Marcus Gaskell
I was born in Wigan and a bit too young to be allowed entry into Wigan
Casino! From an early age, I took a great interest in my Dad’s small
Soul and Jazz record collection which included which included Stevie
Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life, Getz/Gilberto and John Coltrane to
name a few. I was around 16 when I frequented a number of local clubs in Wigan – Cassinelli’s, Maximes (formerly Tiffany’s) and Wigan Pier.
In the mid 80’s then I moved to London in 1988 for college, as the
house scene was building, listening to Kiss FM, Fantasy FM and other
pirate radio stations and moved in with promoters/dj’s running a night
called Superstition at the School of African and Oriental Studies
(SOAS). I started buying records from the likes of Black Market
Records in Soho and Zoom Records in Camden, Spinn Inn and Eastern Bloc in Manchester and learning to DJ. In 1990, I started DJ’ing ‘out’, as part of promoting our own nights at the Rocket on Holloway Rd at the Polytechnic of North London, then at the Wag in Soho playing a mix of US House from Chicago, Detroit and New York. I moved toFrance for a year in 1990 or 1991 and played gigs in clubs in Nantes and Angers,then moved back to London and had a spell of playing Jungle and Hardcore at the Orange Club at the Rocket and with the Spiral TribeSound system on New Year’s Eve in 1991 at the RoundHouse in Camden.
Going back to more soulful and house roots in 1992/3, I played at
Bagley’s Film Studio opening as part of Prince relaunching his name as a symbol and frequented the Rhythm Doctor’s legendary Feel Real nightsstudying the likes of Tony Humphries, Louie Vega, Paul ‘Trouble’
Anderson and Victor Simonelli. By this stage we were going to nights
all over the place, Mike Pickering and Nude night at the Hacienda,
Graeme Park and Allistair Whitehead at the Kool Kat in Nottingham,
Carl Cox at the Eclipse in Coventry. Moving back up North in 1993 and
into to a flat in Didsbury in Manchester with a close mate, Mark, we
started promoting and dj’ing at our own nights at Ten Bar on Tibb St,
the Rocket, Sankeys Soap, Atlas and Revolution bars. London was
calling me back and after another close friend, Seng, redesigned and
redeveloped the Shoreditch Electricity Showrooms, I played the opening night party and had a regular monthly DJ spot as the Hoxton scene exploded.
Since then, music has always been a key part of my life. Now a resident DJ at Soho Farmhouse @sohohouse in the Cotswolds, UK since its launch in 2015 and resident on Soul Groove Radio on Saturdays 10pm Midnight (UK time) playing an eclectic mix of soul, funk, disco through to soulful house. I’ve played at the Big Feastival VIP Secret Garden and have had guest slots with Our House promotions and resident and guest radio shows on SSRadio, SelectRadio, FutureFM Live, 4TheMusic, TMLODjs and HypeHouse.
I have a broad mix of taste from soul, jazz, funk and disco through to
soulful and deep house music…
Please come and join me each and every Saturday for my ‘Music is Soul’ show from 10pm – Midnight (UK time)…Enjoy!