Adam Gow 0:00

So welcome back again to once a DJ. This is the pilot of the video format. Next Mr. Rob Webster, who's with us, multi genre DJ, former resident of one of the UK's biggest club nights, top 10 record producer from when the top 10 mattered and much more. Rob Webster, aka RobJamWeb, aka boy Wonder. Thank you for coming on the podcast.

Unknown Speaker 0:22

You're welcome, Adam. How are you, mate? I'm good.

Adam Gow 0:24

Excellent. Yeah, I'm good. Thank you. So yeah, let's kick it off. I've actually got a bit of research and some questions. That individuals Yeah. So I think the first thing to get into is just looking at where your candle of the music came from. Okay.

Speaker 2 0:39

Right. Well, I was born into music. I literally had no choice. When I was born, my dad named me after Led Zeppelin. So my name is Robert James, which is named after Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. So from the often I was literally born into that my dad was a huge music fan. He was a massive gig goer like is the only people who never saw with the Beatles pretty much and everyone else has seen it was worth seeing in those days. Anyway, so I was surrounded by music, oh them all my childhood and then when I got to the age of seven in 84, my cousin who was few years older than me was 14 came around the house one day with a an electrode tape the tape got electrode crucial. And he was saying no, everyone's dancing to this music this watch this. He taught me how to body pop. I was eight, eight years old. He was 13/14 I had no idea what it was. And we spent the whole weekend dancing in my garden to Elektro crucial so it was tunes like hashey Monet fish, Tyrone Brunson the Smurf, Afrika Bambaataa, wildstyle, all that. And it just literally grabbed me instantly. Even from that young age. I knew, you know, I knew that there was this was something I really enjoyed. And then within that, that space of that year, I went to see Beach Street at the cinema, when we dad, I went see breakdance to the movie with me mom at the cinema, and an ad, you know, I started collecting electro albums, and then it evolved into Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim, LL Cool J. Beastie Boys, then it was De La Soul, NWA, and then, you know, Tribe Called Quest, Gangstarr. and on it went, you know, I mean, and then at the same time, of all of that, I was interested in the acid as thing as well, because pop charts were like, inner city, big fun. You know, Derrick May, all that kind of stuff was coming out of Chicago and Detroit. And that was in the pop charts right on time, black box, all those kinds of pop dance records. And then obviously, that was coexisting at the same time as the hip hop movement was. So those two were constantly intertwined as I was growing up, and also as a massive Pet Shop Boys fan, as well as a teenager. So it was kind of either the Pet Shop Boys or the Smiths, you know, I mean, I didn't want to be the Smiths. So push up was a more electronic, which was more geared to what I did, and that's how it evolved. That's how my musical tastes evolved as a teenager. And then when I got to 16, I went to do work experience at bpm records in Derby, and that was in late 92. And the irony was that my English teacher got me that gig got me that week experience because he was friends with David when BPM. Anyway, the funny thing was all my mates ended up doing crappy things like Asda and or going to some factory for a week and I got the London a record show, which was just for me, it was dreamy, especially that aired on the radio, it was nice to the rave club scene was just the rave scene was just petering out. And the club scene was just starting to evolve. So just

Adam Gow 3:25

at that point, then you're kind of journey through hip hop and things was was that with a bunch of mates? Or was that solo that you on your own?

Speaker 2 3:35

It was me pursuing it, because how I would pick up on things would obviously was Top of the Pops. And my dad was friends with a guy called Paul Needham, who used to own a pub in town called the old Nelson, Lord Nelson, which is now I don't know if it's a I think it's a microbrewery. Now, you know, on the corner of it was

Adam Gow 3:54

it was Deez not long ago. It's becoming a burger joint next,

Speaker 2 3:57

right, whatever it is now, but it's originally called the Lord Nelson. And my dad's friend Paul Needham was the landlord law. And they shared a love of jazz together when I was a child growing up in the 80s. And Paul used to run a pirate radio station from the roof of the pub. And him and Russell, Russell Davidson, who later became my boss and mentor through progress. And those guys used to run a pirate radio station up there and used to tune into that around 87/88. And Russell would play, you know, acid acid, early rave and hip hop and whatever. So I'd always tuned into that. I used to tape it, and I was like, 10/11 years old, and I was always looking for music. And my dad used to buy the enemy every week for the good guide. So I always would always see in the enemy pictures or Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, and I'll coach or whoever, whoever was at that time, so it was always about discovering it through all the people around me. I didn't, I didn't pursue it. And I was only a kid. I mean, but I will just pick up what occurred around me. And then obviously used to borrow tape from mates. We got to secondary school, you met older kids. It was you know, I was introduced to endued way by school friends and it was like, you know, gangsta rap as a whole You think and it was like, wow, you know, having no concept of the meaning of the songs, you know, I mean, you know, in Australia content, I had no idea what it meant having no idea what Public Enemies album meant, but I just fell in love with it. You know, I had no idea of the lyrical concept of it until I was an adult. But as a kid, it was just this rebellious, loud noise. I mean, it was to break beats and blah, blah, blah. And it was, it was fun. So it was all through self exploration. But taking from those around, you know, I mean, that were in the know, I suppose.

Adam Gow 5:31

Yeah, cuz I think that's when you can kind of forge your own path, isn't it, you get this lack of originality, because you're not going through just one lineage for musical inspiration. So if we just go back then to the work experience,

Speaker 2 5:45

that was that was amazing. I did a five day run at bpm, and it was in late 92. And I can remember when used to was number one in the in the pop charts with I Will Always Love You, the bodyguard had just come out. So that was we sell the charts in AC so it was they did everything wasn't just independent retailer, they sold the pop charts, they sold Indy house, hip hop, soul, techno, drum and bass, the lot. The covered every aspect of independent music, as well as commercial. So you know, it was it was amazing experience. And then obviously, I went back to school, and finished my School Year that year. And then in the April of 93, I left school. And basically, I wrote to Dave, it BPMs I wrote my letter back in the days when you'd write a letter, you know, and say, remember me from work experience if you've got any jobs, and he rang him up a week later. I've not heard anything for a week so far. I'm just gonna walk in and just ask if he says no, so what? And so yeah, Rob, I've got to reply, sorry, blah, blah, blah, been busy. Yeah, we've got a YTS open and if you want it, which is a YTS. For anyone listening is a youth training scheme programme, which the Tory government created back in the 80s and early 90s, where you basically just like an apprenticeship, basically. But you did you got paid 30 pound a week. And you could claim it was for and that was it, but it didn't matter. The job of my dreams, you know, I mean, I could only you know, I could have been on a building site or some horrible sweaty factory, but you know, because the options were rolling limited unless you created your own. Sim now suppose but so anyway, yeah, I started working for BPM as a youth training scheme apprentice as a retail apprentice. And instantly, you know, within days, it just stayed there could see my enthusiasm and my love for music. It wasn't you know, it wasn't immediately surrounded me with a lot of older people. Some people my age, you know, the customers I'm talking to like, the 18 year old 19 or bedroom DJs club DJs and then there would be the older crowd that came in that were probably in the 30s that had been around since the 70s and 80s that were clients customers and you know, so you learn from them, do you I mean, I started picking up a learn about jazz funk through some of the clients like James Brown, Fred Wesley, that stuff started grabbing my you know, my soul with it. And then I started picking upon the older house stuff that had missed out on you know, the Chicago stuff because I was dealing with reps on the phone importers on the phone who will import stuff from America weekly. And I was like Oh, can you get this on DJ International can you get this off Trax records Yeah, we can get we can get all these pressings and so you know instantly I was just It was Christmas Everyday mate. Did you become a buyer there then got absolutely yeah, not not straightaway obviously have to learn this isn't months down the line, but you the reps would have come in or ring up. So you would have your mainstream reps like EMI Parlophone, Sony Warner's, et cetera, they would come in and give you the chart stuff, pop albums and so on. And then you'd have your independent reps network records, which was I think it was Neil Rushton the guy's own network in altern8 and all those rave bands. In a city, he had a rap for network and they sold all the techno in the house and underground stuff, there was Mo's music, they sold loads of bootlegs, and then there was the dodgy guys that came around selling bootlegs, white label guys from Liverpool, I'll get into that later if you want, but, and then you'd have the independent reps or the other labels that were like a moto, you know, the distributors, there's like distributors, like the Moto pinnacle. Sid, they're all probably folded now. But they were independent distributors for little small labels, you know, so they would come in, and they would skim through the records and you'd give you a pile of stock, you go through five of them, three of them, two of them, they've got to bring it in cash on delivery or put it on the accounts. It was it was just a community, you know, a self sufficient community. Dance music was a club, any sort of independent music retail, and it was it was just everybody contributed to the to the to the cause, you know what I mean? The the guys would make white labels, they would pass them on to the distributor dish, we would go around the record shops around the Midlands or the north. And that's how things got a bad that's how things went viral. You know, it's our tracks when popular, you know what I mean? So yeah, it was it was it was a very, it was Christmas Everyday that's the only way I can put it yeah.

So we've had a couple of people on where we've talked about certain record shops. And I think to do when I started buying records, I didn't really experience this because it was mainly kind of maybe kind of been in gone. But you had those shops where it was sort of almost intimidated to ask for a certain record. Was that sort of culture there?

No, not at all. Not in BPM. I mean, some people probably felt intimidated because of that, kind of what's the word look for that that reputation that record shops had, I mean, I myself experience it, you know, when you get to select a disc in Nottingham, they were very much like that they were kind of gatekeepers. Whereas now, if I bought, if I was, if I bought 30 copies of the latest white label, I want to sell those 30 copies of the white label, it's not in my interest to keep the one of the counter, if there was something that came out, that was probably three copies came in, I would probably save those first three copies for myself, Pete from progress, or another DJ that we would use that weekend, and then I would order them another 10. The week after John, I mean, when I could get all of them again, you know, but no way. It wasn't in our interest to withhold stuff and be kind of on the LPU kind of thing it was anyone come in, anyone can always come back in those days, we'll have you know, female DJs come in female bedroom. DJs. And that that started out and they were just you just, you know, they would often be more felt intimidated, because it was mostly in those days, or men's environment, you know, it's completely changed now, which is great. But in those days, were only a handful of women. DJs. So now, in those days, anybody that came in the shop doesn't matter what you are, or how old you were, or what you were who you were, you were a customer, if you were buying we would go right, if you hit this, have you tried that? Have you heard this? Because we'd pick up on what they bring to the counter? Can I listen to these, please? Yeah, of course. Can you look at them? Right? Okay, that's deep house, whatever. Have you tried this track? Then you put some more out and a system that was? That was the enthusiasm for me getting people to hear new stuff, you know, off going, have you heard this truck and the guy I've heard that in a club can have that as well. And it's a sale and that's not sitting on stock? I don't I don't believe that. You know, I never believe that.

So when and where did you start DJing then

literally, in clubs, the first gig I ever did was in September 93. It was at the warehouse, which is basically what was a mosh.

So how old would you have been then just turned 17? How long would you add decks?

Yeah, the seem to hold the value a lot now. So the kind of backup more expensive than there were when we would have been buying but I know there was a dip around the sort of digital adoption, where I know our good friend Hudson got a couple for I think it was 300 quid for the pair. But yeah, at the moment. Yeah, they're not cheap at all.

so that first night you were doing where you can multi genre. Yeah. Oh yeah,

absolutely. It was hip hop it was r&b it was a bit of dance pop, you know, whatever was right at time. I don't know fleck was like crystal waters and Robin Essen into bloody even stuff like the far side. You know, all that kind of fun hip hop, you know, Tribe Called Quest status, all that sort of stuff. But yeah, it was it was a it wasn't a full on, you know, serious club music. It was it was for Sadie German. Yeah. So when he progress that progress started in December night two at the warehouse, which is washed, obviously, what's not wash anymore, is it but anyway, so it started late 92. And I started going in May 93. So six months in, I started going. And by the end of the LSDj for them, and playing regularly. They're warming up and doing the hotshot one as well, this monthly night at Mansfield every month called hotspot from October 9, three, ran through tonight at five. And our DJ were two rooms. So have DJ there every month as well in the second room. So yeah, that was our got the foot in the door. It was kind of working the record shop meeting Russell developing a relationship with Him. And Pete and then working in the club for him. And you know, yeah, and it just evolves.

Yeah, we'll get into how big progress became. But what was it like in those early days? What was it like musically,

musically, it was it was extremely experimental, experimental, it's a wrong word to use, but extremely diverse. Like we became so commercial in the end, because everything became commercial by the end of the 90s. It was exhausted itself but 92 night three, night four, night five, those three years. You would we would book say for example, follow jetmaster funk one week, Marshall Jeff's in the next week, which these guys are icons. At that point, even then, then the week after we would have say least allowed or smoking Joe though to female DJs that were running the circuit back in those days. Then we would have Jeremy Healy, who was a big puller, he was the biggest DJ in the country at that time. Then Pete Tong, but then we would have Andy whether or Jeremy would book on whoever or and he came twice. So we had this one week, someone playing real handbag house, hands in the air, and then the week later, Weatherall come along to do some obscure techno sort of set, but it worked. It just worked. People were a bit more open minded progress was this kind of in the warehouse because it was gonna get 300 in there. It was this kind of exclusive club at that time. The other clubs had the Samer Ritz's coconut, the commercial places, and the music we played in there was a lot there was some commercial stuff being played. But it was before it was commercial. You know, I mean, it was the promos of k classes, like single or, you know, it was a lot more underground, some DJs would play tribal house, you know, Junior vascular style stuff, and then other people would play more bangin sort of trancy stuff, you know, kind of early, early trance kind of progressive, melodic trance,

was it quite an exclusive sort of crowd.

So from there you were doing the record shot by day then and progress at night and Russell's of the night. Did you just stay with those are we trying to push the DJ now outside of

I I wasn't trying to push anything it was coming to me Yeah, because of the positioning of the shop picks up basically promoters would come in and they'll go on putting this night unable to want to play next month and ago yeah and ago Aki put a poster for us and it was kind of like a trade off you know, put some posts up flip promote the nightfalls in the shop, give people flyers and and they'll get a gig out of it. Not that that was the intention. But that was just how it evolved and more promoters came in. He got to know more promoters and That's where I met John Beckley. And he he who I'm still working for, funnily enough, and he would do nights at the club across the road called the low club with a dial. It's not it's not there anymore. And we'd put events on there as well. So in that time in Darby it was it was a soup club Mecca, because you had protests on the Friday, you had shopping John, back last night at the local of the dial across the road, and behind there, you had renascence renascence rear for a year and a half. And we thought we were going to, you know, lose out or any signs but it turned out the opposite way, they ended up losing that to us. But basically, Darby had three really good club nights within a half a mile radius, a quarter of a mile radius of each other. And all three were busy in on heard of these days, you know, type one, club nine in the anywhere now, you know, that's sustainable. But yeah, that was the work would the work would just come to me, based on my position, I suppose, in a sense, not to say that I wasn't deserving of these games, or I was good and was good enough. It was just that I was central to the scene at that time I worked in the record shop, I was on site every day. And that's that's, you know, that's probably one of the main reasons why I grew quickly at a young age.

Yeah, did that pull you in a specific musical direction, then?

No, I was always I've always been open and open sort of genre sort of DJ my, my set set progress would be mostly house depending on what site time was on, it was warming up from nine to 10. I would play garage, US garage mostly. And then if I was doing the one to two slot or something after the guest, it will be full on harder stuff, you know, big bands in the air tracks. And then at the hot to trot gigs in Mansfield on a monthly basis, that would be the downstairs room. So then I will do the hip hop, the scratch DJ in all the sort of, you know, DMC style stuff with some disco of some funk. That would be for that room, because it'll be in the chat room there. So the main room was called Cox was Paul Oakenfold. It was John, the policewoman, whoever. So we kept it different downstairs, you say? So that would be that I always had this. And that's the same today, I will always have an open genre. Sort of I was like a bar DJ before bar DJs existed. Yeah, in the chat rooms. And I'll do the funk and hip hop and blah, blah, blah. But House wise it would I would be varied. I would never stick to one thing I think has been a bit of a gift and a curse for me, because I can, I've never stuck to one genre I get so bored. Even now producing music, I will never stick to one genre. It's got I've got to change all the time, that some producers will develop one sound, which is the ideal thing to do. But for me, I've I've just got this, you know, I can't sit still I can't. So I need to. I'm always changing and chopping and changing. So DJ wise, yeah, it's an open book pretty much for me.

Yeah. And I think how much do you just want to keep replicating and replicate in your best and, and a lot of creative people. So your profile was kind of growing as the perception of the DJ was changing. So you were getting pulled along, your trajectory was up and all of a sudden, were you becoming kind of the limelight and the focal point for people?

I don't look, looking back, we were all arrogant in that point. I was definitely, I was definitely not arrogant in the sense that I thought I was something special because the houses play records. I was it, but it was kind of like, everybody knew my face. That would be that would be it. Anybody that would circuit I mean, I used to, you know, where we still hang around subrogate strand, that end of town. You know, people got to know who I was. But they were only people in the same bucket as me, you know what I mean? And that was kind of like, and we all knew everyone I knew all the clothes shop owners. I mean, I know who all the regulars work progress, I got to know them. Or they got to know me, it was you know, I knew all the bilag but the bad eggs were I know, you know, who not to cross and who you're not. I mean, it was, you got to know who everyone was, it was one big melting pot of people. But no, you got I mean, we'll we'll probably, at some point in our lives get, you know, a bit cocky. And that's, and that's true. A lot of it is kind of alcohol related as well, you know, and things like that. But I had a core set of friends. In those days. And funnily enough, I've still got a couple of those friends who are still in that core circle. You know, a lot of people have passed through the tapestry of life. But you know, in terms of being an ego, ego, and I don't know, I didn't, I didn't seek out the limelight or anything like that. I mean, I could easily have done. But no, definitely not. There was there was there were some people I worked with that have that had massive actually problem. I'm not going to name but still. Anyway, my friends are watching this will know I mean, so anyway, yeah, that was it. But yeah, no, not really. Yes, I know, I suppose. You know, when you're 18. And you, you feel like you're on top of the world. It's like you're floating on a cloud at home. But it was a cloud. That was really, you know, that lasted a long time. It was great.

So you mentioned about Russell, Russell Davidson. And you mentioned that he was a mentor to you. Could you tell us a bit more about that?

Russell was tenure is 10 years older than me. So by the time I came along, in 93, he was 26. And he'd already been putting nights on since the mid 80s. It did. Derby is just one of the country's first Acid House nights in 87 at the Blue Note, and he's DJ with Green Park, who was a Hacienda DJ. And Terry forgot his name. The guy that used to be the presenter on the word channel for TV show Chris Terry Christian to Chris used to be a DJ at Radio Darby. So him Russell Green Park used to put knights on the blue note in the 80s. So Russell, who have done all this stuff before I'd even met him. I mean, obviously, it's listen to his pirate radio station and late 80s. And so anyway, he was just like, he took me on board, he saw in me the raw talent, and they saw the enthusiasm. And he saw that I was playing music way beyond my years. You know, I was playing music from the 70s and stuff. He saw all that and he kind of just took me under his wing and just made me his, you know, is protege or whatever you want to call it. A bit of a potential for me. But you know, he made me his kind of developed me, you know, to mean in a sense, I mean, he can't DJ for toffee, Russell, quite right, in terms of mixing right is around overnight, from the Caribbean. He lives in the Caribbean. And he texts me every night with a voice message. Rob, I've discovered Pioneer DJ, and it's changed my life. I've reborn again, it's, I can mix now. And as you press the sync button, Iris. So anyway, but back in the day, he wasn't about mixing, he was a selector. And he would he would just put on the right tunes at the end of the night. Where so we didn't teach me anything, you know, in terms of DJing skills or out, he just, he just knew how to market me and promote me and give me the right gigs. Do you? I mean, he knew when he in and he would educate me on music without a doubt I say, this track, have you heard that? Blah, blah, blah stuff I missed out on. But no, in terms of technical ability, that was all on me. But he knew how to develop me and encourage me, he gave me massive amount of encouragement, which I lacked in my life. You know, my dad was a massive encouragement on the private side of that no one had no influence. There's my dad and Russell and that was, I think you

see this you know, time and time again, that you get people that are really good at a certain thing or even multiple things. But they just don't have the kind of focused knuckle down, or they might not know how to market themselves or just do business deal with people. And then they never fully realised the potential. So I mean, they they are all sorts of really important things. And so what was next in the ascendancy of progress then from this point?

And as well as this kind of boom in progress. You were kind of peaking with your music production, won't you? So can you just tell us a bit about how you got into the production?

Well, as I say, I've always had always wanted always dreamed of having a studio as a kid. So I've always had samplers, keyboards, drum machines, I've always had loads of bits and bobs. My first studio setup was an Casio SK five sampler, which has this little tiny keyboard, you get like three seconds of sample time anything. And then a Fostex four track tape recorder at that, and a Yamaha drum machine I could kids type drum machine. That was what I had, and then evolved into buying an Akai sampler an s 950. And then it evolved into getting a notorious T with that. And then it evolved into Windows PC. I've moved with every kind of step. But by the end of the night is I had a PC or proper Windows PC and was sampling and learning how to do things properly. And it just evolved. I mean, I've got boxes of demos of stuff that you know, have never released or never finished or crap demos that I made when I was 17 I thought we were amazing at the time and listen to him and I just cringe But that's the the learning of it, you know, and by the end of the decade, I hit the jackpot. But people go, I literally made a hit record. It wasn't wasn't just a job. It was six years of hard work. Six years of failure after failure after rejection after rejection. I sent out countless demos to labels never heard nothing back, got some letters back. It's not for us. It's not those. But it gradually, you know, I stumbled upon a jackpot. So yeah, that's how that evolved, really?

And what was the song called again, it's just

everybody by an under the name, the boy wonder which I do regret using that. At the time, basically, the Boy Wonder name was a joke. I was called boy chunder amongst the progress staff, because in 94, I think it was, oh, night three night four, I was dead Young. Me and Russell had this bet that I could make an entire kind of red stripe in one for 20 quid, and he didn't think I could do it. And these were like pint sized cans. And I said, Let's do it. And I went for it. And I nicked it all the way back. And I literally polished it off. And as I finished the last go, and he saw it go and do want to give me 20 quid, so it picks me up. squeezed me is totally six foot rustlings, pick me up and squeeze me. And I just project out all over the club was empty at this point is that three in the morning but clear, and was having enough to drink and the whole of that entire canvas came out on the dance floor. And that was it chunda we became a name. So it was boy turned off. And then we got into the 90s it was we need a name. We need name school, it was really stupid fancy names like 65 or whatever, some crappy techno resort name. And then we just say let's call it the Boy Wonder for a laugh, you know, for art. Fair enough. That would do. And it just kind of worked then but obviously. I can't call myself that now. Man wonder. I mean, you know, it's not a name you could carry on. Whereas say for example, I didn't know you know, that's the thing with me, I have so many chopping and changing didn't mean. So but no. That's how that name evolved anyway, yeah.

And the song contains a replay of Madonna rather than sample, right?

So who made the final column label them with that Russell Are you

it was me and Russell really we just basically at cut in some respects. The way things turned out at the time I wished I had not signed to the label I did. But that was then but I'm glad I did now because I'm among some pretty legendary names now. But basically Ministry of Sound wants to EMI wanted it. Sony wanted it a few of advance labels. I can't think of the names now. manifesto wants to do, which was George George's. George George was a scout for manifesto, which was owned by Universal mercury. So and we thought George George Bush this record, he broke it. He spent the whole summer playing in IP phone Creamfields and all that. And he kind of pioneered it for us. So we kind of thought let's go to manifesto that just had a huge hit with Dave morale is the face Josh wink was on there. All these bands are on there. Let's go to manifesto. It's a cooler label, but ministry could have we could have gone to ministry as well. So it was kind of longer than I bargained ministry. So anyway, we signed the manifesto. And but yeah, we just decided because we wanted to keep the family vibe sort of thing, just users, our regular guests at the club. So we kind of knew him and we kind of developed relationships with him. And it would just worked, it worked and the whole thing did work. And then six months later when we make the follow up, the whole thing came crashing down because of massive attack. The band banned me from doing a version of their song and because we covered on for a sympathy with Angie Brown from bizarre Rincon, the whole thing just fell apart and nothing in and that was because I was wanting to pressure to make another hit record. And I didn't I didn't want to felt the pressure. The fun went straight out the window. I lost interest in all of it and massive interest in it. And everyday was like going to the factory it was like this is this sucks so I went off made a phone call album with a mate and just cut ties with all of it. I said I'm done with this I'm not doing any more. But yeah, that was that was that but that summer was just pure electric. And that was that

and just to clarify for listeners then you got to number seven in the top 10 Which at the time was a pretty big deal.

At the time when I was up against Cliff Richard and Craig David meet yeah yeah, definitely. Yeah, number seven you could tell us he went to number one in the club charts which in them days we had an official club chart before the records came on the pop charts. So Record Mirror which was Music Week, which is the official kind of promo chart if you like so it went straight from one in there straight and one it makes my number one DJ my blah blah blah. But yeah, number seven Atlantida now that came out at Christmas so had it come out in the summer it would have gone straight to number one based on the volumes it sold but at Christmas more records sell so what they did that and what about what about records CDs and cassettes. So Cliff Richard was released in his Millennium prayer is there's more grantees out there than rock club was you know I mean so there was no doubt we were going to not get to number one against Cliff Richard but and the midweek chart where they give you a ballpark figure you hit number five I thought bloody hell Wow. But then it landed at seven and I think at number eight fairy costume was there with his Adagio for Strings trance track and then at number two was Craig David the Artful Dodger with rewind. I think I remember if I remember rightly and and it's think it was sold out Westlife are in the pop charts as well. So when but yeah, you're never that time of the year you sell more units. But you'd stay you don't get to the number one spot.

So yeah, I guess if at the time just one of those three tracks had been around then you may would have got more sales with one enough for it to go to number one Um,

and were you still DJing and doing residencies and stuff.

Yeah, and I think we've discussed this a few times on the podcast is it's a difficult thing. And it's like a bit of a gift in a way if DJ is not your bread and butter, because then you can have a little bit more kind of control over the sort of gigs that you take. Whereas if it's your full time thing, then sometimes you can just be like, Oh, I ended up DJ in this sort of place. It's

Yeah, it's a tricky one. You know, there's so many different ways to exist as a DJ. And we talked in particular to Santero was on he used to be based in Nottingham about how he had a Ministry of Sound residency and then he had to keep all these are the kind of bargains and things of a secret because that kind of diminished the brand or endangered the brand. So yeah, that that is super tricky to manage. But yeah, just just going back to your timeline and Rob So you kept producing all this time, right? Absolutely.

had some quite successful digital releases as well, haven't you? Yeah,

So you are likely for it should have it.

The Millennium prayer May, all the way through me. So the millennium bug. So yeah, I've I've had I've been involved in some form of number one, no matter how minor, they might be some people, you know, chart means nothing to anyone other than the disco DJs. But nevertheless, it's you know, I've still I'm still involved, you're still doing it. I mean, and that's the thing, and that's why I still invest in equipment. And, you know, I still love it. You know, I

love it. You know? And you're offering mentoring for DJs aren't Yeah,

not so much DJs producers. I don't do DJ mentoring, I do production, mentoring. So basically my business waxer this.com. I teach people online one to one one on one production. So if someone will come to me, they want to make disco house, they don't know where to start. Or they know where to start with. They don't know how to finish tracks. Or they want to learn to play chords or they want to, they don't know how to put the right sounds together. So they want to hear a track by x y Zed artist, how does he make that? Let me show you. And then I'll teach them and build, build their confidence up like that, and then get them to be releasing because I've set people up that have gone from zero to having a record label. And other people up that just want to learn how to do edits, or they want to learn how to remix or they want to learn how to just play the keys or whatever I teach the whole nine yards. Yeah, it's mostly those got to be discussed. Funky house deep house Lo Fi. Some hip hop beats as opposed not hip hop itself, not rapping, but the B side of things production side of things. But yeah, all that kind of thing. keyboards, pianos, that's what I do. Yeah, with that. I love it. I love doing that. It's great. It's hard work sometimes. But you know, like any job and it gets a slog at some point. DJing was a slog when it was a passion, and then you go through waves, but at the moment, I'm enjoying it. I'm doing YouTube videos regularly, I've got a good little community around me, I've got people that are coming forward and be emailing me saying, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be releasing music. Your videos have helped me and that's nice to get you know me great. And also I'm just putting together trying to put together an album at the minute of all unsigned artists on my label, because I've got my record label as well. And I'm trying to get a group of people to release their music that wouldn't dare normally come forward. I'm trying to bring out I mean million people privately in that I've taught in the past. Let me release one of your tracks. Because I want to get people to you know, to believe that that you can release your music, you know, and because so many people will fear release chucks. I know people that will make tracks, they've got loads stacked away, but they'll never

release them. And the barrier to entry is so low for releasing.

end. It's the same with DJing though as well like people just worry about taking that first step thing I can't mix or I'm not good enough or I'm not done eight years or whatever and like none of that stuff should like put you off going out really because it's ultimately just get yourself out there experienced experienced that boasts? Exactly,

exactly. It's like, you know, like I say, I enjoy doing sometimes I do tick tock lives and stuff. videos in that and but you know, I just enjoy DJ, I'm gonna do little videos online and it still gives me a buzz, which I mean, but I'm not actively seeking going out and doing gigs every week, you know, I don't need to, I don't want to. But when they are good comes up, I'll go and do it gladly do it. I mean, and when I do it, I'll put all my effort into it, you know, I mean, but people that are terrified of God don't want to go on DJ or do do it and it's birthday party or something. But that's it, it's like, then that's all you ever will do. You know, you've got to step out your comfort zone. And I mean, I'm I'm just I'm terrible for staying in my comfort zone. I mean, if I spent time I could really turn that turntable inside out and do some really crazy stuff. But I'm actually just doing the bare minimum on it the basics what I can do on it. But yeah, people need to step out of comfort zone. But I mean, I stepped out of my comfort zone years ago. And I've done everything I needed to do. In that sense. Nowadays, I mean, some brilliant DJs out there, you know, musically it's not my kind of thing. But have you seen James hype DJ, is obviously a bangin commercial house DJ. But what he does on the technique on the turntable is not technic. So the Pioneer CDJs is incredible. There's about four and the guy when he's, you know, he's like, it's brilliant. A step towards comfort zone. You know, it's, it stands out is what I'm saying. I mean,

yeah, and I think a really kind of important life lesson as well is to be prepared to step out of your comfort zone. I mean, I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and I'm quite a part timer. And I'm not great if I'm honest. But I've done a couple of competitions. And I've just found the most nerve wracking thing to do. But once you've done it, win, lose or draw, you know, you come away and you've got that person that satisfaction that you've done it. And it's the same with DJ and particularly if you're doing battling, or the first few times you play out, you know, your hands are absolutely shaking, trying to get the needle on and it's it's so kind of character building and so good for you. And like I guess that if you've kind of done that in the 90s, you know, going out your comfort zone and been in front of everyone then, you know, now you've not got to prove yourself to anyone anymore. Now,

just getting that adrenaline dump out the way really, isn't it? Just mindful of time do you think there's anything that we've not covered?

Not at the minute rarely make no as I say all I'm doing at the minute is just you know, getting back into a setup my arrangement and my strategy. You can see I've got a Live rig, they've got an acid machine there three or three. I've got a sampler behind the witch can't see what the rolling keyboard which is a four track sequencer, which is all synced to that. And then I've got this den on CD that we've bought here, which is absolutely amazing. And my vinyl deck so I'm going to make an A hybrid and putting all this together to do some new sets on live sets online. I'm going to try and get out I want to try and get some some sort of recognition on there and do that and get people to see me doing that so that I can probably get some more work out you know, doing that. If I'm going to go out and DJ again. I want do that, I want to take that with me, I want to do something new rather than go out and DJing, which I will do, but take a rig with me, and live jam on top of DJ. And that's my next thing that sets you apart. It's like Carl Cox has just started performing live techno sets with all his equipment is kind of given up just DJing is he's bought all the equipment to the table and his drum machines. And he's since I want to do that now. You know, for myself, I don't need to just DJ, I want to add another string to the bone. I mean, so that's that's what rollouts were. That's my next phase, really, I suppose is live hybrid DJ performance. That's my next thing. Like,

that's great. I think it never fully disappears does it?

Now Oh, my, I tell you, I've had months where I hated it. And I've looked at records and things I'm touching you again, I don't want anything to do with it. I'm done with clubs, I'm done with DJ, I'm done when it's done with music. It will go through it. And then you just just if you gravitate back to it you stuck a magnet you just can't stop. It's a force. Yeah, it's within Siva with the I know people that have been bedroom DJs or tight try DJ and I've done a bit of it and they've walked away, and then now got secure jobs and they've done with it. You know. Whereas for me music is just simple blood I can't help like spider the spins is webmail. I just don't know what else to do. You just gotta just keep, I just keep gravitating towards it no matter what. And it's music is the only constant in my life. I've either you know, all through my life. Music is the only thing that's ever given me full on true comfort, you know, in dark periods or whatever you know. And that's, that's what it is. I think I could happily sit with my records on my own for hours on end. And be happy doing that. When I was a teenager, I was happy listening to my records in my bedroom or seven inches on the tapes, and taping radio stations on my own even though I used to be out with my mates all the time as well. When I got home at night, I've gone off into my own little world and make little tape covers and just all stuff you do as a teenager I mean, and yeah, music is the only constant and it will always be there until I breathed my last breath me

amazing. Just one last question then before we go, is there any one particular person you'd like to see on this podcast? And if so, why?

I think you should get at jazz on this podcast because he's an absolute legend as a local legend. He's got so many releases under his belt so many accolades is massively revered. Is the top of his tree is a good friend of mine. We go way back. Yeah, I think it would be a very good road.

Webster, thanks very much for your time. Best of luck with everything

you welcome out and thank you for having me. My take care bye bye