As we are an ageing scene, the pace of our music has slowed, and a lot more styles of music has been accepted by the dance floor. But here's the question to get new life into the scene should the 100 mph stomper return with a vengenage, after all it was the stomper that drag us to the scene in the first place. The young are Energetic and Fit, would it be a good thing to see a floor full of youngsters spinning and back dropping all over the place even if it meant we were pushed out to the edges of the dance floor. Your thoughts

  Netspeaky said:

As we are an ageing scene, the pace of our music has slowed, and a lot more styles of music has been accepted by the dance floor. But here's the question to get new life into the scene should the 100 mph stomper return with a vengenage, after all it was the stomper that drag us to the scene in the first place. The young are Energetic and Fit, would it be a good thing to see a floor full of youngsters spinning and back dropping all over the place even if it meant we were pushed out to the edges of the dance floor. Your thoughts

Oxygen mask's and defibrillators at every venue

100 club at 6-8am in the morning stompers galore

Plenty of stompers played through the night at all nighters, its what gets the place going

Always love a good stomper but not sure I would want it to be dominated by the stomps. There is an alternative reading of the pace issue. The Wheel played R&B, mid-tempo and even smoochers. Last hour of Mecca was slower and even the big closers at Wigan like Jimmy Radcliffe were paced slower than stomper. So not sure that its all down to an 'ageing' scene. Maybe the scene as always been 'mixed tempo'. That said, the power and resonance of the great era of stompers from 1972 onwards have shaped people's perception of the scene. Prefer soul to pace myself.

Edited September 5, 200618 yr by soulfulsaint

  soulfulsaint said:

Always love a good stomper but not sure I would want it to be dominated by the stomps. There is an alternative reading of the pace issue. The Wheel played R&B, mid-tempo and even smoochers. Last hour of Mecca was slower and even the big closers at Wigan like Jimmy Radcliffe were paced slower than stomper. So not sure that its all down to an 'ageing' scene. Maybe the scene as always been 'mixed tempo'. Thats aid, the power and resonance of the great era of stompers from 1972 onwards have shaped people's perception of the scene. Prefer soul to pace myself.

======

uptempo all the way for me...especially at niters

if the scene was all midtempo id pack it all in,,,just dont do anything for me whatsoever..never did even at stafford

I think the music should be generally up & at 'em & yes there should ideally be lots of young people looking good & dancing in an energetic, passionate sussed way like in them good ol days!

Simon

  wiganer1 said:

======

uptempo all the way for me...especially at niters

if the scene was all midtempo id pack it all in,,,just dont do anything for me whatsoever..never did even at stafford

Too flippin old for the stompers these days

Bazza

  Baz said:

100 club at 6-8am in the morning stompers galore

Plenty of stompers played through the night at all nighters, its what gets the place going

Aint that the truth. Thats when three songs in a row do for me, and I take 40 winks to recover.

its a great question tho. The perennial thread (not The Jam or Ian Levine ones) on here is how do we attract younger blood to the scene. There is a good arguement to say that the style of music nowadays may put young people off as it may be more soulful, but is it more exciting.

I'd say probably not more exciting. I heard the Ad Libs - Nothing Worse, about a year ago. I hadnt heard it in eons, and was so excited I pogo'ed from my kitchen to the living room. As much as I love Soul Brothers inc, I cant see me doing a pogo to pyramid

  Netspeaky said:

As we are an ageing scene, the pace of our music has slowed, and a lot more styles of music has been accepted by the dance floor. But here's the question to get new life into the scene should the 100 mph stomper return with a vengenage, after all it was the stomper that drag us to the scene in the first place. The young are Energetic and Fit, would it be a good thing to see a floor full of youngsters spinning and back dropping all over the place even if it meant we were pushed out to the edges of the dance floor. Your thoughts

==============

I don't believe that the 'return of the stomper' would bring youngsters flooding in, their major criteria is drinking and being 'on the pull', which I would consider pretty normal. During the 7Ts would we have been happy to go to a venue where 90% of the people were 25 years older than us? That would have to be the initial scenario, and I just can't see it being attractive to the younger generation.

Personally I think the only way to encourage a younger element is to incorporate different styles of music with very similar tempos so that we were all learning from one another, instead of us 'oldies' coming across all teacherly and saying this is what you should be listening and dancing to.

Attracting young blood has been discussed so many times, and I haven't seen a massive upturn in the younger generation, perhaps we have to realise it's only ever going to be a trickle these days, as opposed to a deluge.

Winnie:-)

There is a curious attraction to the music from younger people. I feel it is the well orchestrated stompers that have that little extra mileage needed to attract them.

To get them hooked, the scene has to be made current in their eyes rather than ours, if that makes any sense. They need to give input and not deviate away from the music, but be involved on their terms. I have a 25 year old colleague at work who keeps pestering me to go to a venue, but I suspect he may get the shock of his life seeing people like his father bopping all over the place. I know what I felt at Butlins Skegness in 1967 seeing my parents doing the waltz to 'Theme from Somerset Maughn'. Now, 40 years later, I love to see it, hear the music etc, and think I was just too young to appreciate that style.

The most important thing for me is to see up and coming performers singing new songs and making them classics hand in hand with something from 1968, for example. Easier said than done, but there are people out there that love the sound and are very refreshing. I think seeing a full band on stage and a soulful singer with backing is the icing on the cake. It is only a matter of time when all the 60's groups cannot travel a) because there are not many members left or they are infirm. Imagine how proud my dad is knowing that I do know who Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, The Andrew Sisters and the latest craze, The Puppini Sisters are - and enjoy them! In fact my next CD will be the latter and I will be carrying the torch for that style of music into the future as my parents disappear into the twig light zone!.

Edited September 5, 200618 yr by Carl Dixon

  soulsalmon said:

Oxygen mask's and defibrillators at every venue

These should be supplied at all venues , the other exotic additives would probably kill me these days

Bazza

Edited September 5, 200618 yr by bazza

  Netspeaky said:

As we are an ageing scene, the pace of our music has slowed, and a lot more styles of music has been accepted by the dance floor. But here's the question to get new life into the scene should the 100 mph stomper return with a vengenage, after all it was the stomper that drag us to the scene in the first place. The young are Energetic and Fit, would it be a good thing to see a floor full of youngsters spinning and back dropping all over the place even if it meant we were pushed out to the edges of the dance floor. Your thoughts

I agree to a certain extent, but I would say exciting, in yer face music rather than just stompers. I also think the way to get younger people into the music is to take the music to them. In other words get some of these tunes banging away in a nightclub with a smaller dancefloor, with all the usual nightclub lighting etc and coming out of good soundsystems. Very few youngsters are going to take to a massive working men's club full of 'old' people wearing funny clothes.

Jordi

  bazza said:

Too flippin old for the stompers these days

Bazza

never too old bazza we need more like 'She's Fire' ; 'Do It' , Harry Betts; Steve Karmen; Mello Souls; Cory Cornell; Lesley Garrett and so on...

Edited September 5, 200618 yr by grant

  grant said:

never too old bazza we need more like 'She's Fire' ; 'Do It' , Harry Betts; Steve Karmen; Mello Souls; Cory Cornell; Lesley Garrett and so on...

Now how did i know youd respond to this Grant

  soulsalmon said:

Now how did i know youd respond to this Grant

Fave 100mph tune used to be "Valentinos - sweater than the day before".won't dance to it now,I would need to put my feet up for an hour

Bazza

  Winnie :-) said:

==============

I don't believe that the 'return of the stomper' would bring youngsters flooding in, their major criteria is drinking and being 'on the pull', which I would consider pretty normal. During the 7Ts would we have been happy to go to a venue where 90% of the people were 25 years older than us? That would have to be the initial scenario, and I just can't see it being attractive to the younger generation.

Personally I think the only way to encourage a younger element is to incorporate different styles of music with very similar tempos so that we were all learning from one another, instead of us 'oldies' coming across all teacherly and saying this is what you should be listening and dancing to.

Attracting young blood has been discussed so many times, and I haven't seen a massive upturn in the younger generation, perhaps we have to realise it's only ever going to be a trickle these days, as opposed to a deluge.

Winnie:-)

Your quite right on all aspects Win,

1. The Dj's are not really trendy are they, its like putting on a do and handing out a flyer with Steve Wright in the afternoon on the main line up (not a dig or owt like that its just how they would see it)

2. You can forget all about oldies newies and so on,

3. most 'soul nights' are held in grotty rooms in working mens clubs ect, because befor they travel they will be local, hardly going to attract them is it.

i could proberly go on more but not got the time at the moment.

Kev Roberts once asked on here about new ideas for the Kings Hall i put to him about a student night, and a few ideas of how to go about it....because they are hardly going to want butlins DJ's like the likes of chris king spinning them records! never got a reply obviously to risky for him as it doesn't involve the words casino and me. To attract new blood you have to start out in trendy bars and alternative music venues, there is many around it just needs the backing from hardend promoters, i wish i had the time and money to at least try to bring good uptempo soul and R&B to a wider audience but i dont, another thing is advertising, how are youngsters going to know whats on if they are not on the scene in the first place? its only advertised at venues and specialist web sites and mags ect.

  bazza said:

Fave 100mph tune used to be "Valentinos - sweater than the day before".won't dance to it now,I would need to put my feet up for an hour

Bazza

Nah - thats 90mph Bazza - timed it

  soulsalmon said:

Now how did i know youd respond to this Grant

hello salmon

  bazza said:

Fave 100mph tune used to be "Valentinos - sweater than the day before".won't dance to it now,I would need to put my feet up for an hour

Bazza

...Valentinos a stomper? Why it's almost a ballad in comparison to Little Joe Cook and Terrible Tom !

TONE

PS Still a phenomenal record, though....

It was stompers that got me and my friends into the scene and to be honest thats what we prefer as it gets you up dancing but since then and a couple of nighters and more soulful nights we are starting to get right into more mid tempo stuff and appreciating the more soulful content of tunes so for us its a progression through the scene, only being 38 i still have a bit of energy to burn but not much so long may our northern soul journey contunue.

Bearsy

  Baz said:

Your quite right on all aspects Win,

1. The Dj's are not really trendy are they, its like putting on a do and handing out a flyer with Steve Wright in the afternoon on the main line up (not a dig or owt like that its just how they would see it)

2. You can forget all about oldies newies and so on,

3. most 'soul nights' are held in grotty rooms in working mens clubs ect, because befor they travel they will be local, hardly going to attract them is it.

i could proberly go on more but not got the time at the moment.

Kev Roberts once asked on here about new ideas for the Kings Hall i put to him about a student night, and a few ideas of how to go about it....because they are hardly going to want butlins DJ's like the likes of chris king spinning them records! never got a reply obviously to risky for him as it doesn't involve the words casino and me. To attract new blood you have to start out in trendy bars and alternative music venues, there is many around it just needs the backing from hardend promoters, i wish i had the time and money to at least try to bring good uptempo soul and R&B to a wider audience but i dont, another thing is advertising, how are youngsters going to know whats on if they are not on the scene in the first place? its only advertised at venues and specialist web sites and mags ect.

I agree we do only tend to advertise to ourselves, promoters certainly need to re-think how to get the message across to a younger age group. My kids love the music but none of them (4) ever attend a soul night unless it's my birthday. Maybe the weekenders do's are the one's to bridge the gap by running a room that would attract the youngest with there age group DJing current sounds (black music of course but todays club sounds) then by default they would spillover to nose around other rooms. Okay I know they may not be impressed but if you don't lead the horse to water it definately ain't going to drink.

Yup! Stompers stompers & more stompers!

Nothing worse than loads of mid / slow tempo at 5 / 6am when you're full of 'energy'.

  Netspeaky said:

I agree we do only tend to advertise to ourselves, promoters certainly need to re-think how to get the message across to a younger age group. My kids love the music but none of them (4) ever attend a soul night unless it's my birthday. Maybe the weekenders do's are the one's to bridge the gap by running a room that would attract the youngest with there age group DJing current sounds (black music of course but todays club sounds) then by default they would spillover to nose around other rooms. Okay I know they may not be impressed but if you don't lead the horse to water it definately ain't going to drink.

=============

At Prestatyn this year they had a sort of garage/house room, not sure how popular it was, whenever I went in there weren't many in there, not that that's much of a guide as I only ventured in a few times. Didn't notice a particularly younger crowd either, but like most I don't notice much at weekenders.

Winnie:-)

  Winnie :-) said:

=============

At Prestatyn this year they had a sort of garage/house room, not sure how popular it was, whenever I went in there weren't many in there, not that that's much of a guide as I only ventured in a few times. Didn't notice a particularly younger crowd either, but like most I don't notice much at weekenders.

Winnie:-)

They may well have had garage/house room but was it aimed at a younger crowd and if it was were was it advertised, if on the soul scene then the younger crowd will not have seen it.

  Baz said:

Kev Roberts once asked on here about new ideas for the Kings Hall i put to him about a student night, and a few ideas of how to go about it....because they are hardly going to want butlins DJ's like the likes of chris king spinning them records! never got a reply obviously to risky for him as it doesn't involve the words casino and me. To attract new blood you have to start out in trendy bars and alternative music venues, there is many around it just needs the backing from hardend promoters, i wish i had the time and money to at least try to bring good uptempo soul and R&B to a wider audience but i dont, another thing is advertising, how are youngsters going to know whats on if they are not on the scene in the first place? its only advertised at venues and specialist web sites and mags ect.

I think your not far off the mark here Baz, when I was at uni (97 - I was in my early 30s then ) many of the younger students were into Funk, DJ Shadow, Ninja Tunes, James Levelle etc. Yeah they were trendy types; liked the cool bar, the clothes and the image but a good few of them were well into digging for records and breaks at fairs, car boots etc with the hunt for a tune that (to them) was obscure. They were coming back with with music as varied as Sergio Mendes to Parliament to John Barry film themes, not all uptempo by any means. Point is they were after authenticity and vinyl so I played them a whole host of northern sounds - they loved it; fitted right in to what they were about, thrilled with the tales of how rare the Mello Souls is etc, however there was no way they'd want to do the working mans club or grotty equivalent .

I think there is a case for separate feeder events, not the scene but - for students, breaks collectors etc with Djs like Andy Smith; from his portished day's he's well respected on their scene. This is then a channel for a new crowd to try our scene. True not many would progress but some would; hell some already have the passion for collecting records.

  Byrney said:

I think your not far off the mark here Baz, when I was at uni (97 - I was in my early 30s then ) many of the younger students were into Funk, DJ Shadow, Ninja Tunes, James Levelle etc. Yeah they were trendy types; liked the cool bar, the clothes and the image but a good few of them were well into digging for records and breaks at fairs, car boots etc with the hunt for a tune that (to them) was obscure. They were coming back with with music as varied as Sergio Mendes to Parliament to John Barry film themes, not all uptempo by any means. Point is they were after authenticity and vinyl so I played them a whole host of northern sounds - they loved it; fitted right in to what they were about, thrilled with the tales of how rare the Mello Souls is etc, however there was no way they'd want to do the working mans club or grotty equivalent .

I think there is a case for separate feeder events, not the scene but - for students, breaks collectors etc with Djs like Andy Smith; from his portished day's he's well respected on their scene. This is then a channel for a new crowd to try our scene. True not many would progress but some would; hell some already have the passion for collecting records.

Very valid point about the trendier bars etc. They generally didn't exist in the current format in the early seventies and therefore by neccesity grotty places was just about all there was. Times, and peoples expectations have changed significantly. What the younger element want are place like Lloyd Street (?) that Stevie Cato ran, not somewhere with condensation (read sweat) dripping onto their designer gear.

  Netspeaky said:

They may well have had garage/house room but was it aimed at a younger crowd and if it was were was it advertised, if on the soul scene then the younger crowd will not have seen it.

============

To be honest I haven't got a clue who it was aimed at, I would guess us (soulies) because we would have made up the vast majority of the attendees at Prestatyn. I can actually see some logic in it, cos if we accept house/garage as part and parcel of the soul scene (not saying that will actually happen) then youngsters maybe able to do the same but in reverse. The only thing that would worry me........ are there any real examples of the youth culture of any era and their parents combining to enjoy a certain kind of music. I don't man following the 'old man' into rock and roll, or northern, I mean where a scene has been actually embraced by both generations because of universal appeal.

Winnie:-)

Isn't it time we faced facts? Northern soul is now a revival scene, akin to Teddy Boy nights?

There is no relevance to young people now and I doubt there ever will be. The culture has changed, the drugs have changed - everything is different.

Sonically our music cannot compete with modern day music on a typical club system. It just lacks the low end thud and production that my kids are used to.

Also, most of our anthems are blues based in terms of lyrics; Come back baby, I've lost you, Just another heartache, I never knew, etc etc. Todays young clubbers ae nowhere near as self pitying as we were! They want lyrics (if any) they can relate to when they're dancing on an E. Generally more positive, uplifting, feel good words.

Young people into our scene? Not going to happen in numbers. Sorry.

  Baz said:

Kev Roberts once asked on here about new ideas for the Kings Hall i put to him about a student night, and a few ideas of how to go about it....because they are hardly going to want butlins DJ's like the likes of chris king spinning them records! never got a reply obviously to risky for him as it doesn't involve the words casino and me. To attract new blood you have to start out in trendy bars and alternative music venues,

I want to know how James Trouble got into Baz's log in, and posted this point!!

  in town Mikey said:

I want to know how James Trouble got into Baz's log in, and posted this point!!

I must have morphed into him for a miunite there.

Yours

Baz Trouble

as someone who promotes a night primarily geared towards younger people, i have found that the kids are more apt to dance to crossover/midpaced tunes than stompers. when you play something that fast, its sort of like a crowd of dear caught in headlights, with no idea what to do on the floor.

maybe thats just up here though.

also, one should note that most of our attendees have no idea or care to know what northern soul is/was? they just wanna dance to soul music.

  Kevin J said:

as someone who promotes a night primarily geared towards younger people, i have found that the kids are more apt to dance to crossover/midpaced tunes than stompers. when you play something that fast, its sort of like a crowd of dear caught in headlights, with no idea what to do on the floor.

maybe thats just up here though.

also, one should note that most of our attendees have no idea or care to know what northern soul is/was? they just wanna dance to soul music.

===============

Does that mean they put their own interpretations dance wise to it? Cos that's something else most soulies of my era are sticklers for. Only asking cos what we do may look ok to each other, but to a youngster may look very strange, and very uniform.

Winnie:-)

  Winnie :-) said:

===============

Does that mean they put their own interpretations dance wise to it? Cos that's something else most soulies of my era are sticklers for. Only asking cos what we do may look ok to each other, but to a youngster may look very strange, and very uniform.

Winnie:-)

well, you should also know that in this country, outside of a few, no one is really familiar with dancing as you know it ... there just isnt any precident for it here. so yeh, i think the younger folk here in the US connect the music more with 60s black culture than UK Northern Soul culture and the dancing tends to reflect that more.

that said, i think that if there were more people here dancing in a venue in a northern soul type of way, it would catch on in a big way. i think it would even draw different types to the venues ... i could see a lot of the younger hip-hop kids really interested in it, for instance.

  Netspeaky said:

I agree we do only tend to advertise to ourselves, promoters certainly need to re-think how to get the message across to a younger age group. My kids love the music but none of them (4) ever attend a soul night unless it's my birthday. Maybe the weekenders do's are the one's to bridge the gap by running a room that would attract the youngest with there age group DJing current sounds (black music of course but todays club sounds) then by default they would spillover to nose around other rooms. Okay I know they may not be impressed but if you don't lead the horse to water it definately ain't going to drink.

I think I would agree with this & possibly a natural progression to do this in one of the rooms at the bigger Weekenders, aswell as everything that still happens now.

Russ

  Kevin J said:

well, you should also know that in this country, outside of a few, no one is really familiar with dancing as you know it ... there just isnt any precident for it here. so yeh, i think the younger folk here in the US connect the music more with 60s black culture than UK Northern Soul culture and the dancing tends to reflect that more.

that said, i think that if there were more people here dancing in a venue in a northern soul type of way, it would catch on in a big way. i think it would even draw different types to the venues ... i could see a lot of the younger hip-hop kids really interested in it, for instance.

Russ.

lots more uptempo songs need playing everywhere. its so dire at absolutely loads of venues at the moment because of the ludicrously slow music being played & it seems to have got much worse over the last few years with uptempo sounds being played less & less. ive been going to northern soul nights/nighters for about 6/7 years. im 29 & the fact is that i find most midtempo crossover utterly uniteresting & VERY VERY Dis-heartening. If the music continues to get slower i cant see myself hanging around. 8/9 hours at a nighter with a handful of songs i want to dance to isnt my idea of fun. truth be told, its getting harder & harder to stomach & im sick to death of paying to get in & being let down again. going out to a northern night is getting to be a chore because it is so predictable & boring. that & the fact that the SAME songs are played everywhere. there are thousands of good records out there, why on earth must we be tortured week after week being forced to listen to all the songs for the 8 millionth time? if northern soul is turning into this stale boring waste of time & money you can keep it.

this really really does my head in. i used to dance loads........now i cant even remember when i last managed to force a dance! 5 uptempo songs ALL night at a nighter.....with hours of midtempo bedtime music inbetween really doesnt do much for me & isnt going to get me up dancing. im bored most of the night. if you want to attract & hold the interest of a younger crowd this isnt the way to do it.

  Kevin J said:

also, one should note that most of our attendees have no idea or care to know what northern soul is/was? they just wanna dance to soul music.

In my Stateside experience, the "kids" just wanna dance to anything. Soul or no. Many of the nights are similar to "normal" clubs in UK. That's why DJs get away with playing a completely mixed bag of genres at the same event/gig/room. I've attended "Northen Soul" nights and heard Prince Buster followed by The Professionals followed by Brian Poole and The Tremeloes!! On asking the DJ "I thought it was a Northern Soul night" He pointed at the dancefloor (Which was full of drinking,, smoking, "kids", dry humping each other, looking like extras from an Austin Powers movie, but having a great time), and justified his selections thus. "If the dancefloors full, I'm happy, job done." I explained to him that if he played an LP of Kiss the dancefloor would still be full as most of the "kids" didn't know one song from another.

I don't think the "style" of dancing matters one iota, It's what people are listening/dancing to that's more important.

They've banned smoking indoors now in Florida, so now they all hang outside! He He!

Regards,

Dave

www.theresthatbeat.com

www.hitsvillesoulclub.com

Great, honest words from Lynsey....

Yes its been said before but this from one of the younger element.

I totally sympathise and in truth its how I feel and have been feeling for ages.

One thing I've noticed is that for certain "clubbing" type venues, the promoters go all out to get big dayglo posters in prominent places (road junctions etc). But hey...this takes effort and how many would be prepared to do this locally...infact how many put an advert in the local paper? If people dont know about the fact that soul nites are on, how do you expect to get people in? You cant rely on Soul-Source.

Try to introduce younger DJ's and encourage them. The ones I've seen do seem to play a more random selection than the CD/Pressing dickheads...and yes, we all know who they are as they bore the pants off us. Without the encouragement of the younger DJ...who just might bring in people of his/her own age!!!....it is always going to be revivalist and that scares me as I never want to be seen as an old has been. Ok so the youngsters are never going to get the £1000 records straight away, but how many great rarely played records cost under £50?

My 5 penneth....over to the machine gunners to shoot me down?

  Lynsey_Wez said:

the fact that the SAME songs are played everywhere. there are thousands of good records out there, why on earth must we be tortured week after week being forced to listen to all the songs for the 8 millionth time? if northern soul is turning into this stale boring waste of time & money you can keep it.

Hi Lynsey or is it Wez..I know exactly what you mean ,cos I go to the same places or did,keep trying different venues now tho'

Bye the way ..its Barry and Wendy ,Rob and Julie's friends you do know us,welcome to Soul Source

Bazza

Edited September 11, 200618 yr by bazza

  Dave Moore said:

In my Stateside experience, the "kids" just wanna dance to anything. Soul or no. Many of the nights are similar to "normal" clubs in UK. That's why DJs get away with playing a completely mixed bag of genres at the same event/gig/room. I've attended "Northen Soul" nights and heard Prince Buster followed by The Professionals followed by Brian Poole and The Tremeloes!! On asking the DJ "I thought it was a Northern Soul night" He pointed at the dancefloor (Which was full of drinking,, smoking, "kids", dry humping each other, looking like extras from an Austin Powers movie, but having a great time), and justified his selections thus. "If the dancefloors full, I'm happy, job done." I explained to him that if he played an LP of Kiss the dancefloor would still be full as most of the "kids" didn't know one song from another.

I don't think the "style" of dancing matters one iota, It's what people are listening/dancing to that's more important.

They've banned smoking indoors now in Florida, so now they all hang outside! He He!

Regards,

Dave

www.theresthatbeat.com

www.hitsvillesoulclub.com

Dave -

i know that the other crap wouldnt go over at our night at all. despite not knowing what the hell it is we are playing, the kids at our night DO want to dance to soul. thankfully, we dont get much of a 60s crowd looking for a bit of dress-up.

these here kids come to dance to soul and are from all backgrounds. oh right, we get a few older folk as well.

  Netspeaky said:

As we are an ageing scene, the pace of our music has slowed, and a lot more styles of music has been accepted by the dance floor. But here's the question to get new life into the scene should the 100 mph stomper return with a vengenage, after all it was the stomper that drag us to the scene in the first place. The young are Energetic and Fit, would it be a good thing to see a floor full of youngsters spinning and back dropping all over the place even if it meant we were pushed out to the edges of the dance floor. Your thoughts

its the djs which are ageing not the punters bring on the 100 mph sounds I just love burning leather on my shoes.

Billy whizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

  Kevin J said:

as someone who promotes a night primarily geared towards younger people, i have found that the kids are more apt to dance to crossover/midpaced tunes than stompers.

them there young people mustnt be drinking enough, either that or it's a regional difference

  wendy said:

them there young people mustnt be drinking enough, either that or it's a regional difference

i think it likely is a regional thing ... it may even be our night (and a couple of others i know of here in the US) for that matter.

  Kevin J said:

as someone who promotes a night primarily geared towards younger people, i have found that the kids are more apt to dance to crossover/midpaced tunes than stompers. when you play something that fast, its sort of like a crowd of dear caught in headlights, with no idea what to do on the floor.

maybe thats just up here though.

Probably!

  Dayo said:

Isn't it time we faced facts? Northern soul is now a revival scene, akin to Teddy Boy nights?

There is no relevance to young people now and I doubt there ever will be. The culture has changed, the drugs have changed - everything is different.

Sonically our music cannot compete with modern day music on a typical club system. It just lacks the low end thud and production that my kids are used to.

Also, most of our anthems are blues based in terms of lyrics; Come back baby, I've lost you, Just another heartache, I never knew, etc etc. Todays young clubbers ae nowhere near as self pitying as we were! They want lyrics (if any) they can relate to when they're dancing on an E. Generally more positive, uplifting, feel good words.

Young people into our scene? Not going to happen in numbers. Sorry.

Dead right.

The way the scene is now has nothing to offer young people. Retro clothing, overpriced records, in-fighting and politics, 6ts v 7ts etc, venues chosen simply because the beers cheap, same people same tables, same times, codes of behaviour that they don't understand. For goodness sake, people are even taking their children along. We've turned into the latest incarnation of the Working Mans Club.

If I was 18 again I'd avoid it like the plague.

Promoters who do it as a business are out to make as much money as possible in as short a time as possible. That's not a criticism, it's a business fact, because they know that there's only a few years of high attendances left. So they aim events at the majority, and that doesn't include spending wodges of money in an attempt to attract young people in.

The only way to gain their interest is to change what's on offer and go out to the city centre bars where they drink. Increasing the number of stompers isn't the answer, quite the opposite. Venues need to play a wider range of music (yes, that old one again but even more so), old school northern, crossover, modern, funk, jazz.

But then us oldies would complain about the music mix, bar prices and the risk of something kicking off.

Kev

  Ranger said:

Dead right.

The way the scene is now has nothing to offer young people. Retro clothing, overpriced records, in-fighting and politics, 6ts v 7ts etc, venues chosen simply because the beers cheap, same people same tables, same times, codes of behaviour that they don't understand. For goodness sake, people are even taking their children along. We've turned into the latest incarnation of the Working Mans Club.

If I was 18 again I'd avoid it like the plague.

Promoters who do it as a business are out to make as much money as possible in as short a time as possible. That's not a criticism, it's a business fact, because they know that there's only a few years of high attendances left. So they aim events at the majority, and that doesn't include spending wodges of money in an attempt to attract young people in.

The only way to gain their interest is to change what's on offer and go out to the city centre bars where they drink. Increasing the number of stompers isn't the answer, quite the opposite. Venues need to play a wider range of music (yes, that old one again but even more so), old school northern, crossover, modern, funk, jazz.

But then us oldies would complain about the music mix, bar prices and the risk of something kicking off.

Kev

Reatreading old ground now!

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33737

Please pardon my naivety as I have only recently discovered the curious phenomenom that is Northern Soul. When I have DJed on student radio, I've incorporated stuff like 'The Bottle' and some Fatback Band stuff into the show alongside a bit of Northern Soul. It's been a bit of a mish-mash the past year but I do find people of my age group (18-21) do tend to get into the funk stuff more than the stompers of Northern Soul. Personally I can't get enough of stuff like 'The Capreez-How to make a sad man glad' and 'Don Ray-Born A Loser' but as has been stated above many times, I guess for varying reasons the 'kids' aren't into it. Without being condescending to those on here who are in their forties and older, retro cool is probably now seen as 70's funk and Northern Soul just isn't in the 'cool' bracket.(though it bloody well should be!) I suppose this is much like when yourselves were in your twenties, Count Basie probably wasn't cool and was seen as old hat whereas early 50's rock and roll was in the retro cool bracket. Once again, pardon me if I've got it all wrong!

Will

  YoungSouthernSoulie said:

Please pardon my naivety as I have only recently discovered the curious phenomenom that is Northern Soul. When I have DJed on student radio, I've incorporated stuff like 'The Bottle' and some Fatback Band stuff into the show alongside a bit of Northern Soul. It's been a bit of a mish-mash the past year but I do find people of my age group (18-21) do tend to get into the funk stuff more than the stompers of Northern Soul. Personally I can't get enough of stuff like 'The Capreez-How to make a sad man glad' and 'Don Ray-Born A Loser' but as has been stated above many times, I guess for varying reasons the 'kids' aren't into it. Without being condescending to those on here who are in their forties and older, retro cool is probably now seen as 70's funk and Northern Soul just isn't in the 'cool' bracket.(though it bloody well should be!) I suppose this is much like when yourselves were in your twenties, Count Basie probably wasn't cool and was seen as old hat whereas early 50's rock and roll was in the retro cool bracket. Once again, pardon me if I've got it all wrong!

Will

===========

Hi Will,

It would be a bit difficult for most of us to say you're wrong, cos most of us are old. You're young, you know what the younger people like, we just think we know what they should like

Winnie:-)

=========

PS. Didn't realise it was your first post Will, welcome to Soul Source

Edited September 11, 200618 yr by Winnie :-)

  YoungSouthernSoulie said:

Please pardon my naivety as I have only recently discovered the curious phenomenom that is Northern Soul. When I have DJed on student radio, I've incorporated stuff like 'The Bottle' and some Fatback Band stuff into the show alongside a bit of Northern Soul. It's been a bit of a mish-mash the past year but I do find people of my age group (18-21) do tend to get into the funk stuff more than the stompers of Northern Soul. Personally I can't get enough of stuff like 'The Capreez-How to make a sad man glad' and 'Don Ray-Born A Loser' but as has been stated above many times, I guess for varying reasons the 'kids' aren't into it. Without being condescending to those on here who are in their forties and older, retro cool is probably now seen as 70's funk and Northern Soul just isn't in the 'cool' bracket.(though it bloody well should be!) I suppose this is much like when yourselves were in your twenties, Count Basie probably wasn't cool and was seen as old hat whereas early 50's rock and roll was in the retro cool bracket. Once again, pardon me if I've got it all wrong!

Will

Welcome aboard Will, great post, keep on pushing it on your radio show, sure you'll soon attract plenty of followers, and your completely right about funk being 'retro cool' alot of younger people can associate it with alot of hip hop

  Rowly said:

Reatreading old ground now!

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=33737

True....to a point.

But the question was

'to get new life into the scene should the 100 mph stomper return with a

vengenage,

Short answer,,, No

What I was trying to say is that the scene as a whole has to change for that to happen.

If you went to the Casino for the first time and it was full of people who looked like your Dad, '30 year old fashions and 10 year old kids. Would you have gone back?

The real question is are we serious about attracting new blood? personally, I don't think we are.

Kev

Kev

Being based at Bangor, there are a lot of folk from the North-West around who have an abstract concept of what Northern Soul is. To be honest, I think when I do play it, it's seen as upbeat yet quirky and not something they'd probably take up seriously as a musical interest. To use a footballing analogy, you could compare it supporting your local lower league football team. Some will go along for a laugh and not come back/come back infrequently whereas others (I hope to include myself in this group once I've attended an allnighter!) will get the bug and lap it up. As has been stated, do you appeal to the tastes of today or keep hold of what you enjoy? I guess it's hard to tap into the music lover's psyche.

P.S-Thanks for the warm welcome.

  Ranger said:

The real question is are we serious about attracting new blood? personally, I don't think we are.

Kev

Kev

I'd have to agree with you there Kev...

Seems to me that there's too many on the scene actually scared of change. They know that a younger generation are needed to keep the scene going (beyond the next 10 - 15 years or so)...... but don't wan't to actually change anything to encourage them and make it happen. Don't wan't to upset their comfort zone.

How many times have you read comments like ".....yeah but that will mean it's a differen't scene to what we have now if we play more x, y or z type sounds - and then it won't be the Northern Soul scene and I don't want that oh no sirree Bob!....."

They moan when advertisers have the bare faced cheek to use "our" tunes to sell fastfood or as a sound track to a tv series or whatever, when thats exactly what does take the sounds to fresh ears and the chance to attract newcommers / youngsters.

If this thing doesn't evovolve & embrace a few little changes here and there, then it will die in the not too distant future.....

Edited September 11, 200618 yr by Rowly