OK I've only been going since the 80s as you all know, first allniter Whitchurch civic hall. But did hundreds of niters mid 80s, right through til now, read my blurb, I was a face on 80s scene for all the wrong reasons. My lass, Wigan reg week in week out, coaches to Yate, first hubby big collector/face Wigan and beyond, sadly now departed. Recently being schooled big time on Northern soul, facebook mostly, seems a lot of disco DJs who now bought a few NS 45s ruling the scene, lot of 'New Northern soulies' coming in who think they know it all, because I don't do the whole Fred Perry/patches/Bags thing I've been asked a few times now 'How long you been into it?' in that patronising way, only to have others answer for me, 'Oh these are very knowledgeable and loadsa history on the scene' cause I look like a rocker, big laugh is when I was a big face on the scene I was that Goth that got asked if I were Andrew Eldritch, all you know me indirectly, I ran for the guy who supplied the entire scene in the eighties, you all know this of course, I was 'Babyboy' in the same way as 'White boy Rick' on the Detroit scene in the eighties. Wonder how many of the faces from the 'real' scene has been approached like this and what do we think of the new lot who are keeping the scene going these days. Hasten to add that we think it's all good fun and glad to have the thriving scene albeit with these folks coming in! Any anecdotes or amusing stories kicking about?...Spill! 

4 hours ago, Peter99 said:

I suspect it was coke Pete. Now, look into my eyes, look into my eyes. 😳

It was Coke that kept some of us going at Wigan. Bottles and bottles of it, you could fill a round table top with the empties. That and chicken sandwiches from the upstairs bar, totally delicious at six in the morning with hunger kicking in.

normally it was Wednesday when the hunger kicked it 

46 minutes ago, hornet said:

normally it was Wednesday when the hunger kicked it 

Amazing that any of us survived, considering we only ate for three days out of every seven for most of our formative years. Every Niter-goer I knew had a thousand yard stare for the first half of every week, and the physical appearance of someone who'd just spent three years building a certain bridge over a certain river in deepest Burma, being overseen by sadistic Japanese guards, whilst being half starved to death. 

Kids today haven't a clue as to how to enjoy themselves 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

15 minutes ago, Joey said:

Amazing that any of us survived, considering we only ate for three days out of every seven for most of our formative years. Every Niter-goer I knew had a thousand yard stare for the first half of every week, and the physical appearance of someone who'd just spent three years building a certain bridge over a certain river in deepest Burma, being overseen by sadistic Japanese guards, whilst being half starved to death. 

Kids today haven't a clue as to how to enjoy themselves 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Monday morning gurning & jaw action was the give away 

7 minutes ago, hornet said:

Monday morning gurning & jaw action was the give away 

Almost crying during double maths and Latin also😂😂😂😂😂

then a year or so later trying to comprehend what your supervisor was trying to get you to do at 8am on a Monday morning, after you'd been awake for 72 hours.

i have a son who thinks he and his mates invented all this crap in the nineties. Little does he know🤣

20 hours ago, Zed1 said:

40 years ago it would be travelling late at night to Wigan on Public Transport then getting off the train to run the gauntlet of the Towns pi55-heads to get to the Casino....

Interesting irony that these same pi55-heads now make up much of the scene. 😕

The 2am start and wandering about the town with fcuk all to do in the very early days avoiding or sometimes looking for trouble depending on our mood .When the Beachcomer opened that added a whole new dimension . I can recall going outside occasinally for a wander to clear my head and getting hassled from the Cops .   

Not been to a nighter since the late seventies bet the nighter scene nowadays isnt as much fun even for the younger crowd it looks like its been sanitised . No names or pack drill but is gear still an issue especially with the younger ones ?

For a little gobshite from Stockport fear was all part of the fun ☠️

 

Edited May 12, 20187 yr by Mark S

I still have a scar on the middle of my tounge after entire nights chewing it raw.

Ha ha happy days !

1 hour ago, Joey said:

Amazing that any of us survived, considering we only ate for three days out of every seven for most of our formative years. Every Niter-goer I knew had a thousand yard stare for the first half of every week, and the physical appearance of someone who'd just spent three years building a certain bridge over a certain river in deepest Burma, being overseen by sadistic Japanese guards, whilst being half starved to death. 

Kids today haven't a clue as to how to enjoy themselves 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Without sounding too pedantic, the Kwai Bridge is over a river in Thailand... After I’d filled up on chicken sandwiches, I was so wide awake, I’d study my Geography Atlas on the train back home.🤔

7 minutes ago, FRANKIE CROCKER said:

Without sounding too pedantic, the Kwai Bridge is over a river in Thailand... After I’d filled up on chicken sandwiches, I was so wide awake, I’d study my Geography Atlas on the train back home.🤔

My bad. You're absolutely correct. Although a tiny part of the river is indeed in Burma, the vast majority is in western Thailand. 'Twas, of course, the Burma railway, built between Bangkok and Rangoon. I should have eschewed gear and tried chicken butties. Might have actually passed some exams. 🤣

1 hour ago, Mark S said:

 

Not been to a nighter since the late seventies bet the nighter scene nowadays isnt as much fun even for the younger crowd it looks like its been sanitised 

 

Should you have the opportunity   100 club,Rugby,GO GO in Bristol Nuneaton,Coalville ,Blackheart, Derby and the Manchester soul Weekender   are all  fantastic all nighters .The emergence of DJ,S like Jordan W  ,Tom Paige ,Sarah Jane .Ethan ,Calvin Lee ,Joel Maslin Dave Stabler ,  and many many others is a breath of fresh air in to the Scene,the best thing that has happened for many years in my view   .These guys are keeping the flame burning brighter than ever and i have to say the young crowd can dance better than most of us could ever dance !!!!  !! These guys promote events  we need to support them when we can .If you have the appetite to do a nighter Mark ill buy you a coke x 

Martin L  

5 minutes ago, martin l said:

Should you have the opportunity   100 club,Rugby,GO GO in Bristol Nuneaton,Coalville ,Blackheart, Derby and the Manchester soul Weekender   are all  fantastic all nighters .The emergence of DJ,S like Jordan W  ,Tom Paige ,Sarah Jane .Ethan ,Calvin Lee ,Joel Maslin Dave Stabler ,  and many many others is a breath of fresh air in to the Scene,the best thing that has happened for many years in my view   .These guys are keeping the flame burning brighter than ever and i have to say the young crowd can dance better than most of us could ever dance !!!!  !! These guys promote events  we need to support them when we can .If you have the appetite to do a nighter Mark ill buy you a coke x 

Martin L  

Well said that man.......(not sure about the dancing bit though)

1 hour ago, martin l said:

Should you have the opportunity   100 club,Rugby,GO GO in Bristol Nuneaton,Coalville ,Blackheart, Derby and the Manchester soul Weekender   are all  fantastic all nighters .The emergence of DJ,S like Jordan W  ,Tom Paige ,Sarah Jane .Ethan ,Calvin Lee ,Joel Maslin Dave Stabler ,  and many many others is a breath of fresh air in to the Scene,the best thing that has happened for many years in my view   .These guys are keeping the flame burning brighter than ever and i have to say the young crowd can dance better than most of us could ever dance !!!!  !! These guys promote events  we need to support them when we can .If you have the appetite to do a nighter Mark ill buy you a coke x 

Martin L  

Don't forget Bury where Saah Jane and Calvin are residents.  Three rooms to suit all tastes.

love that Kenwood suite bud ,apologies to the Bury for the oversight 

Martin L

4 hours ago, Joey said:

Almost crying during double maths and Latin also😂😂😂😂😂

then a year or so later trying to comprehend what your supervisor was trying to get you to do at 8am on a Monday morning, after you'd been awake for 72 hours.

i have a son who thinks he and his mates invented all this crap in the nineties. Little does he know🤣

You need to tell him a lot of key players from the house scene of the late 8ts, early 9ts, Neil Rushton, Mike pickering, Geoff oaks and many more were all ex NS. 

1 minute ago, geeselad said:

You need to tell him a lot of key players from the house scene of the late 8ts, early 9ts, Neil Rushton, Mike pickering, Geoff oaks and many more were all ex NS. 

Yeah, most of the main faces in the early days at the Hacienda all had their roots in the Northern scene. I knew several guys who quit Niters at about the same time I did, and began raving a few years later. If it hadn't been for the soul scene, today's dance scene may never have even been thought about. 

6 hours ago, martin l said:

Should you have the opportunity   100 club,Rugby,GO GO in Bristol Nuneaton,Coalville ,Blackheart, Derby and the Manchester soul Weekender   are all  fantastic all nighters .The emergence of DJ,S like Jordan W  ,Tom Paige ,Sarah Jane .Ethan ,Calvin Lee ,Joel Maslin Dave Stabler ,  and many many others is a breath of fresh air in to the Scene,the best thing that has happened for many years in my view   .These guys are keeping the flame burning brighter than ever and i have to say the young crowd can dance better than most of us could ever dance !!!!  !! These guys promote events  we need to support them when we can .If you have the appetite to do a nighter Mark ill buy you a coke x 

Martin L  

Thanks for the offer Martin .

I have no doubt about the quality of the nighter scene or the passion the sounds that I have heard especialy from venues like Lifeline ( i know its having a rest ) is nothing short of excellent . The point I was making allbeit clumsilly was part of the fun for me was the daftness and the manic nature of the scene as a young person it was part of the culture and the attraction not just the music and I wonder if the new kids on the block still feel that excitment , there was allways an outlaw elememt and gear was a big deal .

I need to get out more

5 hours ago, Mark S said:

Thanks for the offer Martin .

I have no doubt about the quality of the nighter scene or the passion the sounds that I have heard especialy from venues like Lifeline ( i know its having a rest ) is nothing short of excellent . The point I was making allbeit clumsilly was part of the fun for me was the daftness and the manic nature of the scene as a young person it was part of the culture and the attraction not just the music and I wonder if the new kids on the block still feel that excitment , there was allways an outlaw elememt and gear was a big deal .

I need to get out more

I think you’re right , there’s nothing unique about being up all night anymore. You could even watch Corrie all night now ! 

5 hours ago, Mark S said:

The point I was making allbeit clumsilly was part of the fun for me was the daftness and the manic nature of the scene as a young person it was part of the culture and the attraction not just the music and I wonder if the new kids on the block still feel that excitment , there was allways an outlaw elememt and gear was a big deal .

 

Agreed.  I never seen a poster for a venue in the 70's saying 'Friendly atmosphere' 'cheap Bar Prices' and 'Large Car Park' ....... and If I did I probably wouldn't have gone. 🙄

OVO & no sllly clothes ; was Never A selling point either !

Across the board music policy would       have inticed me in , but of course it wasn't around , shame. ! 🎶🎶

1 hour ago, Zed1 said:

Agreed.  I never seen a poster for a venue in the 70's saying 'Friendly atmosphere' 'cheap Bar Prices' and 'Large Car Park' ....... and If I did I probably wouldn't have gone. 🙄

 

1 hour ago, hornet said:

OVO & no sllly clothes ; was Never A selling point either !

 

V was never an issue.

21 hours ago, Joey said:

Almost crying during double maths and Latin also😂😂😂😂😂

then a year or so later trying to comprehend what your supervisor was trying to get you to do at 8am on a Monday morning, after you'd been awake for 72 hours.

i have a son who thinks he and his mates invented all this crap in the nineties. Little does he know🤣

I remember about 12 years back having my breakfast and listening to Radio 4 before heading to work.

They had a House DJ on talking about the emergence of the rave scene and she said to the interviewer to supposedly put things into context " that you have to remember that this was the first time that young people could dance all night in England and it changed the face of clubbing"

I nearly choked on my breakfast cereal.

same era ,very early Hacienda after party i was at once ,i wanted to dance in the corner  to Joe Smooths Promised land and everytime i clapped the whole room was paranoid   very funny now not so at that moment in time !! It was normal to me    i saw loads of people at the Hacienda who i first met at Morcambe  Pier or Wigan ,another bite of the musical  cherry 

Martin L 

one or two old soul boys at the Hac

 

3 hours ago, manus said:

I remember about 12 years back having my breakfast and listening to Radio 4 before heading to work.

They had a House DJ on talking about the emergence of the rave scene and she said to the interviewer to supposedly put things into context " that you have to remember that this was the first time that young people could dance all night in England and it changed the face of clubbing"

I nearly choked on my breakfast cereal.

No wonder you nearly Choked on your breaky....... Big Box - Little Box could never be described as a 'dance'.

1 hour ago, back street blue said:

one or two old soul boys at the Hac

 

I attended a couple of soul nights there dont think they did many though no idea who was djing or who organised them , remember a girl behind the bar with a moheican haircut .

Edited May 13, 20186 yr by Mark S

DJs playing obscure Black American music and taking drugs (well. smoking weed) all night started in Jamaica in the late fifties.

3 minutes ago, stevesilktulip said:

DJs playing obscure Black American music and taking drugs (well. smoking weed) all night started in Jamaica in the late fifties.

1920s cocaine was rife Jazz provided the beat now I bet that was some allnighter.

1 hour ago, Mark S said:

I attended a couple of soul nights there dont think they did many though no idea who was djing or who organised them , remember a girl behind the bar with a moheican haircut .

Didn't know they had done any Soul nights?

Started going about 85, GSH was on there (poetry reading!!!) and Sade before she got big.

Went to a few Greg Wilson nights there in the pre Madchester era, and then more frequently in the naughty nineties with my ex-NS mate who got into the Dance scene in a big way.

Indeed but that was musicians rather than DJs - better still, until it descended into smack.

Thread going brilliantly, most bases for discussion covered loving it!

Particularly appealing is hearing tales of folks adventures in the pursuit of the scene. That's an area of particular interest to me, I'll work on putting something together, meantime keep the thread going, would love to see a document covering niter exploits, women, gear, characters, the whole gamut!

I had a hell of a time once at one of those wheel revival niters at Rockies, I went with two Winsford lasses and a Crewe lass, all three were married, I mean 'went' as in went in their car with them, well at one point one of the girls, actually they were women in their thirties, no names cause it'd be very embarrassing, for sure folks would know them, asked me to accompany her to the car while she got changed as women do at niters, the carpark was a huge gravel affair just round the corner from the venue and in sight of Piccadilly station. She wants me to stand guard sort of thing while she changes. So I'm standing there and she's struggling to take these jeans off in the back of a two door Honda Prelude, 'give me a hand' she says, so I'm leaning in through the open door tugging on the hem of these jeans when about twenty folks from the niter walk over and, simultaneously a couple of bobbies in a panda pull up! This woman and I are like 'No no, it's not what it looks like' and it wasn't, we were genuinely trying to get these tight jeans off so she could change into some lightweight trousers and return to the niter! I was twenty at the time and this woman was in her thirties and as fit as a tiger and this guy Hodge from Crewe, who sadly has gone to the niter in the sky, bless 'im, leans in, looks at her trying to cover her pants which were like a bit of string says 'kin 'ell Babyboy, you're a f***kin dude!' Anyway she gets changed eventually and we head back in and the bouncers are shaking my hand, winking and saying 'Well done kid' and stuff like that, I'd already accompanied the other two out to do the same thing!

Sometimes things aren't exactly how they appear on the surface, and sometimes reputations just kinda happen to you purely by chance and people misinterpreting what they've seen!

19 hours ago, stevesilktulip said:

 

We got some guys walking across the car park, in assless chaps, on rockies car park, bout My luck! 

Edited May 14, 20186 yr by geeselad

4 hours ago, BabyBoyAndMyLass said:

Thread going brilliantly, most bases for discussion covered loving it!

Particularly appealing is hearing tales of folks adventures in the pursuit of the scene. That's an area of particular interest to me, I'll work on putting something together, meantime keep the thread going, would love to see a document covering niter exploits, women, gear, characters, the whole gamut!

I had a hell of a time once at one of those wheel revival niters at Rockies, I went with two Winsford lasses and a Crewe lass, all three were married, I mean 'went' as in went in their car with them, well at one point one of the girls, actually they were women in their thirties, no names cause it'd be very embarrassing, for sure folks would know them, asked me to accompany her to the car while she got changed as women do at niters, the carpark was a huge gravel affair just round the corner from the venue and in sight of Piccadilly station. She wants me to stand guard sort of thing while she changes. So I'm standing there and she's struggling to take these jeans off in the back of a two door Honda Prelude, 'give me a hand' she says, so I'm leaning in through the open door tugging on the hem of these jeans when about twenty folks from the niter walk over and, simultaneously a couple of bobbies in a panda pull up! This woman and I are like 'No no, it's not what it looks like' and it wasn't, we were genuinely trying to get these tight jeans off so she could change into some lightweight trousers and return to the niter! I was twenty at the time and this woman was in her thirties and as fit as a tiger and this guy Hodge from Crewe, who sadly has gone to the niter in the sky, bless 'im, leans in, looks at her trying to cover her pants which were like a bit of string says 'kin 'ell Babyboy, you're a f***kin dude!' Anyway she gets changed eventually and we head back in and the bouncers are shaking my hand, winking and saying 'Well done kid' and stuff like that, I'd already accompanied the other two out to do the same thing!

Sometimes things aren't exactly how they appear on the surface, and sometimes reputations just kinda happen to you purely by chance and people misinterpreting what they've seen!

Excellent

We have to cling on to the nostalgia, the excitement, our naivety and our fond reminiscences of times past. 

Unfortunately, so many people have to have their say about today’s scene (well it’s not actually a scene as such) in such a detrimental way, when most of us are happy to just soak up the music and meet up with great people, whilst remembering what it was like when we were 17 and understanding that as great as it was, we can never recapture it, totally.

“The original is still the greatest”

Paul (AKA Mod66)

1 hour ago, geeselad said:

We got some guys walking across the car park, in assless chaps, on rockies car park, bout My luck! 

Haha excellent, you noticed them then?

On 13/05/2018 at 18:47, Mark S said:

I attended a couple of soul nights there dont think they did many though no idea who was djing or who organised them , remember a girl behind the bar with a moheican haircut .

regular at Hac with my (f) partner - this vid is interesting, love House, love NS, modern, across the board

 

45 minutes ago, shufflin said:

regular at Hac with my (f) partner - this vid is interesting, love House, love NS, modern, across the board

 

That’s really intrresting mate. Thanks for sharing. 

Pete

Newcomers to the scene don't do crazy things like this ..

In the winter of 1980 , I went to Wigan on a lambretta.  I picked my mate up from Pelsall near Walsall  (Timmy Thacker). , and in the freezing cold, we rode all the way up the M6, 80 odd miles , and it even started to snow and sleet . we were going flat out at 55 mph and had to stop at every services else we'd have froze to death. 

My scoot was a 1969 GP125 id bought for £50 dragged out of a neighbours shed.. we had no AA, no tools or mechanical knowledge   , but we made it ... Went down a one way street in Wigan  ( the wrong way) and cars flashing us    , then got to the Casino, 

 we leaned the scoot against the wall on the side of the Casino cus the stand was broke.  I remember the place was nearly empty, just a couple of hundred there, it was a crap night really, and the next morning, my bike was still there, and we had to bump start it outside . 

 The exhaust cracked as we got on the M6 and it was deafening all the way home and losing power..  nearly got wiped out by a few lorries, but made it home...

I can still picture Timmy on the back with his Fonze style leather bomber jacket shivering to death .

 we were only 18 and it was one of the madder things ive done.... To this day, I can remember it clearly.

But we did it... and every time i see Timmy , he says "remember when we went to Wigan on your scooter mick ! "