“It’s your record. You discovered it…You love it for the feelings it conjures…
Thirty years ago some now-forgotten musicians cut that record. Without them this brilliant song wouldn’t exist. But without you – a DJ – that record would be in a bent cardboard box in a basement…
This is the thrill, and the compulsion, of DJing. This need to share music, and to constantly find new music to excite people with, this is the primal force of DJing.”
Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton
The Record Players (DJ Revolutionaries)
Welcome to the Cookie-Dough Guest mix where we invite some of favourite DJ / Producers to answer a few questions and dig deep into their collections and put together a mix of their favourite records.
For this episode we have invited DJ, Producer and edit man Dave Gerrard to put together a mix of records that have influenced him over the years!
This is one for the house heads.
Nice one Dave!
A few words from Dave…
Nostalgia for me is a powerful emotion triggered, on occasion by music. My track choices are for this reason. Hearing these tracks fire up memories ranging from being in the back of a car, a night at the Hacienda or maybe a warehouse party in Blackburn. Upon hearing the track it’s as if I’m teleported back in time to that moment. This music is from my past, and I consider myself extremely lucky to have been around to experience the birth of Chicago and Acid house, enabling me to travel the length and breadth of the UK, experiencing different clubs, music and above all the excitement that everyone was feeling witnessing how this new music was changing things. So here it is, my mix, a tricky thing to put together because, at the time most of these tracks were made, the term DJ friendly wasn’t a term widely used. Lots of early house a couple and I had to include one of my very first edits also. This is some of the music that made me.
Track List
Mr Fingers-Can U Feel It.
Adonis-No Way Back (Greg Wilson Edit)
Orbital-Chime
Joe Smooth-Promised Land
Marshall Jefferson-Move Your Body
South Street Player-[Who] Keeps Changing Your Mind
A Guy Called Gerald-Voodoo Ray (A Guy Called Gerrard Edit)
Soft House Company-What U Need
The Todd Terry Project-Weekend
Alison Limerick-Where Love Lives
FPI Project-Rich In Paradise
Joe Smooth-It’s Alright
Q&A What was the first record you bought that made you realize that you wanted to be a DJ / Producer?
The first record that made me realise I wanted to become a DJ? That’s a difficult one, it was a long time ago, it was probably Frankie Knuckles-Your Love or Faze II- Reachin’, funnily enough both tracks are a nightmare to try and mix into a set. The first record I bought however was The Wombles-The Wombling Song.
What record makes you most nostaligic?
There are a few records that make me nostalgic, Pacific State by 808 State, Mr Fingers- Can U Feel it, I used to blast them out in my car on a Sunday evening after Partying all night on the Blackburn Warehouse scene, both tracks are full of emotion.
What is your favourite end of night record?
I have a few end of night records, Michael Jackson-Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough & Sister Sledge-We Are Family both seem to do the trick, leave em wanting more.
Do you have a guilty pleasure record?
Guilty pleasures, anything by The Wombles, I nearly started my set with that one.
What is your most treasured piece of vinyl?
My most treasured piece of vinyl is probably House Sounds of Chicago Vol 1. It was my first house record.
