Standing out in the Universe

Thought I had better return to the blogging scene after a six week absence which has seen many changes on Planet Statto.

Firstly, I have dropped the words Sheffield and Wednesday from my list of interests. I dont want a debate about it other than to conclude I do not miss them.

Secondly, my twins are sleeping for four hours or more at a time so I no longer resemble Lurch from the Addams Family and when you talk to me know I am awake enough to grasp what you are saying.

And finally, maybe less importantly, but interestingly, my last blog about Northern Soul was an internet success - boosting my total number of readers of this blog from about 100 to er... 11,900.

The news has not gone unnoticed at Mercury Towers and today the deputy features editor suggested the idea about writing about Northern Soul be expanded to become a series of articles for the Leicester Chronicle covering other music trends and cults which were adopted in Leicestershire (along with everywhere else of course) to include The Hell's Angels, Skinheads, Teddy Boys, Punks, Mods and New Romantics and any others we stumble across in the next six months.

Being a clean living Modernist I don't know how the rockers and bikers in the Hell's Angels will take to my probing questions but I am looking forward to talking to them.

We have decided to begin the series with a look back at Leicester's Hell's Angels in December, so I'm starting my research now. The only leads I have at the moment are: that there is a bikers' pub somewhere in Coalville and that a couple of Hell's Angels were interviewed by the Leicester Mercury in 1969.

In that particlular article, reporter Pete Barraclough spoke to Al Hitchcock, leader of The Ratae Hell's Angels and his second-in-command 'Randy' Rastus. I have just got to track these guys down and will be working hard to do so in the next few weeks.

Last time I posted I received a flood of help from the Northern Soul scene, so I am hoping for another positive response from the Hell's Angels for what I am sure will be a fascinating lookback at this biker cult. In fact, their motto could be used by journalists: "When we do right, no one remembers. When we do wrong, no one forgets".

If anyone has any Leicestershire memories of the groups and gangs I have mentioned please drop me a line, I would love to hear your stories...

Leicester, I know you got soul

It was the music scene which emerged from Mod and just refuses to die. Northern Soul -even its name is cool. And this week I have learned that I'm living in a city and county that took the music to its hearts. OK, Manchester had the Twisted Wheel, Wigan had the Casino and Stoke boasted The Torch. But Leicester, and Leicestershire also had a major scene going on.

Currently I am reading Paolo Hewitt's book: The Soul Stylists. The work details the early days of Mod, or Modernism as it was known, from the Soho jazz scene in 1950s and brings things right up to date, explaining how music has led fashion and vice-versa.

Northern Soul, bluntly, is black american soul music with a heavy beat and bassline and a fast tempo. Tamla Motown and Atlantic Records were famous labels linked to the scene.

The section of Hewitt's book about Northern Soul reveals some memories from Leicester people who were there when the whole scene took off. It revealed that Leicestershire was a hotbed of Northern Soul activity in the 60s and 70s. A club called the Lantern in Market Harborough was hugely popular, but there were other big clubs and events here too. There is a Youtube clip of a dance at the Nottingham Oddfellows working men's club in Leicester City Centre. The footage is grainy but the atmosphere and dancing shines through.

I have arrived at this point in musical education via my well-known Mod obsession, which all started by chance really. It was 1988, and it began when I saw Quadrophenia for the first time.

Initially, I wasn't that impressed by the music, but the film shook me to the core. The scooters, the clothes, the love interests and the behaviour of the youths in the story all had a profound effect on me. For a while I thought I was the lead character, after all, I thought I shared most his problems.

I was living in a student house at the time aged 18. The weekend after I saw the film I went home and nicked my dad's green parka, and spent flamin' ages trying to pick off cement from the sleeves to make it presentable (my dad is a builder). Mum lent me £19 for a Ben Sherman shirt (which I think I still owe her, sorry mum) and that was it. I had started my journey into Modernism.

Soon after I bought my first Small Faces tape - from Poundstretcher in Lincoln. I had never heard of them but the cassette had a target on it. On the strength of the symbol I had bought a life-changing piece of music - even if it was a greatest hits compilation. I think it was on sale in Poundstretcher because the track listing was incorrect. It said the complete collection but appeared to have a track missing!

I took a part time job in a perfume factory. The staff there rolled their eyes when I tried to ask them about The Small Faces and their songs.
I will never feel like a proper Mod because I was not born in the late 50s/early 60s nor spent my youth enjoying amphetamine-fuelled all-night dancing at Jazz clubs. However, the fashion and music has had a deep effect on my life, and following the mod ideal is a way of life. Since following the music I have discovered bands like the Who, Small Faces, Paul Weller, PP Arnold etc, etc

Now I am learning more and more about soul and the Northern Soul scene. I went to two allnighters last year - including one in a former Stasi boat house in East Berlin. The dancefloor had a river running through it (It is called kiki blofeld's in Kreuzberg - look it up!).

Northern Soul is an amazing sound that I could never get bored of hearing. Now I want to find out more about the scene on my doorstep, its history and its future. If you read this and have memories of the glory days of Northern Soul in Leicestershire please contact me - I'm hoping to write something about its history for the Leicester Mercury's Chronicle series in the near future.

Also I'd like to mention this. I know nothing about it but I'd like to let people know it is on:

THE VENUE presents .. NORTHERN SOUL & MOTOWN NIGHT 8PM - 2AM - FRI 4TH SEPT@ THE VENUE THURMASTON LEIC LE4 8GR - TICKETS £6.50 / £7 OTDSPECIAL HEADLINE DJ KEV ROBERTS ......TICKET ENQUIRIES TEL 0116 260 2007 / EMAIL sammiewilson1977@hotmail.co.ukCLICK THE EVENT HERE ............


NORTHERN SOUL & MOTOWN NITE
HEADLINE DJ ... KEV ROBERTS
Location:The Venue
Time:9:00PM Friday, September 4th