Friday, 26 April 2019
Q&A WITH NEIL RUSHTON
THIS MONTH WE INTERVIEW THE ICONIC NORTHERN SOUL DJ, NEIL RUSHTON. READ ON TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE MAN BEHIND THIS ICONIC MUSIC SUBCULTURE.
Q: You became heavily involved in the Northern Soul scene in the early 70s, how did you discover the scene and what are your favorite memories of that time? From local youth clubs, I graduated to going to Rare Soul sessions (before it was branded Northern Soul) at The George Hotel in Walsall which was one of the best Soul nights in the U.K. Being exposed to that tipped me over the edge. In 1972 it went crazy and I became regular at The Catacombs in Wolverhampton and The Torch in Stoke. Both cutting edge iconic venues. Later I DJ’d at The Catacombs so I must have been OK as that was a venue full of fanatics who loved their Soul music, a lot of American discoveries got their first-ever U.K. spins there.
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Q: You then went on to found Inferno Records, what was it like setting up your first record label? With so much going on setting up Inferno just seemed the next thing to do and there was a real punk inspired D-I-Y attitude so it kind of was kind of logical to have my own label. We released some great records including Gloria Jones, The Crow - Your Autumn Of Tomorrow (which I purchased) and in recent year’s licenced to Elaine’s film “Northern Soul”, Freda Payne “Band Of Gold” (sold over 40,000 and it didn’t chart) and all time classics by The Carstairs, Frank Beverley & The Butlers, Gil Scott-Heron, Ann Sexton, The Four Perfections.. it was a great experience and gave me the education I needed when I co-founded Network which became the best selling indie owned House Music label in the UK.
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Q: After the Northern Soul movement you went back to newspaper reporting, what brought you back onto the music scene and made you set up Kool Kat Music? Where did the idea to import music from Detroit come from?
Q: You’ve DJ’ed some amazing and iconic venues, how would you say the DJing scene has changed since you started?
Q: What does Ben Sherman mean to you? When did you first encounter the brand?
Q: What are you up to now? What are the plans for the future? |
Q: Lastly, you’re on a desert island, you can only have one record, what would it be? |