Name: Greg Wilson

To say Greg Wilson's knowledge of dance music culture is encyclopaedic is to underestimate both the knowledge and passion of the man. Over the years he has been both cutting edge DJ and keeper of the sacred flame, promoting a history of the scene that's oft ignored in favour of a simplified understanding of the roots of dance culture - particularly in black music.

His sets take in the original cross-genre appeal of music from a time before nightclubs were defined by genre, the results being to this a day a breath of fresh air whenever he plays in the city.

"I think people enjoy the variation in the stuff I play," he explains to an attentive CityLife, "which covers quite a wide spectrum of dance styles. Throughout the Nineties dance music had sub-divided into ever narrower genres, with DJs generally concentrating on a single strand.

"Whereas back in the Seventies and early Eighties, when I originally DJ-ed, soul, funk, disco, jazz-funk, and later electro-funk were all played within the same night. So, in a sense, what I'm doing is re-connecting with an older way of doing things, although I like to put a contemporary twist on things, rather than it being a nostalgic approach where I play the tunes I used to play back then in the same way as I did then."

On Saturday night Greg makes a trip to play at Dave Payne's Funkademia night at One Central Street, which makes a lot of sense, as for many years the night has explored the roots of funk and soul from its beginnings right up to date. The fact that One Central Street's location is that of once-famed gay venue the Number One Club will not be lost on Greg. For like many other long-lost spaces it too deserves a place in musical history.

"The Haçienda was a massively influential venue and what happened there during the late Eighties was very special, but this has overshadowed everything that went before," says Greg. "So much so that many people are under the false assumption that dance culture - from a Manchester perspective - began at The Haçienda.

"In reality, The Haçienda would never have exploded during rave era without the groundwork being laid on the black scene earlier in the decade, at clubs like The Gallery, Berlin, The Playpen, and, of course, Legend. Dance culture existed long before The Haçienda came to prominence. It's just that it was still underground at the time, and mainly the domain of black kids who were always right at the cutting-edge when it came to music and dancing.

Dance scene

"When the scene exploded and loads of young white kids, who'd previously had little connection with the dance scene, discovered Ecstasy and, as a consequence, took to the dancefloor in legions, most of the black kids moved on," he continues. "So while The Haçienda cemented its status as the most famous club in the UK, perhaps the world, Konspiracy had become the Manchester club of choice from a black perspective (until the police forced it to close)."

Interesting point, though as a veteran of the (at times) wonderful Konspiracy ourselves, CityLife remembers the place too often had a sense of brooding tension that you didn't necessarily want to experience during the 'second summer of love'.

With such an interest in the social anthropology of dance music culture, you have to ask Greg one question: what interests him most - the music or the scene around it?

"I'm obviously fascinated by how scenes emerge," comes the reply, "but the music always comes first for me. A scene can be hyped up and manufactured, with people only really into it because it appears to be fashionable at the time, but great music is great music, regardless of whatever the current trends may be. The important scenes grow organically, but, in order for this to happen, the music must first sow the seeds. This is the essence."

If there's one truth that Greg wants to unearth with all his music and websites, then it's the often overlooked contribution of black culture to the party, a contribution that is often underplayed by academics looking elsewhere than the dancefloors of clubs for evidence.

"As I previously said, it was the black kids that were at the cusp of things - they led the way," he concludes. "For me, a young white guy from an area with next to no black community, to find acceptance with the most upfront of audiences, at Legend back in the early days had a profound effect on me. It's only right that I should try to draw people's attention to what I believe to be an absolutely key factor in shaping this country's rich dance legacy."

Manchester Evening News – 23rd March 2007
Richard Hector-Jones
23/ 3/2007

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