Promoters In The Know – Word up from the guys and girls that got us through the doors in the first place. This week two belters. Geoff Oakes – the ‘Renaissance’ king-pin and the guy who put the style back into clubbing, plus Henry Blunt – a man from from Wales responsible for a delude of amazing events and the red country’s number one night – ‘Time Flies’.
Geoff Oakes talks…
Where did it all begin for Mr Oakes on the world dancefloor?
“The Hacienda towards the end of 1988. I lost myself there for a couple of years and then, as the guns moved in, moved on to Shelleys in Stoke… a bit surreal and almost too convenient having such a great club in your home town to be honest.”
Favourite ever Shelleys moment?
What – I’m supposed to actually remember? Call me an old romantic fool, but it has to be meeting my wife Joanna for the first time on the middle of the Shelleys dance floor. I’m sure some dodgy piano-house nasty was the musical backdrop to that moment! – but who cares”
Where did the inspiration for Renaissance begin?
“It probably came from a combination of influences from the Hacienda and my earlier clubbing years at the Wigan Casino. Also, I lived in a two bedroomed terraced house in Stoke at the time of Shelleys and held after-parties there that lasted for 3 or 4 days – every single weekend for about a year. A minimum of 40 or 50 people always turned up and Sasha would usually DJ for a couple of days non-stop. We turned it into a kind of members club with 2 or 3 rooms of music and all sorts of silliness that eventually drove our poor neighbours to sell up and move out…I seem to remember a particularly eventful visit from your goodself Mr Prince. It was during one of those ‘long-weekends’ that Sasha and I had a disjointed conversation about starting a club night. With Shelleys coming to an end, he was already looking for another residency and it made sense to do something together. Having seen the best and the worst of the Hacienda including the gang related problems that proved to be its eventual downfall, I decided upon Mansfield. The logic being that because it was so remote and unlikely a clubbing destination, it would be filled with people who had made an effort and really wanted to be there for the right reasons. It was one of the few clubs with an all-night licence at that time, so people were prepared to travel from all over the UK.”
Mansfield – weird place, great club…what was the record spun by a DJ when you thought, yes, this it!
“There was a whole soundtrack to that club which was epitomised by the ‘Renaissance The Mix Collection’ compilation. Choosing one record is almost impossible but ‘Age of Love’ always seems to take me straight back there whenever I hear it. To be honest, I had that ‘this is it’ moment pretty much every week because that place really was so special. From the first night to the last, it had that magical, ‘right place, right time’ feel about it that great clubs inevitably have…”
Number 1 Sasha and Diggers’ Renaissance moment?
“Given that there was a 10-year period when they didn’t play together at Renaissance, I’d have to choose one from the distant past and something more recent. Past? when they delivered the master copy of the Mix Collection CD – I had a copy biked to me the day I flew to Asia. The first time I heard it was sitting on a beach in Bali at night, spliff in hand…I’m a firm advocate of Timothy Leary’s ‘set and setting’ approach to experiences and got this one just about right. Present? Their hugely anticipated back to back set was the highlight of last year’s Wild in the Country. There’s still something special and unique about them playing together at a Renaissance gig and this proved it.”
Tell us about Pacha in Ibiza, what have been your highlights over the years?
“Our first summer at Pacha was 1996 and we hosted weekly Wednesdays for the next 4 years. Renaissance and Pacha seemed a great fit from the beginning and they gave us the freedom to put together the unique combination of really innovative decor and great music that became the Renaissance
trademark of that period. More recently, we’ve done 4 – 6 nights each summer there. This year’s dates featured Basement Jaxx, Sander Kleinenberg, Faithless, Trentemoller etc, and were as good as anything we’ve ever done at Pacha.”
How do you feel clubland is sitting at the moment?
“UK-wise, the opening of Matter is gong to create a lot of interest and I think London in general is pretty healthy, probably because of a shortage of club venues following the closure of The Cross, Canvas and Turnmills. Outside of London, UK cities have a cyclical clubbing calendar revolving around the college and uni terms and seem to have great autumn and winter periods but tend to drop off during the summer when the festivals pretty much take over. Parts of Europe are very strong clubbing markets, particularly Eastern Europe where we do a lot of shows in Russia, Serbia, Hungary etc.”
Best overseas Renaissance gig – and why?
“Currently, it has to be Moscow which we do monthly at a disused gasworks that’s been converted into a 1700 capacity club with a FunktionOne sound. It’s got a really credible, underground feel to it and the crowd really go for it. Historically, I’d say the first time we did Zouk in Singapore, we didn’t know
what to expect – particularly with the strict drug laws and experienced one of 2the best crowd responses I’ve ever witnessed in what is still one of the most beautiful clubs in the world.”
What’s in store in the future for Renaissance fans?
“We’re looking at a regular London night for 2009 to fill the void left by the closure of The Cross. More immediately, we have a night at ‘Matter’, Fabric’s incredible new venue on 27th September – headlined by Sasha. A monthly night in New York is also being planned and we’re staging in excess of 175 club nights worldwide and releasing 8 or 9 compilations each year.”
Next up, Henry Blunt speaks from the dancefloor…
Henry, you basically run the nightlife in Cardiff with Time Flies and put on some of the biggest DJs in the world. Where were you born and how did the musical journey begin for Wales number one…?
“The passport says I was born in Kingston-upon-Thames but I grew up in Worcester in the West Midlands. I formed a punk band in the early eighties and wrote all the tunes as well as promoting all the gigs, got a taste for the music business there and then. I’m a bit of a chip off the old block coz my old man Peter Blunt promoted the Bath Festival and various gigs at Oxford Uni in the early sixties – apparently he paid Peter Cook and Dudley Moore a pony to perform at the freshers ball. I then moved to Manchester in 1987 and lived, studied and worked there until 1992 – very lucky to experience and be a part of the whole Madchester vibe during that time. The biggest highlight was staging The Orb’s first gig outside of London in 1991 at the Manchester Poly – the guestlist read like a who’s-who of the northern baggy scene – Roses, Mondays, Inspirals, La’s, James, Northside, New Order, The Farm…another highlight was when Happy Mondays opened the HMV store I was working in. What a strange afternoon! I then moved to Cardiff in 1992 to work with another old Madchester pal Gareth Evans as Entertainments Managers of Cardiff University S.U. After a couple of months, I was given a tape by local DJ Dave Jones. We got chatting and started a club night called ‘Spice of Life’ at the Uni with guests like Clive Henry, Ashley Beedle and Paul Oakenfold. Time Flies was the next step from there.”
Tell us about Time Flies – I had one of the best nights of my life at the Cardiff City Hall with Graeme Park- what have been your highlights for one of clubland’s best brands
“All the City Hall nights were legendary – the best venue UK clubland has ever had. One’s that stick out in the memory are when Jeremy Healy turned up (late!) with two stunning six foot models on his arm – the crowd erupted as he walked into the room and then he took the roof off when he played his first tune. Tony De Vit was the biggest hero in South Wales by miles though – his sets are still talked about today – God bless him . Another highlight has to be when we sold out the 4000 capacity Ice Rink with Pete Tong, Seb Fontaine and Timo Maas as part of BBC Radio 1’s Sound City – the live Essential Mix broadcast put Cardiff clubland firmly on the map. Another was Paul Van Dyk playing Wales for the first time at Cardiff Emporium – an unbelievable night! On our tenth birthday in 2004 Time Flies sold out two venues in the city on the same night which was pretty spectacular. Plus, we’ve been involved in staging three big festivals in the Welsh capital.”
You spent time working in London working for Mixmag organising very large parties for the magazine, Radio 1, MTV and various club brands – give us some memories you’ll tell your grandchildren…
“The pace of life around that time was so fast and furious that you’ll forgive me if I can’t remember some parts. I think my grandchildren would have to be grown up for me to tell them any of the stories though! Staging the first all-night arena events on the south coast in Bournemouth and Brighton for ‘Slinky’ and on Tyneside with Shindig/Radio 1 were major landmarks. Getting to know Richard Carr and Scott & Scooby was cool. I remember driving down to Birmingham on the Sunday following the big Newcastle event to celebrate with Dan Prince, Cath Mackenzie and Lisa Lashes at…where else, Sundissential. Tall Paul was playing a blinder and Madders was doing his bit on the microphone infront of a club packed full of brummies in fancy dress Ð priceless. When I first arrived in London I was sent on a mission to Scotland to look after two Mixmag Malibu Stacey parties. I was properly stitched up by my guvnors let me tell you Ð I travelled up with Darren Stokes and Luke Neville and on arriving at the airport we were met by this grizzly club owner who shook our hands and said “now which one of you is Brandon Block?!!! He was expecting Seb Fontaine and Brandon and got Stokesy and Luke. He drove us to the hotel saying Òwe will not be messed around by you cockneys!” – scary stuff. Once I had checked in I bolted straight up to the room and tried to phone London to see what the hell I should do, but surprise surprise I couldn’t get hold of anyone. The club owner then started banging on the hotel room door shouting “where’s Seb Fontaine and Brandon Block, you cannae hide in there sonny etc etc.” Quite a Mixmag baptism but hilarious to look back on.”
The Millenium Time Flies / Cream story is a legend. Share it with us…
“As everyone knows, UK clubland got its arse severely kicked at the Millennium – to think people should suddenly pay £100 a ticket is ludicrous on reflection. Cream and Time Flies had an event at the Cardiff Ice Rink that night with Fatboy Slim, Pete Tong and Seb Fontaine while the Manic Street Preachers had sold out the Millennium Stadium in advance for their show. In the week leading up to the big day, Nicky Wire from the Manics went on Radio 1 Newsbeat and slagged off Gatecrasher and Cream for charging £100 a ticket and championed his own event’s fair pricing policy of £30. With our event being supported by Radio 1, Cream supremo James Barton took the opportunity to respond the next day live on air by saying something like “anyone who’s daft enough to pay £30 to see the Manics needs their head looking at anyway”. Quite funny at the time. With very poor ticket sales I was bricking it and at my wits end, so I decided to invite all the Millennium Stadium punters over to the Ice Rink after the show was over at 1am and offering a reduced admission of £25 to see Fatboy Slim and Tongy until 6am. The local paper loved the story – ‘Manics fans invited to party with Cream!’ was the headline. However, when the Manics took to the stage that night, the first thing Nicky Wire said to the 65,000 strong audience was “whatever you do, don’t go to Cream after here as it will be rubbish”. Like cheers Nicky mate. I hope if he had known it was a local promoter’s arse on the line he wouldn’t have said it. As it turned out we got 700 or so over but it didn’t save the day.”
You have been running a coooooooooool urban night in Cardiff for years – who have been the playaz you’ve had DJing?
“Pretty much everyone has played for the urban brands I have, including EZ, Westwood, Heartless, Shortee Blitz, Trevor Nelson, Pay As U Go, Matt Jam, Karl Tuff and the Artful Dodger. The bassline sound has given the scene a much needed boost recently and thankfully it has moved away from the grime that always brought trouble. Bassline also breaks up the night from R & B that can get a little monotonous after a while. The girls love dancing to bassline and I guess the lads like watching the girls dance – makes a nice change from listening to some bloke shouting his head off about guns and crime down the microphone all bloody night that’s for sure!”
Right, us here at DMC recognise the fact that dance music seeps into every part of the world. But your parties at Porth in the Rhondda Valley, surely the kids look like sheep?
“Ha ha – the good old London view of Wales. The girls are actually very good looking in the Rhondda Valleys compared to some parts of Wales due to many Italians settling there years ago and putting it about with the local lasses. When I first started putting events on in the Rhondda in the nineties you would be guaranteed a punch up like the OK Coral – everyone wading into the fracas including the DJs and barstaff on one occasion! More recently the ‘Time Flies’ events up there have been well cool though. The big Time Flies occasions in Cardiff are heavily supported by the Valleys so its nice for them to have parties on their own doorstep. Saves hiring buses to the capital too.”
You helped organise the Metro Weekender with ‘Lock & Load’ in Wales – what essential items would you tell clubbers to take to a festival, who was the best live act and did you wear wellies?
“Fortunately the weather we had for the Metro Weekenders in Wales was superb so no wellies needed, but I did have a Paccamac handy in case of a downpour. The best live act for me would be between Dizzee Rascal last year and Echo & The Bunnymen the year before. Essential festival items for clubbers would be white-rimmed sunglasses and a luminous headband.”
Tell us the exciting news about your new club ‘Glam’ in Cardiff opening in 3 weeks…
“There has been a big void in Cardiff since the Emporium closed a few years ago and the Welsh Capital is crying out for an ultra cool club with a decent capacity and music policy. ‘Glam’ will have a capacity of 700 which is perfect for the city with proper quality house music on Saturday nights and a range of other sounds on Fridays including Drum n’ Bass, electro house, bassline and so forth. The venue is on Greyfriars Road which is right in the city centre and the aim is to provide a sexy, comfortable environment with excellent customer service for the more discerning customer who is perhaps bored of the bar culture that exists at the moment. Friday 3rd October sees the doors open…”
