The 100 Club Allnighter - 40 Years on by Butch & Co

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A great article, that sums it all up perfectly.

I wasn’t going to comment as too much to say, but I just stopped welding and walked back in to my office muttering to myself that I have to write something.

So many people are truly grateful for their individual memories of The 100 Club - The music, the faces, friends, husbands, wives, and even children! At our wedding I remember Ady smiling and saying to Nina’s mum……”It’s my fault”….. 

I’ll keep it short as I’m sure many will want to add their comments.

I must just mention the legend that is Sean Adams (100 Club member Number 1) He was one of many attendees who added so much to the ‘magic’ that is The 100 Club.

Thank you!

Len ‘n’ Nina.

A brilliant piece of writing about the place that people of my age and under, regard as the most iconic of venues. It was good to read details of so many of the people who have made it what it was and is - and of course, some of the key records that have been a part of the fabric. I'm sure that everybody who has played there will agree with the line: "I was asked to guest DJ at the Allnighter, and I was of course hugely flattered and nervous on a whole new level."

The final paragraph brought a lump to my throat.

A fabulous in depth article by Mark ,and several other highly respected patrons of The 100 Club .A visit to the 100 Club is always a highly anticipated and exciting event , on both a musical level ,as I know I will hear something new ,plus to see and chat with the many great friends I have made there .I will be there for the monumental 40th Anniversary this coming Saturday , many thanks to Ady and Randy for the initial idea , and the many DJ’s who have shared their Soul over the past 40 years .Ive often said that playing The 100 Club and spinning records on that famous stage is the Soul version of playing in a World Cup Final , such is the honour .Here’s to many more years of great Soul music and dancing under Oxford Street .

fantastic article...great read! 

Brilliant write up : I cant wait xx I just spent nearly 20 years at 100 club. We all do all again this Saturday,  My last 100 club as young gun 🤣

I wont never forget the first time and other several ones when we took a flight from Italy  with Roccia, Barbaraa and other friends and spent time in McDonalds until 1 o clock to wait for the opening ,dancing until 6, breakfast at Starbucks (and that bad coffee) ,the National express at Marble Arch:

" Bye bye Mum , We see tomorrow I m just going to London to dance lol"

Thanks again uncle Ady and everybody involved during these years : now we can wait to celebrate the next 50! 

 

Excellent write up Butch,a well documented article of the 100 club over the years......👏👏

Great article and agree with Will - brought a lump to my throat too. 👍😍

Huge thanks to the chief Ady, Butch, Mick and all the dedicated DJs and crowd past and present for giving us such a wonderful thing to call our own.

😎😎😎

 

Great piece Mark , looking forward to seeing you again on Saturday ... 

You never know , I might even refrain from pestering you for the "Soul Dynamics" for one night  ...  

...Its all true!!!....... I was there when George Michael was waving his water pistol around.....as he was told to leave exclaimed "do you know who I am?" Ady's response "No but its my club and you're going out!"

Great article mate, see you on Saturday!

a cracking article...

Great article Mark “and co. !” Thoroughly enjoyed that....

Enjoyed reading that. Never been to the 100 club but know all about it and it's impact on the northern scene and of course the kent lps/cds a must listen. Congratulations on 40 years 👍

Great article Mark and to all involved. The article is testament to the legend that the 100 Club is and its place on the scene.  It sums up the 100 Club perfectly, basement dimly lit, hot and sweaty, although there is air conditioning now, the perfect “Northern Soul” venue really. 

I don’t see any other club getting near what the 100 Club has done on a consistent basis.

Had some magical nights down those stairs, just wish I had more time in my life these days to enjoy some more  

Well done Ady and to all who have played their part in making the 100 Club so special. 

A very evocative article, what an amazing achievement. Sadly my superficial frustration with the dance floor and pillars meant I only went once or twice, despite getting hold of a 6Ts membership early on (I think via Demob on Beak St?). I definitely need to get out more. 

But, even as someone who did nothing to support the club over all these years, can I at least say a huge thank you to all of you who have kept it alive and have fed such fantastic music into our lives via the Kent releases. Hope you all have a brilliant and well-deserved night next weekend!

A really nice article. So many memories, I was there at all those early venues pre 100 club, and then the first 10 or so years.all those years ago. Met so many people danced so much, heard so many records and sought out so many. A huge thank you to Sir Adey you are a true gent, and I agree the 100 club allnighters will  have a place in the hall of fame as a soul club and for the records broken and played by some fantastic DJ's.  Thanks to Eddie Hubbard I did feel like it was a Soul music world cup final, when Adey allowed me a DJ spot. Happy Birthday 6ts 100 club allnighters. 

 

 

I was barely 15 the first time I went, I was one of the kids who found the scene in the early 80s, when places like the Casino, Mecca and Torch were just mystical places from long ago that had little relevance to me at that time. The 'old guard' in the queue outside making it clear we werent welcome.

From the word go it was clear to me even then the place was something special though.

It was my first nighter proper, and what a place to start?! The 100 club has (by some) been rather inaccurately labelled the home of the beat ballad retrospectively......those who were there of course know different, Clarky, Keb and Butch amongst others (Ady played Jerry Butlers "All the way" as a new release!) ,were always playing 70s soul from those days but its the 100 clubs consistant championing of new discoveries from any era that has over the last 30 odd years kept me there.

Too many great nights to mention and although seeing Maxine Brown on that stage was pretty incredible, probably my fondest memory of a live act was seeing Ray Pollard in 1991, I still think about it often, I was stood at the front of the stage, tears streaming down mý face singing my head off..

Another night, Mick Smith playing The Isleys "Why when love is gone" as we walked in and the place was going beserk, it had only been open 10 minutes, or Keb spinning in his spot by the door, Clarky playing The Excuses, Garland Green in a huge huggee bear coat, the 10th anniversary, The Scots coming down and tearing the place right up  the first time I heard the Just Brothers "Go on and Laugh" ,"Gettin to me", "Torture", Johnny Maestro, Paramount Four, Willie & The Handjives, meeting good friends and too much stout......

The nostalgia is great but its the new music that has always set the benchmark for me and makes me want to get on that train as often as I can as I rapidly approach 50.

40 years as the best rare soul nigher ever, not too shabby. 

Massive gratitude to the bloke with the surname no one can seem to spell correctly and everyone else who has made it what it is..

 

See you on that terrible dancefloor on Saturday.🍺👍

 

A fantastic read, thanks Mark. Although I respectfully disagree with:

"As Ian Clark predicts, that’s when this venue goes into NS history as an iconic club along side illustrious names such as the wheel, the Torch, Wigan, the Mecca etc." 

I don't think there's any doubt that the 100 Club already takes its place in NS history - long may it continue! 

never a regular visitor .but the article made me feel like i was back in the club around 4am............excellent experience  informed  atmospheric writing............hoagy lands on general election night i think it was ? the hilight for me.................

A fabulous read, thank you.. Never been...have lots of friends and piers of mine who have every anniversary record, harboro horace record there is, all fantastic friends now and they say it's awesome...the Hinckley lads have taught me a lot...kind regards...Rob

On 16/09/2019 at 23:12, Jim Elliott said:

I was barely 15 the first time I went, I was one of the kids who found the scene in the early 80s, when places like the Casino, Mecca and Torch were just mystical places from long ago that had little relevance to me at that time. The 'old guard' in the queue outside making it clear we werent welcome.

From the word go it was clear to me even then the place was something special though.

It was my first nighter proper, and what a place to start?! The 100 club has (by some) been rather inaccurately labelled the home of the beat ballad retrospectively......those who were there of course know different, Clarky, Keb and Butch amongst others (Ady played Jerry Butlers "All the way" as a new release!) ,were always playing 70s soul from those days but its the 100 clubs consistant championing of new discoveries from any era that has over the last 30 odd years kept me there.

Too many great nights to mention and although seeing Maxine Brown on that stage was pretty incredible, probably my fondest memory of a live act was seeing Ray Pollard in 1991, I still think about it often, I was stood at the front of the stage, tears streaming down mý face singing my head off..

Another night, Mick Smith playing The Isleys "Why when love is gone" as we walked in and the place was going beserk, it had only been open 10 minutes, or Keb spinning in his spot by the door, Clarky playing The Excuses, Garland Green in a huge huggee bear coat, the 10th anniversary, The Scots coming down and tearing the place right up  the first time I heard the Just Brothers "Go on and Laugh" ,"Gettin to me", "Torture", Johnny Maestro, Paramount Four, Willie & The Handjives, meeting good friends and too much stout......

The nostalgia is great but its the new music that has always set the benchmark for me and makes me want to get on that train as often as I can as I rapidly approach 50.

40 years as the best rare soul nigher ever, not too shabby. 

Massive gratitude to the bloke with the surname no one can seem to spell correctly and everyone else who has made it what it is..

 

See you on that terrible dancefloor on Saturday.🍺👍

 

“Why When Love Is Gone” was one of Rogers......

Best thing I’ve read on here in a long time 

Great stuff. Here's to the next 40.

Brilliant write up of the best allnighter in the history of this great scene of ours by its best DJ. My wife and I have only attended four times and only in recent years due to bringing up children and working most weekends over the last thirty years. We attend other allnighters elsewhere while we always enjoy doing so nothing compares to the 100 club past or present. Well done Ady and everyone that has been involved over the years, so glad we have been able to attend.

It is no hyperbole to assert that the 6Ts all-nighter is as important in the history pages of soul music as the very artists and studios that produced it. 

That a club has endured so long is testament to many factors. To the incredible legacy of music left to us by musicians whose music lifts us. To  those who crawled for years on hands and knees in dusty rooms to share their spoils for the enjoyment of others. To those who have fought fatigue to dance till sunlight. And to those who have the tenacity to push the efforts of all the aforementioned, understanding the importance of the pursuit of shared raw emotion. 

For 40 years the 6Ts all-nighter has, without equal, fed the demands of those who seek visceral and meaningful sentiment in their choice of records. All through a very esoteric sound. It’s certainly not everybody’s cup of tea  

It is not just the wealth of records that have been broken, uncovered, discovered that makes the 100 Club all-nighter so unique but rather the dedication to quality. No Joe 90’s needed here. 

Like many others I remember travelling 400 miles every month for decades, without question just to hear Luther Ingram, Ben E King and The Demures. 

It seems unfathomable that we may never have had the opportunity to shed a collective tear to Lou Johnson’s mastertake on Roy Hamilton. To feel chills as the opening vibes of Carla Thomas‘ greatest recording envelops us, laid dormant for so many years. And for this we should all be thankful. From dancers to artists alike. For gifting us the exposure to masterpieces of recorded emotion, hitherto unheard, in a sacred place of sanctuary and companionship. 

Through his tireless work with Ace records we have all benefited from Ady’s seemingly unending (some say ‘jammy’) ability to find and raise the fortunes of incredible, unreleased soul. This is the true strength of the 100 Club. 

Ady’s influence via the records he found and subsequently played at the 100 Club send shockwaves across continents. ‘The Magic Touch’, ‘What’s With This Loneliness’ and more recently ‘Secret Weapon’ are perfect examples of 100 Club exclusives that eventually found their natural home in the wider world and our own collections. Mostly for free! 

One of the most telling stories for me highlights the wealth of incredible records played, loved and filed away over the years. 6am one morning, post niter, Ady handed me a test pressing as a present. One side I didn’t recognise till I got home. It was Sharon Scott’s ‘It’s Better’, an unreleased record of monumental beauty I had cherished from a decade before but had long forgotten, lain unplayed for years in the back of Ady’s box. 

From the very early days of his tenure as resident, Butch’s steel, northern resolve meant his records were unlike anyone else’s. His testing bed at the 100 Club has gifted us a torrent of sensational soul tracks. Completists have lost count of the one off gems that have travelled in his box for their first spins in their natural home. 

The Mello-Souls had us fiercely tearing up those notoriously imperfect boards. More recently the likes of United Sounds, ‘JB Hammond’ and Love Company turned the place into a pressure cooker of euphoria, cementing the clubs ability to shift and adapt. 

From skip raids to vault raids, our understanding of soul has been shaped immeasurably over the years by what these two have presented at the 100 Club niter. And it’s importance nationally and globally cannot be overstated. 

Past and present residents have added an incredible wealth of variety and skill to what the nighter has to offer and I only wish I could have experienced the early days I was too young to know. 

It’s strength is in that it has meant so much, to so many for so long. 

When so many legendary clubs fell by the wayside, that basement rumbles on. Moving with the times. Still trying to offer the same matchless level of quality. For us all to continue to enjoy. 

We promise we’ll try our hardest to give you 40 more. X

On 16/09/2019 at 14:37, Len said:

A great article, that sums it all up perfectly.

I wasn’t going to comment as too much to say, but I just stopped welding and walked back in to my office muttering to myself that I have to write something.

So many people are truly grateful for their individual memories of The 100 Club - The music, the faces, friends, husbands, wives, and even children! At our wedding I remember Ady smiling and saying to Nina’s mum……”It’s my fault”….. 

I’ll keep it short as I’m sure many will want to add their comments.

I must just mention the legend that is Sean Adams (100 Club member Number 1) He was one of many attendees who added so much to the ‘magic’ that is The 100 Club.

Thank you!

Len ‘n’ Nina.

First time I met Sean he was being Sean, somewhat difficult.  As soon as he found out I knew Pete Lawson we were best mates 😂 we, well Sean talked about him for two hours, did me fcukin head in 😂😂😂

last time I saw him at 100 he went through my sales, the box ended up a right mess 🙄😳 everyone else shut their boxes when they saw him going though mine.  He had two ha’pennies to rub together but he ask me “how much?” for everyone 😂

Top lad though and one you’d want at yer side when the sh*t hit the fan 😉

13 minutes ago, Chalky said:

First time I met Sean he was being Sean, somewhat difficult.  As soon as he found out I knew Pete Lawson we were best mates 😂 we, well Sean talked about him for two hours, did me fcukin head in 😂😂😂

last time I saw him at 100 he went through my sales, the box ended up a right mess 🙄😳 everyone else shut their boxes when they saw him going though mine.  He had two ha’pennies to rub together but he ask me “how much?” for everyone 😂

Top lad though and one you’d want at yer side when the sh*t hit the fan 😉

I met Sean on The 100 Club dance floor - My first time there.  I was 'ok', but knew I was honored to be there (if that makes sense) Sean must have sensed something because he picked me up and span me around whilst giving me a massive kiss on the lips! How weird you might say - But it made me feel welcome.

Like I said, the music is the best, as is the team that puts it all together for us, along with such an iconic venue. But in addition to that are the many attendees who help make that 'magic' happen - A perfect storm 

Nostalgia is a strange yet pleasant thing - I can't image how Ady must feel looking back over 40 years of The 100 Club (Let alone his 25 years of running The Cleethorpe's weekender) Happy memories indeed.

He is also looking forward for future generations which must also be applauded.

Len 

A great read, a club I always love to visit.

See ya Saturday !

Rob

Amazing achievement 40 years ..well done to the team

What a great article! Nice to see local lad and regular Kipper get in on the action too! Have popped in and out of the venue over the decades since the 80's. But nowhere near as much as I should have done! But it is a venue that touches you and leaves an everlasting imprint! That list of tunes speaks for itself of the quality you hear whichever decade you decide to visit. That Harboro Horace chap knows quality and has instilled that word in the fabric of this legendary soul venue. Lucky enough to get a ticket for Saturday so another quality memory on its' way!  

Lovely write up Butch

Some lovely memories of what can only be described as a tremendous achievement by Ady and Co.

See you Saturday, so looking forward to seeing everyone and celebrating 40 Years.

Andy

I cannot emphasise the importance of the 100 club over the years, and moreover from a personal perspective!

I won't go over previously stated comments, only to add that I totally enjoyed my every visit to this iconic venue from early doors, until my last visit some years ago. 

Total respect to Ady for the longevity and utter commitment to the Soul community, and furthermore the superb music played over the 40 year period, and also some of the exceptional Dj's that have graced the decks at the legendary club, and whilst  I've witnessed many......Mr. Mark Dobson (aka Butch) stands out as someone who influenced many, and continues to do so.......Keep on Keeping on!

wilxy

Great tribute, I personally missed the first decade, as I was told ' you might like some of the music but you won't like the club'  ( I know so wrong). Start of the 9ts, ady supplies a few of us with memberships and says come along you'll enjoy it, see what you reckon. It's down south, not Midlands or up north to classic venues. From my first visit, it's the best regular all nighter ever. I wish I could attend more. I guess four in one year is the most I've attended. Some of the best music ever!!   Maxine, Carla, the dj's  but one track sums it all for me---- early hours, crowd thinned out and it's 'willie Kendricks - she'll be leaving you'  haunting!! Basement club, take a bow Ady and crew, cheers, Pete (inkleh).

 

1st anniversary poster

On 22/09/2019 at 14:27, Ian J said:

1st anniversary poster

 

You couldn't scan me that could you Ian, nice and flat.  PDF or 300 Dpi minimum?.

Thanks Chalky

Wow...that's a fantastic thing to own...thank you for sharing...Rob

Membership card number 20

On 22/09/2019 at 18:13, Ian J said:

Original membership card number 20 

 

Impressive!! I know the guys from Hinckley were members but no idea what number they were??? The card system so I was told didn't work and was got rid of very quickly....Rob

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Lionelonthevinyl said:

Impressive!! I know the guys from Hinckley were members but no idea what number they were??? The card system so I was told didn't work and was got rid of very quickly....Rob

 

 

 

 

Membership cards?  They were in use through to the 90s at least. You couldn’t get in without one.  Think the police cancelled membership, well made them start again late 80s if memory serves?

12 hours ago, Chalky said:

Membership cards?  They were in use through to the 90s at least. You couldn’t get in without one.  Think the police cancelled membership, well made them start again late 80s if memory serves?

Still in use in 2005 which was the first time I went 

First Alnighter I attend in around 1984. Remember the external building facade had scaffolding and one of the punters in the queue decided to climb the scaffolding much to the annoyance to the police. Fond memories.