I am one of the least experienced of all the Soulstice DJ’s, as I haven’t done any serious DJ work for quite a while. Like a lot of DJ’s my first experience was at the local youth club in Theale, Berkshire,where I was DJ from October 1978 until May 1981. I did run a mobile disco around the Theale area at the start of the 1980′s but had to give it up due to my job limiting my time. It was 1983 that I first met Ian Bourne who was holding regular Disco’s at the Lamb public house in Theale and we did work together very occasionally. My next encounter with any of the Soulstice team was when Pete Sinclair opened up his shop, The Record Basement in Reading around 1989. After being a regular customer for a while I was eventually asked by Pete to work there and I stayed for 4 years until October 1993, when Pete left to open The Soul Cellar Record Shop .
When did I become interested in Soul music? Well, it is a very good question – the first Soul 7″ I ever bought was by the Detroit Emeralds -”Feel The Need In Me” in 1973 and from then on my interest grew and I wanted to find out more about Soul music. Being a teenager in the 1970′s I was well aware of disco music, but I soon developed a taste for Jazz/Funk and then got very heavily into Jazz itself. In the 1980′s I was very much into Boogie, Early Electro and Rap, as well as Go-Go music.
Towards the end of the 1980′s my interest had shifted to House & Garage, a passion which has stayed with me until the present day. Some of the record shops I have frequented over the years include Quicksilver and Listen records in Reading as well as P&M Music, a legendary specialist Record shop in the Berkshire area, which was run by local DJ and Jazz / Soul fanatic, Andy Gill. I was (and still am) a fanatical West Ham supporter and when in London I would frequent Groove Records in Soho and Blue Bird Records in Edgeware. Over time I started to buy more CD’s than Vinyl but if anyone asked me how big my collection was I wouldn’t know.
After a period of bad health from 2004 onwards, I started back into the Soul scene and attended the very first Soulstice at RedHeads Wine Bar in Theale – how things have moved on for the better since the very first Soulstice. The current Venue at Caversham is now the spiritual home for the event, and a great venue.
Hopefully there’s a good few years left in me yet – Soul music is a passion which stays with you for life
Dave Begley
Dave will hopefully be returning soon, watch out for details
