Groove Junkies

                                    see the play list page for what got played

Shame about the low turn out , All the DJs played a Great Set and from the heart,

When Alfie (Southampton soul club ) invited us to use the Crown Inn last year, we knew we were going have to build numbers again . But we were up for the challenge , always hard to promote an event 180 miles plus from home but we were willing to give it a try

(Nice surprise to see the poster in the Toilets thanks “wishing us all the best..”)

This was our third outing this month....so looking forward to the night..

So a big thanks to all that supported the Groove Junkies Decades of Soul Nights

Extra Special thanks thanks to Keith & Maxine for great sets also Moldie, Bex & Jason

Here's Moldies Take on the night

Well where do i start.....after putting in so much effort over the last few weeks we expected a decent crowd through the doors...
its often said that you only get out what you put in...well in that case the crown should have been rammed...the turn out was low
but it didnt stop those that did bother to turn up from having a great time

after leaving home at around 2pm for the 45 minute journey to the hotel i met up with the rest of the groovejunkies...there had
been good vibes judging by the pms,calls and emails recieved...i left the hotel to go too the venue to set the room up for
the evening....the management seemed genuinely pleased to see me there and helped with moving tables and chairs etc...after
sorting things out i popped to the cafe for a bite too eat.........on returning to the venue i used the loo and posted on the door was a
poster of sorts stating the crown was a NORTHERN VENUE AND NOT A MODERN ONE....TO WHO EVER POSTED IT...FFS LEARN TO SPELL AS THE
WORDS USED WERE NO MORE THEN THINGS A TEN YEAR OLD WOULD USE...............

ID LIKE TO POINT OUT THAT WE HAD THE BLESSING OF SOUTHAMPTON SOUL CLUB IN USING THIS VENUE AND IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE MUSIC
POLICY PLEASE FONE JOHN USING THE NUMBER ON THE FLYER AND NOT ALFIE

by 5.30 pm john and jason had arrived and the sound system was up and running in next to no time and sounding great
we all played a few toones and at 7pm bex took to the decks to begin the night....a nice 7ts orientated set

i took over at 8pm and by the end of my set had a few ppl on the floor...dancing not falling over pissed..............
keith woon...our first guest was up next and played some excellent tunes and had me taking pics so i could hunt them down...
playlist plz keith......

jason took over and his mainly 8ts set went down very well..i even had a look at a few of his tunes..lolololol

maxine took to the decks at 11pm and shes still as passionate djing as when i met her yrs and yrs ago....a true professional
with great taste in music..hope to get a playlist plz

as always john ends the night and its never easy when you dont have a large crowd to work with...obviously very dissappointed
with the turnout it didnt affect his enthuisiasm and he played a real mix of tunes

all decades from the 7ts onwards were representd by the djs and those who stayed away missed out big time......
nice to see dave and sue and tonia and chris... and shay....thanks for your support and kind words...enjoy the free cds

the next date is june 12th when the guest djs are...clive porteous and ray new....local boys and well respected along
the south coast

Reviews of some of our recent outings

Soul for Heroes Alldayer put on by Caveman Pete and Rothwell Soul Clubs Kev Such, Soul For Heroes was to be held at Wickstead Park, Kettering on Saturday 6^th Feb. What a great venue for this event, an ample sized main room with lots of seating space and a superb dance floor. The Modern room was just the right type and size with a Modern room feel about it...with a great sound system

We were asked by Kev Such a few months back if we could Help out and donate the equipment for the Main Room (Northern Room) and Guest DJ in the Modern Room. we were only to happy to help out for a worthwhile cause

So Moldie and myself  Made the trip up to Kettering for ove 12 hours and two room of quality Soul Music,

The Soul Bus was all loaded with the full kit ready to make the 172 mile drive

We left at 7am so we had plenty of time to make the trip and arrived around 10am

All in all it turned out to be a great day   

 so with the help of everyone involved all the DJs who gave up there time for free here’s a list of DJs who took part,

 (Dave Forrest, Mick Donnelly, Barry Cooper, Molly, Steve Phyllis, Dave Hayden, Moldie, Steve Jay, John Herbert, Marco Martinelli, Marky Mole, Bryn, Bob Fletcher, Gus, Tony Warot, Caveman, Smiggy, Al Leighton, Nidge, Ian J, Hammie, Ted Massey and Smudge)

With the help of everyone who paid for a ticket on the day. The door raised £2200.56 not a bad amount now after the set up costs of the venue and printing are deducted they had  £1111.56 raised for the cause WELL DONE GUYS...

Here’s Moldies report from the day

after driving back from THERE WAS A TIME soul night in york i was shattered...i pulled over in the services for a rest and woke up four hours later not able to feel my legs.....i warmed up and finnished the journey to wickstead park for the latest eventin the SOUL FOR HEROES calender.....this was being staged by kev such who runs the cream cracker soul nights in rothwell....on arriving at the venue i found i was the only one there so i called kev who reminded me we wasnt setting up the equipment till around 10am and it was only 8 oclock so kev invited me round for breakfast and a freshen up.....after numerous cups of tea and rounds of toast i dived in the shower...kev and karen really made me feel welcome....thanks you two....it was now time to go and set up for this eagerly awaited event....it wasnt long before we were joined by john herbert..GROOVEJUNKIES founder and his loverley wife di....there ppl carrier was crammed full of the dj equipment for the main room.....many thanks john...after unloading the car we duly began setting up in this wonderful venue...it was bigger then i had imagined...after endlesssound checks it sounded perfect...pete aka caveman had by now arrived and along with dave forrest set up the gear in the modern room...this two was tuned to perfection.......the first two djs started spinning tunes at midday...dave forrest upstairs and marky mole in the main hall......things were slow to begin with but soon picked up in the northern room.....i had only met two of the modern room djs before so i decided to stay in there and have a chat.....dave forrest played some nice tunes and i have to say a few i didnt know which was nice....it wasnt long before we were joined by barry cooper and mick donnelly who took over from dave and once again it was a very nice set of tunes...nice to meet you and your wife........next on the decks was barry cooper...a very knowledgeable man and friendly too ......he took over from mick and played a great set and he played it as thoug the room was packed...carefully choosing his tunes and entertaining me...we even swapped a cpl of cds...thanks barry......a cpl of the djs schedueled to appear did a no show so john herbert and i did a quick 45 minute set playing a mix of 7ts tunes throughout the day i feel all the modern room djs gave it there all even though the place was far from full..the quality of tunes frommick donnelly,dave forrest,barry cooper,molly,steve phyllis,dave hayden,marco, steve jay plus myself and john herbert was superb and although no one dj was better than anyone else i had to admire the passion of barry cooper....................by the end of the night there was a fair few ppl in the room and all said they had a great time.........i know i did.............through out the day john herbert was called to the northern room to sort out the equipment as THE KNOB FIDDLERS did there best to upset the balance of the system...once its set there no need for anyone to tweek anything.....anyway i managed to catch a fewtunes being played and ALAN LEIGHTON certainly played a great set from the stuff i heard.....it was a pity i never caught much of anybodys set but im sure the playlists will let me know what i missed......the whole day was definately an excellent show of what can be done for such a worthwhile cause....there were far too many ppl tothank for there help and hospitality...nice to see toby,del,karen and andy..the major and ginger dave plus partners plus all the ppl i dont see often enough..you know who you are
the pluses of this event far out weighed the minuses.....lack of signs to the modern room..no lights for the djs tables being the two things that for me stood out
looking forward to the next event....
regards moldie

Groove Junkies at The Soul Cellar:24th Oct 2009
 
It was great to be back at the soul cellar for another “decades of soul night”. Thanks to everyone for coming and supporting us and a big thanks for your e-mails and messages of support.

A special thanks to Shaun for all of his usual hard work, enthusiasm, and support.

We got there around 8pm for the blessing of the stylus and sound check. Once again, the sound system was 1st class.  Doors opened at 9pm with a few people waiting for the evening to start.  It was really nice to catch up with old friends, see some site members there and also see lots of new faces.
 
The evening kicked off with Moldie, Jason and I double decking until 10pm and then the main sets started.

Up first was Bex who stated her set with Cory Glover. It’s a great tune and the crowd seemed to agree because people were dancing from the get go. There was a steady stream of dancers throughout her set, dancing to soul from across the decades. Bex left the floor full for Moldie...

Moldie played a nice set, performing his magic- working the floor and playing some top tunes.

Next up was our special guest DJ, Ray New. Ray had an hour set and pulled out some nice alternative versions of some better known tunes as well as some rare grooves and some lovely soulful movers. Ray is definitely pencilled in for future dates as our guest. Thanks Ray, great set.

Jason played some great tunes with a cross section of 80’s boogie, jazz funk and soulful grooves. He ended his set with one of my favourite tracks of the year; Khemistry.

Next up was me, I had a fantastic time behind the decks and I played some new tunes. Thanks Mr Postman!!
It was a good turnout with an excellent atmosphere. I hope you all enjoy the c.d. See the website for future events. Big thanks again for all of your support and to all the d.j’s for keeping the floor busy all night

 Jason & I (Johnny H) only had a little over two week to organise this night so we weren’t   expecting big things.

We arrived   just before 8pm with plenty of time to set the equipment up, the idea was to use our decks & mixer and plug into their sound system, we weren’t sure what the state of play was going to be , they have been having a refit and we were first in.

After setting up the equipment, time to turn on...following sorting a few small problems it ended up sounding great plenty of bass.

Think we had a around 40 or so in and out throughout the night, some even stayed the distance and were asking for more at 3:05am..

Another great Groove Junkie night down Margate but in a different venue. Got there in early afternoon, set up and did sound checks, this time we had the opportunity to run off the night club's sound system, they were running seriously awesome power with four large base bins......Quality
 
After the sound check we decided to take a quick trip home and sort some tunes out. We arrived back at the very clean venue at 7.30pm ready to rock n roll.
 
First up was Nigel, playing some nice 80's/90's grooves with quite a few nice ones I hadn't heard before as people arrived (more records on my wants list!)
 
Next was Rebecca, who played a wide selection from crossover classics to present day stompers which got people moving on the dance floor.
 
Then there was me. I decided to play an upbeat funky set loaded with big bass lines to make the most of the base bins.
 
Moldie was our named guest DJ and played yet another classy set of 70's tunes with his usual raw passion and enthusiasm about all things soulful. 
 
Then Jason played an outstanding set, from jazz funk to soulful obscurities (photographed quite a few of his records)
 
To finish the evening I double decked with Moldie and we played some forgotten 70's to some lovely classics(Check out our Downloads page for podcasts of the sets from the night).
 
Although the numbers were down, a lot of hard work goes into putting on an event but even with low numbers we always strive for the best in music and atmosphere. Musically the night was outstanding and I would like to thank all the DJ's who did a remarkable job and everyone behind the scenes. Big Thanks to Jason and Moldie for helping with the sound checks and setting up.
 
A special thanks to Keven Kent who arrived by suprise to show his support, even though he's a Northern man through and through.
 
The Groove Junkies did their best to convert him and hopefully pushed him that little bit closer to the dark side. (I saw you tapping your foot to more than a few!)
 
Thanks to everyone that made the effort to attend. Your support is very much appreciated.
We originally started the Groove Junkies so that soulies could enjoy an alternate night with an open music policy and a large spectrum of Soulful music from 70's onwards. We are trying to keep Modern Soul alive in Kent, with the help of the people that attend we are able to do so. 
                                                                        
Until next time, John, Diane and the Groove Junkie team.