Merseyside

Cosmic Trigger Weekend

First up I have to say that fortune favours the brave, and Daisy Eris Campbell and her brilliant cast and production crew are destined, I’ve no doubt, to really make their mark via ‘Cosmic Trigger’, a bold adaptation of the Robert Anton Wilson book. Hugely ambitious in its scope, the 4 hour play now moves to London where there’ll be performances at LOST Theatre in SW8, kicking off tonight and running through until Saturday – needless to say that it’s highly recommended. The backstory to all this can be accessed via ‘The Gateway Drug’, which you can read here: https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/2014/11/the-gateway-drug/ [...]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:44+00:00November 26, 2014|Books, DJ Appearances, Merseyside, Misc, Psychedelia, Super Weird Substance|3 Comments

Roger Eagle Remembered

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 [...]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:45+00:00May 4, 2014|Black Culture, DJ / Club Culture, Manchester, Merseyside, The Eighties, The Seventies, The Sixties|5 Comments

Life Begins At 40 – DJ Derek Kaye Man And Boy

40 years ago, you could go into a club and have no idea where the DJ was, let alone who they were. Often set out of the way in some dark corner, the DJ booth was generally crude and cramped, whilst the sound system reflected this lack of attention to what most people nowadays agree is the most important aspect of all when it comes to a club space – how the music sounds, and the way in which it’s presented. […]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:46+00:00November 29, 2013|DJ / Club Culture, Merseyside, The Eighties, The Nineties, The Seventies|10 Comments

Living To Music – The Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’

ARTIST: THE BEATLES ALBUM: SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND LABEL: PARLOPHONE YEAR: 1967 This Sunday (January 6th) at 9pm, you’re invited to share a listening session with some likeminded souls, wherever you might be. This can be experienced either alone or communally, and you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home to participate. If it’s not possible to make the allotted time, hopefully you can join in at your convenience at some point during the following weeks. See update here: https://blog.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/07/living-to-music-update-july-2012/ […]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:50+00:00January 3, 2013|Living To Music, Merseyside, Psychedelia, The Beatles, The Sixties|14 Comments

The Monastic Mix

It’s my 200th blog post, so, in contrast to my 100th post, which was about the club where, as I’ve previously stated, ‘I experienced my greatest DJ highs’, Legend in Manchester, this time I wanted to to share something that symbolises a time when the garden wasn’t so rosy, and I was struggling with life, both externally and internally. ‘The Monastic Mix’, from 1996, was a much needed catharsis for me, both an ending and a fresh starting point – it was the last mix I ever tape edited, putting it together on my original Revox B77 reel-to-reel, which I’d [...]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:50+00:00November 24, 2012|DJ / Club Culture, DJ Appearances, Hear, Merseyside, Mixes, The Nineties|5 Comments

Their Name Liveth For Evermore

On October 5th 1962 the first single by The Beatles, ‘Love Me Do’ c/w ‘P.S. I Love You’, was released in the UK on the Parlophone label. Principally written by Paul McCartney a few years earlier, when he was 16 (John Lennon added the middle-eight), and based around 3 chords, it was the first of a run of 3 singles that featured John Lennon on harmonica – the others being ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘From Me To You’, both released the following year (the instrument, a signature of the early Beatles sound, was retired by Lennon 1965). The harmonica used [...]

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:51+00:00October 5, 2012|Merseyside, The Beatles, The Sixties|3 Comments

Sit Down! Listen To This!

Whilst DJ obsessives in this country could tell you the minutia with regards to New York’s celebrated club culture of the 70’s, I’m often surprised to find that they know precious little about what was happening here in the UK at the same time David Mancuso, Nicky Siano, Larry Levan and the other NY legends of the 70’s were bringing Disco to the fore. Maybe they think that there wasn’t much happening here, and that UK DJ’s were simply following the US lead, whilst, to the contrary, nothing could be further from the truth – go back into the 70’s, before Disco hit its stride, and you’ll find hugely influential figures including Ian Levine, Colin Curtis and Les Spaine in the North, Chris Hill, Bob Jones and George Power in the South – DJ’s with a wealth of knowledge between them, who made their mark on popular culture here at root level. These are giants, upon the shoulders of which subsequent generations of British DJ’s stand, whether they know it or not.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:53+00:00August 21, 2012|Black Culture, Books, DJ / Club Culture, Manchester, Merseyside, Read, The Eighties, The Seventies, The Sixties|23 Comments

Living To Music – The Stone Roses ‘The Stone Roses’

As we enter 2012 I thought this would be the ideal Living To Music choice to kick off the year, especially given that the first Sunday in January is also the first day of a new year. This highly acclaimed and much-loved 1989 LP, which perfectly caught the mood of the times, provides us with the opportunity to re-visit the past, whilst looking ahead to the summer. When an announcement was made earlier this year, that The Stone Roses are to re-form for 2 shows at Manchester’s Heaton Park in June 2012 (with a 3rd later added), there was genuine intrigue and anticipation. This wasn’t a case of another comeback cash-in, but something more symbolic. If ever there was a band with unfinished business to accomplish, it’s The Stone Roses.

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:56+00:00December 21, 2011|Art & Design, CD’s / Digital, DJ / Club Culture, DJ Appearances, Hear, Living To Music, Manchester, Merseyside, Photography, Psychedelia, Records, The Beatles, The Eighties, The Nineties|20 Comments

My Favourite Number 1

Without ever properly considering this question I’ve heard myself instinctively tell people, on more than one occasion, that mine is ‘Double Barrel’ by Dave & Ansil Collins, which claimed the top spot on the UK chart for 2 weeks in May 1971, when I was 11. Like everyone else, I assumed Dave & Ansil were brothers, but Dave was Dave Barker, who’d had previous success in Jamaica as a solo artist working with the great producer Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. For ‘Double Barrel’ he’d been brought into the studio by another producer, Winston Riley, and asked to add a talking voice to Ansil’s backing track (Ansil was really Ansell, also sometimes credited as Ansel – I’ll stick to the spelling on the single I owned). Dave was encouraged, as he told Lloyd Bradley in ‘Bass Culture’, to “t’ink big like some big giant man. Like Hercules or James Bond, Double-O-Seven, or somet’ing”. Taking up the challenge he toasted the unforgettable line “I am the magnificent, I'm backed by the shack of a soul boss most turnin' stormin' sound o'soul…”

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:57+00:00October 21, 2011|Black Culture, Hear, Merseyside, My First / My Favourite, Records, The Seventies, The Sixties|4 Comments

Astrid And The Exis

Stayed in a mad hotel last Friday, the Karim Rashid designed Nhow in Berlin. If you like pink, then this is the place for you – it’s literally everywhere. Not really my cup of tea, all a bit garish and, as someone put it ‘Barbie girl in a Barbie world’, but certainly somewhere you’re not going to forget in a hurry. Described as a ‘music and lifestyle hotel’, you can have guitars and keyboards delivered to your room, and the upper section of the building houses two recording studios, which are run by the company that manage Berlin’s legendary Hansa studio (best known for David Bowie and Iggy Pop’s patronage in 1977 - ‘Heroes’ and ‘Lust For Life’, both recorded there, and ‘Low’ and ‘The Idiot’ partly recorded).

By Greg Wilson|2025-04-07T10:37:58+00:00September 22, 2011|Art & Design, Film, Merseyside, Photography, The Beatles, The Sixties|1 Comment

Previous 123 Next

2026 DJ DATES:

31.12 Todmorden – NYE @ The Golden Lion

17.01 Belfast – The Deer’s Head

23.01 Bristol – Lost Horizon

05.02 New York – Jeans

07.02 Upstate New York – Disco Chalet

13.02 Los Angeles – Spotlight

14.02 San Francisco – Great Northern

21.02 London – Fac 51 Haçienda @ Drumsheds

06.03 Brussels – C12 Brussels

08.03 Bognor Regis – Bugged Out

21.03 Leeds – Downtown Disco @ Archive

03.04 Carlisle – The Brickyard

04.04 Dewsbury – The Terrace

05.04 Liverpool – Gloria’s

18.04 Margate – Margate Arts Club

19.04 London – Jazz Cafe

24.04 Manchester – Manchester Cathedral

02.05 London – Disco Disco @ Queens Yard

16.05 Bristol – Where We Belong Festival

23.05 Hastings – The Print Works

30.05 Steyning – Steyning Festival

12.06 Stockport – Moovin Festival

20.06 Newcastle – Frate

27.06 Penzance – Golowan Festival

11.07 London – Brixton Freight Island

26.07 Manchester Freight Island

26.07 Hertfordshire – Campo Sanchez

31.07 Oxfordshire – Wilderness Festival

15.08 Newcastle- E-Soul Cultura @ Freight Island

15.08 Warrington- Brickhaus

18.08 Ibiza- 528

23.08 Dorset- We Out Here Festival

04.09 Lindisfarne Festival

05.09 Battle – Crafted @ Powdermills

10.09 Winchester – Mucky Weekender

I’m a DJ from Merseyside. I started out in 1975, but stopped for almost 20 years, between 1984 and the end of 2003, at which point I started again.

One night during the period I wasn’t deejaying, turning off my mind, relaxing, and floating downstream I had what might be termed a moment of clarity. Paradoxically, although I was no longer a DJ in the literal sense I suddenly became aware that I’d never actually stopped being a DJ, for even if I was in a room with just one person I couldn’t help but ask them ‘have you heard this?’, and not only ‘heard’, but ‘have you seen this / read this?’, for it goes beyond music. Already taken somewhat aback by this nugget of self-discovery, I realised, in true eureka style, that this all pre-dates my being a DJ and goes back as far as I can remember – I’ve always had an inherent need to share, it’s absolutely central to my nature. This was quite a revelation.

So it’s no wonder that I became a Disc Jockey, for once I fell in love with those circular pieces of magical plastic during my formative years, it wasn’t a matter of choosing this as a path, the path pretty much chose me.

I don’t intend this to be a DJ blog as such, but more a blog by someone who happens to be a DJ – a place where personal emphasis takes precedence over professional, although, as I’ve already explained, the two aspects are, of course, inescapably entwined.

If you want info about my DJ appearances, email greg@gregwilson.co.uk for regular updates.

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Calendar