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The Date: Timmy Regisford: Xpress II: Heavy Disco

There’s a relatively new party in town that goes by the name of The Date. The line ups aren’t too bad, Kerri Chandler at the last one, a guy called Tony Humphries at the one prior to that and some other gentleman called Timmy Regisford at this most recent one.

Added to that the venue has 3 rooms and other DJ’s such as Rocky and Diesel, the Faith boys and Horsemeat Disco spread across their events then you can see that as I said before, the line ups are alright.

OK, if you were a fan of poor dance music you’d have stopped reading by now, so I can tell you all about this night properly but shhhhhh… it’s our secret. Where do I start? The Date is the brainchild of Stuart Patterson and Tim Keenoy, both of whom are respected figures in the dance scene. I mean the real dance scene.

Having both promoted their own successful events, the pair teamed up and started a brand new night called The Date and I have to tell you now, this is going to be something huge. The venue the guys found is an old warehouse bang in the heart of north west London and is a raw, gritty and honestly real building. I’m placing a lot of emphasis on those last words as it’s the best venue I’ve been to for a long, long time! It is an utterly amazing space with no room for pretentiousness and, for me personally, the only other venue I’ve been to that has this sort of character is Islington Mill in Salford and even that’s not as good as here. The guys have built a fantastic team for this night too and the crisp Funktion One sound system is a joy to listen to and I can only assume, must be a joy to play on also.

Everything they have done, they have done right. The lighting is excellent, the bars are easy to get served at, there is a space to cool down if you need to and the door staff are all friendly. But the most important thing by far? The crowd. The people that I have seen at these last two events are just so down to earth and make this night. From a male point of view, the women are simply stunning too; the girls were really well dressed, stylish without one bit of fake tan being seen by me all night and everyone is here for the music!

I deliberately haven’t mentioned the DJ’s yet, as I think Stuart and Tim deserve a massive pat on the back for the organisational skills they possess. Their partnership clearly works well and the venue deserves as much of a mention as the music and the crowd.

I was of course joking when I said earlier the line ups were just alright. The programming of this night I think is genius and to have Tony Humphries, Kerri Chandler (whom I had the pleasure of watching fine tune the Funktion One system at the last event) and now Timmy Regisford…Well, I can’t think of another night in the country that has had guests of this magnitude at successive parties.

But we’re here for the music, so I’ll stop digressing and get straight to it. I arrived there fairly early, around 8.30pm, as Ashley Beedle and Dave Jarvis were opening the night with their Heavy Disco album launch. Ashley, Dave and Diesel have just finished this and I will be reviewing it in Blues and Soul later this week. Suffice to say it’s a bit of alright and their track selection set the tone for the rest of the night perfectly. Ashley and Dave were playing in the courtyard, which is a superb outside space and a natural congregating point. The place filled up really nicely, people were dancing and the mood was spot on. What an ace start especially as the time wasn’t even yet 9.30!

I decided to head upstairs to catch Timmy at around about 11.30 and already, the room was busy with people busting moves to his delectable sounds. He is a brilliant DJ, he knows how to take a crowd on a journey and it’s always a pleasure hearing him, especially at such an event as this. But I can’t stay in one place too long, I like having a wander around and listening to all of the music, so I popped downstairs to catch Rocky and Diesel. They were also superbly brilliant, and now I was torn about what room to stay in. I ended up doing about an hour in each one alternating between, but when I went back upstairs, TR had the room locked and the feeling in there was hard to transcribe. The place felt happy, it was jumping and a lot of energy emanated on that dance floor! Everyone was totally into it, the amount of people I saw with their eyes closed following the musical journey was a joy to behold. I stayed there for a good couple of hours this time before heading back downstairs to check Rocky and Diesel.

Their room was also going off, everyone was so, so into the music. Argggh, decisions, decisions! I planted myself down here for a good while too, as I just couldn’t pull myself away from the slightly deeper sounds. When they played their very own classic, Muzik Xpress, well that did it for me. I was instantly taken back to my old favourite haunt, Full Circle, where I first heard this played.

There are some very solid nights in London and around other parts of the country too. I have my favourites and I have nights I know I’m going to, before they have even announced who is playing. The Date has become one such event. I had another amazing time here and absolutely love and rate this party massively. I had friends who came down to this from Liverpool and Manchester…that speaks for itself about just how good this party is.

Next up sees two members of the formidable Baltimore outfit ‘The Basement Boys’ spinning here. I am of course talking about Karizma and Spen, not just a formidable production team, but an unbelievable DJ partnership too. They have rocked Southport and SunceBeat with their dual sets and London is in for a real treat that night. Horsemeat Disco is also in attendance covering the downstairs area, so again there are two completely different rooms, but with one common ethos. Real music for real music fans. See you there!

The Date returns on Saturday November 17th at Loft Studios, Scrubs Lane, London NW10.

Tickets here: http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?400276

Many thanks to Stuart Patterson, Tim Keenoy and Ben Brophy.

All images are copyright of Paul Marshall.
Words GARETH MORGAN