Headspin: Decade of Dancing

Headspin will be celebrating their 10th birthday in style on 26 Jan, just three days after their original launch back in 1998. Their predominantly funky flavour is held together by hip-hop, soul, reggae, disco, breaks and house, even providing a platform for live bands and musicians. Allan Dunbar, Steve Austin, Colin Millar and Dava have proven to be a solid backbone for the club as the years have progressed, expanding past two decks to four, and now occasionally five. In the years they've rinsed out the Bongo Club, DJ Yoda, DJ Format, The Nextmen, The Unabombers and many more have stood on their stage under the Headspin logo and satisfied legions of clubbers across two centuries.

For their birthday they'll be taking back regulars and any new-comers to the original Headspin sound and the kind of tracks that were gracing soundsystems ten years ago. Why do you think Headspin has remained so consistently popular even as it approaches the tenth birthday? "I think we've tried to remain true to our roots," says Allan, "and the ethos of the club has remained the same since day one. Play all styles of music as long as it's good and has a groove. I think the variety that we provide at Headspin stops people from getting bored." Steve adjoins this, mentioning that this enables them to "play new styles alongside classic tunes."

"When we first had the idea for the club back in 1997, the scene was very separated; quite splintered," Allan thinks. "Dance music had split into numerous sub-genres such as house, techno, drum and bass; big beat was a big thing at the time. All these sorts of club nights plus hip-hop, indie and funk nights all stuck to pretty much one style of music. We tried to cut across that and play the best from all styles."

There has been very little change to the Headspin formula since its conception, with minor changes to the technology used. "I think tastes have changed over the period to an extent but our principles have remained true," says Allan. "We've experimented with different things as well, such as live musicians, four decks, live visuals, but that wasn't a change to the formula as such, more an expansion of our willingness to push boundaries and do something a bit more interesting than have one guy on stage playing records."

Instead, they invited bands such as J Walk, The Boogaloo Investigators, Found, and the X Vectors, and next up are The Heliocentrics in February, playing as part of the DJ Format night. "[They] fitted neatly into the vibe of the club and it went really well," says Allan. "I was going to put on band nights under a different banner 'cos there was a lot of good music around that wasn't getting heard, so it wasn't a huge leap to decide to open up the club earlier and make it part of the same event... We also had live musicians jamming along with the DJs, which came from wanting to do something different."

Their deck format is not restricted to vinyl, because as Steve points out, "a lot of new music just isn't available on vinyl these days. You can get anything on download and burn CDs." They usually have two CD decks and three turntables to accommodate the change between vinyl and CD, while Foundlight and their host of equipment display live visuals, taking their inspiration from films, music video, documentaries, keep-fit videos and live video. All will be present for the tenth birthday, as will great giveaways and a few extra surprises to spark your imagination.

We put it to them that ten years down the line they must have built up some fond personal memories of the club. Allan replies first: "I can honestly say that running and playing at Headspin has brought me so much enjoyment I would hate to have missed out on any of it. Some of the guests we have had have been awesome; Tom Middleton was one of the best recently and Yoda's first audio-visual set was pretty special for other reasons. But some of the residents nights we have had over the past year or so have been mind blowing: the love and energy we have got from the crowd has taken my breath away at times. I can often be spotted behind the decks at the end of the night with the biggest grin plastered over my face. The festival date in August 2006 was a standout. I played after DJ Yoda had done his multi-media visual thing and thought I had played a cracking set and the crowd obviously agreed because they were stood chanting my name for about ten minutes after the music stopped and wouldn't leave. Happy days." Steve also has a vivid memory of the the very first night, leaving him with a "massive buzz when it was a success, filling the old Bongo after not knowing how it would go."

Is expansion for the club planned for the future? Their formula has been tried and tested on numerous occasions, and nary a tumbleweed has ever been seen casually blowing across the dancefloor: it would be stamped into dust by the pounding feet of a regular fanbase. In the past Headspin have done events in Aberdeen, and are currently speculating on future events in Glasgow, but only when the right venue and co-promoters can be found. "In order to expand much more we would need to have releases out," explains Steve. "No DJs get booked to play in other cities and countries unless they have records out really. It would be great to have that behind us and then we could look at spreading the word even more."

"It's a big enough job to promote a night in the city you live without trying to do it from a hundred or so miles away," says Allan. "We did have ambitions to go fortnightly but I think now we realise that it's better to keep it as a monthly party; it keeps it more special and people look forward to it that bit more. I think what we have would work almost anywhere there is a decent number of open-minded, up-for-it people who like good, funky music."

If you fit that description, then you'll be welcomed with open arms and delicious tracks at their next party!