The Voices Breakfast Show: Maria Hanlon ft. Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy

DJ, Presenter & Music Writer Maria Hanlon, interviews Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy on the London based Voices Radio Breakfast show.

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About Maria Hanlon. – London-based DJ, presenter, and music writer Maria Hanlon hosts The Voices Breakfast Show on Voices Radio every Friday from 9-11am. Working as a producer for BBC Introducing in London since moving back there in 2021, she has been actively performing ever since, her signature sound blending Soulful House, Deep House, and Garage.

Despite only starting her DJing career about two years ago, Maria has quickly made a name for herself in the industry and has performed at notable events such as Secret Garden Party, Queens Yard Summer Party, and Cross The Tracks. In addition to her DJing work, Maria also contributes as a freelance writer for UD, an organization focused on music industry education and development (her article about structuring a radio show is a Must Read).

You can find more about her on her Instagram. Her shows are uploaded both on her Soundcloud page and on her Mixcloud page.

Listen back to Colleen's interview with Maria Hanlon:

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COLLEEN'S INTERVIEW WITH MARIA

[Maria]

Okay, so welcome back to The Voices Breakfast Show. This one here is Maytez and Pinty called Loosen Your Bones and my special guest is loving this one actually. I love it.

[Colleen]

It's fantastic, really jazzy. I love the vocals on there. Fantastic. Thanks for turning me on to it.

[Maria]

Of course. We were just sort of speaking about playing stuff in the morning for our breakfast shows and not taking it super heavy but still vibing. So this is like hitting the spot.

[Colleen]

It really hits the sweet spot.

[Maria]

Definitely. It's the one. So I want to start by there's a lot that I want to get through in this next sort of 45 minutes or so. But let's start at the very beginning. So could you talk me through your earliest memories of radio and music?

[Colleen]

Sure. Yeah, I started. I think my first memory was my first real deep musical memory was when I was about six years old. And I was in my Uncle John's of a bedroom. He was a teenager. He was only 10 years older than me. And everybody was out and like the ultraviolet Blu-ray lights were on lighting up the Easy Rider poster. This is the early 70s. And there was a transistor radio. And I turned it on. I'm sitting there in this really moody atmosphere by myself in this really cool teenagers room. And all of a sudden the opening notes to David Essex rock on comes on like this baseline.

And this is at a time when I really thought there were still little people in the radio. I didn't know how it all worked. And that was such a transformative moment for me. I always call it my first psychedelic drug experience without drugs because I was only six but it was like such a seminal moment. I think the radio the power of the radio you have to understand in the 1970s. This is how we discovered music. There's no streaming. There's music isn't accessible at your fingertips at all times. The only way to discover music is through other people and their record collections or mixtapes or the radio.

That was it.

[Maria]

Yeah.

[Colleen]

And so it was hugely important and luckily I grew up outside of Boston and Boston had some great radio because a lot of the radio in the US was pretty dire. So being a big college town they had a lot of more variety and went a little bit deeper on many levels not just you know college rock but also like funk and things like that as well. So I was really really lucky.

And that's kind of the way I kind of discovered you know music and I also became really obsessed. I got my own transistor radio like the following year and you know I go to sleep with it on and it's just I would I knew all the radio stations and all the top 40. I knew all the classic rock. I just became really obsessed at a very early age.

[Maria]

Yeah. That's amazing. And because you had your first show at 14. Right.

[Colleen]

Yeah.

[Maria]

It's really a show.

[Colleen]

Yeah.

[Maria]

And it was called Punk, Funk and Junk.

[Colleen]

That was a different one. I had four shows in the high school. So high school is four years. Freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. So each year I did a different show Punk, Funk and Junk I think was my junior year. So the first year I did I don't think you even had a radio a name but I was playing more 60s rock which is a big passion of mine.

Then the following year I was doing a show with a guy named Andy and we were playing more punk and new wave and hardcore. Then the third year was Punk, Funk and Junk and that was with my friend Mary Caruso and she named herself Remix and I was Cosmo. We also played electro and hip hop.

[Maria]

Is that where Cosmo came from?

[Colleen]

That's where Cosmo came from because it was and I was a band called Nucleus and they had this big song called Jam on It at the time and their DJ's name was Cosmo with a Z. And yeah, we thought we were really cool. We made these sweatshirts that said Punk, Funk and Junk with our names on the back and rocks around our high school like no one really got it, you know, but yeah, it was a lot of fun.

And then my last year I did a morning show. I was working at a record shop called Strawberries Records and Tapes. Again, I was obsessed with 60s psychedelia and there was an old band, pop band named Strawberry Alarm Clock. So I did a radio show called The Strawberry Alarm Clock and that was very, very eclectic. That was my most eclectic show. It just was like everything that I was into. It could even be Sade, into Black Flag, into New Order, into Run DMC. I mean, it was just all over the place.

[Maria]

So would you say your taste has always been very eclectic?

[Colleen]

Always, yeah. I mean, I just have, I just love music and I can find great music. I love country. I mean, there's great country music. You know, people laugh like, oh, you wouldn't play country? Yeah, I would play country. Yeah, I, you know, I have actually, I've played Willie Nelson on the show. He does a great version of Heart of the Come. But yeah, so it's, I do, I just love all kinds of music. I've always had an open ear. 

[Maria]

Yeah, because I think in your bio it said, you quoted, there's only good and bad music. That's what I think.

[Colleen]

Yeah, I agree. That's your opinion anyways. Yeah, it's all taste. You know what I mean? There's no objective. It's all subjective.

[Maria]

Yeah, agreed.

[Colleen]

And you know, there's music there for everybody.

[Maria]

100%. And then let's fast forward to 1986. So that's when you relocated to New York, right?

[Colleen]

Yes, yeah.

[Maria]

To study sound and radio at NYU Film School. And whilst there, I love this, you became the first female program director at WNYU, one of the most significant college radio stations in the country at that time. So what was it like there at that time?

[Colleen]

Oh my gosh, I mean, I might even get teary eyed thinking about it. Basically, I was just up at that same building two weeks ago, because I had, the head of the department was a woman named Lynn McVeigh. And I hadn't seen her in 35, 36 years. 

And I just saw her for the first time, went back up to that floor where I practically lived. WNYU, especially the time that I went and we were reminiscing about this, it was its heyday. College radio in the 1980s was so hugely important for breaking massive bounds from Depeche Mode to REM to U2.

And we were really on a mission at the time I was there, we were breaking bounds like Nirvana and you know, all sorts of bounds like that. And being in New York City, of course, all these bounds would come through. So they'd come up to our radio station for interviews, or sometimes live sets.

So we were hugely, you know, privileged in the sense of our location. And we also had a really a transmitter in the Bronx. So our signal went all over the tri-state area.

So it wasn't just so many colleges just broadcast to the campus. Our listenership was people just like all over, all over. And it was such a family atmosphere, like we would just hang out together all the time.

We're all different types of people. You know, from like the my friend Marlene, who was like, you know, shorter than me. And she did the Hardcore Punk show and her name was Spermicide.

To my friend Hugh, who was another one of my mentors, who's this tall guy with long red hair from Oklahoma who loved country. I mean, we just had all different kinds of people. We all got along. We were on this mission. We were this family. We would like sleep overnight at the radio station. It was like really an incredible atmosphere. And I am so lucky and privileged to have been part of it at that time. Because it's since changed. It's in a basement somewhere. It's not a community anymore. It doesn't have the same kind of recognition.

I think also terrestrial radio was very different than online radio. You know, people could discover you in ways just like sitting in their car, you know, using the tuner and like, oh, what's below here? 88 to 92, those frequencies on the FM dial were for non-commercial radio. That's what the FCC, the Federal Communications Commission designated those frequencies for. So you'd find all the interesting stuff down there. And people, you know, later told me when I was doing house shows in the 90s, that's the first time they heard house music. So it's not like I think online radio, you kind of look for it.

[Maria]

Yes.

[Colleen]

Whereas if you're in your car, just flipping through the dials, you know, you can just come upon something that you never even knew existed.

[Maria]

Yeah, for sure. Something more intriguing or different. Yeah. Talking about sort of cars and radio. I always tell the story of my dad who was in the car on his way to work. He was in the car park and Nights Over Egypt by the Jones Girls came out for the first time.

And when you hear it for the first time in the car and the radio, you don't know when you're going to hear that again. Right. So he hid under his car because his boss was walking through the car park and he had to hear every second of it! So he hid in the car and his boss walked past and he got in a lot of trouble for being late, but he was like, it was worth it because I just had to hear the whole track.

[Colleen]

You had to hear the whole track. I mean, it's so true. I remember, actually, I did that not so long ago, maybe five or six years ago. I was listening to a community radio station in the car on the FM dial and this long, unreleased Eddie Grant song came on that he did with The Equals and I had to pull over and listen to the whole thing. You know, yeah, it's magical.

[Maria]

It's something really special about that. Yeah. So Colleen, I've asked you to bring a few tracks today just to sort of pepper in between the interview. So what have you got that you want to play first?

[Colleen]

I've been doing a lot of remixes and sadly, I can't play you any of the new stuff. I've actually worked on my third remix so far this year. But this next one is one I did last year for a really cool artist named Bryony Jarman Pinto for a very cool label named True Thoughts, which I really like.

And I really like it because it's a down-tempo kind of soul groover. Hum. But I've been working on a lot of different remixes this year and I'm just even working on one right now. And there's a lot coming out this year, but I can't I can't play into it yet. Actually, in one of the bands, I can't even mention who it is yet. So I thought I'd start.

[Maria]

You'll have to send it to us after. Yeah, that sounds good.

[Colleen]

This is my Cosmodelica remix of Moving Forward.

[Maria]

Amazing. Great.

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[Maria]

Welcome back to The Voices Breakfast Show with the one and only Colleen Cosmo Murphy joins me. Thank you so much for sharing that tune. That was gorgeous.

[Colleen]

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

[Maria]

And we've got some of your longtime listeners locked in, actually. I see. We've got Prit Pal, John John, Poppy.

[Colleen]

Yeah, hello.

[Maria]

It's lovely to see everyone locked in on the chat. So thanks for joining us, guys. So we've got about half an hour left. And I was saying off mic that you are the dream guest to interview because there's just so much to talk about. Well, that's what happens when you're old. I don't know if it's... I don't think it's old. I think it's just had an incredible career so far.

[Colleen]

Thank you. Yeah. Well, you know, it's been a long one. That's for sure. I realized last year was my... Gosh, I started on the radio in 82, started working in record shops in 84. So it's been over 40 years. Wow. Which is kind of crazy.

[Maria]

Yeah.

[Colleen]

You know, when I think about it, I didn't do any big anniversary things. I always forget what my anniversaries are.

[Maria]

So it's always ongoing stuff.

[Colleen]

It's just ongoing. But yeah, always. There's nothing like the present, right?

[Maria]

We need like a list of all your stations at some point. I bet that is such a long list of all the shows and stations.

[Colleen]

Yeah, absolutely. I've almost always had a show.

[Maria]

That would be incredible. So look, we have to talk about the loft party. Yes. So we spoke a bit about New York. So while still on the topic of that, how did you first sort of get to know David who put on the parties at first?

[Colleen]

You know, I was... I've never been one who kind of bum rushes the DJ booth. I'm terrible at conventions and things like that. I don't go and I just kind of cold call on people. So I had a radio show at the time, believe it or not. And I wanted to have him as a guest. So I asked a mutual friend. I mean, I was going and hanging out, but I would kind of sit around and I wouldn't really intrude. I could tell he was an enigmatic private person. I think we had shared a couple taxis after the after the party because I live near the bus station where he would go to to go to Woodstock after the party. But he said, I want to go out with her and have some drinks. And so we went out for some drinks, the two of us. And we just connected. We really clicked for a lot of different reasons. On my side, it seemed quite obvious why it would click, but I wasn't sure why it did on his.

And I did ask him about this because he came up to my radio show and then really soon after. And it's nothing I had ever considered because being a woman, especially at that time, you didn't have that sense of entitlement that, oh, he's going to ask me to play. It would never even have occurred in my head that that would be even a remote possibility.

And he said, you know, why don't you come play some records with me? And I was like, what? You know, I couldn't believe it. And so I did. And I played just, you know, then we became more friendly and just started hanging out with him more, going over to his place during the week, playing some new records. He kind of, I think, also looked to me to bring in a lot of new music because I had a good ear, you know, and I knew some of the newer tunes that would really work. I felt on the floor of being a dancer first, you know. And yeah, we just got tighter and tighter. And then when I said I was, you know, I had thought of an idea for him. I mean, he was really suffering. I think people don't realize how bad it was for him in the 90s. He was betrayed a lot.

And, you know, he's a very trusting man. He was a very trusting man and, you know, quite open. And the whole loft ideal is quite open. And there have been people that have taken advantage of it for their own purposes. And he was very protective over it. And but he got taken advantage of a few times like everybody does, but quite badly. And in the 90s, it was difficult. So I think there was me and another guy named Goshi who really, really helped him. We were kind of like young blood, really, that we're just trying to help him kind of get through. And that's when I came up with the idea for the compilations. We did those compilations, which were really groundbreaking at the time. I mean, now you might look at those and say, oh, I know that song. I know that song. But at the time in the late 1990s, it wasn't as popular and well known. And people didn't know David's story. And what better way to do it than through music? So that was really a big thing. And then we started parties over here.

And he and I played in different parties around the around Europe and even in Russia, believe it or not, you know, smoking pot out of the hotel room. And we also saw Condoleezza Rice, you know, march through our hotel. It was crazy. We had such a crazy time. And we had just we just worked a lot together. It just became closer and closer until.

Yeah, amazing.

[Maria]

And for those that are listening and don't know, David Mancuso was an incredible. He calls himself a selector, right, rather than a DJ. And he put on these amazing loft parties in New York. But how did they actually start? Because I was listening to another interview of yours. And he was saying that they started in his home, right?

[Colleen]

They were always in his home. Up until the last the first the last party I played at New York before I moved here was in 1999. And it was Valentine's Day. It was the day before I moved here as my going away. And that was the first time he rented a space.

[Maria]

OK.

[Colleen]

But in the 90s, there were three different places in the East Village. Gentrification was happening. It was really hard, you know, when he started his parties, you know, you know, New York, you know, even Ford said, you know, that he wasn't going to help, you know, President Ford said he wasn't going to help New York.

It was a really difficult place to live in. It wasn't like it was in the mid 80s when stockbrokers and people started moving in and they wanted to bring the suburbs to New York City. It was difficult, but the rents were cheap.

And so it was a very different kind of terrain, a different landscape. So you could have parties in your loft until whatever time. So he had started doing parties actually in the 60s, just having friends over. He was really into audio. He loves music. He just put some records on. People would start dancing. But then he formalized it on Valentine's Day 1970 with a party called Love Saves the Day. Still private. He wanted to know who was coming into his home. It wasn't like a sign up membership where you paid like the Paradise Garage. That was always a bone of contention with him. Any paid membership was a real bone of contention. But you would have a contribution. You'd make a contribution.

It was based on the rent parties in Harlem because, you know, all these people, these African-Americans had moved from the South to the North and they weren't really allowed or really welcome at a lot of the white establishments. So they did their own thing and they would do their own thing in their own homes. And they'd have bands and DJs in their own homes. And you would pay, you know, for I hate to say a fee, but that's what it is, I guess. A contribution, as David would call it, you know, to attend and to help out the people. And that's kind of what he based it on. And it ended up becoming hugely popular. And it ended up influencing so many other clubs from the very commercial clubs uptown like Studio 54 actually was also influenced by The Loft to a degree. Even though it had a very different principle to other parties and clubs like the Paradise Garage.

[Maria]

I love that. That's so iconic. And you two had such a deep musical connection. You touched on a little bit there. But why do you think there was such synergy between you?

[Colleen]

I think there's a few things. I think David was very in touch with his feminine side. He was a gay man who really promoted women. He did so at a time when it wasn't as fashionable. You know, I would say women's rights has never been hugely fashionable. And he lived it and supported it right from the start in so many different ways. Whether he would invite single mothers to come along and bring their children to he is the one who would ask women to play. Now, I was a third woman he asked to play. There was a woman, Freddie Taylor, in the 70s. It was my friend, Elise Tifanyshyn, in the 80s and me in the 90s. And even when he chose his board, he chose three women and only one guy. So I think the women thing is massive, was massive for David.

And he even said when he asked me to chair his board, he said, one of the reasons is you're a woman. He was very clear about that. So I think that was one of the connections. He was really in touch with his feminine side. He used to call us Yin and Yang, me and him. And I asked him, why did he try? I was younger than 25 when I started playing records with him. I'm like, how did he even trust me? The equipment, the cartridge cost $2,000 30 years ago. Yeah. And he said, it just starts with a vibe long before one hits the turntable. I think also we had a shared sense of what music meant and sound. I had already studied sound, obviously. And then also a kind of basis in music. I think we shared some of the same favorite albums, Astral Weeks.

As I said to you, I was really a 60s music aficionado. And that's his background as well. So I think also there was a certain openness of spirit and also a spiritual connection, which is something that sounds corny talking about it, but it was there. I had already lived in Japan, studied Zen Buddhism, and done all sorts of work on myself before I even met David. And he had gone through the same thing in the late 1960s. So you meet your tribe.

[Maria]

Yeah, for sure. It sounds like you two had the most wonderful friendship.

[Colleen]

We did.

[Maria]

And a little quote here that he said about you, she's one of the only people I would trust both with the music and with the equipment to fill in for me.

[Colleen]

Yeah, I know. I mean, it's quite something, especially because I was so young.

[Maria]

But he saw it right then. And obviously he was right.

[Colleen]

That's what he said. I was surprised. So yeah, he called me his daughter, which is beautiful.

[Maria]

And then still sort of sticking to New York, I know that you presented one of New York's most important house music shows, Club 89. And as someone that loves my kind of soulful house stuff, I'd love to know more about kind of the format of the show and the types of guests you had on.

[Colleen]

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. So basically on WNYU, we had two anchor shows that went five days a week. One was called the New Afternoon Show, which was four to 730 evening drive. And that was more of the alternative show. And that's the show I hosted in the 1980s. Then the station asked me back and I had gotten into all this dance music. That's when I used the name Cosmo again, because I thought I would confuse my listeners. Like she was the one that did the 60s psychedelic show and the alternative show. What's she doing now? I did a show called Soul School that was playing all these, this music I was hearing at the loft and other clubs like The Shelter, House Nation, Afterlife, went out to a lot of different clubs. And then they asked me to do the Club 89 on Tuesday nights, which was again, five nights a week, 1030 to one. And this one you could mix. We only had turntables. There was no CD players. And we had, you know, you have brought in a DJ mixer.

And I kind of learned to mix as well on the radio, which was kind of crazy because you're using a radio board, which is completely different to a mixing board. There's a buffer and a delay between the cue and the program. And especially your monitors might be, you might have the air signal, which has another delay. So it's really difficult. Plus I was mixing disco, which is not like to the beat. It's live bands. So I can't even believe I did that because I listened back to a couple of some of them like, Jesus, that was a terrible mix. Oh my God. And what was I doing? But there were some good ones too. And I was really proud of them. But then Club 89 was great because, you know, I played lots of new music.

I was really the only DJ in New York to really be playing imports as well because I worked at a record shop. So it wasn't just the kind of soulful house tunes from New Jersey and New York. I was playing French stuff, the stuff from the UK, a lot of Idja boys, phase action, the new phonics stuff. I was playing Japanese stuff as well. So it's kind of playing a lot of different imports. And I had a lot of guests. I had Little Lewis. I had Rome Anthony. I had Francois K, Joe Clausell, Danny Krivett. David, of course, came up to my other show, Soul School. I had Joy Cardwell, Sable Jeffries, Kenny Bobian. So many legends, yeah. Global Communications. Yeah, a lot of legends. And, you know, it was interesting because I didn't know Louis Vega, even though he came into the radio show.

I mean, he came into dance tracks where I worked. I didn't know him well, and I'm not one of those people that goes up and introduces myself. Hi, hi. You know, I'm not like that. A bit shyer, believe it or not. And I thought from my last show when I announced I was leaving, this one person I really want to get up, and that's Louis Vega. He's massive, you know, massive legend. And this is 1999. He jumped at the chance. He brought up his own sound system. Wow. Three turntables. They did an installation. He thanked me. And we've been friends ever since.

And I couldn't believe it. I honestly could not believe it. I didn't realize how important the show was until I announced my departure. And I got all these letters. And I have even from listeners who still follow me today. We saw that earlier. It's incredible. And it just really meant something to a lot of people. That's how they had discovered house music or whatever. And I always had a connection with my listeners. We would do shout outs, you know, and I'd have someone doing the phones and we'd shout out to everyone listening who called in. And I don't know. It was a really magical time. And I'm just so thankful that I was able to be part of that and to have those shows. They were just so incredible.

[Maria]

That's amazing to hear. I love that. I got the chance to chat to Louis out here last year. And yeah, he is just so nice. Just his sets as well that we out here were incredible with elements of life. And then in Love Dancing, which we'll touch on. Yeah, that's a whole nother thing. We'll play a song and then we'll talk about that because I'd love to know more. But which song would you like to play next, Colleen?

[Colleen]

Well, as we were talking about David, I thought we would play a song that David turned me on to. And that is a loft classic. And it's something that's really beautiful. And it's something I really agree with the sentiment. It's brass construction. Music makes you feel like dancing.

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[Maria]

So we are vibing out in the studio to this one. It's sounding so good. And we're loving the female energy in the room.

[Colleen]

Absolutely. Five of us.

[Maria]

Go on, girls. Go on, girls. Loving it. Starting the weekend the right way. So, Colleen, next I wanted to chat about Love Dancing and also we out here. So Love Dancing is always such a highlight of we out here. And last year was no different. I mean, that 10, just next level. So I want to know, how did you and Giles first meet?

And how did that come about?

[Colleen]

I think Giles, I can't remember how we first met. I mean, I used to go to Bar Roomba when I moved over. And I think the first time we properly hung out, we did a classic album Sundays together on Sun Ra. And after that, when he started Worldwide FM, he got in touch, said, I want you to be one of the DJs here. And believe it or not, at that time, I was considering to stop DJing for various reasons. I found that after having a child 20 years ago, it was very difficult and not having a child. Well, of course it is. But, you know, wonderful. But yeah, I mean, you know, I wasn't getting booked. A lot of people had forgotten about me and stuff. So I had started Classic Album Sundays. And I dove into that.

And I really just, that's all I wanted to do. And so when he asked me to join the station, I said, I just want to do Classic Album Sundays. I don't really want to do anything else. I don't know if I want to DJ anymore. He kind of made me. I finally started doing it, kicking and screaming. And then he booked me for Worldwide Festival down the south of France. And I played with him. And it was great. We just had a great time. So when he started we out here, he said, you know, I'd love you to bring your sound system and to host a tent. And so we did.

And it's just become, as you said, you know, thankfully a highlight of the festival. We have great, you know, we have Trojan sound system. The Thursday. Mr. Scruff programs the Friday. Saturday is the Cosmodelica takeover. And Sunday is Dingwalls.

And our sound system is just, you know, we have Danley sound on the speakers. We have a lot of audio partners like Audio Technica, Master Sounds, Core, DCS, and Loud and Clear. And they all kind of help us put together this amazing system that we are, you know, we're going to looking to tour it as well now.

But it's not just the sound system is part of it. But it's also the people that we have playing. They bring all different kinds of people to the tent. And there's all different ages, genders, backgrounds. And it's a really unifying experience. And it's just, it's like the hangout at the festival, you know, backstage in our tent. That's where everyone hangs out. Even the people who are DJing at other places come and hang out in our tent. And it's just a really, really great vibe. And I'm just, I'm really proud of it. Hugely proud of it. People really love the energy in there.

And the sound, I think because the sound is so great, that that affects people more than they really think. I mean, when you are just listening to things like distortion, it's not good for you. I mean, some music has distortion in it. But I'm just saying when you're listening to a distorted sound system, it's going to affect your whole demeanor. And people don't even realize it. But when it's really great sound, they can listen for hours.

So yeah, and there's a wooden dance floor. Yes. So people can properly dance, you know? I mean, try to dance on grass or sand. It's terrible. It's really difficult. So yeah, people go for it. So we get some of the old school dancers and the newer dancers.

[Maria]

And there was amazing improvised dance this side of Louie's set.

[Colleen]

Oh my gosh.

[Maria]

Honestly, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't move. I was like, I'm staying here all day. I just sat there like, I need to go.

[Colleen]

It was incredible. Absolutely incredible. I love having those dancers there with us.

[Maria]

People just really do. Like you said, they let loose. Like everyone around me wasn't just like two-stepping and trying to act cool. They were fully going for it, sweating, like just loving it. It was just electric energy in there.

[Colleen]

It was nice. And this year as well, I felt there was more of a queer energy on my night. It was really great. These two guys kind of got up. One was in a veil and his pants and just dancing. It was just really fun. I really liked that they felt safe enough to kind of jump up on the speaker stacks. I'm not encouraging everybody to do that. They were very good in terms of, it was just really great to see that.

[Maria]

Yeah, 100%. And I saw Muscle Car sat in there.

[Colleen]

Yes, because I had wanted them. I asked for them to come right after the year before because I've been following their stuff and they're great guys. You know, they're friends now. Yeah. And I think it's really important to help the younger generations. I had that help.

I mean, especially as a woman at a time when it really wasn't that popular for women to be doing this. I had a lot of people looking out for me to help me. Not just David, but Francois K, Joe Clossel got me a dance tracks. People got me on the radio. There's always people that help you. And if I'm in a position to help others, then I'm going to do that.

And so that's another thing I really like about it. I try to book younger people, but also people like my age and also all genders and just really try to make sure that, you know, people are getting support. You know.

[Maria]

I love that. That's amazing. And then I wanted to talk about, we've got about 10 minutes, but we need to talk about Balearic Breakfast.

[Colleen]

Oh, yes. Yeah.

[Maria]

Of course. Of course. So that began on Worldwide FM during the first lockdown, right?

[Colleen]

2020.

[Maria]

And that was when you filled in for Giles Peterson. And then he loved it so much that he asked you to take over the slot, which is incredible.

[Colleen]

It really is incredible. It started as a show with a terrible name called Summer's Vacation. You know, because he was going away for the summer. And, you know, I wasn't going anywhere. I know some people are flying off to places. I never got on a plane for like a year and a half. I never went anywhere. And many of us weren't. And so we were having a summer's vacation.

And I also did it as a request show because during the pandemic, I felt like people needed community and musical conversation. And it was also more fun for me to do request shows because, you know, I was doing so many shows. It kind of made me rediscover my music collection. Plus it also turned me on to new artists. I mean, I loved that. I loved how there was like a family and a community that was evolving with this. That was really hugely important to me. And, you know, I had a captive audience, obviously it was a pandemic. And I was broadcasting from my front room, which I still do from the record room, which I think kind of gives a more natural feeling.

You know, whether it's my emotional state at the time or how relaxed I am, it's very different just broadcasting from your house, like just going downstairs and, you know, broadcasting. But yeah, it really, I think it just, you know, it's a show that doesn't really have one musical style. I think that's another reason why it appeals to people.

There's a lot of different things on there. It could go from spiritual jazz to even techno sometimes. I mean, it's kind of gone the gamut, you know. But I think there's a musical flow and it's just such a joy. It's really such a joy to host. And this year, the fourth Balearic Breakfast compilation is coming out as well. So it's been really great. And we're doing parties and I'm doing some parties at NT's loft.

[Maria]

I mean, I love it there, yeah.

[Colleen]

Yeah.

[Maria]

That's so cool. Yeah, you can tell that you definitely love doing it. Yeah, you can tell it's so joyful. And I think a word that a lot of people have used with the show is kind of healing, especially in lockdown. It got a lot of people through. Why do you think that people resonated so much with that and still listen to it today?

[Colleen]

I think live radio is really important. There's a lot of radio shows where people just like give a mix or whatever and they don't really communicate. And I'm a communicator first. I started on the radio before I started as a DJ. So it's all about communication and making people feel part of something. And I think the fact that it was live in real time was one of those aspects that really made it connect with people.

They knew. And then I think even now when I stream live on Mixcloud, the family gathers. It's like all these people from all over the world, Asia, South America, I mean, all over. It's incredible. All different time zones. So I think it's the fact that they feel part of something and there's that live connection. And I think also if you put your passion into something and it's real and authentic, the right people pick up on that.

[Maria]

Definitely. And we've seen that today. I think something so nice about all your shows and everything you do, even like guesting on my show today, you've got such like the same listeners are tuned in today, supporting them all in the chat. We just had the next show come in and she's a big fan. And it's so special. It seems like what you do really does resonate with so many people. And you can see it in the chat, the way they come to your parties, the way that, yeah, are we out here? You really like, you mean a lot to people and your passion for music is incredible. So, yeah.

[Colleen]

Well, they mean a lot to me because without them, I wouldn't be able to do this. I mean, having to be able to, you know, support myself in music nearly in my entire life, actually my entire life, that's a privilege. And I don't take it lightly. I've worked, I've worked hard for it. And I've put up with a lot more than people will ever know. But at the end of the day, it's still a privilege.

I mean, the fact that I have this life, that I can play music for a living and talk about music for a living, you know, I never forget how lucky I am. And it's the truth. You know, there's a lot of suffering out there and I'm really, really, really lucky.

[Maria]

Yeah, that's amazing. We've got only a few minutes left and I do want to play one last track, Colleen. But before we do that, could we also hear when your next party is? Because it's in March, it's coming up. So tell us in detail.

[Colleen]

Yeah, our next London Loft party's on the 9th of March. And we do have a mailing list. If anyone wants to come along or join, you just email thelondonloft at loftparty.org. And we're doing four parties a year. The next one will be June, then September, then December again. So we have that going on, which is really great. And yeah, so other things happening, you know, I have the next compilations coming out this summer, a bunch of remixes. I just remixed Saint Etienne. And that's coming out on my compilation as well.

And then I just remixed, I just wish I could say if I can, one of my favorite bands from the age of 14 on. Oh, wow, okay. And I got a call from the head of this band to ask me to remix one of their songs. And I am like, just, I literally cried in the studio. I mean, I don't even, I can't wait to announce it. But, and then right now I'm remixing a band called The Street People from the 70s, a great New Jersey soul act.

And then I'm remixing another band called Santino Surfers from Music for Dreams. There's been a lot of studio work this year, which has been great. You know, I love it. I love it.

[Maria]

Well, thank you so much, Colleen, for coming on the show. It's been such a pleasure to have you. And thank you for everything you do. I know at Voices, we've got so many fans of yours. So this was a super special show to have you on. And yeah, tell us what you're going to end on today.

[Colleen]

I'm going to end with this song, Glory Ann Taylor, Love is a Hurtin' Thing. It's a beautiful old soul song. And it's coming out on the next Balearic Breakfast compilation. And it's just a beautiful groover for a morning show. Perfect. Let's do it. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me.