Monkey Pilot talks to Doc Strange
Summer 2006

In the beginning...

What music influenced you and made you want to be a DJ?

Beatles, Kinks, Cream, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Roxy Music
Early European (mostly german) electronica : Can, Neu, Tangerine Dream
Early fusion : Brian Eno, David Byrne, Peter Gabriel
Ska/Reggae/Dub : Bob Marley, Lee Perry, Mad Professor
African : Baaba Maal, Salif Keita
Whirl-y-Fusion : Astralasia, Banco De Gaia, Joi, Trans Global Underground

From little acorns...

When was the first event under the Whirly Banner?
What can you recall of it?

digital photography by Anne Sutcliffe

The very first was held in summer of 1981 by Ros Madden, for twenty odd people in a pub venue. She then launched the second event in a bigger way under the umbrella of the AHP in a community hall, and it was this event to which I turned up and at the end I offered to help out.

Four years later and Ros left me solely in charge of Whirl-y-Gig's future welfare. At this time Mary joined me, bringing special skills with décor design and with crew and policy management. Three years later Whirl-y-Gig was outgrowing the AHP and separated amicably. At this point Jim joined and started directing an integrated psychedelic lightshow, and by February 1989 Whirly went weekly! The mould was set!

What and where were your first experiences of DJing?

I had been helping to manage Whirl-y-Gig with Ros Madden for three years when I started to DJ as Monkey Pilot at Whirl-y-Gig, Old Hampstead Town Hall . Initially I shared whirly DJ'ing with a good friend called DJ Floyd Freud. I soon started playing different but related sounds for Club Dog and also for Club of Mankind events. Once Whirly went weekly in 1989, it became my sole personalised DJ identity and spiritual journey...and from this time on, my only regular gig.

Wherever I lay my hat...

What do you especially remember about each Whirly venue?

Hampstead Town Hall ....Whirly settles down.
Notre Dame Hall.......Going weekly, selling out by 8.45pm!
Shoreditch Town Hall ....at least 1000 people every week for something like three years!
Hammersmith Town Hall ....later licence!
Camden Centre ....even later licence!
291 Gallery .....fairy castle!
Jacks .....going underground, finally all night long!

Mutate to Survive...

How do you think Whirly has changed over the years?

Staying true to the vision no matter what, refining and making strong, …Whirl-y-Gig has always evolved rather than changed.

What about the music specifically?

Initially borrowing from many musical influences to create an alternative and varied dance sound, it was soon the electronic styles that embraced those broad influences most completely that rapidly became more recognisably "our" whirl-y-music as we now know it. So in essence it hasn't changed, but in form it has become much more clearly defined and clearly futuristic...

And what of the future - how do you see Whirly developing?

I believe Whirl-y-Gig is as much about the future of clubbing as it's past. I think Whirl-y-Gig is finally realising its true strength of form, and as such is embarking on a new and renewed future... I hope Whirl-y-Gig will outlive all of us....

In your own words....

What does Whirly mean to you?

Life, love, family, future....

Monkey Pilot talks to Doc Strange, Summer 2006