DJ HASLAM ILLUMINATES THE NIGHT

AUTHOR AND CLUBBING STAR HAS WRITTEN A NEW BOOK CHRONICLING THE HISTORY OF MUSIC VENUES AND NIGHTCLUBS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

music and clubbing circuit (although the likes of The 100 Club, Ronnie Scott’s, The Hacienda and Ministry Of Sound play their part, of course) – it’s a recollection of the evolution of live entertainment detailed at a crazy level.

“It’s insane because I get obsessed by it,” Dave agrees. “You’ll never believe that Joan Jett threw up into a bucket on the side of the stage at Nottingham Rock City.

“You’ll never believe that the Prodigy made their first live appearance at an old bingo hall in Coventry for £60.

“I love that the Human League and Def Leppard shared a bill in Sheffield and The Beatles backed a stripper from Manchester.

“I got obsessed with finding out these nuggets of information.”

There isn’t, Dave admits, a shortage of books on club culture. Tales of The Cavern or of Ibiza’s big name DJs, for instance, have been vividly and extensively told. “To go beyond that you have to ferret around in the undergrowth of research,” he explains – research that has been a bit of an education.

In 200 years, going out to watch bands play or dance until dawn has always been about the same thing: entertainment and escape. And usually rebellion; almost every chapter features something, or someone, being banned (often controversially, such a black performers in white venues or raves owing to government bills) but with youth pursuing it into the mainstream

‘WHAT’D BE OUR DEFINITION OF MANCHESTER NOW IF HACIENDA HADN’T EXISTED? YOU’D HAVE TO REWRITE THE PAST AND PRESENT’