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Interview: Dave Beer
Dave Beer
PRETTY much everyone on the Leeds bar and club circuit know him. Some have just heard the name Dave Beer, others met him out and about, while many are just good mates with him from back in the day.
He is, after all, the owner of Britain’s oldest club night, Back to Basics, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary. But instead of winding down they’re entering into a whole new chapter by moving into that other Leeds institution, The Warehouse.
“For me, The Warehouse has Leeds written all over it,” says Dave. “It’s been a part of our infrastructure for the last 33 years.
“It was where I had my first clubbing experience and I think was the same for most people in Leeds down the generations. I remember seeing Soft Cell perform Tainted Love for the first time there, in fact I think Marc Almond worked in the cloakroom at the time.
“And Basics has, on average, moved home every four to five years, so I’d felt for a while that it was time for a change. Trouble was I couldn’t think of an appropriate home. But, after a night out which saw me go to The Warehouse again I realised it was right there under my nose.
“Even though it’s been refurbished, you can feel all the happy times it’s enjoyed in the brickwork. ”
It’s hard to believe it’s been two decades since Beer and fellow DJ Alistair Cooke, who was tragically killed in a car crash, opened B2B down at The Chocolate Club on Lower Briggate. From there it moved around various venues, recently enjoying a long run at Stinky’s Peephouse.
“We’d had six great, happy years at Stinky’s and it’s truly been one of our best venues for the feel we wanted at the time,” he says. “In fact, the 20th birthday party at Stinky’s was probably was one of the best parties we’ve ever thrown and I just felt like we couldn’t do it any better there. It was time for something new for 2012 and, in the true spirit of Back to Basics, it just feels right.”
Basics relaunch on Saturday and from then on will take place on Somers Street every other weekend. They’re vying for the Saturday night slot against two other big Leeds brands – Filth and Speed Queen – not to mention a long line of other nights staged under The Warehouse’s new management team.
In launching a new era, Beer is also conscious of it closing one chapter of B2B’s history – a long successful story which has left him with countless memories.
“I think my first and still my most treasured memory is in the first year of opening the club me and Ali found ourselves presented with a gold disk on stage to a packed Albert Hall for DMC & Mix Mag’s club of the year award. It was the first award of its kind that hadn’t been a club category up until then.
“My favourite night was my 30th birthday at the Pleasure Rooms. In one room ,we had Daft Punk, in another we had Goldie (who got on with my mum like a house on fire), in the third Sir Norman Jay and I can’t remember who was playing the fourth room, but all I can recall is that he was American.
“Also fond memories of our times with Back to Basics in Ibiza, we had some amazing residencies at Pacha and our Sundays in Space with people like Basement Jaxx, Tenaglia, Groove Armada and those parties were truly legendary. And our memorable trips to the states.
“My most vivid memory is home in Leeds: looking out of the window of the Music Factory to see thousands of people blocking the street right up to McDonalds so traffic could get through and it had to be diverted. It’s not the things that we remember, it’s the bits that happen in between that we want to forget!”
And the key to that success?
Beer says: “I always believe it’s down to the citizens of Leeds for being the warmest most friendliest crowd in the country and the fact that there all bang up for a good night out.
“I think this is unique to the North. The people here like to let their hair down at the weekends and have a good time. I’d also say it’s probably because we feel exactly the same as we did when we started out and hung on to our original ideals and ethos of why we did it in the first place, we kept our musical integrity and did not cash in on any particular trend or fad of the moment, keeping it at the forefront of cutting-edge house music. It’s all too easy to get carried away when a sound is popular and lose track of what your really into.
“I think people appreciate the fact that it’s real and that we love it as much now as we ever did and because we are not a part of the corporate rat race.”
And that’s why Beer insists he will always be intrinsically, personally involved with the night.
“The club is me and I am the club. I live breathe and eat it,” he says. “Opening a club was never intended to be a career move, it just happened and it’s obviously something that’s inside me.
“I pride myself on being a purveyor of good times and bringing joy to people’s lives, smiling faces is the reward that I get every Saturday night for my endeavours. And I feel blessed to have had the calling.
“I’ve always said when I wasn’t not feeling it I’d stop, but right now I feel it more than ever. And going fortnightly means I can spend more time on other projects.”
Among those projects is a long a long-awaited Back to Basics academy, which will be a DJ and music technology school, teaching kids and grown-ups how to produce music – a kind of ‘learn the basics from Back to Basics’. Beer says it’s his way of giving something back to the city which has supported him for the last 20 years.
“We’re also really excited about our art exhibition, which is to be held at Leeds Gallery, Monroe House from next month,” says Beer. “It’s in conjunction with Hebe Media, Leeds city gallery and Marketing Leeds. And it’s a dream come true for me because next to music, art is my biggest passion. In fact, I used to get thrown out of art college for my passion for music.
“It’s going to be an exhibition of some of my favourite flyer images over the last 20 years which will be blown up into proper art pieces. The flyers have always been my baby and I always enjoy designing them because they’ve been the visual mouthpiece for the club.
“The flyers always let people know how we were feeling at the time and often related to the social background of a particular time in history. Alongside the images will be a collection of newspaper clippings. It will be a multi-media event and I hope to create a feeling of walking into a club – an all-round sensory experience.”
Saturday, The Warehouse, Somers Street, Leeds, 10pm to 7am. www.backtobasics.co.uk
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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