summer weekender in 2004 with his two mates which is where the photo of me in the rave shirt (it's wicked) and the four of us in sombreros was taken. This was a better time as with four of us we were more as a group. Again we hardly seemed to speak to anyone but did get a lot of attention wandering around in our sombreros on the Saturday night. I also remember on that night one of the podium dancers actually coming down when her shift had finished to come and have a chat with us for about half an hour. She was a great dancer, with a lovely smile and a really switched on attitude. Amazing girl and it felt great that despite the numerous attentions that she got from others she came down and into the crowd to talk to us. Needless to say nothing else happened. I gave her my number saying that I'd love to take her out for a drink or meal but I never heard anything. Laura Anne was her name.
I've been to quite a few nights out in
Wow what a great night. I had been previously to the preceding HHA in Oct, which was good. This time seemed a little quieter though the guest list had sold out a week previously. This may well have been down to the weather, for it was very cold and wearing only a pair of shorts and a white sports vest and walking from the car, my nipples were practically cutting their way out of my top. The venue was still impressive with a cracking lighting set up and a good level of volume. Loud enough to ‘feel it’ but not too load to bust your ears. They also had Halo 2 available to play on the X Box stations, which is always nice to see.
As for the DJ’s, well they rocked. Being a bit more of an old timer and not being able to rely on drugs I didn’t want to peak too soon and burn out my energy before Lab 4 showed up. K90 was good and certainly got my foot tapping, Nu Idol also played some very good tunes but I did use his set as a chance to trek to the toilet and stock up on some red bull intake. I worked my way round to the centre left of the dance floor, my preferred place it would seem, and watched Steve Hill begin to mash it up. He was good and I started to build a little warmth in my legs. His set became harder and I began to step it up, all the while keeping a little something in reserve for what was to come. The lighting and lasers were excellent and bar the odd forceful nudge as someone hurried to the front, the exaggerated back stretches and tingly finger massages that some people (normally those that haven’t been dancing strenuously) carried out and the rather annoying collections of rucksacks on the floor, the atmosphere and audience was good.
The time had arrived and Lab began their start up. These boys truly rock and I pride myself on being able, just, to keep up with their music with my dancing. The lights where going wild, the music hammering into my soul and I loved it. Stomping up and down, chewing my gum wildly, grinning like a fool and arms either raised in the air for a breakdown or pumping out the tune I must have looked crazy. I felt the natural euphoria taking over me and couldn’t stop whooping at the relevant moments. I felt myself wanting to lift the others around me so we could all share this great feeling. A guy asked how many E’s I’d taken. None I said, just red bull and the music. I ripped that god dam dance floor apart and loved it. Lab 4 deserves it in my opinion. They deliver the goods to me in the form of banging tunes and in return I think I should respond by losing myself in the music.
They finished up and on came Proteus, who follows Lab beautifully. He eased us in gently with some cracking trance and although my legs briefly rested by slowing down he inspired us to push on. The tunes he dropped where even better with a great mix of classics and new material. He, like Lab, really gets into it and I backed him up to the hilt. There were some lovely trancey breakdowns and I did wish that I could have shared a passionate kiss or tender hug with one of the many lovely girls during these before launching back into the chaotic madness. At one point he scratched in time to candyman, which was brilliant. He finished and I thought ‘we’ll give the next guys (dj cally & juice) 10 mins before clearing out’ but surprisingly they were great. The music was harder but I liked it and so did my legs that happily carried on chugging out to the beat. They even brought out some old school break dancers who were great and very entertaining to watch. Although I normally like to power through and ‘beat’ a club I thought I’d given a good account of myself and decided to head off around 5.20.
A quick walk to the car and on to my favourite after club venue. The Blackheath tea hut. What bliss. A friendly greeting, proper cooked fresh food and all reasonably priced. Cheeseburger with a fried egg and onions and a cup of tea. Trust me, after a night of clubbing, with aching legs and a hungry belly munching down on a burger and a cup of tea as the first rays of sunshine come up over Shooters Hill and some chilled out music plays on the car hi fi is just great and the perfect wind down. Bravo to HHA, Lab 4 and Proteus. My fire for clubbing has been re-ignited and I can’t wait for the next proper night out.
I must go again a few more times this year. Of course I'm getting older which is a shame as it is a slightly younger aged scene but I can't help that I didn't get into it until I was older. I think I could really do with hooking up with some people who are also into the music but meeting anyone, particularly girls, at these places is nigh on impossible. I’ve only ever met 1 or 2 people from the Tidy board (a dance music website) so no fruit there, if you see a beautiful honey in a club she seems to already know absolutely every other person there and if you dared to speak to her she would probably respond with a ‘I don’t wear these clothes for your enjoyment’ and a girl smiling at you is no barometer of keenness as she could be happy and just innocently smiling at everyone. The chances of meeting someone normally and then them admitting that they love hard house and trance is even rarer which makes spotting lovely looking girls who know how to dance all the more frustrating.
Unfortunately the last HHA I went to in Oct last year was disappointing. The music was just too hard and didn't really seem to go anywhere. It seems that to hide the lack of invention the music got faster and the bass harder. I like the dj to take me on a journey and although I like the music hard (especially when dancing) I do like it to have a tune running through it with some good sounds, I almost want it to have a clear beginning, middle and end. I’d say for dancing my music ranges from Guyver to Proteus. Proteus is fast and hard but there is a tune and a mood running through his tracks and that to me is what that particular HHA was missing. I guess that's the thing with clubbing up town is that it can be a bit of a hit and miss thing and such if you have a bad night it can put you off making the same effort for a good few months.
So as you can see I pretty much like all types of clubbing and dancing whether it be cheese or banging house. I'm looking forward to more of both in 2006 and naturally I'll keep you informed of them.