Dexter Jones

Welcome to Part One of my special mini-series with Dave Beer, the legendary co-founder of Back to Basics and one of the most recognisable characters in UK club culture.

In this opening episode, Dave takes us right back to the beginning.

We talk about discovering house music in America, walking through those famous plastic sheets at The Haçienda, and the inspiration that eventually led to the birth of Back to Basics.

What started with around 80 people grew week after week, becoming one of Europe’s longest-running weekly club nights, with Dave at the helm every Saturday for 20 years.

Dave also tells the brilliant story of how, before business cards and booking agents, he would write his phone number on a $50 bill, pass it across the DJ booth and tell the DJ: 

“That’s your deposit.”

But this conversation goes much deeper than clubbing.

Dave opens up about the four-and-a-half centimetre tumour that came frighteningly close to his spine, as well as the horrific road accident in which he says he died before being brought back.

This is the story of Dave Beer and Back to Basics, but it’s also the story of an extraordinary life lived well outside the ordinary.

And this is only Part One.

Part Two coming soon.

If you enjoy the episode, please subscribe to the Dexter Jones Podcast, drop a comment below and let me know your memories of Back to Basics.

Chapters: 

00:00 Coming Up
01:53 Dave Beer on Surviving Cancer
04:00 From Roadie to Club Culture
05:14 Discovering House Music in America
06:38 The Hacienda Changed Everything
08:32 The UK Rave Explosion
11:17 Charlie Chester & the Early Days
13:15 The Birth of Back to Basics
15:30 Building a Legendary Club
18:01 The Music of Back to Basics
20:39 Two Steps Further Than Any Other Fucker
21:42 The Iconic Back to Basics Artwork
24:46 Bringing American DJs to the UK
26:01 The $50 DJ Booking Trick
27:02 Dave Beer’s Unfinished Book
30:28 Finding Buddhism
34:28 How Buddhism Helped Dave Through Cancer
36:27 Given a 5% Chance of Survival
40:15 Finding Strength in Other People
42:11 “This Isn’t the First Time I’ve Died”
42:53 The Car Crash That Changed Everything
44:24 Two Weeks in a Coma
46:00 The Strange World Inside a Coma
48:08 Dyslexia, Knowledge & Altered States
50:12 20 Years of Back to Basics
52:25 What Made Back to Basics So Special?
55:36 How Club Culture Has Changed
57:48 Synchronicity, Spirituality & Life

DJ Rap is synonymous with jungle and drum & bass, but that’s only part of her story.

In Part 2 of our conversation, we go beyond jungle and uncover the other side of DJ Rap’s extraordinary career.

She talks openly about signing to a major label, the backlash she received for stepping outside the boundaries of jungle, and how her career suddenly exploded in America. From Coachella and performing alongside David Bowie and Green Day, to New York Fashion Week and landing a huge Calvin Klein campaign, this was a completely different world.
But behind the success were some difficult lessons. DJ Rap explains why she believes she had the wrong management around her, why Sony wanted to turn her into a pop artist, and how an electronic album she wanted to release was rejected.

We also dive deep into something many UK clubbers may not realise:

DJ RAP PLAYS HOUSE.

She spent years playing house across America, held a residency at Crowbar Miami, played marathon sets including eight hours at Burning Man, and has been producing and releasing house music for decades.

DJ Rap explains why she’d love to return to the house circuit, her passion for classic house and the Toolroom era, and why being booked for the right crowd in the right room makes all the difference.

Plus, we talk about her 22 years in America, returning to the UK, rebuilding her career, creating her online community, the story behind the name DJ Rap, promoters, social media and the records she’d choose to close the perfect night.

This is DJ Rap: Beyond Jungle.

00:00 They Wanted Me to Go Pop
03:20 Major Label Backlash & Leaving Jungle Behind
06:45 Coachella, David Bowie & Green Day
10:15 Sony, America & the Calvin Klein Campaign
14:30 22 Years in America
18:10 Coming Back to the UK
21:15 Where the Name DJ Rap Came From
24:00 Beyond Jungle: DJ Rap Plays House
28:00 Crowbar Miami & Burning Man
32:15 DJs, Promoters & Playing to the Right Crowd
35:10 The Last Record of the Night

In this episode of the Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with Jon X Crosse for a journey back into the golden age of 90s trance and electronic music.

Jon’s story is absolutely fascinating. From working with some of the earliest MIDI technology and experimenting with synthesizers in the 1980s, to creating Crescendo – Are You Out There? and becoming part of The Morrighan, this episode takes us right inside the making of some truly special records.

We get into the remarkable story behind Crescendo, a track whose musical foundations Jon says began when he was just 12 or 13 years old and were partly inspired by Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.

Jon also tells the incredible story of booking Sasha & John Digweed at Heaven in the early 90s, recording their sets onto DAT and studying the way they built their musical journeys. Those recordings would go on to have a major influence on the way he approached the production of Crescendo.

Then we get into Lange featuring The Morrighan – Follow Me, how Cecily wrote those unforgettable lyrics, how the record came together with Lange, and why more than two decades later it can still create incredibly emotional moments on the dancefloor at Amnesia Ibiza.

We also talk Judge Jules, Pete Tong, Paul Oakenfold, Guru Josh, Radio 1, Heaven, the early days of music production and plenty more stories from an extraordinary period in British dance music.

If you lived through this era, there are some serious memories in this one. And if you didn’t, this is a brilliant insight into how some of the records that helped define it were actually made.

Jon X Crosse: Inside the Golden Age of 90s Trance Anthems.

00:00 Intro
01:18 Jon X Crosse: An Extraordinary Career
02:04 The Birth of MIDI & Electronic Music
06:23 Jon’s Disastrous First TV Appearance
08:45 The Story of Crescendo
12:24 The Emotion Behind Crescendo
13:21 How Sasha & Digweed Influenced Crescendo
14:54 Crescendo, Beethoven & Moonlight Sonata
17:01 Making Crescendo
19:53 Guru Josh, Kirk Field & The Prodigy
23:21 The Morrighan
25:09 The Story of Follow Me with Lange
28:23 How Follow Me Was Written
29:42 Why the Lyrics of Follow Me Endured
32:29 Follow Me & Kevin and Perry
33:12 Why Crescendo Was So Different
37:39 The Bizarre Story Behind the JD-800
42:08 How Jon Booked Sasha & Digweed for £350
45:21 The Secret Sasha & Digweed DAT Recordings
46:53 John Digweed Plays Crescendo on Radio 1
49:54 What Happened After Crescendo?
51:47 80,000 Records Sold in One Week
52:54 The Return of Crescendo
55:02 Why These Records Still Mean So Much
56:02 Part Two: Prince William, the SAS & More
56:39 Judge Jules & His Radio 1 Debut
58:16 Part 2 incoming.

Contact Jon:

www.morrighan.com 
@jon_x_crosse

DJ Rap joins the Dexter Jones Podcast for a journey back to the 1990s, when rave culture, pirate radio and a new underground sound were changing British music forever.

Long before jungle and drum & bass became global movements, Rap was living and breathing the rave scene. She talks about discovering acid house, spending everything she had on records, living in squats, learning to DJ and breaking through on pirate stations including Rave FM and Fantasy FM.

Rap also opens up about the much deeper role music played in her life. After an incredibly difficult childhood, she found freedom, friendship and a new family through rave culture.

We hear how she became one of the first women to break onto the main stages of the UK rave scene, demanded the same money as the men, and then lost every London booking following an extraordinary and tragic coincidence at Telepathy involving “Mr Kirk, Your Son Is Dead.”

Rap eventually headed north, before discovering AWOL and a new sound that would completely change her direction as a producer: jungle.

She remembers studying DJs including Kenny Ken and the late Randall, watching the emerging generation around her, including Andy C, and taking that inspiration back into the studio. That journey ultimately helped produce records including Spiritual Aura and launched another chapter of her career.

This is the story of DJ Rap, pirate radio, rave culture and the birth of jungle, told by someone who was right there in the middle of it.

🎧 DJ Rap: From Raves and Pirate Radio to the Birth of Jungle

If you lived through the 1990s rave scene, let me know in the comments: where did you rave, and which DJ defined that era for you?

Subscribe to the Dexter Jones Podcast for more conversations with the DJs, producers, promoters and characters who helped shape dance music culture.

Chapters:

00:00 The Story That Nearly Ended DJ Rap’s Career
01:32 DJ Rap: The Early Rave Years
03:12 Growing Up Around the World
05:36 A Difficult Childhood & Finding Freedom
08:51 The First Club That Changed Everything
10:55 Squats, Raving & Living for Records
14:00 Before DJing: Dancing at Raves
18:03 The Moment DJ Rap Knew Her Future
20:53 Learning to DJ on One Turntable
22:28 Making Her First Record
23:10 Pirate Radio, Rave FM & Fantasy FM
25:33 DJ Rap’s First Ever DJ Set
27:38 Producing Records & Breaking Through
28:12 The Telepathy Incident: “My Career Just Ended”
29:24 Becoming the First Woman on the Main Stage
32:55 Breaking Barriers as a Female DJ
35:51 Losing London & Starting Again
37:35 AWOL & Discovering Jungle
40:01 Studying the Masters: Randall, Kenny Ken & Andy C
41:34 Spiritual Aura & Breaking Through as a Producer
41:47 From Jungle to a Sony Record Deal
42:31 When Music Became a Business
43:27 Losing the Record Deal & Learning the Hard Way

This week on the Dexter Jones Podcast, I sit down with one of the defining DJs of the golden era of UK and Ibiza clubbing, Lottie.

From discovering acid house and finding her people at The Haçienda, to learning her craft behind a pair of Technics, becoming a resident at The Gallery at Turnmills, recording her breakthrough BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix, and eventually playing some of the greatest clubs in the world.

We go deep into Lottie’s incredible years in Ibiza, including playing Space, DC10, Circoloco, Pacha, Amnesia and Manumission, closing Space and the unforgettable moment Pepe Roselló introduced her to the crowd.

We also revisit her famous appearance on Channel 4’s Faking It, where Lottie was given the seemingly impossible task of turning a classical cellist into a convincing club DJ. She reveals what really happened behind the scenes and how the programme suddenly made her recognisable far beyond the dancefloor.

Lottie also talks candidly about motherhood, stepping away from the relentless touring lifestyle, the incredibly difficult circumstances that changed her family life, and why returning to DJing and discovering new music has become so important to her again.

There’s also plenty of discussion about how DJ culture has changed, the lost art of the warm-up DJ, learning your craft through residencies, phones on dancefloors, modern Ibiza and why Space remains her favourite club of all time.

This is a proper journey through more than three decades of house music, club culture and Ibiza with someone who was right there in the middle of it.

If you lived through this era, I think you’re going to absolutely love this one. And if you didn’t, here’s your chance to find out what all the fuss was about.

🎙️ Lottie: Turnmills, Space Ibiza, ‘Faking It’ & the Golden Age of Clubbing

Chapters:

00:00 Coming Up
02:54 Discovering The Haçienda & Acid House
08:14 "Faking It" & Turning a Cellist Into a DJ
16:10 Buying Her First Technics 1210s
20:00 Moving to London & Becoming Lottie
22:41 The Gallery, Turnmills & Learning to Warm Up
25:25 The Essential Mix That Changed Everything
31:58 Going Global & the Golden Age of Radio 1
35:00 Ibiza in Its Glory Days
37:43 Space Ibiza, Manumission & Closing Space
40:05 The Early Days of DC10 & Circoloco
45:00 Touring, Family & Stepping Away From DJing
50:00 Finding Joy in DJing Again
55:00 Is the Art of the Warm-Up DJ Disappearing?
59:20 Imposter Syndrome & Earning Your Stripes
64:46 Creamfields Memories & One More Tune