Been meaning to get this amended article onto the blog. It’s something I originally wrote back in 2003 for Grandslam magazine as a feature revolving around the release of 2 No Wave compilations at the time, one on the re-activated ZE label, the other on Soul Jazz. The piece was originally published under the title ‘When Punk Met Funk’. […]
Liverpool is on the cusp of something special. I firmly believe that the cogs are clicking into place and the connections are being made as we enter a new cycle in this unique city’s cultural quest. […]
Very sad to hear the news of club promoter Derren Smart’s untimely passing last weekend. Derren was someone I only got to know during recent years, initially when I appeared at his ‘A Night With…’ event, where I played for 8 hours on a memorable occasion at London’s Loft Studios in October 2012. I subsequently appeared at his Berlin equivalent ‘Eine Nacht Mit…’ at Kantine Am Berghain last December. […]
Texan born keyboardist Joe Sample, best known as a member of the pioneering Jazz-Funk ensemble The Crusaders, died last Friday aged 75. […]
It’s been a particularly hectic period for me – within the last 3 weeks I’ve been in Ibiza, and then Glastonbury, before heading over to Croatia for the Garden Festival, with a couple of further festival appearances in Holland (Down The Rabbit Hole) and Leicestershire (Noisily) slotted in for good measure. On the back of this came a special event right on my doorstep in Liverpool, at St Lukes, a once Anglican parish church originally built in the early 19th century, which, during the intensive German bombing raids on Liverpool in 1941 was hit by an incendiary device and reduced [...]
Glastonbury has become so important to me during the past 2 summers. My first appearances there weren’t until 2011, at which point my key festivals were undoubtedly Bestival and the Big Chill. However, with the demise of the latter, which left Bestival temporarily unchallenged, it’s going to be strange this year not to be over on the Isle Of Wight, having played the previous 8 Bestivals. I hope this is only a gap year, as one of the phrases I’ve heard most from people who I’ve chatted to at gigs down the years is ‘I first heard you play at [...]
I saw a story online yesterday that, given I have a teenage son myself, really struck a chord. Anne-Marie Cockburn, the mother of Oxford schoolgirl Martha Fernback, who died last summer, aged 15, having taken half a gram of MDMA powder, issued a statement following the inquest this week claiming that the criminalisation of drugs was a contributory factor in her daughter’s death, and that the drug education she received in school, rather than helping her make informed decisions, only added to her vulnerability. […]
The summer / festival season kicks in for me this weekend with gigs in Preston, Bath, Bristol and London. It’s going to be a full-on summer, with festival appearances a-plenty, plus European dates in Ibiza, Croatia, Holland and Portugal. Hope to see you in a club, a warehouse, in a tent, or on a boat, even down a rabbit hole or some tunnels (Liverpool a week Saturday), not to mention a bombed out church (Liverpool again, this time in July). For regular updates and info, check my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DJGregWilson
Roger Eagle died 15 years ago today. For those who don’t know who I’m talking about, don’t bother looking for info about him on Wikipedia, for, somewhat unbelievably, he still has no entry – yet this guy should have statues in 2 cities for, suffice to say, without him, both Manchester and Liverpool’s cultural heritage would be substantially poorer. He was a musical maven that made so much happen in ’60s Manchester and ’70s Liverpool, before returning to Manchester in the ’80s. He was there, right in the midst of things, at a series of crucial moments spanning the eras [...]
Sometimes you share in an extra-special gathering that, even just a few days later, leaves you wondering ‘did that really happen?’ Such was the case with the Super Weird Substance Record Store Day event that was held at Dry Bar in Manchester last Saturday. […]
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