Takin' Over is taking over The Roadhouse
SOUL FANBOY: Darren Laws
TIME was when you couldn’t move for soul, funk and hip-hop influenced nights in the city fuelled by urban culture taken one step further.
Now of course, with a few exceptions, this really isn’t the case as a team of stalwart Manchester DJs announce as they start a new night.
“We just wanted to start a night that we wanted to go to,” explains DJ Darren Laws who spends his daytime hours supplying hip-hop and soul influenced music to Manchester cognoscenti at Fat City records in the Northern Quarter.
“I go out in the city and meet a lot of people who are looking for a place to meet particularly now the Electric Chair is no more.”
Of course he’s right. The Electric Chair was a significant clubbing phenomenon in the city that gave a regular musical love in to a generation who possibly still remember the house music and hip-hop in it infancy.
So does that mean that Takin’ Over is in some way a retro night capturing a sound in a club scene that’s moved on?
“Absolutely not,” says Darren, “We’ll be playing great older music like Carl Craig and Incognito but the aim of the night is not to recapture something we’ve had before. It’s to continue something that I think we’re missing.”
With a resident DJ line-up that includes Martin Brew and Peter Jay there’s no denying that Takin’ Over will certainly move the crowd.
Nish Nash Nosh
Jay and Brew play regularly at Nish Nash Nosh and Brew himself is on the cusp of releasing a new album on the Peacefrog record label.
Laws meanwhile remains at the cutting edge of soul by imbibing record shop culture 24-7 and playing his deft mix of soul, hip-hop and suitable rock at bars and clubs around the city.
Between them it means that there’s no need for guest DJs, that’s for sure.
“We’re bringing the social element back into clubbing,” says Darren. “I want to be able to walk into a club and know that I’m going to know some of the people in there.
"Plus The Roadhouse is a fantastic venue that’s really starting to host a load of great nights again.”
In the pursuit of being cutting edge it’s all too easy to forget that a lot of people want to go out and hear music they love regardless of how current / hip it is.
Cyclical
This of course opens such club promoters open to accusations of being out of step but as anyone will tell you club music is cyclical.
Just ask the techno aficionados that laughed at rave sounds.
“Our night is all about creating a feelgood factor in the city,” says Darren which bearing the mind of the current climate makes good sense.
“A big old social in one of the city’s best clubs. That’s all. Come on down.”
Darren Laws’ guide to Takin’ Over:
1. Reality - 'I Wanna Be Where You Are' - Buddah Records
1976 uptempo soul bomb featuring Leon Ware on vocals and produced by Leroy Hudson, Deep
2. Grace Jones - 'William’s Blood' (Yam Who? remix) - Wall of Sound
A welcome return for the nutty lady of disco
3. The Joneses -'Sugar Pie Guy' - Mercury Records
Like Barry White doing a Boogie record from 1983
4. Susumu Yokota - 'Could Heaven Ever Be Like This' - Exceptional
Bugz in the attic produced cover version of the classic Idrus Mohammed
5. Brief Encounter - 'Human' - Darcy Music
Rare groove at its best, this took years to find a copy
6. Ingognito - 'Out Of The Storm' - Talkin Loud
Carl Craig droppin’ a left field hip-hop soul bomb
7. Rainbow Team - 'Bite the Apple' - Full Time records
killer boogie record from the early '80s.
8. Joe Bataan - 'Call My Name' - Common folk records
Hot 2008 release for this Latin don.
9. Sharon Jones - 'How Long Do I Have To Wait For You' - Daptone
New York Nu-Funk giving a reggae feel by Ticklah
10. Aretha Franklin - "One Step Ahead' - Columbia Records
The queen of soul with a 1964 killer used by Mos Def.
Takin’ Over launches on Friday, November 14 at The Roadhouse, Newton Street.
Published: Thu, 13 November, 2008
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