Adam Jay - Adam Jay

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 23 / 2 / 2014

intro

In his 'Vinyl Stories' column Dave Goodwin talks to international DJ Adam Jay about his favourite albums

Every now and then a set of rules are made that scream to be broken. When I started this column, I said that we would focus on vinyl and on no account do CDs. Being a rebellious type at school, I liked to challenge rules and likewise now continue to do so, although I am considerably older and even if they are of my own doing. When I met an aspiring DJ, who had a great story, I was very keen to do a ‘Vinyl Stories’ with him. But he had CDs. But, and this was the changing denomination, when he then informed me that not only had he got the CDs but had bought copies of them on vinyl I thought, “Well, why not?” In 1981 a guy from Beeston and a girl from Clifton had an immaculate conception. This immaculate conception was born one cold November morning in a ward somewhere in Nottingham. After a few swift ales to wet his head in a nearby establishment, the Beeston guy and the Clifton girl returned home with their miracle. Here he would go on a journey through sound. This is Adam Jay's Vinyl Story... Weened off milk and onto Soul/Tamala Motown to start with, he developed a taste for Smokey, Stevie, Marvin, Curtis and all things funky and beatiful.(a made up word; something that’s beautiful and has a beat) His toddler years would see him evolve into a 60’s cat. At the age of 13, Britpop emerged and took the young boy even further on his journey into sound. The North West was producing a majority of the noise being made around the time, and would eventually become a second home to the boy. School came and went as did college and the next ten years of youth, chasing rainbows and telling stories and listening to what the Byrds and the bees were really about! Moving to the city centre, the boy was now a man. But he couldn’t find anywhere to listen to these sounds he’d heard all through childhood, so armed with a laptop and a bag of blank CDRs he decided “enough was enough.” The aspiring DJ went on to make mixtapes to listen too of an evening in local public houses, where he and a select few other cats would do the picking and playing. It went from strength to strength as people began digging the sounds on offer, and he gained a couple of residencies in these local haunts. Then a few bigger support slots came up, including with, to name but a few, Paul Arthurs (Oasis), Clint Boon (Inspiral Carpets), Scott Mills (Radio 1), Miles Kane, the Happy Mondays, Toploader, Bruce Foxton and Jake Bugg. From Madchester to Motown, Britpop to Sixties, Reggae to Rock ‘n’ Roll the young DJ is armed and dangerous and ready to entertain you, and also to take you on the same journey through these wonderful sounds he has been and is still on... I remember the first album I ever bought was ‘Dangerous’ by Michael Jackson. And then the ‘Moonwalker’ album. My mum listened to all sorts of grooves like ABC, and my dad got himself heavily into Northern Soul but also had a copy of the Small Faces’ ‘ Greatest Hits’. I grew up in Granby in The Vale of Belvoir, and when I got to eighteen I went to live in Spain, and all the music at that time was crappy chart shit. There was nothing to do around here, and all my mates had dads that got them jobs in their businesses and mine didn’t, so I thought I just needed to get away from all of it. I spent eighteen years trying to get out of here, and then moved back here in the end because it is so quiet and nice. I started off by walking into bars in town, asking if I could do a set and ended up doing Diana Ross's After Show party! I did really well money wise. So, I started doing After Show parties at Rock City for the likes of Miles Kane, Bruce Foxton, Jake Bugg and Happy Mondays. I've just got back from Ibiza and done some DJ’ing for Liam Gallagher. While I was there, I met a guy called Frankie who is one of Liam's mates, and he asked me to do some gigs in London for him at big private events. The first album I want to introduce is the Beatles ‘Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. This was a massive influence when I was growing up from my dad’s collection. Listening to ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ on repeat just blew me away. On the back of ‘TV Times’ there used to be the Britannia Music Club, and I begged and begged my mum to let me join it. So when she agreed I was made up and joined and bought other stuff from that. There's loads of conspiracy theories about that album - Paul McCartney not being the real Paul McCartney and all that. Some radio station in America said that he died in a car crash! I named my daughter after John. Her middle name is Lennon. We lost a kiddie before her and we were going to name him Lennon, but obviously we couldn't. For guitar music it was one of the biggest influences of my life. That and the next one I want to show you. Another album I ”acquired” from my dad is the Small Faces’ ‘Greatest Hits’. This album, along with ‘Sergeant Pepper’, introduced me to guitar music. When I first heard Steve Marriott’s voice, I thought he was a big soul singer. He sounded like Smokey Robinson. His voice got me into the Mod bands of the time. I was more of a Britpop man in the end, but this was the start. They were the only guitar band on the player at the time - this and the Beatles. Oasis’s ‘Definitely,Maybe’ not only changed me, but in my opinion it changed Britain. Guitar music and Britpop all of sudden became cool, and got rid of dance music. That album just took my head off. I first heard Oasis at a youth club in Bingham. I was with a mate, and ‘Champagne Supernova’ came on and that was it. I was about twelve at the time. There's a number of tracks on this album that are quite significant to me. ‘Live Forever’ is capable of leading me to tears any time. It’s that euphoric. ‘Slide Away ‘is the record my wife and I got married to. To return to ‘Live Forever’, when we lost our little one, I went and got bladdered, and I was in a bad state and I wrote all over the wall in Magic Marker. When we came out of the hospital, there was all shit chart music on when we got in the car, and then that track came on the radio. That came from another place. Oasis are so magnetic that it is unreal. It is my favourite album of all time. I very rarely play Oasis when I'm DJing. I don't know why. They aren't just the biggest band in Britain ever, but they are the biggest band in the world ever. I like a lot of female artists too. I would run away with Beth Orton tomorrow if I could. I love Beth Orton’s 'Stolen Car' and I love PJ Harvey and Goldfrapp. My next album, however, is ‘The Complete Stone Roses’. They were the first band that made me believe that I could be in a band. I was fourteen at the time. Back then we were all quite smartly dressed. We all had Ralph Lauren shirts and we were kind of the in-crowd. I heard ‘Unfinished Monkey Business’ by Ian Brown, and from that I got into the Stone Roses. I started to hear beats in the Stone Roses that I had heard in Motown tracks years before. They were the other massive band in my life, and another that made me go on a journey. My next album is the Cure’s ‘Mixed Up’. You might think this is a curve ball. My cousin, however, lent my dad this album two weeks before he died, and I always look on it as Gareth's record. The mixing is great of tracks that are quite commercial. They became big in the 80s which was before my time, but I have always loved the Cure. The next album is Doves ‘Lost Souls’. I went to Wembley in 2000 back when it still had the old twin towers. We went to watch Oasis, and they were on beforehand. I thought they were flipping brilliant, so I went out and bought the record. That album is massive to me. ‘Rise’ is a personal favourite and is a very calming record for me when I get a bit reckless. ‘The Cedar Room’ near the end is another. I went to mental health place called the Cedars on Mansfield Road once for something, and it became the name of our band, the Cedars. We all went to a Doves after show party and met them all along with many other people. My mate got pissed, and decided he was going to throw a pint on the floor because it was cool, and he tripped up and hit the bloke in front of us square on the head with a plastic cup. Not the done thing. I was wearing a white fishtail type Parka at the time, looking the bollocks, and the next thing I knew was I felt all wet go down my back. So, when we got further into the after show party, people kept on looking at me and staring and shit, but I was just trying to act cool. When I got home I realised that whatever this guy had thrown back at us was something like lager and black or something! I'd got a bright pink polka dot Parka on all night! The next album is Richard Ashcroft’s ‘ Alone with Everybody’. I was a time share rep in Tenerife which didn't turn out well. Well, it did in a way. I got out alive which was a bonus. While I was there I heard ‘Brave New World’. Before I went the first ever ‘Pop Idol’ was on, and they formed Hearsay and my mum and dad were in one room listening to that, and I was in the other listening to ‘Brave New World’. It gives you a bit of hope, you know? I was playing it on the way to the airport and I left it in the car. Apparently my mum listened to it and was crying all the way home to it on repeat. I was only eighteen. I'd just seen the job on an advert on the telly. It was a brave move at the time. There is some sadness on there, but it has a bit of hope with it too. The Verve were great and this was the next level. I got nicknamed Ashcroft at school. Last up is Ocean Colour Scene and ‘Mosely Shoals. The first gig I ever went to at Sheffield Arena was Ocean Colour Scene. A couple of the tracks on here are brilliant. ‘The Day We Caught The Train’ is one and ‘One for the Road’ we used to play while messing about in the band. There's a line in that says ’She was just eighteen/She collapsed and he took her away and in an hour she was gone.’ When we covered it I used to sing, ‘He was just eighteen’, so that song was quite personal to me and ‘Get Away’ is just amazing. They're a cool band from Birmingham. I met them once while I was at Splendour. We were running around at the time without a care in the world. We used to hang about at the railings of the leisure centre and used to get moved on by the police. We never got up to anything bad. Just mucking around, and that is when I met them, on one of those occasions when we were mucking around there.

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