ROBODISCO #2 – A Flash Atkins DJ MIx
1. Space Raiders – Lay Me Down (Midfield General Rmx)
2. Circulation – The Return (Original 1997 Mix)
3. Blunted Dummies – House For All (Thee John Acquaviva edit – Remaster)
4. Chez ’n Trent – The Choice
5. Markus Nikolai – Bushes (The First Recreation version 1.2)
6. Miguel Migs – Those Nights
7. Those Guys – Love Love Love
8. Mr Hermano – Vasco De Gama (Disco De Gama Remix)
9. Rob Mello – Fantasize (vocal)
10. DJ Spen – Crazed At Midnight (Original Mix)
11. Pound Boys – Time Baby (Pb Main Mix)
12. UBU – Pixels
13. DJ Assassin – Jazz Journey (SWAG’s Night Sight Mix)
14. Plastic Fantastic Machine – Whistle Song (Grant Nelson Remix)
15. Go Master – Electronic Funk
The Robodisco compilation, mixed by Miles Hollway and Elliot Eastwick, was released in 2000 to much critical acclaim. They were flying high as DJs with international gigs and their Hard Times residency, and as producers under the Salt City Orchestra (amongst other things) with Si Brad. House music was forging ahead all over the world with the UK and US at the forefront, with Paper in there as part of the leaders pack.
Despite the love it garnered, the comp didn’t fly off the shelves and may even have lost money. This was back in the day, when the standard licensing fee for a track was a whopping £500 (do the maths), sometimes more. I had the follow up ready to go but, in a rare display of financial common sense, we decided to pull it.
Digging through my archive recently, I found the original track listing and thought it would be good to scratch the itch to see how it would have turned out. A quick trawl through Discogs, a rifle through my battered vinyl and it was ready to go. As tempting as it was to do a bit of retrospective tweaking, I resisted. If I did it again, with the benefit of hindsight the track listing would be different. I didn’t give in to the urge to sneak a couple in. I did, however, replace House For All with the John Acquaviva edit and remaster, as my original vinyl is absolutely knackered. It was done in a single take on a Pioneer XDJ-RR and, in a concession to modern technology, with a few effects and some looping.
Robodisco, with it’s iconic robot design by Paul Cleary, was the flagship Paper monthly club night, back when every night was a going out night and Thursday was the start of the weekend. It travelled around Manchester clubland, starting off at Paradise Factory with Derrick Carter and Moonboots then South on a Wednesday, via Kaleida (now Matt and Phreds) and ending up in probably its most successful iteration, a monthly Saturday at Planet K. One big room with about 600 capacity, a decent sound system and a well stocked bar was the formula for many memorable (and forgotten) nights.
The booking policy was who we wanted to hear, and the list of DJs is impressive. Josh Wink, Lil Louis, X-Press 2, DJ Harvey (who read his book behind the decks before going on), Gemini, Bob Sinclar, Idjut Boys, Romanthony (who turned up with his records in a suitcase and proceeded to play his own bootleg of The Book, having not realised it was a Paper release, then denying it), David Holmes, Kerry Chandler, Andrew Weatherall, Rune Lindbaek, Ashley Beedle, Jaques Le Cont (who became an occasional resident), Angel Moraes, DJ Vibe and on. It certainly was a man’s world back then.
We could also put on our artists, including Crazy P(enis’) first live gigs, Kenny Hawkes, Streetlife Originals, The Problem Kids, Rune Lindbaek, Soane (The Tongan Prince) and Eric Rug, who subsequently became a resident and part of the Paper family. Eric had that DJ magic, often having to be helped up behind the decks after too many shandies, then absolutely blowing the roof off.
Personal favourite moments were the Lil Louis one which was one of the birthdays. Somehow, we had sponsorship and the dressed the club, so it looked amazing. It was also possibly the only one we didn’t lose money on as they also contributed to his fee. The old adage would go that when totting up the cash at the end of the night, we would make £250 profit on the door and the bar tab would come in at £350. Lil Louis, was as you would expect, super moody and played an amazing set. But I shudder to think what he made of us at the end of the night, a bunch of Northern youth hitting Gurn Factor 10 with our eyes spinning round in our heads.
The flood siren was an integral part of the club. At opportune moments, it would be cranked up, the music dropped and mayhem would ensue. Half the night would be spent fighting off people in all sorts of states, clambering onstage to have a go, The idea came from a New York trip to Junior Vasquez’s Sound Factory Miles and I took (free flights in exchange for buying a hoover). It blew our minds, and was one of the things that set Paper its path musical path. Anyway, there was a big siren that went off periodically and we thought, ‘we’ll have that’.
There was always a ‘ONE MORE ONE MORE’ (after the siren of course) and on one occasion, had what could have been either the high point, or low point of my DJ career. Kung Fu Fighting by Carl Douglas. Half the club left in disgust and the remaining half went mental.
Planet K closed, leaving us homeless and we ran at the newly changed hands Sankeys Soap for about a year. More budget, bigger club and better sound system, but Robo was run by the management as part of their programme and was never quite the same. It somehow lost its identity and the home-spun, family feel that had always made it so special. I can’t remember the final one but think it went out with a fizzle rather than a bang.
Robo was no more, Paper ran out of money and we all went off to lick our 10 years of partying, post acid house, comedown wounds.
But maybe it’s time for a re-visit…
Ben Davis (Flash Atkins) x