Saturday 20 March 2010

City Suits Hoxton Trash

"Back in the day Bass Clef running ..." On the track City Suits Hoxton Trash our hero Rob Gallagher in his Earl Zinger guise comes on a little 'fings ain't what they used t'be' as he surveys what's become of the Hoxton environs. It's a familiar London story. Colonisation, commercialisation, gentrification, infiltration, call it what you will, as the artists' workshops and studios appear, followed by the cafes and clubs, shops and luxury flats, leading to conflict with the locals and a perceived loss of character and identity, and new phrases entering our vocab like Hoxton Fins and Hoxton Heroes. Rob Gallagher looks back to simpler times, when Jarvis Cocker in the video shop would probably have been filling shelves and one of the few reasons to come to the area would be the tiny Bass Clef venue, where legendary club nights like Norman Jay's Monday rare groove session attracted many faces from the London jazz dance/funk scene. This was the milieu from which Rob's Galliano project developed, sporting some fine knitwear and becoming part of the Talkin' Loud label, with the Young Disciples. "What have we learned from history?"

1 comment:

  1. behind again. norman's do was huuuuuge for me and started really putting things into place like nothing i'd been to before. a massive thing. and all the better for the bus stop hanging with the rubber shorted tykes from the london apprentice on the way home. happy days. and if if pete and howard are to blame for modern manchester norman surely carries the can for loft living hell
    x

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