The strange phenomenom of Northern soul was born in the clubs of Northern England in the mid to Late 60's.The young lads like me were drawn from the industrial wastelands and gathered at 'The Twisted Wheel Club' @ 6 Whitfield St in the heart of Manchester to listen to the latest American Soul sounds, the rarer and more obscure the better with great zeal and piety that would shame all but the most devouted followers.
The scene was an outgrowth of the London Jazz scene which started in the early 60's at clubs like 'The Flamingo',beneath the Whisky A Go Go ,Wardour St.This club hosted weekend all nighters that were popular with West Indian migrants and the American GI's stationed in the UK.This strange combination of DJ's and collectors of rare records was to define what we now call Northern Soul for the next 40 years upto now.
With the birth of Motown ,soul music attracted a more mainstream of followers,this crowd then began to search for the more obscure records to set themselves apart from the rest.
As early as 1965 Roger Eagle of Manchesters Twisted Wheel was searching out records that were even RARE in the States.sounds like 'At The Discotheque' by Chubby Checker,'6 by 6' Earl Van Dyke & 'Boogaloo Party' The Flamingoes.These records all shared the same 4/4 dancing beat.The uplifting chords and high energy rave ups suited the amphetamine- laced atmosphere.The unique culture now had a signature sound that wouldn't change for years.In an article in Blues & soul Dave Godin coined the phase 'NORTHERN SOUL' to distinguish it from the southern soul of the London scene at that time.
Many of the rare records were first found by a guy who is now well known for certain reasons 'Ian Levine', a well off kid who's parents owned a couple of Blackpool nightspots and could afford to fly off to the States and locate the records from old junk shops and bring them back to the UK and supply the British DJs.Ian Levine then decided to run is own club in Blackpool where a new brand of Northern soul; was to take off with the likes of 'The Carstairs,It Really Hurts Me Girl' and' Patti Jo's Make Me Believe In You'. These new records split the scene in 2. The Purists who wanted to hear 60's attended Wigan Casino whereas the 70's newies attended The Mecca.Eventually Disco took over the scene but it was resurrected through the likes of 'The 100 Club' in London and 'Top Of The World' Stafford. And of cause as we all know Northern soul is very big on the scene today mainly due to people like myself (Leek Soul Club) who have been born again.Got married,had kids,Grown up,Lets live life again as we remember it Lots of Soul and Lambrettas.
The Formation of Leek Soul Club
Leek Soul club was formed in 1993 by several soulies who wanted a
local venue for the returning youth of Leek(People around 40 / 50 who
had had kids and now where returning to their youth). Original members
were Stef Callear, Alan Hodgkinson (Soulie), Michael Birks (Garth), Rob
Marriot (Maz) and his mate Dave,Oh and of coarse mar lady Krys.
Our first venue was @The Foxlowe in Leek on a Thurs Nights with Keith
Minshull as Star DJ.these nights were an absolute success ,the place
full to capacity every month. All our equipment was borrowed from local
Djs (Many thanks).
Eventually we decided to buy our own stuff and also to play our own
records as Keith was tending to play all commercial stuff what every
Tom, Dick and Harry had and we wanted something different.
At this time the promoters had gone down to Stef, Soulie & Krys along
with a young newcomer Joey (Mark Poyser). We continued at the Foxlowe
which eventually shut.
From then on we tried numerous places around Leek - Swan, Leek Town FC,
Nash, Herdsman, Winking Man before we settled at The Maude.
The Maude was a great venue with the right music and a hard core of
about 70 soulies all from out of town (Naff all from Leek). At the Maude
we had some great guest Djs Carl Willingham (Manchester), Nige from Macc,
Alan Pollard (Stockport), Mark Fletcher and Graham from Chesterfield.
Johnny Weston & Micky Nold (Brum) Chris Anderton (Burton) to name afew
(Again many thanks).
The Maude then closed its doors and a new Home was searched for and
eventually The Central became available and this is where we remain
today.
Our aim is to bring new sounds to Leek along with some of the Classics
but really steering away from the commercial ,run of the mill Northern
sounds.
We seem to average 80 punters which is adequate for the venue and up to
now have had some Fab guest Djs your very own Collo (Stoke), Jim Smirk (Macc),
Glynn Wheat (Leek), Laurel Soar (Ashbourne) to name a few .
Anyway enough said why not give us a try everyone is welcome and we will
welcome you here. please don't think you're to old because we have
punters from their late teens to over 60 (sad ain't it, remember we're
all getting old).
Many thanks to Collo and Glyn for allowing me to write this article.
Many thanks Stef c/o Leek Soul Club (also representing Soulie and Krys
the other promoters).
As we say in our Motto 'It'll Never Be Over For Me'
