Jim ‘Shaft’ Ryan is a famous house music DJ from Birmingham who along with his brothers, Mick and Dermot, and their mate Lee, responsible for the seminary U.K. and global nightclub brands, Miss Moneypennys and Chuff Chuff. Jim is also my mate.
I knew that Jim had trained as a Catholic priest before becoming entangled in the acid house movement and I know he does quite a bit of academic work. He’s not stupid, for sure. I was pleased to hear about the release of this poetry book on Black Country Radio and surfed over to Amazon and picked up a copy. I wasn’t expecting wonders but to be honest, after reading the collection of poems that Jim has produced here, I can say that I am pleasantly surprised. The collection is well-balanced, covers a wide range of life topics and the poetry is neat, punchy, with excellent meter and range of vocabulary and a lot of it even neatly rhymes. We delve into religion with a bit of his Irish Catholic roots shining through, there is a great poem about Jim’s father covering family life and for the DJ and clubber there’s even some great little poems dedicated to his life as an electronic musician, ‘12” Single’ being the highlight. Some of the poems ask questions about contemporary life and values and often there is a dark insight into morality and values, with Jim not shying away from exposing human frailties and the dark undercurrents of modern life. My personal favourite poem and the one which I most identified with was ‘Fear Panic and Chaos’. I think that Jim’s work as a professional DJ helps his poetry in the neat rhyming and its meter. The reader is treated to the insight of a veteran DJ with a rich tapestry of life experience behind him and the book is a well-presented offering to British culture. The collection leaves you in a pleasant mood and I would recommend going out and treating yourself to a copy.
I got excited when this book arrived on my doorstep. At first glance it has all the key ingredients for a great book. Hacienda DJ author, history of British nightclubs – I expected lots of gory detail and exciting anecdotes and couldn’t wait to get to the acid house chapters…. The history begins back in Victorian dancefloors. From the outset a consistent theme throughout our nightclub adventure is controversy, rebellion and culture. Working class escapism as highlighted by co-founder of communism, Fredrich Engels as he discussed working class conditions in Manchester, illustrating the inebriated masses keen to escape the drudgery of factory work. Moving through, each chapter tends to focus on a specific era. We go through Jazz, rock and roll, Mods and rockers, Punk and disco and through to the modern age electronica plus Britpop and present day trends. The book often focuses on particular niche venues across various cities in the UK, both small and large, venues which influenced the whole culture. It’s so surprising considering the incredible popularity of such bands as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and The Animals, to discover how they really became grounded and formed the elements of their success in small club residencies: The Cavern in Liverpool for the Beatles, The Crawdaddy in London for the Rolling Stones and the Club a Go Go in Newcastle for The Animals. Later so many dance DJs carved their names in residencies such as at the Hacienda in Manchester and also self-promoted London nights such as Spectrum, Shoom and Trip at the Astoria. As a DJ I found it particularly interesting seeing the evolution of my art. How early than I had imagined venues were turning away from live acts and creating spaces for vinyl spinners or jukeboxes where the latest music from all over the world could entertain the crowd in its original studio glory rather than lame band covers playing the same old stuff. Often the first and most successful DJs to contribute to dancefloor culture were the ones with the most eclectic well-resourced vinyl collections. The resistance from formal old school music industry to record-spinners was there from the outset. On a local tip for me, John Sicolo, famed owner of TJS in Newport, one of John Peel’s most favourite live venues, gets a mention in the introduction and although Miss Moneypennys @ Bonds and elsewhere and Chuff Chuff in Birmingham escapes much attention, I did, in particular love the focus on Bristol with detailed analysis of the formation of Wild Bunch, leading to the musical movement that is Massive Attack. I think the Korean restaurant whose basement was the spiritual home of Daddy G’s crew was once a Thai restaurant on Park Row where I’d treat all my Shuffle resident DJs to meals before our weekend gigs. Throughout the book special attention is paid to the gay scene and how it has influenced UK culture. From clandestine beginnings we see a more accepted mainstream less-discriminatory inclusion in the modern day entertainment environment. There are some darker tales and the history of Gary Glitter at the Cavern and Jimmy Saville’s live DJing are historic details I’d rather not know tbh but truth is out there…. The whole acid house coverage is where DJ author, Dave Haslam comes into his own. The whole book is written with intellectual flair and creative passion but from the evolution of Hacienda to coverage of Sasha at Shelleys and rise of Ministry of Sound Garage, Summer of Love Ibiza London acid house founders, the story bubbles and Haslam lets loose with a soul of a professional dance music aficionado. As someone who grew up in nightclubs and has spent a lifetime dodging around venues in the UK as a DJ, promoter etc it was great reading about many people who influenced my life so much and also people I’ver been privileged enough to work alongside. Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Nicky Holloway, Norman Jay, Judge Jules to name a few. Most of the London and Birmingham clubs that I did play in have since closed their doors and one consistent fact I notice in the book is that venues often have a short shelf life. Often many are a lot smaller and these are the most influential in the various eras. There are a few survivors but so many are now tescos or blocks of flats or shopping centres. It’s noticeable how marginal the lines are when it comes to finance and how fashion dictates and authorities discord with entertainment sector has harsh political consequences. The book is quite substantial and detailed with so many new facts for me and amazing anecdotes I shall be relaying to all who might listen to me. However, I need more. at 400 pages it’s not enough. There’s too many characters left in silence too many more venues I need the facts on. I want to keep Mister Haslam’s pen busy and will be applying to Routledge for him to be approached to compile a definitive Encyclopedia of British nightlife and I’m sure Haslam could maybe expand his horizons beyond the confines of this tiny island and deliver a history of global nightlife. I want to know how many guitars Jimi Hendrix has put through the ceiling in Antarctica and for every nook and cranny from darkest Africa, Chinese villages, Amazonian jungle hideouts, Saharan oases to Detroit back alleys, New York boutiques and Chicago storage facilities I need to know what bands are on, what the DJs are spinning, dress code, bouncer quality and profit and loss situation. Plenty more to crack on with, Dave. Get busy. Like any vinyl collection there’s always room for more… Anyone from the humblest cloak room assistant to the most pretentious superstar DJ should get onto this book and analyse and enjoy the great achievement of its original creation.
I’ve already read a Matthew Collin book – This is Serbia Calling – so I was chuffed when I stumbled upon this work, a history of UK dance music culture. As a DJ and Promoter for 24 years I’m quite aware of a lot of the history of dance music in the UK. This book, however, filled in many of the gaps, and was a thoroughly entertaining and enlightening read. The well known story of how acid house culture came to the UK via Ibiza’s Summer of Love where Nicky Holloway, Danny Rampling, Paul Oakenfold and Trevor Fung experienced the delight’s of Alfredo weaving magic on the White Isle and brought back their ideas to the London clubscene, is a familiar tale, often recited religiously in club culture publications like Mixmag. The author gives a comprehensive account of the beginnings and it was great to hear the true story and what bliss these guys must have experienced. Shoom, Spectrum and the Milk Bar launched successfully and the early adopters were soon welcoming new ‘Acid Teds’ and a hippy revival based on lush house electronica began to hit the mainstream. The book looks at London and Manchester in detail as well as exploring some of the less likelier destinations of UK club culture like Blackburn and later the countryside free party and rave movement. The study of the fracture of dance music into its various sub-genres and the movement of people that followed each branch provides much analysis and we see Warehouse parties, techno anarchists, drum and bass division and later the emergence of new genres like speed garage, grime and dubstep. The book focuses a lot on the role of narcotics in this new ascendant youth culture. The critical importance of ecstasy (MDMA) to the whole movement which eventually led to a massive increase and normalisation of drug culture across the country, with polydrug use becoming popular and clubbers and ravers exploring acid (LSD), cocaine, heroin, ketamine, amphetamines and the various different types of cannabis. It’s amazing how much anti dance music propaganda was spread by the media. Governments were scared and there was a great deal of legislation set up to counter the whole movement. Enlightened masses were a danger to the establishment and the whole culture was seen as an alternative political situation. The long-running battles between promoters, DJs and the UK Police was interesting and it was noted by Police fighting the organisers of parties that these people ran their operations like military units and were very effective at getting their events into successful fruition. I don’t think I’ve read a better and more comprehensive book on the history of dance music in the UK, and whereas the initial boom period may now be over, dance music is certainly in the mainstream day to day lives of the UK to this day and will be for a long time into the future. I think that it is important and inspiring to learn about the history of the greatest mass cultural movement, in my opinion, that emerged in the twentieth century.
I was a DJ myself back in the 1990s and although I never played alongside Brandon Block, I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times. Once, on his father’s birthday in a London bar/club, I had just got out of one of my early mental health hospital stints and I think Brandon was in recovery…. I asked him for some advice and told him about my experiences and he gave me some real pointers about how to deal with my situation, probably moreso than any other professional who works in this industry has given me. Read this book and you read a tale of horror. People believe that DJing is glamorous and fun, but just get stuck into Brandon’s revealing, heartfelt story, and you will immediately see the pain and suffering that comes your way in the murky world of dance music performance. After all the early breaks, once the scene got into full swing and Brandon Block had established a growing reputation, he was pretty soon stuck into an ounce a day cocaine habit. He’s a personality DJ in house music, meaning not that he chats and laughs while playing – his sets are pure banging party rocking professionally done same as may other at the top of their game. Brandon likes to party too much and his notoriety led him well astray. I loved hearing how he began the whole Space Terrace and his fame in Ibiza alongside Alex P is pretty much unrivalled out Ibiza way. The whole Flying and Charlie Chester story was really interesting even if it broke apart slightly. He seems a down to earth good guy, a victim of his own success. Some of the mental health battles after drug addiction took its toll really hit the nail on the head for me. A lot of the venues and clubs were very familiar as indeed many of the characters. The clubscene fraternity is only but a village, even in its global stretches that it reaches nowadays. The 3 gigs a night blasting around the motorways and hitting lines of coke at every red light when the traffic stopped. All seemed absolutely necessary to continue to deliver the acid house that this Big Name DJ believed in. In latter years Mr Block did his fair share of charity work, feeding back into drug rehabilitation centres as a qualified counsellor. He is lucky to be alive and this tale is something that anyone aspiring to enter life as a professional DJ should be reading. Good luck with the rest of your long life, Mr. Brandon Block. Looking forward to Part 2.
I was lucky enough to be a warm up DJ for Norman Jay back in the 1990s in The Cross Nightclub, London and I think I was billed on a couple of other events with him. He was a great DJ, I remember him once, in Ministry of Sound, having a full glass of drink topple on the bar decks where he was spinning from the above balcony and Norman, lightning quick just kept the music rolling and not even a skip of the needle. The book is divided up into several unique sections. The first part covers Norman’s Good Times sound system at Notting Hill Carnival which is for what he has been most famous. The whole logistics of such an event is well detailed enough for the professional DJ to thoroughly enjoy and learn from and to any reader the whole politics and excitement and logistics of such a fun event must be enlightening. The book covers Norman’s childhood, whereby he was brought up in Ladbroke Grove, West London to Windrush Caribbean immigrant parents, both of whom seemed very hardworking and supportive and keen to give their family the best start to life. The book discusses a lot about how being a black DJ was defined during the early years of the deck revolution. For me, a highlight was Norman’s journey to New York, where he learnt the best of what would be culturally exported from the USA to British streets. Norman Jay’s love for Tottenham Hotspur football club is covered in detail and during the excitement of terraces and the emergence of the hooligan years it is great reading of times past and the fun and frolics of being a serious football fan. For me, as a Liverpool fan it was truly disturbing to read about racism at Anfield back in the 1970s. Growing up in the John Barnes era of Liverpool, for me I always felt that we were a progressive club when it came to racism which is still a fight in the beautiful game to this very day. I really wanted for the book to keep running once it hit the years of house music. The warehouse parties with Judge Jules thrown across London were particularly interesting, the funniest moment in the tale, when the Met Police tried robbing all the takings from the promoters and Judge Jules and Norman hid under raincoats, pretending they were drunk. The chapter on big time club DJing moved too quickly for me. I really by this stage of the book wanted it to continue for at least double the length it was. It’s the best book I’ve read from a DJ to date and is testament to the Queen’s recognition of Norman Jay as our culture’s first recipient of the MBE. It inspired me to crack on in my chosen career and I can truly relate to a lot of the wisdom and knowledge contained therein. A Must read for anyone with an interest in DJing and Nightclub culture.
Wez G Books 
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