Balearic Breakfast | Episode 211 | Meeting S/A/M & Greg Wilson
- by The Lioncub
- Feb 11
- 35 min read
Updated: Apr 8
Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy broadcast the 211th episode of Balearic Breakfast on her Mixcloud on February 11th 2025.
About this episode. – Today's episode was a nice moment for the Familly. We gathered on the chat as usual, enjoyed almost all of Colleen's 2hours' hard work (sadly the stream stopped before the end), we talked about Music, about the We Out Here Festival, about The London Loft (tickets availiable here) and, as Colleen streamed from New-York she shared a nice memory with us, saying: "Yesterday I visited the woman who was the head of Radio and Sound when I was in university, and went up to the floor where the WNYU radio station was (not there anymore) and it was emotional".
Should you want to read S/A/M's Interview, click here. For Greg's Interview, it's just here (and don't forget to read the nice interview he did with me, it's there).
For your information, Colleen will be playing live on :
February, 14th (For your pleasure presents Colleen Cosmo Murphy, tickets here);
February 15th (New-York City, Horse Meat Disco, tickets here);
March 6th (Listening room session / celebrating The Loft, tickets here);
March 8th at La Discothèque (tickets here) ;
March, 9th 2025 at the London Loft (tickets here).
"Greetings from New York and thanks to all who joined on the Balearic Breakfast live stream this morning. Did I catch you with this photo? It’s the only one Greg Wilson and I have together (also with Daddy Ad of Trojan Sound and Jerry Dammers, co-founder of the Specials taken at our Love Dancin’ tent this past summer).
As I’m away, this week’s Balearic Breakfast features two interviews and mixes. The first is from the Glaswegian-raised Ibiza-based DJ/producer @samantha_s_a_m who has a new compilation out called Suenos de Ibiza Vol. 1 on @msolrecords she also has a lovely Balearic mix for us, too. The second interview and mix is from legendary @dj_greg_wilson who has just published James Hamilton’s Disco Pages on his @superweirdsubstance platform. He tells us all about Hamilton’s role in the development of disco in the UK and Greg has given us a classic disco mix, too.
Next week’s Balearic Breakfast will feature our annual Loft Anniversary Special so there will not be a request line this week, but I will be back in London in my record room streaming live. I hope you can join me and for now enjoy today’s show with music from @superweirdsubstance @msolrecords @realblackbyrds @georgesolaribiza @lonnielistonsmith @dennisbovell @robin_12tree @alkent @arnauobiols @_a_thin_man_ @pepllado @tonarunur @lorenzomorresi_ @margasolofficial @lemongrassmusic @circlesofsound @djchriscoco"
Listen back to the 211th episode of Balearic Breakfast:
PLAYLIST
S/A/M Mix
(2025) Marchio Bossa (ft Ryuichi Zee Su) – Nuvole
(2024) George Solar, BJ Smith, Chris Coco – Holy Sun
(2019) Circles Of Sound – Still Believing
(2020) Misses Misty – Mellow Mellow Ride On
(2025) Shervin Bollorian, Sakari Heikka, Kipper Eldridge, Simon Mills –
Enjoy The Silence (All I Ever Wanted) (Simon Mills remix)
(2024) Marga Sol – Sail Away
(2014) 12Tree – Make A Little Reason
(2022) Stella – Détends-toi
(2024) Lorenzo Morresi feat. Tony Scorpioni – Neon
(2025) Tonarunur – Give Me Your Word
(NOL) Dennis Bovell – Heaven (Kazu edit)
(NOL) Ludovic Navarro vs Diana Ross – Upside Down Dub (S/A/M mash up)
(2003) Pep Llado – Gooli
(2023) Al Kent – Happiness & Peace
(2003) DJ Friction – Could Heaven Ever Be Like This (Duplex Inc remix)
(2024) Anrau Obiols – Pagan Mambo
(NOL) A Thin Man – Face Final
(2025) Lonnie Liston Smith – Expansions (Leo Zero edit)
Greg Wilson James Hamilton Disco Pages Mix
(2019) Earth, Wind & Fire – In the Stone (Reflex Revision)
Sharon Redd – Can You Handle It (Late Nite Tuff Guy Rework)
Blackbyrds – Walking In Rhythm (Peza Rework)
(2018) Chaka Khan – I Know You, I Live You (Late Nite Tuff Guy Rework)
Donald Byrd – Love Has Come Around (Deep & Disco Edit)
Jean Carn – Was That All It Was (Fanfrandisco Edit)
(2013) Players Association – Turn the Music Up (Derek Kaye Rework)
(2022) Stephanie Mills – Put Your Body In It (Mikeandtess Edit)
Oneness Of Juju – Every Way But Loose (Dr Packer Rework)
(1979) Brass Construction – Shakit (V's Edit)
Crown Heights Affair – Dreaming a Dream (ID Edit/Cryptic Re-touch)
S/A/M'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN
[Colleen]
Good morning, Balearicans. This morning, we have two special mixes and interviews. The first one is with Sam, who is a regular DJ at Pykes and also Café Del Mar in Ibiza, and she'll be talking about her new album, Sueños de Ibiza, a beautiful chill-out compilation.
After that, we have DJ Greg Wilson, who's going to tell us all about James Hamilton and his Disco Pages, and a book that he's just released on his own platform, Super Weird Substance. But first, here is S/A/M.
Greetings, Balearicans.
I'm here in the studio with Samantha Bagg, or known as Sam, who is a DJ, producer, and radio host in Ibiza, as well as a forthcoming compilation coming out on EmSoul called Sueños de Ibiza Vol. 1.
Hi, Samantha!
[S/A/M]
Hi, Colleen. What pleasure it is to be with you here today in Balearic Breakfast. Thanks for inviting me.
[Colleen]
Oh, a pleasure. A pleasure. And where are you right now?
[S/A/M]
So actually, although I live in Ibiza, I'm in Maldives for a two-month placement doing music programming and playing sunsets for a resort called Avani. So yeah, I was invited over to provide their sunset and after-dark and poolside sets for the festive period.
[Colleen]
That sounds amazing. Take me there now! Well, that's great. Now, you're originally from Scotland, as we can hear. I love the accent, as you know. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got your start in music, because you have some great stories to share.
[S/A/M]
Well, I did music at college years and years and years ago. And it was a course that kind of specialized in performance, production, and event management. And I actually was a piano player, keyboard player, used to play in bands. And I did three years there. And when I graduated, a lot of my course, all my peers were going off to become session players. I actually thought, oh, I'm not good enough. So I had a real interest in the curation, production side of things. And so I actually had a mentor who was Stephen Pastel from an indie band called The Pastels.
[Colleen]
And I've met him before because he works at Mono Records.
[S/A/M]
Excellent record shop. We actually did a festival outside that record shop. So Stephen told me, gave me the heads up on a festival called Triptych that was happening in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, and said the guys really need help on it.
And I ended up working on that for three years. And we covered every aspect of underground music right across the scene. And we had people like Grace Jones, Cinematic Orchestra, Madlib, Terry Callier, and like so many different artists from really eclectic. And it really got me into the sort of festival production side of things. And I also spent my college grant on a set of decks.
[Colleen]
Good for you.
[S/A/M]
Yeah. So I got to know a lot of the promoters from working on this festival. And then I started getting offering gigs. And then from that, you know, that's going back 20 years. I, you know, got into DJing that way. And, you know, I was playing every weekend. And then moved to London and carried on. And I used to program a space called Supercute in Brixton Village Market. And then, yeah, and then I guess I moved to Ibiza seven years ago.
And now, you know, play at places like Happy Del Mar, Pikes, where I've been a resident DJ for five years and across the sort of circuit there through the season.
[Colleen]
Before we leave Glasgow, you had a really cute story to share about my dear late friend David Mancuso, because he played in Glasgow, gosh, it was maybe 20 years ago?
[S/A/M]
Yes, that's right Colleen. And oh, he's such a lovely person. And so we had the pleasure of having David play with us a special, I think it was a five or seven-hour set at the Riverside Club, which you probably know.
[Colleen]
I played there. Yeah, I played there.
[S/A/M]
Yeah, it was amazing. Do you remember the carpet?
[Colleen]
I loved it. It's a Caley Hall. It was wonderfull.
[S/A/M]
It was wonderful. Yes, it is. It's amazing. And so David, because I've been in touch with him, organizing flights and like being his point of contact right up until he came, I went to his soundcheck with him and buddied him all day. And I just remember like walking round and round the room so we could check all the levels and just talking music and having just the most incredible experience, me, the sound engineer, and David basically all afternoon. And then we had all this expensive Linn equipment, because obviously David was so passionate about the sound levels, as you know, and as you know, Coleen.
So we were running really, really heavy, hard core Linn equipment off this domestic power supply in Riverside. And halfway through the gig, everything just stopped. The lights went off, the music went off. Everyone was like, ooh. And me and the sound engineer literally ran. This was back in the day before like, you know, mobile phones were the way they were.
So he just like ripped out this like little hand torch out of his pocket, gave it, thrust it into my hand and told me to point it at the plug and suck it in the wall. So he quickly took his screwdriver out and fiddled about and put a new fuse in. Plugged it back in, everything came on again.
[Colleen]
Oh my gosh.
[S/A/M]
Everyone just teared and David went back on, back in the room. It was amazing.
[Colleen]
Was that Iain Mackie?
[S/A/M]
I think it was actually, yeah, I think so.
[Colleen]
He's one of my dear friends, because we met through David. He's the sound engineer for our London loft parties as well. That's a great story. And thank you for sharing that. What is it that brought you to Ibiza?
[S/A/M]
So I was coming out in summers and I had a nice contact with Malanga. And it was actually through the Ibiza Vinyl Club. And Malanga had just opened at that point. It's a really cool little venue. They invited me to come and play. So when I came out and I played there, I really enjoyed it.
And that was a good few years before I moved there. But not that long ago, because I actually was going to places like Garden Festival in summer and before that, which is in Croatia. And because I worked in the industry, quite often my summers were not going to Ibiza.
So when I went there to DJ, I realized this amazing scene. So I was spending more time there in summer. And it just got to the point where I realized that living in winter in London was not really that as well as much fun as I could potentially be having and better on my bank balance and living in Ibiza.
[Colleen]
This is the Glaswegian speaking people!
[S/A/M]
Well, yeah, actually, and I was living in London for eight years. But yeah, I mean, it was cold. I'm half Sri Lankan. And so, you know, I think I've got that in my blood.
[Colleen]
Got you. I'm with you. I'm feeling that way more as I get older that I need more weather in the winter. And then you started just tell me a little bit about how you kind of sank into the music scene there. So you have some really funny stories if you want to share a couple with just, you know, little anecdotes of how you found island life, especially in the sphere of music.
[S/A/M]
Ibiza is amazing in the sense that it's such a creative community that's really interconnected. And it's a small island, so it's very easy to meet people. And because I was doing radio as well, I was connecting with different people.
And I used to go to pikes loads and and also like hostilitory. So I'd meet different, different people. And I had the pleasure of, you know, like spending time with people like Phil Cooper and George Solaar, all of these people who, you know, go to the gigs. But before that, I was going to pikes. And I think it was during the pandemic, actually, that I got offered to start playing there. And anyway, it's just so bizarre how you end up, you don't quite know what's going to happen next in Ibiza. I was at, I think it was a, yeah, it was a party that George Evelyn's Nightmares in Wax had put on. And that's not how it was already DJing, this was actually last summer. And I found myself at the buffet. And everybody was bringing a dish. So I took my special Spanish fish stew, which has, you know, got a nice dose of olives in it. And I was, I was, I was kind of like, chatting away to a couple of people. And then I noticed Todd Terry was standing in front of me. And he was going in for my fish stew. So I had to tell him that, you know, I made that fish stew. And he was like, Oh, great. Okay, then he started telling me about this like, bar cafe that he was planning on opening up in the States. And so we chatted a little bit. And then I said, when we get in later, and he came back, he was like, Sam, your fish stew was lovely. But can I suggest less of the olives next time, please? And then I was like, Oh, okay, then I'll take it on board. And then I think everybody thought the same thing. Because I did notice at the end, there was like this stew that was basically just like olives stew. And I remember Saeedo arrived and he turned around and he was like, Sam, I really enjoyed your olives stew. I was like, I think Todd Terry ate all the fish.
[Colleen]
And so what kind of stuff do you play over at Pikes? How would you describe your sound?
[S/A/M]
A huge mix, I feel like, because I've, my music mantra has always been music exploration with no restrictions. So certainly balearic sounds, but also, you know, my sound goes, you know, as balearic music does, it goes beyond and touches all genres and all forms. And for me, I feel it's very much about time of day, the people around you, the, you know, the different energies that you feel as to how that is reflected in the music.
So if I'm playing a poolside set, yeah, definitely chilled out, down-tempo vibes, but really beautiful, sunshiny music. And if I'm playing in the bathtub, which is Freddie Mercury's old bathtub, from midnight to 4am, that's a totally different kettle of red. So, you know, it really varies across the board.
And that's one thing that I'm really feel very blessed about is that I've had the opportunity to explore my sound, which has always been eclectic.
[Colleen]
And let's get back to Sam Baggs' eclectic mix here on Balearic Breakfast.
[Colleen]
And we're back here in the studio with Sam. And thank you again for joining us and for this beautiful mix. Now you have a new compilation out called Sueños de Ibiza Vol. 1, it's out on MSoul Records. And you also have a night at the Standard called that.
Could you tell us a little bit about how this whole thing came about?
[S/A/M]
Thanks, Colleen. So, I have a radio show and music stream that I've had for three years now, it's called Sueños de Ibiza. And what happened last year was I sort of extended, decided it'd be a nice idea to sort of extend the program a little bit into a live thing.
And occasionally, I started inviting guests on the show, where I would interview them, and they would share a mix. And then I started thinking it'd be really nice to kind of bring that to life a little bit more. So, I found a venue, which is the Standard Hotel, where Willie Graff does the programming. And I thought to do something really nice on their roof, that's very intimate. And, you know, has that Balearic vibe, and something that's, you know, almost acoustic, not acoustic, but, you know, electronic, but very stripped back. And so, the event itself is sort of sprung from that. So, I invited Lorenzo Maresi, who's a multi-instrumentalist from Italy, to come and do like a live set. And then I've worked with Robin Twelkey, who's actually Cantoma's producer, who also previously went under the name Slide. And it's funny, because 20 years ago, I was buying his breakbeat records.
So, I invited him to come and play on the roof. And so, that was lovely. And both of those artists, I actually invited them to join me at Pikes. And it was really funny, because Lorenzo and I both ended up doing the midday to 4pm set at the poolside, which was Deadhill, Balearic, and then the midnight to 4am same night in Freddie's bathtub. So, four hours set, 12 hours apart, music totally different, but really eclectic. And we really buzzed off each other.
So, it's been really nice. And I'm going to extend the program this year. So, I'm working on a bit of a schedule for that. So, I invited Marga Saul, who is the owner of M Saul Records. And she's actually, she owns five labels. But like you calling her, she does a million things. And I connected with Marga when she came to play at Café Del Mar, where I've had the pleasure of playing for the last three years. And we really sparked a connection. And I invited her on my radio show to share a mix. I had a lovely chat with her. She's such an inspiring person. And then she really kindly asked me, invited me to curate a compilation from the back catalogue of M Saul Records.
So, that was a really beautiful thing, opportunity to kind of delve into the back catalogue and listen to all the vaults and go through everything. And I wanted the compilation to sort of feel like Ibiza and to be inspired by maybe I found some artists that were connected specifically to Ibiza. So, people like Ken Fan, Ibiza Child, she's an excellent, Jackie Crowe, she's an excellent Ibiza-based producer.
And then from the Balearic Islands, we have Michael E, who's based in Mallorca. And so, I wanted the compilation to kind of feel almost like that kind of sunshine trip through the day into the night, the chill-out, down-tempo, the sunset, and that kind of feeling that Ibiza brings, that the sun brings. So, that's where the idea for the compilation came from. And that's what the story of the music tells.
[Colleen]
Well, it certainly does feel like that. We were just away in Lanzarabia, and I put it on, and it definitely has island vibes. And it's great that you're supporting local artists as well, or artists from the Balearic Islands.
And I noticed that you also, you play keys on one of Ken Fan. Ken Fan is one of the residents of the Café Del Mar as well. And he has a new album coming out on Music for Dreams. And you contributed some keys to that as well?
[S/A/M]
I did. So, Ken is actually the music director. And so, he's my boss. So, he has ran the show there for like 11 years, and programs the sunset and beyond. And he plays in there like five days a week. So, he is sunset. But yeah, I had Ken invited. A great thing about Ibiza, as I said, is like everybody connects with each other. So, I think Ken's latest album that he's just produced, he works with a lot of local musicians.
And I had the pleasure of playing some keys, just a little bit. But it was a really nice opportunity to do. And I didn't expect it, but it's on there. So, that's quite nice.
[Colleen]
Lovely. But you also have your own record out as well on Buckley's Upgrade Records. Can you tell us about that?
[S/A/M]
Yes. So, really excited. This is something that I produced myself a few years ago, basically by myself. And I worked with a vocal sample that I found, and I've done everything else. So, it's been sort of sitting with me for quite a while. And I just decided to send it out to people like just about a year ago. And Buckley got hold of it and said he loved it. He got in touch with me and said, I really would love to put this out on my label. And so, he launched Upgrade last year.
So, this is release number two for him of the label. And it's a vinyl-only label. It's amazing artwork. And yeah, he said he'd like to sign me for the second release. So, that literally just came out last week. Very excited. It's been getting really good reviews and good feedback. And it's more danceable for me, maybe going back a little bit to my breakbeat roots. But it's kind of hip house breaks.
So, yeah, it's good fun. Dance floor vibe.
[Colleen]
Fantastic ! Do you think there'll be more productions for you in the future?
[S/A/M]
I've got so many ideas and I've got a load of stuff that I've been working on for a while. Because over the years, I mean, I'm a classically trained pianist and also played in bands, you know, played with Cubase and everything. Although, you know, obviously my peers and so many producers, they're all like, you know, do it day in, day out. Because I've focused on the DJing for so many years. I feel like I took a bit of a backseat. So, I want to do more. So, I've got my little Akai keyboard here. I've got a studio at home with like full-length digital piano. I've got all my software.
So, yeah, I'm getting creative and making more music.
[Colleen]
Great. Well, this is wonderful. Now, if people want to hear you this summer, will you be at Pykes and Café Del Mar? Anywhere else they can come hear you?
[S/A/M]
Yeah. So, hopefully I will be back at Café Del Mar. I'll definitely be at Pykes. I also play at Flash, which is at Pykes, which is once a month. I play at Pykes every week. I've got various other locations like Bambuja, Nobu Hotel. I sometimes play at places like Camaras. I play at The Standard. So, look out for the 20th Diabesta events as well. I play at The Standard. But yeah, all over the island, basically.
[Colleen]
Lovely. Well, this compilation is great, and when you sent it to me, I reached right out to you and said we want to feature this on the show because I think our listeners will absolutely love it, as I know they're loving your mix right now. Good luck with it, Sam, and thank you so much for joining us on Balearic Breakfast. And I hope to see you on the island. I may be coming this summer. So, hopefully I'll see you then. Take care.
[S/A/M]
Thanks. Thanks so much, Colleen. It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much, and I'll see you next time in Ibiza.
[Colleen]
Thank you, Sam. That was lovely. And now, we're over to Greg Wilson.
GREG WILSON'S INTERVIEW WITH COLLEEN
[Colleen]
Well, Belaricans, I have a treat for you today. We have Greg Wilson with us. And Greg Wilson is a legendary British DJ, producer, a dear friend, a great guy, and a journalist, and a great music writer. And he's just published a book on his super weird substance platform that compiles the Wrecker Mirror columns from James Hamilton. It's called James Hamilton's Disco Pages.
How are you doing, Greg?
[Greg]
I'm great, Colleen. Great to be here with you. Yeah, the book covers the period 1975 to 1982, so it's like the peak disco period, you know, the dawn of disco into the demise of disco, in a sense.
[Colleen]
And who was James Hamilton, though?
[Greg]
All right. James Hamilton was a writer for Wrecker Mirror. It was one of the main British
magazines. He started in 1975 writing his column, James Hamilton's Disco Pages, which also was called Discos, and would write that right through until the early 90s when Wrecker Mirror was absorbed by Music Week, which was a trade publication. And the charts, which James had kind of started off, continued as the official Music Week dance charts, so they still exist today. So going back to that point in time, that disco was, like, obviously in its infancy, and there was seen as a need for a column to... You know, there'd grow in numbers of DJs in the UK at the time and everything to cater for that, and so James would, like, put out new feelers to all sorts of DJs and bring in, like, chart returns and compile the charts. His reviews, he had, you know, an absolutely unique style of reviewing, which people, obviously, who read those magazines will remember him for. And he became the hub of disco DJs in the UK at that point in time, and right through to the whole thing onwards. He was the main instigator of mixing in this country. He could see what was going on in the US. He'd been over to the New York Disco Forum on a few occasions. He'd been to Paradise Garage. He'd seen people like Larry LeVan and other mixing DJs out there.
And he saw that as the future, but at a time when, you know, there was little heart for it here. DJs used the microphone. They were seen, the personality was seen as all-important. You know, there was a flow to what was going on and everything, but there was an interjection of, that was this track and this is that, you know. It was almost, like, kind of radio-like in a sense. Things were changing in New York, but we weren't aware of what was happening until James started writing about it and bits of information came in from other sources as well. But James was mainly pushing this idea of what he called New York-style mixing. And at the end of 1978, he wrote a kind of seminal piece in his column called To BPM or Not to BPM. He resolved that what he was going to do was he was going to count the BPMs for all the records in the chart and every subsequent review. So he just, everything all of a sudden was BPMed. He also started doing it for record companies, BPM their new releases and stuff like that. And so he was absolutely on this crusade. And it didn't happen overnight, like these things. You know, it took a long time before mixing took off.
[Colleen]
You were the first person to mix, to demonstrate DJ mixing on the television, weren't you?
[Greg]
That's right. But that wasn't until as late as 1983. So it was a long kind of gestation period before this started to make sense to more than a small minority of DJs. And another big thing, Colleen, was that we didn't have the equipment in the 70s. We didn't have very speed turntables. So the concept of mixing, of holding two records in sync together for anything more than a couple of beats, we just didn't have that.
Now, as the 80s came into play, this is when very speed turntables started coming. Broggy, the famous DJ from the Funk Mafia, he went over to one of the seminars in 1979, and James had said, you've got to go to Paradise Garage. At the time, Broggy had the sound system, and he was into fixed speed decks. He didn't see the value of mixing at the time. So this is like in early 79.
Now, what happened is that he went, he saw what was going on, and he completely flipped. You know, he saw the light. He came back. He bought the first pair of SL-1200s to be imported into this country, and put them into his sound system. And by the end of the year, he'd basically gone completely for mixing. So then you had another major champion there. You had somebody like Ian Levine, who'd been at the Blackpool Mecca playing Northern Soul, but would turn up in 1979 at Heaven, the major gay venue that had opened.
And he was the DJ there. He had taken a mixing direction. He was aware of what was going on in New York and trips there. We had a DJ that came from the US, from New York, a guy called Greg James. And he came to a club called The Embassy in 1978, and it fancied itself as a bit of a studio for the UK, get Puss Boys and stuff like that. It's where You Make Me Feel Mighty Real by Sylvester, the video was filmed. He was seen at the time as the first proper mixing DJ coming from America. He had Studio 54 connections and stuff. And so he was there, and then he went to a club in Leeds called The Warehouse and opened that, which was like a club designed on New York-style disco.
So these were all the kind of evolutionary steps towards it, in a sense, what was taking place. But James was a driving force, because every week this Record Mirror column was read by pretty much every DJ in the country. If you're serious, you have to read it. His reviews, the latest imports, he was talking about the charts that were in there. And so, and the news, he was giving bits of snippets of news of what was going on all over the place. People were connecting as a result of this. And it was an absolutely... I mean, he was the single most important figure in the UK dance music industry, in a similar way to what Pete Tong would be later. Because of the reach of his column of the magazine, it was so wide. It was similar to the way that when Pete Tong went to Radio 1, the reach of his listenership was so wide, and that kind of took things to a different level.
So that's really where James started in terms of disco, although, if you go right back, he was a DJ who started off in the early 60s. And he worked at an infamous club called Esmeralda's Barn, which was in Knightsbridge near Harrods and owned by the Kray Twins. There's a lot of murky history with that place as well. You know, he was like in his early 20s and playing rhythm and blues there. He ended up going over to New York with a company called Cell Tab, which was Beatles spelled backwards. It's the people that took the merchandising for the Beatles. And again, you know, it's a notorious story because they took the last high-end share of the profit, whereas it should have been the other way around, and it's something that haunted Brian Epstein until his death. But anyway, James went out there to work for a music division that never really took off.
But while he was there, you know, he was going to the Apollo every night. He was seeing all the main R&B stars. He got to personally know people like Sam Cooke and James Brown. The first ever kind of interview with Diana Ross in 1964, I think it was in Record Mirror, and it was James that instigated that. I mean, he didn't work for Record Mirror until later. He started in 1969 doing reviews and also US reviews, and he did that through until 75. There was a gap of about eight, nine months, and then he started the disco thing.
But just rewinding back to when he was in New York, I mean, he DJed out on one of the islands. But when he came back, he became the DJ at The Scene, which was the major mod club in London. It was just after Guy Stevens, the famous DJ who launched that, had left, and he took it to the end. I think he finished in 1966. He acquired a name, Dr. Soul, around this time. That was his DJ name. And he also compiled an album for Sue Records in 67, I think, called Dr. Soul. So he was very much R&B involved at that point, you know, very much playing. He said that he played Northern Soul, but on his first time around, you know. But then he kind of went into, he continued as a mobile DJ. He got his mobile system together. It was one of the early mobile systems in the UK. But his background was quite, you know, quite a posh background. You know, he was like almost connected to the gentry, in a sense, you know. And he spoke very far back, and he was very unusual for this disco aficionado. But when he started the mobile, he was doing all these grand balls in these mansions. And so that was his kind of stock in trade.
And it wasn't until later, until the kind of late 70s, that he came back to the clubs. And he was then, again, playing latest black music at a club called Gulliver's in May for a number of years. And he speaks about that, you know, a lot in the book too. So yeah, I mean, the book is a collection of James's columns, edited by Mike Atkinson, who was James's stepson. Mike basically was somebody who'd been reading Record Mirror and James's column for years. In the early 90s, his father died, and his stepmother, she got in touch with him sometime later and said, oh, do you know somebody called James Hamilton?
And he was like, yes. And she was basically like, well, I'm with him now. Do you want to speak to him? And Mike was like, so Mike, you know, knew James only lived a few more years. He died of cancer in 1996. But, you know, Mike had those few years where he spent a lot of time with James and obviously was so interested in the whole thing. And, you know, Mike's the mind of information. He just knows a lot of this stuff down to minutiae because he's researched it. He's, you know, transcribed the whole thing, put it all together, done such an amazing job.
And, you know, the big thing was that I'd spoken to Mike, you know, on email a long time ago, going back into probably, you know, 2006, 2007, which was around the time I wrote a piece about the history of mixing in the UK. And I needed to go to the British Library to research because James' columns, you know, the record mirrors were there. And I kind of go back and see what was happening. I did that. And I wrote this piece and, you know, both Mike and I obviously felt pretty strongly that somebody who was once so influential, you know, so major to our culture here was now completely forgotten. And in this more contemporary era, younger DJs would certainly have more knowledge about what was happening at Studio 54, Paradise Garage, The Loft, you know, than they would what was happening in the UK at the time.
You know, there's been a disconnect there and the history has been told, but really it's very much been told from a US side. And so this is the UK side of it. I mean, John Savage and other people since have kind of brought up the similarity between this book and the Vincelletti book. It's a brilliant book. And both of them are covering a similar time span. I mean, Vince does 73 to 78, James does 75 to 82, but there's like a three year crossover. And it's fascinating seeing that although the source of the music was the same, that we over here in the UK were into black American music, you know, predominantly, and that's what we were drawing from, just as in New York, you know, the rest of the, you know, well, the main kind of discos in terms of the States, they were drawing from black American music.
The differences in what tracks that we were choosing, I mean, there was a massive crossover, of course, there's all these big tracks that are the same in both cultures, but then there were tracks that were used from the US side that never meant a job here and vice versa. One of the things that you might find interesting from the book is that the whole, you know, Death of Disco, Comiskey Park, that whole kind of thing, it's not even mentioned.
[Colleen]
Wow.
[Greg]
It doesn't register at all.
[Colleen]
That's really incredible. It just kept going here.
[Greg]
Exactly. It's not part of our experience. I mean, there's no mention of The Loft or David Mancuso in there, no mention of The Gallery or Nicky Siano. The first kind of New York awakening really is, you know, obviously Studio 54, we know about that, so there was a kind of interest at Paradise Garage and Larry Levan, and that's really the connect here, whereby we have two separate lineages, like the UK lineages we were just talking goes back to the early 60s and the mods and importing in Rhythm & Blue tracks from America. So the import channels were open here and people were very involved, you know, with regards to the intake of black music, you know, and never knew anything about what was happening in clubs and things in the States. It was all our own experience and the way that we received it. Whereas at the same time, you have the New York side and what became the Disco era and the idea of mixing records together with continuous music and all that was evolving at the same time.
And as I say, the crossover doesn't really start until the latter half of the 70s, you know, but once those two things connect, and I think that's why we have rave culture and it could only have happened in this country is because we have this specific lineage and then we took from what was happening in the US and we didn't kind of just completely follow it, but it always had our own cause. You can see within the book this collision beginning to happen, this coming together of ideas.
I mean, again, with the book, what's interesting is the early charts are very pop-based because the DJs that were initially sent their returns belonged to what we call DJ associations and they were generally mobile DJs and by being a part of the association, they got discounts on equipment and news and now they've got a few new records here and there from the companies and things like that. They were seen as the more commercial end of what was going on in terms of the black music clubs and everything. Maybe people were more interested in magazines like Blues and Soul, later Black Echoes and stuff, and black music. And so, but what James managed to do was, I mean, in those early charts, you'd be surprised at some of the tracks that were listed in, that even got to number one, very pop-based tracks alongside the kind of dance tracks, but he was able to bring in the more specialist type DJs into the fold and I think by, after the first couple of years, it started to take shape as like a chart that was more geared towards, you know, like music was made for the dance floor, so to speak, you know, as opposed to music you could dance to.
And eventually he separated pop completely from it. He did a separate, well he did a separate pop dance type chart and then he got rid of it altogether and the chart then, you know, was much more kind of geared to what was being played by DJs that were focused on, you know, more of a dance thing rather than the general Tiffany's, Romeo and Juliet's Friday night crowd, you know.
[Colleen]
Well, this is fascinating. I mean, it's so great. You've been documenting, well, you've been documenting DJ culture on your blog, both, you know, not just UK DJs either. You've done stuff on David and Larry and all these other DJs and it's, I love the way you write. I love the way you research as well and your enthusiasm. And I think people would love to find out more.
And if they want to read this book, can they order it on the Super Weird Substance Bank?
[Greg]
Yeah, either the bandcamp or come to the website. You know, this link's there and you can pick up the book from there. Yeah, so that's pretty straightforward.
[Colleen]
Okay, well you've done a mix for us in which you're playing some of these songs that James Hamilton was writing about. So why don't we get back to the music and when we come back, we'll discuss what you're doing in 2025. I'm sure you have a lot going on as well.
[Colleen]
And now we're back with Greg Wilson, and we've been listening to his mix that is centered around James Hamilton's Disco Pages. It's a book that Greg has just published on his super weird substance platform, and it compiles the Record Mirror columns from the DJ and writer from 1975 to 1982. Now, Greg, you are an amazing legendary DJ in your own right, and you are still going strong, which is amazing.
You played with me in my Love Dance in 10th on my Casa Delica takeover.
[Greg]
I still do, yeah.
[Colleen]
Oh, that was so great. You literally, I'm trying to remember, you made me cry with the last song, and I can't even remember what it was now, but it was such a nice...
[Greg]
Would it have been Spread Love by Al Hudson and the Self-Honors?
[Colleen]
Maybe it was, that's right, because I ended my set with Love to the World.
[Greg]
Yeah.
[Colleen]
There you go.
[Greg]
There was definitely a lot of love in Love Dancing, that's for sure.
[Colleen]
Oh, my gosh. It was great. And people just adored your set. They adored it, you know.
[Greg]
Oh, nice one. It was a real highlight of the year, you know. I mean, I love the festival. We're out here and everything, and it's great, that particular area. People can lose themselves in there, you know, because it's just a great place, and what you've done with the system.
[Colleen]
Oh, thank you. Thank you. It's a great system, that's for sure. So what's going on in 2025 in Greg Wilson's world?
[Greg]
Well, you know, I mean, I'm just like, it hasn't been a great start, because I've had that virus, which wasn't great, but I'm just now... I did my first gig the other night, which is where the mix is from. It's Walthamstow Trades Hall.
We did a book launch and everything, and I recorded that on the night. So I hope you enjoy that. Obviously, the music is within the kind of time frame of that 75 to 82, although I do use re-edits.
So, I mean, yeah, I mean, it's a special year, really, because it's going to mark 50 years since I used to DJ.
[Colleen]
Wow.
[Greg]
Amazing.
[Colleen]
What was your first gig?
[Greg]
Well, I mean, my first club gig was on the 6th of December, 1975, and it was at a local nightclub called Chelsea Reach, which for people in the area where I live in, that place was a rites of passage.
[Colleen]
And this is in Liverpool?
[Greg]
Well, it was in New Brighton, which is on the opposite side of the Mersey to Liverpool. It's where the ferry goes, the ferry across the Mersey goes. And so, yeah, but I did, I had the mobile before that, that summer, and I just need to look up and find out what precisely was my first mobile booking, because that would be my first kind of professional booking, in a sense.
But my first club booking was December, I remember that date, December 6th of 1975, and, yeah, that came on the back of, I had a mobile, as I say, for a short time, and we did a wedding upstairs, and they had functions rooms upstairs, and the manager came scurrying up and said, our DJ hasn't turned up, and I was working with another lad, we had a partnership on the mobile with him. He said, well, one of you come down, and I was like straight down there. And the formidable thing about then is, they used to buy their own records as well.
So you'd buy your record, the club would buy their records. Often the DJ would go into a shop and buy two copies of a record, because he'd be buying one for the club and keeping one for himself, you know. So it was a different time, so I was able to go down there and play, and I got offered the job off the back of that, and so at 15 I was, my club career had started, and before I'd finished school, I was like working six, seven nights a week sometimes.
[Colleen]
How old were you?
[Greg]
15, well, I was 15 when I started, so I was 16 a few months later. So yeah, I finished school at 16, and continued into being a professional DJ, which back then, you know, when I started my first night, I got £6 for that night, honestly. But that was good going, because most kids of your age then, if they had, say, an apprenticeship, and they'd have to do that for a few years after you left school, they'd get like about £15 a week, or if they went on to further education, they wouldn't get any money.
So if I did like, you know, four gigs, five gigs a week, you know, that was £30, that was decent money for a young lad at the time, you know, and so yeah, I mean, I managed to kind of up it as we went on, and you know, get more professional and get decent fees, and then eventually, you know, I moved out of the area, and I ended up at Wigan Pier in the early 80s, and Legend in Manchester, and that was a whole different phase, but you know, those early days were really great, you know, just starting off with your local clubs, and you know, people you know, and everything. And the idea, the residency, I've been talking with a few people about this lately, because we don't have it now, really, but you work with the same crowd, week in, week out, over a long period of time. And you cultivated something, you built something, it was reciprocal.
Nowadays, we don't have a similar situation, really, anywhere. There might be a few little outposts where there's a resident kind of thing, but generally, it's guests, and each guest each week does something different. And so if you said to a young person now, oh, the idea of going to see the same DJ week in every week, they'd think that was crazy. Well, no, I want to see all sorts of things, but really, what built those scenes, and what made them stay was, you know, people kind of believing in the music, people working with the audience, evolving it, then more people picking up on that, and that's where it all came from. It didn't happen ever overnight, it always took a long period of time. All the venues, everything, we look at all the great clubs, there's a resident DJ there.
[Colleen]
Absolutely, I mean, there was a sense of trust between them and the dancers, there's a sense of community within the venue as well, and, you know, that's the thing. Like, for instance, I remember a story that Larry Levan played Pat Benatar Love is Battlefield when it came out, and he played it the first time at the night, and everyone left the floor. Then he played it the second time, people left the floor again. Then he played it towards the end of the night, everyone came on saying, and they left with that earworm. Now, you couldn't do that if you didn't have a residency, because you wouldn't have the same level of trust. People wouldn't hang around, they'd go, oh, it's just some top 40 DJ, I'm off. They don't have the patience. But you're building up this rapport, this sense of trust, and even if they don't really know where you're going the first time around, they start to get the idea. And also, on the other side, as a DJ, I mean, all of my residencies back in New York, it was 10 to 4, you know, a few times a week.
And you become a better DJ from that. It doesn't matter where you're playing. I didn't play places that were too commercial, but they certainly weren't all the loft, let's put it that way. It was sometimes a well-heeled audience. But you really learned your trade, and you learned not just the skills of the actual technical skills, but also how to read a floor. I'm not saying one thing's better than the other, but we kind of had to come through these ranks where we had to do this work and get this experience. There weren't a lot of superstar DJs when I had started out. I mean, there were some, but there weren't a huge number like there are now.
[Greg]
Same as here, you know, there were some DJs that were like Chris Hill and, you know, Broggie and people like that, that were elevated, you know. But generally speaking, you know, most DJs... We were still in a time then where DJs were regarded as... I can't remember the term, you know, the ten-a-penny. You know, there's DJs... I mean, now you could say that even more, you know, like everyone's a DJ now. But DJs weren't really taken that seriously here until, as I say, you know, the idea of kind of mixing. I mean, you know, on the specialty scenes, they were, of course, taken to that, like on North of the Soul or Jazz Funk. But, you know, where I was in a club situation at the time, DJs, you know, were disposable. That's how it was seen. So you had to kind of somehow rise above that. And how you did that was that you developed a relationship with your audience so that the club manager couldn't be sacking you because half of the audience would go along with you, you know. And that was how it worked back then. So, you know, it was. It was good in those days in terms of that kind of development of that kind of reciprocal situation between yourself and an audience that allowed you to...
And, you know, what I did in my little area was I developed my own small scene where I was playing imports to, you know, it was only a backwater kind of club, but we had, like, Blues and Soul come and see us and recommend us and things. So that was great. But that took me nine, 12 months to get the confidence. I mean, one of the things that I used to... It's like DJs really cleared the dance floor in those days. If they played the wrong track, they cleared the dance floor. Everyone walked off. And that wasn't sinful, really, because DJs could take a risk and it might not work out. But the sin was not being able to reclaim it straight away. And it was having the records that you knew to get you out of a rut so that you could try things new, but then be able to bring everybody back in and work it on. And so, yeah, you know, you'd see DJs that would... Back then, they'd come in and they'd play all the big tunes really early and they'd think it was great because the people were dancing.
And whereas my attitude was I'd hold the dance floor off because I wanted to wait till an optimum moment where there were enough people congregating around, then open it up, and then we're dancing all night. There's not going to be a... Whereas what I saw other people do, they'd throw all the big tunes at it and then they run out and all of a sudden they're losing the floor. And next thing, they've lost the floor and they're screwing it. And then they're doing really bad form things like playing what they've just played.
[Colleen]
Yeah. You've got to recover. You don't have to do that, Greg. We know that.
[Greg]
It's the old days.
[Colleen]
Where can people hear you this summer? I assume you have some festivals.
[Greg]
Well, yeah, I mean, you know, in the rounds of the festivals, we're still kind of blocking in the final ones at the minute. Probably be back at Glastonbury, which, you know, I'm not, you know... I'll wait till everything's kind of in place, but hopefully, you know, I missed it last year. It's not on next year, so it'd be a good time. Obviously, lots of other festivals around. You know, with the club dates, as I say, towards the end of the year, I'm going to do 50th anniversary club dates and stuff.
[Colleen]
Yeah, that'd be great.
[Greg]
We'll bring it up to December and stuff. I'm doing a really nice thing at Joshua Brooks in Manchester. The Hacienda. I'm doing a six-hour. I haven't done, like, such a long set for a while. I remember doing a few eight-hours, one in London and one in Berlin a few years ago, which were great. So I'll be doing that. I think that's in July. So there's just, yeah, you know, it's, as you know, from your own side, you know, that whole summer thing comes on and all of a sudden, you're out there, you're ping-ponging, you know, pinball in between different kinds of gigs and everything. And we're crossing over with each other all over again, you know, in the summer.
[Colleen]
Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Greg, for joining us. It's always fascinating to speak with you. And, you know, maybe you and I should do something in person as a live event for your 50th anniversary. We'll talk about that. Okay.
[Greg]
All right. Take care, Colleen.
[Colleen]
Well, thank you so much. All right. Lots of love. And thank you so much for joining us.
[Greg]
All right. Nice one. Good to hear from you.
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