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DJ career started at the tender age of 13 years old playing commercial music to smiley school crowds at parties and even the odd mobile disco (make some noise!" and all that nonsense. Anyway, enough of that...
After seeing "DJs wanted, send us yer tapes" style poster at my local Fopp Records in Aberdeen (back when Nigel still worked there! Bloody hell) I thought what the hell and submitted some mix of funky soulful house music with a splash of disco thrown in for good measure... and didn't expect to hear a thing from anyone....
Result, a chap called Bobby rings me up asking to meet me for a chat and before you know it I've got a weekly residency alongside a nice funk spinner called DJ Spud at Po Na Na in Aberdeen with "Mischief on Mondays". Typical studenty affair with those drunken fools from RGU and Aberdeen Uni flying the north east flag weekly.
Successful run on Mondays and a messy Stint on New year’s Eve then turned into Bobby offering me another night on Sundays turning out to be a wee disco, funk night called “Sunday Beats†that got a little more House fuelled as the clocked ticked on… I was doing a grand job annoying music fans in far too many record shops , mainly Correction Records where my wants-list would consist of anything that Danny Rampling had played on Radio 1 the previous Saturday.
After much ooh-ing and ahh-ing Gary M decided to head south to Edinburgh, country boy to city living n all that.
After a couple of months in Edinburgh, I spotted another flyer for “DJs Wantedâ€. Again, what did I have to lose other than a tape?!
The result was meeting the Edinburgh soul fanatic that is Erik D’Viking (www.getintotrouble.com), Jay Feeney (www.onthepod.com) and Jez Hill (www.freak music.com). These guys sorted me out with a bunch of gigs across Edinburgh, and my thanks for that will never be forgotten (Aye, I’ll buy u a pint for that soon Eric ;-).
Being one of a load of ‘Freak DJs’ scored me a 3 year residency at Edinburgh place-to-be-seen Opal Lounge. Mammoth 5 hour sets every Wednesday and later Thursdays were a real pleasure for me to play because I could spin a wide variety of music and genres. Early doors (6pm), Opal-goers were treated to downbeat funk, soul, disco, jazz etc moving through to a late night mix of soulful house music, garage, broken beat and disco.
Unfortunately this would normally be followed by a stack of Beyonce and Kylie records once I finished up, but the good memories of Opal still shine through… Key memory of Opal Lounge was myself and house music follower Sol indulging in some 4 deck madness on the last Saturday night of the Edinburgh Festival until the early hours of the morning. Great times Sol, get back into the scene man!!
“Cutbacks†at Opal Lounge eventually leaded to the loss of daytime and evening DJs and resulted with them “hiring†an I-pod set to shuffle to score the atmosphere to this day. Sadly a move I’ve seen across many bars in the UK. Having lost a regular gig after 3 years turned out to be a blessing in disguise… Gary M was done with, Gary on the Money was born…
Still having a healthy thirst for good music I started hanging out more with the crew of Underground Solushn Records, the Trouble DJs, and a good handful of key players on the vibrant Edinburgh clubscene. Since those days at Opal Lounge I’ve managed to play to great crowds of funky youngsters at venues like Assembly, Cabaret Voltaire, Tempus, 99 Hanover St, Jazz Bar, Bongo Club, Pivo, Sygn, Garibaldi’s (Oh god, twice, don’t ask…) and have been blessed with the opportunity to play some of Edinburgh’s biggest nights such as Ultragroove, 33/45 Live, Trouble, Saturday Night Fish Fry, Souled Out and more.
Musically I’ve still got the same love of all things House Music, a fetish that’s becoming more obsession these days. Hanging with the Trouble lads and the Departure Lounge/Four Corners crew has opened my short-sighted eyes into the world of err, world music. I’m now a true follower of all things Broken Beat, Nu-jazz, Afrobeat, Nu-soul and the late night ramblings of Mr Gilles Peterson.
Watch this space for upcoming gigs, charts, online mixes for downloads (having issues with these at the moment) and I hope to see you enjoying my tuneage soon. Ask me for a badge if u see me out and about…