Page 61 - Zone Magazine Issue 006

The food is mental! Proper veggie arrangements laid on for us. I tucked in and was surprisingly full quite quickly. Some awesome stories from Oded and Kajan about touring China, “you star!” will stick in my head for a long time! It’s good fun but I got to run as I’m DJing with the Housenation Radio crew from Italy at No. 129 club early at 22.30. The weather was too bad to take the bike so I hotfooted it down to the venue.
It’s a real honour to play on this bill alongside heroes of mine Victor Simonelli and Kenny Carpenter and an array of other great names from Darryl D’ Bonneau to Gudio P. The whole thing is broadcast online too which is cool. Really enjoyed my set, some great soulful vibes and was great to hang out with the likes of Victor and Tracy Hamlin who sang live at the party. It’s only Wednesday and already the pressure is on regarding catching up and attending friends events (which sometimes are happening simultaneously!) so we head off to Luminaa on the Leidseplein to catch Mark Di Meo from Italy, Richard Earnshaw has just arrived from the UK with Bamo (together they are Spiritchaser) and Dave Doyle is there too. We have a few high quality shorts with Pasha No Frost from Moscow (we are on our hols after all!) and come 3am its time for a bedtime snack at Wok To Walk, who make some awesome noodle dishes to order. Bed then and try and get some interviews tomorrow for the radio.
Thursday
Woke up early enough (hotels and lie on’s never work for me) and I hit the gym round the corner from the hotel. I did the same last year as it’s a pay as you use place and it kept me ticking over energy wise as hard as that is to fathom!.
Weather has taken a turn again, it’s just that slow steady rain that soaks you to the bones. Made my way after the gym with my recorder to the Felix / Dylan strip (Prinsengract) but literally everyone who’s there are huddled under umbrellas and it’s to even see who is who let alone meet anyone for Interviews. Standing around I bumped into Louis Osbourne, who of course was on RTE Pulse with me in the early days, we have a quick catch up and moan about the rain. He is managing acts now and one of them a mutual friend as it happens also strays upon us. Michael Gray (Full Intention). After a chat and another moan about the rain I tell Mike I’ll see him for an interview in the next few days. No Interviews at all done and I’m uncomfortable and damp, so I head back to the hotel to shower
and change and get ready for dinner before tonight’s main event. Our party with Random Soul at La Cage.
I meet up again with Oded Nir this time for an indoor chat on mic, he is usually my first interview on each year’s show. He’s a really funny guy and I decide since he took me to a vegetarian restaurant to introduce him to the Irish way of drinking tea. Not sure if he choked it down or enjoyed it but our interview went well and it got a little deep, Oded discussed how the song writing craft has been discarded with the quick turnaround of digital releases and we reminisce about the old days of spending hours in record shops. But it’s all gold and will certainly make the show. The weather is still too bad for the bike so I walk up to La Cage.
La Cage have laid on a nice spread for us and it’s a real ADE mix with Husky, The Checkup, Dave Mayer, Seb Skalski, Mike Scot, Carl Hanaghan and Giom tucking into our pre party nosh. Turns out some after work party are in the venue and a reveller asks can he play a few tunes for his mates (he has a USB with him). Why not! He actually is pretty good and his colleagues seem impressed. The crowd are nicely warmed up by the time we get to spin and myself and Danny Coleman go back to back due to time constraints. I absolutely hate doing back to back sets with anyone as you just can’t seem to find your mojo when you play one on one off I think, but sure it was a little get together so we just played music we liked. Got to spin Dubliner Gary Tuohy’s forthcoming mix of I Get Deep and Carl Hanaghan was loving it. A good sign when one of Hed Kandi’s main men like a track. Great sets by all the guys and a great party. A lot of industry are there, Sam Divine is hanging out at the bar so Danny drops Flowers. Her big jam from this year. Nice work.
It’s handy that two doors down DJ Spen is doing his Quantize Records party in Rose’s Cantina. I decided to flit down for a minute and low and behold I bump into Masters At Work, Brian Tappert and host of other industry people who are there partying. Schoomozing til late it’s a 4am finish for me. I seem to forget I need to get footage for an ADE show special. Have to get some interviews done tomorrow or the pressure is really on.
Friday
Another early start up and awake at 9.30am. Feel positively ill from tiredness and make a deal with myself that come hell or high water I will have an early night tonight.
Gym for a bit, then off to meet the Deeptown boys. I stray upon a shop selling cold pressed juices and with the lack of sleep and the abundance of rain, I reckon an immune system boost is exactly what I need. Oh and Coffee. Coffee Company serves excellent coffee and low and behold inside I bump into my old pal Vocalist Natasha Watts. With a little break in the rain I use the impetus to start the bulk of my interviews. Getting into interview mode I nail a good few in the space of an hour while the rain has stopped. One of which is Lenny Fontana.
I’ve bumped into Lenny every year and he is a joy to interview as well as being a House music legend, the interview gets hijacked by Barbara Tucker. Where else would you get it? ADE in a nutshell. Bump into Marshall Jefferson while standing with Natasha Watts. I had Marshall on my old pirate show on Nova 947 back around 2003 and I reminded him but I don’t think he remembered too well. If I remember correctly that interview was like pulling teeth and I didn’t fancy going through that again. So I decided to say hello and split. Dinner was booked for 20.00 with the Deeptown crew at a Fondue Restaurant (they are all Swiss) so I got changed for that and then went to meet Jeremy Sylvester from Urban Dubz at an event at Kopelkirk for a chat. Had the bike this time so off I went in the rain to right beside the red light district for our fondue dinner.
The Swiss guys didn’t seem too impressed. Sadly they were also very un-Swiss in the fact they were almost 30 mins late for the reservation. I suffered the inevitable horror of the “outside of Ireland” Guinness while I waited and then realised my friend Oded’s party would be starting soon. His live act includes him on Bass guitar jamming over records normally (sometimes with keys too) this time he had gone all out. Included was a live violinist, Live vocals from Chappell and Ron Carroll (who was also DJing and performing there with Michelle Weeks and Michelle Shellers) and a live saxophonist too. Hit him a text to see what time he was on and it was 15 mins time. We hadn’t even ordered and this was the big Deeptown meal of ADE. Needless to say by the time I got the venue Oded had done his thing and Steven Stone was on. To say he was pissed is an understatement. He reminded me it was the second year in a row I missed his performance. I knew there was no point in trying to explain as he was livid. All I could is sincerely apologise, It upset me quite a lot as I feel it’s the only bad thing about ADE.
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