How do you rate the Liverpool clubbing landscape these days?

Liverpool is really on the up. In a few years I feel it will be coming to the boil again. It had major problems in the 80’s when upfront black music was pretty much driven out of the city centre clubs following the riots. Sadly, these were pretty racist times and Liverpool suffered as a consequence. At the same time Manchester, with a far more cosmopolitan attitude, was forging ahead, and would become one of the most important places in the world when it came to the evolution of dance culture.

What people forget is that the Liverpool music scene owes a huge debt to black music. The whole Merseybeat thing of the early 60’s was built on mainly white musicians in the city unearthing records from black American artists (or white American artists influenced by their black contemporaries) and performing these tracks live. This is what gave Liverpool its edge and produced The Beatles and the other bands from the city that changed the entire landscape of not only British music, but music worldwide.

I seriously believe there should be statues of Little Richard and Chuck Berry in the Albert Dock, facing towards the Mersey in recognition of the role played by black artists in bringing Liverpool’s music scene into focus.

In the 70’s the soundtrack of the Liverpool clubs was based around Funk – Northern Soul never gained a foothold in the city – and there was a really vibrant club scene, but, apart from a few pockets of resistance, the city was more or less devoid of Funk following the riots, with only the more commercial black music being played in the city centre, setting the city back years in comparison to what was happening in Manchester. This is something it still hasn’t fully recovered from in my opinion.

When did everything come together perfectly for you?

Easy – Legend in Manchester circa 82/83. This was as good as it gets for a DJ like me who aspired to be a black music specialist.

In 1976 I went to The Timepiece in Liverpool, one of Britain’s greatest black music clubs of the 70’s, with Les Spaine a truly inspirational DJ who had the full respect of all the other Merseyside DJ’s. This made a huge impression on me and I set myself an aim, there and then, to one day work in a similar environment, playing the most cutting-edge black music to a similar type of crowd, mainly black kids who absolutely knew their stuff and included some truly incredible dancers (even the average dancers were pretty damn special). Legend was the fulfilment of this dream for me.

I recently interviewed Les for Tate Liverpool’s L8 at Tate. It was part of the Tate’s Afro Modern season and, following the interview, Les deejayed to a highly appreciative audience in the gallery’s foyer. It was his first time behind the decks in many years, so this was a rare treat. cont…