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Back
in the day
We’ve come a long way
since our first ever weekly
DJ slot at a place called
Simpsons’ Wine Bar in
Forest Gate in east London.
It was here that both of us,
with our love of soul music
greats like Teddy
Pendergrass, Loose Ends,
McFadden & Whitehead and
Barry White, got our first
regular gig. We’d been
collecting vinyl for as long
as we could remember and had
even built our own
soundsystem, but from
Simpsons’ onwards, it all
took off.
We next started to hold
regular Saturday night
warehouse parties, searching
out illegal venues which
were big enough to hold all
these people who would turn
up, once the word spread. We
were playing our favourite
soul and funk at our own
parties with other guest DJs
like Norman Jay, Linden C
and Trevor ‘Madhatter’
Nelson. It was great to be
part of that early warehouse
party scene back in the 80s.
And then, after the word of
the parties’ started to
spread, we got a proposition
from Gordon Mac, founder of
London’s biggest pirate
radio station, Kiss FM –
of course, it went ‘legal’
eventually. Gordon offered
them us a weekly slot on the
station and, that’s how
the ‘Zoo Experience’ hit
the airwaves. Over ten years,
we like to think the ‘Zoo
Experience’ championed
soulful, uplifting garage
grooves. In the process it
became the station’s
longest running specialist
show until we moved on from
their Friday night escapades
last year.
Off the air
But it’s not all radio, of
course. Our Klub Zoo night,
which launched in 1990,
mixed up classic soul, disco
groves and early house
music. Based first at
Munkberry’s in London’s
West End, it eventually
moved to the Soho Theatre,
helping build some firm
foundations for dance
culture in the UK capital in
the process.
As far as us ‘discovering’
the sound that’s made our
name, much of it was down to
the time the two of us
visited the States at the
tail end of the 1980s. A
visit to Larry Levan’s
Paradise Garage got us
hooked on the music that was
named after the club we’d
visited. Along with the
likes of Tony Humphries,
Larry was promoting the more
soulful and gospel parts of
disco, garage music. It had
soaring vocals, melodic
productions and jazzy
instrumentals; it really
caught our attention. We
soon knew that we had found
‘our’ sound, dance music
that still contained our
beloved soulful influences.
And then that was it, we
played and DJed and gigged
having really caught the bug.
While we have our current
rezzies like Star Bar at
There @ Heaven, the Fez Club
in Reading, Space @ Club
Coliseum in London and our
latest venture, the monthly
Soul Heaven @ Ministry of
Sound, there’s one club
that means more to us than
even them. For the last ten
years, it’s been the one
night that has grabbed the
headlines for serving up a
good Saturday night, a place
where we guarantee you a
dressed-up crowd and
uplifting music – our very
own Garage City.
Garage City
It all started out at the
intimate Joe's Basement in
1991 but it wasn’t long
before Garage City moved
onto the larger Podium and
later Bar Rumba. We have
been lucky enough to have
been joined regularly by
some of the biggest names in
the house and garage arena
– people like Louie Vega,
Tony Humphries, Erick
Morillo and Todd Terry. It’s
still going strong to this
day, and we like to think we
are keeping the US garage
flag burning from London to
Ibiza and beyond. In fact,
Ibiza aside, we also hold
down a residency at Mazoon
in Italy and regularly guest
at GBH @ Centrofly in New
York.
So what else? Other ‘escapades’
include vinyl outings via
our Zoo Experience Records
label – we were even given
a MOBO nomination in 1997
for our gospel signing
Overjoyd – and last year’s
Soul Heaven compilation on
Defected was mixed and
chosen by us. We've also now
Ministry of Sound radio
[digital and internet] 8-9pm
every Monday and Thursday,
called, funnily enough, Soul
Heaven.
The future
With another season in Ibiza
completed, we’re now
looking forward to the rest
of year, confident that it
will be every bit as
exciting as what’s gone
before. And now, finally
then, here it is, the
official web site. This year
has been a really busy one
for us. After ten years we
decided to give up our Kiss
FM show at the start of the
year and since then things
have just rocketed for us.
In February we launched our
new night 'Soul Heaven' at
the Ministry of Sound and
our ultimate dance weekender
'Summervibes' ran
successfully for the second
year. We also launched our
exclusive Friday night
residency at There at Heaven,
where every Friday night we
take over the Star Bar with
our Groove On party -
complete with the Groove On
Roller Girls! Garage City
celebrated ten years in
style with the biggest party
London has ever seen at
Fabric with the likes of
Kenny Dope Gonzalez, DJ Spen,
Terry Hunter, Joey Negro,
Dimitri from Paris and DJ
Disciple to name a few
alongside residents Chris
Williams, Chrissy T, DJ
Rupert and of course us!
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PS Oh, and
just in case you need to know then
yes, we are twins! |
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