The Big Issue Has A Look At Northern Soul

The Big Issue takes a look At Northern Soul - Stevie Cato (from 2004)

A double page look at Northern feature from a recent Big Issue, originally posted up in the Soul Source Gallery and now  transferred across to here  "that soul thing" articles section.

"Fueled by copious amounts of speed, rare Motown cast-off soul tracks and impossibly athletic dance moves, the Northern Soul scene is the original rave scene of its time.

Now with an influx of born-again and fresh-faced Soulies, it's staging a minor cultural renaissance.

Ben Carlish talks to Soul DJ, actor and dancer Steve Cato who appears in a new short film and documentary about the great ..."

Fuelled by copious amount of speed, rare Motown cast-off soul tracks and impossibly athletic dance moves, the Northern Soul scene was the original rave scene of its time. Now with an influx of born-again and fresh-faced Soulies, it's staging a minor cultural renaissance, Ben Carlish talks to Soul DJ, actor and dancer Steve Cato who appears in a new short film and documentary about the great Northern revival.

It has to be said though, for Cato and Northern Soul purists, the elitist element remains part of the attraction. "We all wanted to be different,* he says, "We all wanted to go somewhere cool. 'When you're going out on the last bus and all the piss-heads are coming out of the Rat and Ferret, totally wasted and looking for a shag, we're on our way somewhere different. We're going somewhere exclusive and rare."

But now the one-time members only club is going global and Cato talks with gleeful enthusiasm about the new blood being attracted to Northern Soul nights in Dublin, Australia, Sweden and Japan.

All this cultural impetus has given rise to a new documentary, The Way of the Crowd, and a short film, Function at the Junction. Both have been packaged in a snazzy box-set along with a vintage Northern soundtrack, and will be launched at Manchester's Bier Keller this week.

Cato appears in both film and documentary, notably in the former as ace Northern Soul dancer Spike Townsend sporting an Afro the size and consistency of a small cloud formation. Directed by Justin McArdle, Function at the Junction has some big names in it including Justin's famous dad, John McArdle (of Billy CorkhilI Brookside fame), John Henshaw (Cops and Early Doors) and Paul Kaye {Dennis Pennis and Two Thousand Acres of Sky). It's a lovely little vignette capturing the sharp and mature flavour of Northern Soul. It won a Kino film festival award and could well be developed into a full-length feature film sometime next year­ but why would A-grade actors be interested in what is ultimately a B-movie, and a short one at that?

'I think there's a kt of kudos around Northern Soul and a funny side to it, which, I think, comes across in the film,' explains Cato. 'Developing Function at the Junction into a feature film is very important for all of us, because no one in the film got paid. None of the directors, producers, lead actors, art directors, cameramen - everyone did it for free on the proviso that if the feature film comes off we're all in it.'

The documentary, directed by JD Moore, is a comprehensive and joyous celebration of the scene featuring testimony from the likes of Sir Paul Smith, some of the DJ's and artists of the time - and most importantly some of the inveterate Soulies themselves. 'Northern Soul is a religion' says DJ Simon Hunt in The Way of the Crowd. It's a theme that Cato follows with zealous conviction when talking about the beauty of the music and the sanctity of the dance floor, 'I think the songs written back then will never be bettered. They were wonderful songs. And the dance floor is hallowed ground,' he says, 'you don't walk on to it with a pint in your hand - it's like walking into a church. The pulpit is the DJ booth with the DJ the vicar delivering a vinyl sermon and we're the congregation.' And foe those that came before him, for his own generation and the new breed of worshippers hearing those revered mountainous musical sermons once more, the Northern light will never fade.

'At the end of the day for us it doesn't really matter how popular Northern is or if it fades again,' Cato shrugs, "The thing is for us it's a way of life. There's no get out. It's like when you get on that train - there's no stop until tombstone... unless my knees finally give out that is!'

» Soul Function has its Manchester launch at Blow Out at the city's Bier Keller on Friday1Oth December 2004. For more information about Soul Function and New Century Soul visit www.cooloff