Champion man- John Vincent
This scene had a big effect on me and set me off on collecting vinyl for the rest of my life
John Vincent
A few months back JV gave soul source this interview before making his reappearance at Lowton:
Cast your mind back to the 1970s, a time of flares, discos, Saturday night fever, white suits, 3 day strikes, afro's, and so on,well that's what it was like if you believe what you read in the present national media, as with all things the past gets changed quite often to fit the present. Similarly on the soul scene, some parts of the soul media would now have us believe that all the 70's were about was wigan, wigan, wigan, and the image of beer towels, 40 inchers and a high proportion of uptempo soul of a dubious content is often portrayed. Well for those who were knocking around then we know that it was just a little bit different than that, all the venues and styles of northern had their peaks and their lows, and 20 odd years later as we see increased media interest on the scene, it has been good to see that standing out from the rush of born again soulies rushing back, one of the most influintial DJs has turned up, with not much noise and not even with a eye to sell CD complitations
Yeah Mr John Vincent is about to make a comeback at the next Lowton Civic event. Those who where around, remember the time when Samantha's had more clout than wigan, when Job Opening, The Champion, I'm Coming Home ruled the roost, good days yeah? For those not around back then, read on and you will understand why the reapperance of one of top DJs has caused such a stir......
For the first time in exactly fifteen years John Vincent former Wigan Casino jock and Northern Soul heavyweight will DJ at Lowton Civic on the 27th March. DJing since he was fifteen in a blues club called "The Esquire" in Sheffield,he certainly cut his teeth on the Black Music of that period, brought up through the club scene of the sixties, Vincent visited the original Twisted Wheel club on Brazenose Street where Roger Eagle was the DJ,
"This scene had a big effect on me and set me off on collecting vinyl for the rest of my life".
By the seventies Vincent was more involved with clubs than ever and started the Sunday sessions at Samanthas in 1970,after the Torch closed the decision was made to run a monthly all-nighter which eventually became the weekly all-night event in 1974 which became famous. Throughout this period Vincent jocked at Sammys every Friday and Wigan Casino on Saturday consequently all his sounds were getting constant exposure.
"An incredible scene I always played right across the board I had no hang-ups on music styles it was all just Northern"
One thing that Vincent still remembers and is still quite proud of , one saturday night he jocked at Cleethorpes Pier all-nighter AND Wigan Casino on the same night.
"I was always up to tricks like that some of the things were just crazy,although I would like to think that the way I jocked did have some effect on the scene at the time.One saturday at the casino I played the Del Larks back to back,part one and two with two copies I had at the time,£7.00 each was the going rate,when I picked them up! Sequed music was not normally seen on the Northern scene but I kept at it whether it was the Del Larks or Saxie Russell,one of the other tricks was cramming, in other words more sounds into your spot,I used to clip the records this built up the adrenalin and if you got it right then it often turned into a frenzy of Northern.DJs then generally didnt play requests, so at Wigan I turned it around and asked for dedications. Which worked a treat! So you could play a monster spot and slip in all the dedications which they all loved and consequently a very full and vibrant dancefloor all the time.
Power to the people!"
When Vincent bowed out of Wigan he moved on to St Ives and Peterborough All-nighters and all though these were good they didnt come up to his expectations,having worked all the main venues and the infamous Northern Soul road show over a period of seven years,Vincent left the scene exhausted totally drained at what had been a non stop life,"three days sleep a week for seven years was catching up,I just could not keep it up".
In a brief flurry in 1983 when he came back and did a clutch of big venues including Morecambe Pier but by 1984 he had left the scene for good.
Or so he thought ,back in 1990 he started to programme Northern Soul tapes into his car,
"at the time I was doing over 1000 miles a week in my job and I was getting fed up of listening to the drivel on the radio so I turned back to my first love,which I realised I had a missed a lot.So over the years I have been to a gig every week only I have been the DJ and the audience and my car has been the venue"
So to the present day and Vincent for several years has heard the call for a return to do the Legendary Samanthas revivals and now with people generally showing a interest in getting him back behind the decks again,he's decided-
"Well I thought once more with feeling the last year of the millenium,I will be at Lowton on the 27th nothing has changed,my style is still the same,one big mix solid gold Northern Soul, one hundred per cent originals,classics,obscurities and rarities"
Well one thing's for sure its been a fun trip...........
Maybe the first record might aptly be Rubin "You've Been Away"
Check it out Lowton Civic on the 27th March 1999................
Edited by mike
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