DUNDEE DISCO ACTION - '77 STYLE!

A nice reminder of the kind of local mobile disco action that was going on around town during a typical random week back in March 1977.

Starting at the top - with the I.E. Discotheque getting in the groove up at the Ferry Lounge in the Tay Centre Hotel.

Next up we have the Sweeney's who managed to break loose from the Sands for an evening and take their Venus Ultra Disco for a spin along at the Invercarse Hotel - in the appropriately named Spinney bar!

Dancing around the edge of town, the Scenic 7 Disco were pumping out their beats across at the Longhaugh Hotel.

Off to the Golden Pheasant now to sample the ample sounds of the Deepwater Disco, who were normally to be heard along at the Bowling Alley each week.

The Nine Maidens had an over 20's night when the Neoteric Disco stopped off to spin their selection of vinyl in the Silver Cage.

From silver to chrome and it's back into the city centre we go to boogie on down to the Gemini Disco at the Chrome Rail.

The good thing about mobile disco's was it meant you didn't always have to dress smart and go queue up at the Barracuda every weekend just to have some fun on the dancefloor - the DJ's brought the dancefloor to you sometimes too!

The last item, however, has got me wondering - just how many of the Disc Jockeys who were on the road this particular week, decided to take part in the DJ competition held in Tiffany's the same week?

And who ended up the vinyl victor?!



THE CRASH CREW - 1989

This is the full rave package..!!
The ravers - the DJ's - the 12's - the fashion - the smiley - the graffiti.
It's the Crash Crew in the summer of '89 in the Overgate.
Thanx to JG

DUNDEE'S FIRST RAVE - 1989

Summer 1989, and organisers in Dundee plan to have a rave at a mystery location, with intent to dance the night away to some acid house music.

Nothing wrong with that... after all, the scene was already up and running down South.

However, like so many raves that were planned in the early days, the Dundee one ran into trouble with the police, who viewed it as being illegal, and who did their best to prevent it taking place.

Although the organisers were under pressure from the police, there were last minute attempts to have the rave on a smaller scale elsewhere, but eventually the "Back To Life" event had to be cancelled.

The disappointed ravers ended up dancing the night away at Fat Sams instead. This included the organisers, who, after leaving Fatties, were tailed by the police back home, just to make sure they didn't sneak off to an illegal dance in the early hours!!

A few other raves did manage to take place around Dundee that summer, undetected by the police. On one occasion, however, a party in Birkhill did get busted. It was one of the "Back To Life" organisers who was involved too, only this time, the organiser was charged and fined for - "broadcasting sounds known as Acid House"!!!!

Unbelievable!!!!

This ridiculous outcome even got a mention in style magazine, The Face.

I mean, was there ever a crackdown on Roland TB-303 dealers?!!!!

It has to be said though, authority and music have a history of not getting on, whether it be the Communist regime prohibiting jazz in Russia, the American Christian Churches smashing records by The Beatles, Councils in UK banning punk gigs or the police getting het up over a rave - the two sometimes just don't mix!!

The cuttings are from the Tele - dated 11 & 12 August 1989.

Big thanks to JG

JIMMY LOW - CENTRE BAR DJ

In the mid/late 70's, the DJ downstairs at the Tay Hotel's Centre Bar was, Jimmy Low. A really good guy, always cheery, always smiling.

My crowd started going to the Centre Bar Saturday lunchtime sessions in 1976. Rock music was it's speciality, although you'd get an occasional pop tune thrown in. So he would play something like Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" followed by a golden oldie "Can't Get Enough" by Bad Company, next to a chart tune by Rod Stewart such as "This Old Heart Of Mine".

Jimmy was particularly pleased with a discovery of his, a track by Horslips called "Fantasia-My Lagan Love". This became his signature tune throughout the summer that year, and he usually finished his set with it. It was a nice upbeat Celtic-rock instrumental.

One of the things about Saturday lunchtimes was, a few of the punters would bring in an album from their own collection and get Jimmy to play a track from it, which he always did, no matter what it was. Well, once in 1976 my mate brought in the debut LP by The Ramones and got him to play "Blitzkrieg Bop", much to the amusement of my mob and the bemusement of most of the others in the pub. It was the first time a punk type of record had been played. It wasn't particularly influential but later that year tracks like The Stranglers "Get A Grip On Yourself" and Jonathan Richman's "Roadrunner" were being slipped into his set.

I remember catching Jimmy out once when he had a stint as a barman in Foreigners, a couple of years later.

You know when you ask for a lager & a lager tops, and you ask the barman which is which when he brings them over because they look similar. Well, I asked for 3 ciders, 1 with a dash of blackcurrant. So when Jimmy brought them over, I asked him which one had the blackcurrant in it and as soon as he pointed to the purple pint, he realised I was having him on..!!

Tragically, Jimmy died around the early '80's in a motorbike accident.

It was good fun while it lasted.

SAMANTHAS - SOUTH TAY STREET - 1970'S

The exterior shot is of the doorway, but how's about this as an example of eccentric interior design!

It's Samanthas - the disco the old Palais turned into in 1976.

Its main entrance was in South Tay Street, but you could also get to it via a pub connecting to the back of Samanthas called, The Stage Door Bar, which was in the Marketgait.

The Stage Door Bar itself had a small dancefloor called Stage 1.

One of the resident DJ's at Samantha's was Sandy Martin, although they would also bring in big name DJ's from time to time.

Samanthas put bands on too - some being of the soul-funk variety, then later the punky new wave variety.

The end for Samanthas came around April '78, and was later remodeled into another disco called Bloomers in October '78.

Exterior photo by Hes.

Interior photo by Nicoll Russell Studios.