Showing articles tagged Music

My favourite song isn't exactly that deep or meaningful. It doesn't remind me of anyone. It isn't especially moving. And it doesn't bring up memories of sadness and lost love...

Mainly because my favourite song is 'You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)' by Dead or Alive. I first saw the video for this on 'Countdown' in the eighties and was immediately obsessed with the sound, lyrics, and energy of the track. The video has since been dismissed by DOA frontman Pete Burns as 'cheap' but I was in awe of it's 'glamour'.  From the first blurred shot of the mirrorball through to the pan up as Pete belts out the final refrain I wore out my VHS recording, playing it again and again, the drum machine distorting as I turned up the volume on our mono Rank Arena colour television as high as it would allow.

A couple of months later I went to the city in the school holidays and found the 12" vinyl with extended mixes, which I snapped up with some money kindly given to me by my grandmother.  Mum bought me a dark blue satin kimono and I'd re-enact the video in my bedroom, wearing black track pants and a matching t-shirt with the kimono over the top, complete with Mum-made pirate eyepatch with silver sequins glued to it.  All that was okay but I wasn't allowed the hairstyle so I made do with growing a long fringe and teasing it up as high as it would go with a comb and some hairspray.. thankfully no photos exist and I moved on to using the Thompson Twins for style inspiration before I hit high school.

'Spin Me' was produced in collaboration with famous UK producers Stock/Aitken/Waterman who had previously only had success with drag performer and John Waters muse Divine.  In biographies released by Stock and Waterman it's been mentioned that the band were very argumentative and didn't like the direction the song was taking until an all night mix session resulted in the version we know today.

At the time the most popular club/disco lights were the set of three 'traffic' colours - each colour reacting to a different frequency sound.  When testing mixes of 'Spin Me' in a club the producers realised that the large amount of percussion and cowbell caused these lights to go berserk, in turn creating more crowd excitement.  To make the final mix they brought all of these elements to the fore, creating a non-stop high energy sound that to me just makes the record.

The track has been remixed, covered and re-released too many times to mention and amassed over 500,000 single sales on it's original release.  

This is a shot of the DJ console I spent 10 years working from at Connections Nightclub - looking at it brings back so many amazing memories (I was even the one that painted it orange) and it also sums up my love affair with music over the past 33 years.  Now that I don't DJ that often (I'm in Cher-style retirement) I do all my mixing on my Mac but even without an audience to play to it's still something that brings me so much happiness.

I love this idea.  Without doubt I would like to switch with english music producer Richard X.  He brought the mash-up (putting the vocals of one song over the top of another song's music - creating an instantly recognisable yet completely different third track) into the mainstream and has since gone on to a successful and credible career as an electro-pop producer.

His album 'Richard X Presents His X-Factor Volume One' was released in 2003 and featured guest vocals from Liberty X, the Sugababes, Kelis, Caron Wheeler (Ex Soul II Soul vocalist), Tiga, Jarvis Cocker and Deborah Evans-Strickland (Singer for the Flying Lizards, best known for their 80's hit 'Money (That's What I Want)'.  There's not a dud track among them and the album as a whole is one of my all time favourites. 

More recently he's been remixing for artists like Goldfrapp, Gwen Stefani, Annie, Ciara, Depeche Mode, New Order and Dragonette, to name just a few and he uses 80's electronica as his main inspiration. 

I'd like to swap lives with him for one day and have access to all of his equipment, contacts and studio time.  Perfection!

I've really been looking forward to this challenge!

1) You Got The Love (Shapeshifters Remix) - The Source feat. Candi Staton. A little known remix from 2006 of the original classic.  Yes, we all love the fabulous cover by Florence and the Machine, but to my mind nothing surpasses the soulfulness of Candi Staton's original vocal. 

2) Royal T ((Riva Starr Mix) - Crookers feat. Róisín Murphy.  Oh how I love the sound of this woman's voice. For the uninitiated, Róisín (pronounced Ro-sheen) was one half of electronic duo Moloko (Sing It Back) and in 2005 moved on to a solo career. Here she performs guest vocals for Crookers, who had a giant club and chart hit with 'Day and Night' in 2009.

3) Tracey In My Room (Lazy Dog Bootleg Mix) - Everything But The Girl.  A laid back house remix of EBTG's hit 'Wrong', remixed by Ben Watt and released in 2001, five years after the original single.  This is a Sunday session favourite and is a mash up with a Soul Vision track.

4) Respectable - Mel & Kim. Just when I thought this playlist was a bit cool. Dang. Produced by notorious UK pop svengalis Stock, Aitken & Waterman (Kylie, Bananarama, Divine, Dead Or Alive) this track was released in 1987 and topped the charts in Australia and the UK.  I had the album 'F.L.M' on cassette could often be seen dancing about the spare room in a very manly fashion to this track.

5) Somewhere - Robbie Williams. A short interlude from his last studio album 'Reality Killed The Video Star'.  Can't say I've ever really listened to it. Which is quite good, because it seems to be a little bit completely shit.

6) The Fame (Glam As You Remix) - Lady GaGa.  Oh how very nice, the GaGa song I like the least. From the (originally) Japan-only release of 'The Remix', an album of ...remixes. *searches for something positive to say* The cover is quite nice. 

7) Smoke Machine - X-press 2. Back to cool again, thanks iPod! From two of my fave 90's house producers - Rocky and Diesel - this track from the album Muzikizum is a thundering tribal monster. Rawrrrrr. X-press 2 are also responsible for my favourite bootleg release of all time, featuring their track 'Muzikizum' mashed up with Missy Elliott's 'Get Ur Freak On'. Double Rawrrrr.

8) It's Not Right, But It's Okay (Thunderpuss Remix) - Whitney Houston.  If you were gay and went clubbing in the 90's SO many dancefloor stormers were remixed by the cheekily-named Thunderpuss. This was the track that really made them the go to team for bass-heavy, hands in the air stormers. This still sounds incredible on a big system and features a fantastic vocal from Ms Houston, just before she fell face down in a barrel of crack.

9) Spellbound - Rae and Christian feat. Veba.  YOU. NEED. THIS. TRACK.  It's soulful, laid back and beautiful.  No really, stop reading this and go listen to it. Perfection.

10) I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More (The Morales Mix) - Pet Shop Boys.  This remix reminds me of cold, rainy afternoons indoors and has what I've heard someone term once as 'a beautiful melancholy'.  The lyrics are heartbreaking and Neil Tennant's unique delivery suits the mood of the track perfectly. A++++++ Would Mope About The House To Again. 

Well, cool-ish and not as horrendous as I'd feared (there are some true horrors lurking on my iPod).  Most of these tracks are available on iTunes in Australia so check them out if you get a chance. Well, some of them anyway.

Here's a selection of the incredible people I've been lucky enough to meet through my work as a club DJ.  A lot of people assume you wouldn't forge close or worthwhile relationships working in Nightclubs but the opposite proved to be the case for me. 

This is one of my favourite shots. Taken at Connections Nightclub before the opening of a 'Studio 54' party.  That's me on the left, on the right my friend Mel.  She worked as a dancer and performer and is - as you can see here - absolutely stunning.  She graciously agreed to be pimped by me for this picture. Bitch still owes me 25% too. Don't MAKE me hit you with my RING HAND!

Another Connections pic, this time with my gorgeous friend Nicole.  She's always been so supportive of me and still comes to see me when I venture out of my cave to spin somewhere.  She's also been there for me more times than I can count and along with her partner Sean and our friend Brian is responsible for helping me get through some of the most difficult times of my life.  She also makes the most phenomenal Rocky Road I've ever had.  (Behind the scenes gossip - I was so drunk this night that just after this pic was taken I fell asleep upstairs in the DJ booth.  They left me there, locked up the club and went home, the lovely peeps. Oh and in case you're wondering, the alarm there is LOUD).

This is a pic from waaaay back in the mid 90's at one of my earliest gigs.  The beautiful redhead on the left is Kirsten, who always came to hear me play even though she hated clubs and was more into Marilyn Manson than the bouncy house music I played.  Note my pathetic attempt at a goatee coupled with home-bleached hair.  Pretty sure I thought I was in Ace of Base at the time.  Bless Kirsten for never mentioning my fashion faux pas. She now lives in Melbourne and no doubt still twitches should 'The Sign' come on the radio.

Another pic from Connections, this time taken during rehearsals for a show.  Because the DJ box was upstairs, for tech runs one of us would have to sit upstairs for hours on end pressing 'Play' on the show cd.  We didn't even have Twitter back in those days to amuse ourselves so it was torture.  Pictured to the right of me is Suell (short for SueEllen) who I originally met when she was dancing at a club I used to play at called 'Pink'.  She was dressed as a mini Kylie Minogue and was such an incredible dancer that I left the DJ box mid song to go and say hello.  Unfortunately at that time someone also decided to fall on the front of the console, knocking the needle skidding across the record and leaving 400 people standing there in silence while I yelled "YOU LOOK (record stops)...FUCKING HOT! Oh. Excuse me."  She spent the rest of the night taking the piss out of me and we became firm friends.  She has such an amazing heart and I don't know anyone that doesn't adore her.

Yet another Connections shot - up in the DJ box circa 2005.  To my left is 'Sheila Mann', drag diva extraordinaire.  I'm still close with her alter ego James to this day.  He has a sense of humour exactly like mine so almost every conversation is peppered with random observations and downright filth.  He's a trained dancer so his drag performances were always amazing and his style was incredible.  Combined with the amazing sets and dancers at the club it was often like watching a music video, only live. James was also around when I started to develop really bad anxiety and would make sure I kept my sense of humour about the situation while never making light of what I was going through.  

A more recent pic now, taken at the Court Hotel in 2009.  This shot always makes me laugh.  On the left is Chad, who I met through a mutual friend and ended up becoming close with over the summer of 09/10.  He always has so much energy and would come and hang out in the DJ box during my longer sets (4 hours plus) and we'd play with the crowd, set the strobe to 'Warning : Epilepsy' and make up ridiculous interpretive dance moves to the lyrics of songs.  'When Love Takes Over' was a particular favourite.  Chad is also my go-to date when I need a plus one for anything. 

Back to Connections in 2004 now.  Next to me is Gavin, who was Assistant Manager at the time, and is now the Manger.  He's hilarious, incredibly supportive and kept me sane throughout my 10 years at the club.  We used to run a Wednesday night together that each week changed theme to represent one of the Seven Deadly Sins. My favourite memory of those nights was the two of us on our hands and knees with buckets of warm soapy water and a scraper, trying to remove fake money we'd attached to the dance floor with spray glue earlier in the day.  By this time we'd both been working since 1pm, it was close to 5am and we were completely exhausted.  We were singing pop songs in a thick Irish accent, weakly scraping at those damn fake banknotes and laughing deliriously. We were so scared of the cleaners we stayed back until every last trace was removed.  We learned a valuable lesson and were a little less enthusiastic with decorating the room in subsequent weeks. And just so I can name drop, on the right isPrincess Julia, a DJ from London who was part of the 80's 'New Romantic' movement and was in the original video of 'Fade To Grey' by Visage. She played at a party called 'Bitch' with Mark Moore of S'Express.  My claim to fame is that they wanted to see my house, so we spent an afternoon there going through my record collection and I made them sandwiches. </bragging>.

I've already introduced you to my superstar DJ cousin Stuart (left) in my last 'pictures of your friends' post (Day Three - here) but I couldn't resist posting this shot of the two of us here - we were DJing together at a men-only dance party (I think it was called Manifold or something equally witty) and for some unknown reason I decided to dress as a policeman.  It was a pretty realistic uniform and I scared some of the patrons later in the night when I went to the bar to get us some drinks.  They practically ran.  I didn't take it personally though.  I mean, I cried but that was pretty normal! 

Happy - Nothing beats a sunny day spent driving around with MC Hammer's 'Can't Touch This' at high volume. At least one window needs to be down and there's bonus points if people in other cars smile at your car dancing technique.  Ultimate win is achieved if you pull up at a red light to coincide perfectly with 'Stop! HAMMER TIME!'.

Sad - I find a lot of beauty in melancholy and there's no song that reflects this better than Nina Simone's cover of Jacque Brel's 'Ne Me Quitte Pas'.  I first discovered this when it was used to great effect in a Pedro Almodovar film (Law Of Desire) and have loved it ever since. 

Bored - Eighties music.  Pure pop.  Ridiculous tracks like Toto Coelo's 'I Eat Cannibals' and Haysi Fantayzee's 'Shiny Shiny' with a bit of Duran Duran and Bananarama thrown in for good measure.  Also extremely good to clean to. 

Hyped - So much falls under this category.  Anything that provides an amazing memory or is filled with enough energy to match my mood. I've been lucky enough to get recordings of some of the major gigs I've DJ'd and remembering the crowd and the atmosphere while listening to them makes me bounce around the room like a deranged loon.

Mad - I don't have any particular track or genre that fits this. I found out my partner of two years was cheating on me around the time Madison Avenue's 'Who The Hell Are You' came out.  For about a year afterwards every time I saw him at one of the venues I played, on would come Madison Avenue.  Petty, but it certainly helped.  And yes, he did notice I was doing it.  Eventually. I never said i went for the smart ones. </bitterness>

Without a doubt the single most thing that has had the biggest impact on my life is music.

From a toddler listening to my Dad rehearse for his gigs as a guitarist in a local band to being given my first walkman aged 11 to later becoming a professional DJ, music has always been the constant in my life.

I grew up in a country town that boasted one rock oriented radio station and the only access to new music I had was a weekly dose of 'Countdown', an iconic TV show that thrilled me with live performances from Culture Club, Duran Duran, Haysi Fantayzee, Madonna, Bananarama, Dead or Alive, Thompson Twins and countless others.  I had a mono cassette recorder that I would hold up to the speaker so I could record my favourite tracks on a 60 minute tape in a slightly distorted and fuzzy format.  

These precious recordings would tide me over until a few weeks later when 'Blues '52' a local store that sold clothes (mainly jeans) and music would get in copies of the songs on 7" vinyl single. Then, for $1.99 I would be able to snap up the record, hopefully in a picture cover so I could pore over every detail as I listened to my prized new purchase through Dad's headphones on the stereo in my parent's lounge room.  

A new record bought on a Saturday morning would ensure I'd listen to it non stop until my parents called me to the dinner table that night (hence the headphones).  It was so important to me that I knew know every word, every note of the song as well as who produced and wrote it, I had to memorise every detail right down to who designed the cover art and which record label distributed the track.

When I turned 12 I found out about 12" singles - a record the same size as an album that played at 45rpm instead of 33 1/3rpm.  These usually contained three songs, with the main, or 'A' side featuring an extended version of the main track, plus a 'dub' and an album track, meaning I suddenly had an 8 - 10 minute version of the song as opposed to the to the comparatively puny 3 or 4 minutes on a 7" single.   I bought my first 12" record in 1986.  It was a copy of Bananarama's 'Venus' (no judgements, please) and I still have it, along with a few thousand others collected both privately and over a 17 year career as a club DJ.  I've got the same amount of CDs and over 24,000 Mp3s but my favourite format is still vinyl.

Nothing I've ever experienced has filled my heart with so much love, excitement and meaning as music and I've been lucky to be able to work with it for so many years.  It's helped me make friends, given me the opportunity to play to crowds as large as a two thousand people and to meet some of my industry idols, like Mark Moore (S'Express), Frankie Knuckles, Tiga, Martha Wash (from the Weather Girls, later the voice of C&C Music Factory and Black Box) and even the girls from Bananarama.

My love for music meant I could go to parties (something I always dreaded) because I'd be asked to Dj for the night and I could be in my own little corner, doing what I love and still get to celebrate the event that I would otherwise avoid because I've always been uncomfortable in social situations.

Music has truly helped me navigate my way through life and given me so much joy.  Nothing will ever come close. ♥