Dancing Through the Decades: Nigel & Rae on the Joy of Vinyl Nights

Dig out your retro gladrags, people! Get working on those moves! On 13^th June at Rea Brook Social Club, Belle Vue Arts Festival will be hosting the ultimate Fantasy Back to the Future vinyl disco experience and you definitely won't want to miss it! Bringing you all your favourite music from the 1950s to the 1990s will be Belle Vue's very own Old Skool Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuunes  – and to make things extra-special, their friends from Bakrabeats all-vinyl reggae disco will be joining them to add an extra dimension of reggae, dancehall and ska. The Festival Blog met up with Old Skool Tuuuuuuuuuuuuuunes' Nigel and Rae for a taster of what promises to be a truly memorable night.

Festival Blog: Hi Nigel and Rae! Nigel, I hear your love of vinyl goes back a long way?

Nigel: Sure does! Growing up in Dawley, I did my first disco in 1972 after a school friend acquired two Dansette record players. His dad wired up some additional speakers and we would 'borrow' his older sisters' records for their more mature musical taste. With all this gear we'd rock up at Woodside Youth Club, which at the time was two old train carriages, and put on a disco. First record I bought? Peter Skellern, 'You're a Lady'. First album? 'Billion Dollar Babies' by Alice Cooper. Punk hit while I was at Shrewsbury Art School. I bagged tickets for the Sex Pistols' gig at The Village in Newport. A million and one folks claim they were there but I genuinely was. I even had a conversation with Sid Vicious

FB: Tell us what to expect from the BVAF event?

Rae: Vinyl nights are very social events and enormously evocative. They bring together people of all ages who have shared memories but otherwise might be quite different. They're for everybody who loves '60s, '70s and '80s music and loves to dance. Fancy dress isn't compulsory, but it's definitely encouraged!

Nigel: And not forgetting our vintage disco lights! They can be noisy and hot, but they fill the room with a cacophony of colour.

FB: How much planning goes into these events?

Rae: The measure of a good disco is how many people are dancing and having fun. Everything is about keeping people on the floor.

Nigel: We're trying to work out whether to go from the 50s all the way up to the 90s, or whether to dip in and out of each particular decade...

Rae:...covering everything but without being disjointed. Reading the room is a skill. If something's going well, you want to maintain that vibe, so you might have to change what you planned to play next.

Nigel: And whereas a modern, digital DJ can download something to their computer, and come with a playlist already sorted, we have to bring loads of stuff!

FB: What equipment do you use?

Nigel: At the discos, we have two Omnitronic decks. They're Technics copies. A Technics deck, you're probably looking at about £1200 for a new one. Mine are copies – £300 a pop, but they work. The speakers are Active speakers, which are big and beefy enough to fill a decent sized hall.

FB: What's the enduring appeal of vinyl?

Nigel: It's not just the record, it's the entire medium. The artwork is definitely a part of it. I've chosen albums from the look of the artwork. I've thought, 'wow, that's a fantastic-looking cover, I'll buy that and I'll listen to what's on there'.

Rae: It encourages active listening. You've got to get up and turn it over and put it back on. Streaming has the advantage of taking up very little room but with vinyl, you're hearing the songs not just randomly, but in the order the artist wanted them to be heard. It's a more complete experience.

You can find all the details about our vinyl evening at: https://www.bellevueartsfestival.co.uk/back-to-the-future

DJ Rae