Does anyone remember these Manchester DJ's ?

[greg fenton]

Hi, does anyone remember any of these Manchester DJ's: Alan Dene (Slack Alice), Roy Stanier (Archway), Liz Wold (Manhattan) and Graham Rickaby ? Their names have cropped up and I was trying to find out some more information about them.

Thanks Greg.

[SandraDee]

Hi Greg. I think I've mentioned before about Roy Stanier being a favourite of mine when he DJ'd at the Archway in the mid-80s; when that venue closed in '87 he started working at Excaliber in the Potteries where I lived at the time, then he went to Gavans in Wolverhampton in the men-only basement club. (he worked his way southwards every few years!) The last I heard of him he was running a record shop in Birmingham but that's a while ago now.

[greg fenton]

Hi, thanks for the info. I wanted to find out a bit more about his style of DJ'ing, I believe he was mixing rather than using the mike, and I also read he had a keyboards player with some weekends too ?

Did you by any chance go to Hero's to hear Les Cokell play ?

This must be the record shop you mentioned, though the chart is from Dec 99.

Music Beat Records: Dance NRG and HI-NRG (Reviews)

[SandraDee]

Originally Posted by greg fenton

I believe he was mixing rather than using the mike

He was an excellent mixer, one of the best I've ever heard personally.

[SandraDee]

Originally Posted by greg fenton

Did you by any chance go to Hero's to hear Les Cokell play ?

Unfortunately I didn't & it's my biggest regret as that club had such a good reputation for music in the early 80s, but I did hear Les DJ at 'Rockies' in the 'Mineshaft' area downstairs in the late 80s/early 90s where he played more 'classic' hi-nrg such as Lisa & Patrick Cowley rather than the contemporary stuff that got played in the main club area upstairs. He was very good & is sadly missed on the Manchester scene.

[ianmusic]

i knew les and roy who sadley no longer with us roy had a record shop in birmingham i knew les better from him djing at blackpool meccas highland room playing northen soul with ian levine les played at rockies and cruz 101 clubs manchester he had a record shop in bloom street downstairs in the clonezone shop ive still got some mixes of les and roy i hope this helps a bit ian

[PhyllisHyman]

Hi
That's very sad news hearing about Roy.
In the 80s we used to travel from London up to Manchester at weekends specifically to go the Archway and hear Roy. We'd bring him loads of 12ss that we'd gotten from the States and he was so open to playing them.
Plus Archway at that time stayed open later than any of the London clubs..
They were fun days...

[greg fenton]

Thanks to everyone for the info. I'd love to hear some more about the Archway: the music, its layout and so on, and definitely some more about Roy's style of DJ'ing ? I believe it opened Fri Dec 9th 83/ 84 ? and was owned by Harry and Wayne...

[SandraDee]

I went to the Archway during it's last 2 years. It wasn't a very big club as it was literally under a railway arch but it's one of the best & most atmospheric places I've ever been to, the air heady with the aroma of leather & poppers. The dancefloor dominated the space as it was in the middle with a balcony around the top of it. The bar was to the left & you had to sign a book when you entered the place. The clientele was mainly cloney but there used to be some different characters like a Pete Burns lookalike & the odd Bowie-type. There were some oil drums to sit on but I never sat down! The track that always brings back memories of the first time I visited the Archway is Jennifer Holliday's 'No Frills Love' -what an exciting track & it suited the place completely. I never stopped dancing whenever I visited, & I used to cop off alot there too (not that I went for that you understand!). Fantastic place & I was devastated when it closed in '87.

[totouk]

I lived in Stoke in the mid to late 80s (and beyond) and remember Roy very well, he seemed a quiet man but his mixing was great, he changed that club completely with his mixing skills. I never went anywhere else on a Saturday night. I probably saw Sandra Dee there!

I used to buy cassettes of the latest mixed tracks at the time (still have them but no player to play them on) but I have been racking my brain since yesterday to remember if they were created by Roy (which my poor memory is saying yes to) or by someone from Birmingham.

I only ever went to the Archway once, I found it a bit intimidating but great music. My best friend loved his camp fashions so we got refused entry on a couple of occasions so didn't go back.

toto

[SandraDee]

Originally Posted by totouk

My best friend loved his camp fashions so we got refused entry on a couple of occasions so didn't go back.

toto

I'm surprised about that as I used to see all types in there although it was 95% cloney.

[SandraDee]

Originally Posted by totouk

I lived in Stoke in the mid to late 80s (and beyond) and remember Roy very well, he seemed a quiet man but his mixing was great, he changed that club completely with his mixing skills. I never went anywhere else on a Saturday night. I probably saw Sandra Dee there!

Yes toto he brought decent music & mixing to Stoke for the first time! & yes we must've rubbed shoulders on the dance floor; I bet I know you to look at as I've got a good memory for faces (but not names!) Do you remember one of the club owners (Ray, I think) always trying to get punters to go back to his dungeon? & the many PAs such as Lily Savage & Hazell Dean & Miquel Brown? Life was fun back then.

[greg fenton]

Thanks again. Sounds like Roy must have been very influencial with his mixing and choice of music for the Archway...

Does anyone know if he was from Manchester originally, and if he played any other clubs before Archway.

PS I have a number of music reviews and top 20 charts from Mancunian Gay mag to post up soon from Les Cokell.

[Broomfield1965]

I went to the Archway from almost the night it first opened its doors to its swansong when 'Rockies' opened (too big a rival emerged for it to survive, and we gay boiz always want something 'new' on the scene, don't we?). Wayne and Harry were the frontline 'owners' (though I understood that a woman had backed it with some moolah).

Roy span the discs and there was also a guy who would play live keyboards along to the tracks, something I had never seen before nor since! From what I remember, he lurked by the downstairs toilets... He only lasted about 6 months though I think?

Roy was a fantastic DJ, the best I ever heard for mixing, phasing and re-editing tracks live 'as it happened'. He was usually the first to play stuff that would eventually take the place (and other clubs) by storm. I remember him playing "Male stripper" on a few occasions early on in it's run, and the floor would clear, leaving only a few people (me and my mate for 2!) whirrling madly. Of course, give it a week or so, and you couldn't get elbow room on the floor it was so packed. Same thing with "you spin me round..." I seem to remember. Roy was a nice guy, though he could be a bit shady when it came to telling you what a particular bootleg was (I used to be dead cheeky and just grab it and look, later that next week ordering it from Record Shack in London, they always had the best boots).

Didn't Slack Alice do Stuffed Olives (I was introduced to Lisa's "Jump shout" and Bobby O there).

Les Cokell (does anyone have his LP by the way?) did Heros and he was good too, mixing the newly emerging "boys town" music with more chart bound numbers.

For me, Archway will always be the seminal gay club of Manchester, and Roy was the reason most of us turned up week in week out, to dance our tits off for 3-4 hours of non-stop dance classics (Even "slave to the rhythm" as I recall - not many brave enough to spin a slowee like that in those days and get away with it!).

Good for me to know that I am not the only one left out of that bucnh who still remebers - dance on!

[ianmusic]

ive got the album that les mixed i'll have to dig it out i can't remember the track listing off the top of my head im sure theres a couple of abba tracks on it cheers ian