Tuesday 24 January 2012

Welcome to East Van Soul Club


Welcome to East Van Soul Club

EVSC was started in 2005 as a result of a meeting with Wigan Casino founding DJ Russ Winstanley. Russ and I are from the same town, I grew up buying imported 45's from Russ' Rock and Soul Shop on Hallgate. In 2002 Russ was the DJ at my high school reunion. Russ signed a copy of his book "Soul Survivors - The Wigan Casino Story" and Volume 2 of the CD compilation; at the time I though Northern Soul was a thing of the past. We got chatting and some years later the East Van Soul Club was created. 


What is Northern Soul ?


Initially, EVSC was started to work in conjunction with my band "Mr M & The All Nighters" which to any Wigan Casino fan is an inside joke. The band went through many incarnations from 2005 to 2011, over 50 musicians and singers went through the revolving door of Mr M. Finally, in November 2011 I had had enough and it was time to move on musically, however the East Van Soul Club lives on.



In 2008 I got hooked on "Second Life" this opened the door to some online dj'ing. I even played at a Second Life versions of the Manchester's Twisted Wheel and Wigan Casino. This went on to progress in to East Van Soul Club Radio, an online radio show that airs live every Monday 10am-1pm Vancouver time or 6-9pm Wigan time.


In March 2011 DJ's Jonny Grayston and Jarrod O'Dell asked about using the name East Van Soul Club. I gave them permission to do so and registered the name under creative commons. Jarrod and Jonny had just started at the Waldorf, a few months later they moved to the Biltmore and continue to have a successful event there on the second Friday of the month.



With Mr M & The All Nighters gigs were always presented by "East Van Soul Club". With the demise of the band East Van Soul Club presented its first stand alone live event December 23rd 2011, at the Media Club. DJ David Love Jones and bands "Return of the Stern" and "High Society" got East Van Soul Club off to a rousing start.


2012 will see East Van Soul Club presenting live events at the Railway, Media Club, Electric Owl and other fine establishments in Vancouver.


Welcome and please keep coming back for music reviews, event reviews, book reviews and everything to do with soul related music.


Check out East Van Soul Club and East Van Soul Club Radio on Facebook

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