In our brand new series, DJs reveal their Tidy Treasures and this week it’s the turn of Shed Head Jon Hemming!
It was a hot summer’s weekend and the first summer of the new millennium, the beginning of the noughties. I was a young impressionable clubber with a passion for dance music, all dance music really, I never separated the genres, I just loved music that made me move and feel good.
Me and my pals would travel every weekend to Slinky in Bournemouth, sometimes to other club nights as well, a tradition which lasted for countless years. Even though I am a Midlands lad I was always drawn to the music and people of the south coast back then but in all fairness we used to travel the whole length of the country to get our fix. (Musically that is).
I remember quite often there would always be a deeper underground to the Slinky kids and there was often a secret after party to be had, these were the moments that created some amazing memories for me. One night we were at Slinky, dressed like complete lunatics now I come to think of it, I’m sure I had a fucking dummy in my mouth as well, Oh well, it was all fun and games I guess.
Slinky was always a diverse progression of music from house, techno, trance and hard house. I can’t remember the DJs on this night, it might have been Anne savage and John Kelly who I was (and still am) a massive fan of both. As always the music at the Opera House was electric, we had been made aware of the after party which was at a secret location on the beach, “Go to Boscombe pier and beaches and walk along the beach until you see the party” was the instruction.
This was all super exciting. We stayed raving at Slinky until about 30 mins of it closing. We left the club, jumped in a taxi, (which was interesting), and began the search for the infamous beach party. As we left the taxi and began the search there was nothing anywhere, we couldn’t hear any music and no one was about, it was a real party killer, especially as we always stayed in the club right to the last beat before being booted out.
We carried on walking down the beach feeling slightly underwhelmed and then we heard a dull thud, as we got closer it was beats and people. The sun began to rise and the sea was orange and everything had a golden tinge to it. As we got to the party there was a DJ mixing on some 1210’s powered by a small generator on a jetty. He was playing some quality hard house and trance. It was loud and everyone was dancing on the beach, there must have been hundreds of people just loving life and being free.
All of a sudden this track started in the mix, the sun was almost fully up and I fell in love with it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a beautiful hands on the air Ibiza vibe or anything, it was just a solid groove. As it was coming in from the previous track the vocal hit “we are now in the approach phase, everything looking good” Yes it fucking was mate!!!! Then the hoover stabs and the rolling percussion had everyone wiggling, the tension was building. Then the music faded down and this happened”’ “For one priceless moment, in the whole history of man, all the people on this earth are truly one” followed by an almighty drop of hard kicks, massive off beat bass and killer hoover stabs.
The beach erupted, everyone cheered and the atmosphere was hot, everyone felt the impact and power of this proper hard house moment, it was a moment I treasure from a track that defines the truest sound of hard house and everyone was looking good, (all things considered!).
My Tidy Treasure is Lisa Lashes – Looking good.
