Dave Evison’s Memories of ‘M’s’

Initially opened as an overspill room at Wigan Casino first anniversary all-nighter, Mr M’s, a venue within a venue, became an integral part of the Wigan Casino legend.

Until recently, despite countless compilation albums and CDs featuring northern soul, there has never been even one paying homage to Mr M’s. For seven years Mr M’s ran as an annexe, within Wigan Casino. Such was the impact of Mr M’s, it eventually spawned its own monthly oldies all-nighter at the Casino.

Dave Evison has compiled the extensive 30-page booklet accompanying this box set, as well as the CD track listing. Dave was known as Mr Oldies during the Golden Era, as not only did he provide a main room oldies spot at Wigan Casino, he was also synonymous with the legendary Mr M’s. Having experienced, first hand, many a time, Mr M’s unique atmosphere, I can confirm the tracks featured on this box set capture some of Mr M’s very essence. We caught up with Dave Evison for some of his memories of Mr M’s.

Mr M’s was an amazing success for seven years, yet it began almost by accident.

At the Casino first anniversary night, there were so many people queueing outside that Station Road was impassable. Something had to be done, and fast, or the police would’ve closed the all-nighter down. A decision was taken to open the smaller function room off the balcony to cater for the overspill. What wasn’t known on the night was that there had been a sizable number of counterfeit tickets printed!

Following the anniversary all-nighter people put pressure on the lease owner Gerry Marshall (Mr M’s was named after him), who eventually agreed to open Mr M’s as an oldies room at the all-nighters.

Music in M’s was oldies, although not all records played were former all-nighter plays.

When Mr M’s started there were only four or five years of northern sounds to draw oldies from. Music from the ’Wheel, Catacombs, Torch and ’Mecca made up the majority of the early playlists. The emphasis was up-tempo, which was reflected in the intense atmosphere.

For me personally, M’s was a testing ground of sorts, if a particular oldie was going well in M’s it would find it’s way into my main room Wigan Casino oldies spot. Yes, there were records played in M’s as oldies that had previously been youth club soul

spins. Towards the end, main room Wigan Casino plays from the first few years were being revived in M’s. There was more of a mix of both northern soul and 70s soul oldies being played.

The continuing success and popularity of Mr M’s led to the monthly oldies allnighters at Wigan Casino, how did those come about?

I can remember Mike Walker getting hold of me and Steve Whittle and taking us to see Gerry Marshall. On the way, Mike said we have a bit of a problem, in a good way – Mr M’s and oldies are so popular now Gerry wants to do some dedicated oldies all-nighters. The result of discussions was first Friday of the month becoming the oldies all-nighter at Wigan Casino.

Some of my favourite times were the Saturdays after the oldies all-nighter. I saw myself as a dancer first and DJ second, still do, although numbers were always down on Saturday after an oldies all-nighter, some of the best music ever played at Wigan Casino was at those nights. Richard (Searling), seemed to raise his game even more than usual on the Saturday all-nighters after the oldies one.

What’s your view of the long-lasting affection held by many ’Casino regulars for Mr M’s?

While I was lucky enough to have been a small part of what made M’s so special to so many, I was dumbfounded when I found out, from different people, from different parts of the country, that their trips to Wigan Casino consisted of going up two flights of stairs, along the balcony and through the doors to M’s where they’d stay until M’s closed! It did exceptionally well for something that happened unintentionally.

Everyone involved with Mr M’s played their part, though at the time I don’t think any of us realised just how special M’s was to so many people.

Compiling the Mr M’s CD box set must have been something of a labour of love for you. How easy, or hard was it deciding which tunes to include?

I am immensely proud of the box set, the hardest part of compiling it was licensing from other labels that hold the rights to certain tracks. The bigger the label, the harder it was. The first record played at the first-nighter in M’s, Mickey Lee Lane – Hey Sah-Lo-Ney, and the last record played in M’s, Frankie Valli – The Night, had to be included, the others capture what Mr M’s was all about. The ‘radio show’ interview CD was recorded in an hour with almost no notice!

Finally, what are your personal top five memories of tunes played in Mr M’s?

Ha ha, I wish you’d pre-warned me, this’ll be almost as difficult as selecting records for the box set!

1) Majestics – (I Love Her So Much) It Hurts 2) Bobby Hebb – Love, Love, Love 3) The Showmen – Our Love Will Grow 4) Spyder Turner – I Can’t Make It Anymore 5) Marie Knight – You Lie So Well