From the Face
magazine, February 1983, as part of an overview of the soundtrack to London
nightlife at that point, an interview with the late Colin Faver 'One of the
Camden Palace's four DJs who also plays Cha-Cha, the one nighter that
provides a pansexual sideshow to Heaven's straight night each
Tuesday'.
"The Palace on
Saturdays is definitely the most upfront disco in England. Tuesdays, Wednesdays
and Fridays educational, 50-50 disco and electro pop; Thursday
sticks to the no-funk groove; so on Saturdays we mix in funk and disco
funk.
A lot of bands that
have come out of the Palace initially as cult groups are now soft pop, like ABC,
Culture Club. George proudly brought his first single to us and a whole new
dancestyle developed from the girls in the Culture Club outfits, probably
because they're so hard to dance in.
But the reaction has
been a return to heavier underground sounds: Iggy, Theatre of Hate, Lou
Reed, Passenger. A lot of people don't like funk and we get asked for Killing
Joke now which normally rarely gets played in discos. I reckon it's due to the
influence of the Batcave and bands like Sex Gang Children and
Bauhaus.
When the Palace
opened we were almost totally electronic – Visage, Soft Cell – but the most
noticeable difference has been towards an acceptance of disco which was once a
dirty word, particularly since electronic funk like Whodini and Man Parrish.
Saturdays are good because people will dance to what's played. We've tried gay
disco like Patrick Cowley and Roni Griffith and people to listen. Hard New York
disco funk for sure came into its own last year on three labels in particular:
Prélude, West End and Salsoul. For me this is the underground music. It's just
like the days of punk because it revolves around small labels. D-train and Peach
Boys really began the move.
I do get pissed off
by NME not giving space to disco. If ever they do get round to reviewing it the
records are so old. And then it's only a mention just to sound hip. Yet I'm sure
there's a market judging by the numbers of people who ask in
clubs.
We can get as ahead
as we like at Cha-Cha so long as we include Simple Minds. I made a point of
introducing a 50% funk policy over the past year because I get bored with the
pompous futurists like Ultravox. A lot of people haven't heard Gil Scott-Heron
and there is no way they can't dance to James Brown.
The quintessential
Cha-Cha sound sound is Patrick Cowley's 'Mind Warp'. Heaven on a Saturday is
basically very very fast 130bpm wild dancing but these days more gays complain
that it's too fast. Where gay music once led trends, the interesting crossover
has Yazoo's two singles which they now play in Heaven. The gay market wouldn't
normally touch them but the German mix of 'The Anvil' and the ABC remix have
crossed too.
In fact there's never
been more choice than we have now: excellent imports and so many brilliant
British bands. Those two Blancmange singles must have been last year's best. And
listen for Set The Tone's first single, it's gifted. And small English one-offs
like Animal Nightlife and Shriek Back are going to do well"
State of the
Dance:
Yello - Heavy
Whispers (acetate, electro funk)
Divine - Kick your
Butt (gay disco)
Vaughan Mason - You
can do it (hard funk)
Members - Go West
(English dance music)
Set The Tone - Dance
Sucker (Scottish dance music)
(There's some
other interesting material in this issue which I might get round to posting,
including similar interviews with David Rodigan and Steve Walsh)
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