The Liverpool Connection Podcast
Football and Music 1:1 with DJ Mark XTC
For all LFC merch visit upthereds.co.uk or upthereds.us - for a 10% discount, use code ATXREDS
The Liverpool Connection is an LFC podcast that aims to bring the story of our wonderful club to as many fans as possible around the world. The history, the passion, the music, the people, the City – we want to share perspectives on and off the pitch. We're delighted to have you here with us, be sure to Like and Subscribe with Notifications on for our latest podcast.
🔊 Listen to The Liverpool Connection Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts: https://www.buzzsprout.com/785459
📲 Follow The Liverpool Connection on Social Media:
💻 Website: https://www.atxreds.com
🐤 Twitter: https://twitter.com/atxredspodcast
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📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atxredspodcast/
Daz O'Connor, Steve Wilson, Nik O'Connor, Glenn Kewley, Julian Lane, Chris Delcros
The British Academy of Soccer
Central Texas
80s Casuals
B.D. Riley's Irish Pub
Aldrich at Mueller
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
For all LFC merch visit upthereds.co.uk or upthereds.us - for a 10% discount, use code ATXREDS
The Liverpool Connection is an LFC podcast that aims to bring the story of our wonderful club to as many fans as possible around the world. The history, the passion, the music, the people, the City – we want to share perspectives on and off the pitch. We're delighted to have you here with us, be sure to Like and Subscribe with Notifications on for our latest podcast.
🔊 Listen to The Liverpool Connection Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts: https://www.buzzsprout.com/785459
📲 Follow The Liverpool Connection on Social Media:
💻 Website: https://www.atxreds.com
🐤 Twitter: https://twitter.com/atxredspodcast
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atxredspodcast/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atxredspodcast/
Daz O'Connor, Steve Wilson, Nik O'Connor, Glenn Kewley, Julian Lane, Chris Delcros
The British Academy of Soccer
Central Texas
80s Casuals
B.D. Riley's Irish Pub
Aldrich at Mueller
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Hi, this is Chris Hawkins and you're listening to the Liverpool Connection podcast.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the Liverpool Connection podcast. This is my football and music podcast, where I bring on a guest to talk about football and music. Football and music podcast where I bring on a guest to talk about football and music. And I'm Dazza, if you didn't know already, if you're new to the channel, please like, subscribe and all that good stuff. What I love about my football and music is I get to bring on people that I really respect musically. If people know me, they know I'm into house music and also drum and bass and breaks and all that good stuff. So this is an honor for me to have my next guest on Real name, mark McKinley, but in the whole realm of the music biz his name is Mark XTC and a massive drum and bass DJ and producer and we'll get into that in a little bit. But even better, he's a Liverpool supporter, which means the world to me. So welcome, mark to the pod.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me, darren. Thank you so much for having me. Well, it's just like you know watching him or watching your podcast and seeing Crafty and other people on it, it's just like, oh, mate, this is ace. So yeah, thank you for having me, mate Well it's.
Speaker 2:You know it's. Liverpool Football Club spreads the world. You know it's global, but like all these musicians that I've had on I, I didn't know crafty was a liverpool supporter. You know part of ragga twins. You know one's liverpool one spares, you know which.
Speaker 1:Sorry for spares, but they're still yeah, we have a lot of banter about that one, as as you can imagine.
Speaker 2:Yeah so it just amazes me. You know, I just had Dave Haslam on. That episode will be going out in a little bit as well, and he's a West Brom fan. I've got Terry Farley, chelsea supporter coming on. No need to go to Chelsea man Right. Yeah, so you know it's great I mean it's always great to speak to fellow Liverpool supporters, but it's also good to you know have other people on as well. Other people on you know and listen to you, know why they think their team is the best.
Speaker 1:But we all know. We all know Liverpool is the best. God's sake, you know the history.
Speaker 2:Let's go back in, you know in your past and, uh, you know where, where you're, where were you born and, like, you know how did liverpool football club come into your life well, living in manchester, you know you can imagine the amount of abuse I take anyway so I was born in oldham.
Speaker 1:I was actually born in oldham and I always liked kevin keegan. When I was a kid from being like you know, really, really young age I could Kevin Keegan was like the best thing since sliced bread. I didn't even know what team he support. He played for anything back then because I was only really, really young and, um, red was always my favorite color. My dad was a city fan, um, but red was always my favorite color. So you know, I didn't really understand anything but red and kevin keegan.
Speaker 1:And then see you on superstars and all the old kid you know programs that used to be on tv. I just like wow. And then, following liverpool, it was like that was this is my team, this is my team. That was it. From that point and I must I've got like pictures of me when I was, I think, about seven, eight, in the liverpool kit and kit and Liverpool top and it was just Kevin Keegan, everything was Kevin Keegan. Then, obviously, you know, from that point on it just went on for Kenny to John Barnes, whoever it was, it was always somebody in the team that was my favourite player and obviously still red, still my favourite going out today. So never stopped supporting my boys, man never.
Speaker 2:Well, you're the same as me because you're the same age, right? Yeah, so you know, my my first match was when I was six and kevin keegan was was my hero for like a year, you know, because he left in 77 and I was distraught. Um, no, told us before where, you know, I had a massive poster of him and I ripped it to pieces and he oh no see, I didn't go down that route.
Speaker 1:I was good. But then, you know, I was like more of a him fan than my team at the time before. Before, obviously, you know, when I was a kid I'm like four or five years old and then it was like, from that point then, when he left, it was more about the team. For me, then it was like right, okay, he's got a. When he left, it was more about the team for me. Then it was like right, okay, he's got a goal, somebody else is going to come in and we're still going to be ace. You know what I mean. So I was welcoming Kenny.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, for me though, it was about the team, but you know, I was so you know starstruck by Kevin. You know I didn't think anybody else could come in and you know I don't think any of us would have thought. You know, kenny was a fantastic player, but we didn't think he would reach the heights.
Speaker 1:Nobody was going to be Kevin Keegan at first, but it was more of personally this is just my opinion. I was like I remember being a kid thinking well, I just want Liverpool to be the best, and that's all I kept thinking. You know what I mean, no matter what he did or where he, wherever Kevin, you know Kevin Keegan went, it was like I just want Liverpool to be the best. I don't care who else comes in, they've got to be the best.
Speaker 2:And I don me off because you know, kevin, kevin won the ballon, d'or you know, twice with hamburg and I was just like you, bastard, yeah, but you know we move on. But yeah, like those, those uh red shirts back back in the day, the v-neck, the white v-neck, or the the round, the white collar, which is white collar, the round white collar, that's.
Speaker 1:That's still. I still got mine. Still got mine.
Speaker 1:You've got it it's not my original one but still got, you know, a replica one from. I wish I'd still had me one when I was a kid, but I wish I had that one, but it won't be in there anyway. But yeah, you know, still having all the replica kits, I mean I think I've got one on now, one of my old ones. So yeah, love them man. I mean them days. You know you had to have the kit, didn't matter what it looked like anyway, you just had to have the kit. I mean I think I had the full kit me at one stage I got to a stage where I had to have, you know, shorts, socks, everything full works.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, you were a kid. You know there's nothing wrong with having the full kit when you're a kid. When you're a 53 year old man, no, please don't wear the full kit, cause we all know.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The tops All right, but if you, if you wear in the shorts and the socks with it as well, who know? No, no, no.
Speaker 1:So I've seen people do it.
Speaker 2:Oh, I've seen quite a few few people down the pub and, yeah, they get that one look and it's like, well, if you're happy in it, that's all right, that's what counts right. That's what counts right, yeah, if you can wear it and pull it off, then go ahead, lad.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, wearing the kits, especially if you're going to Anfield. You have to have a kit on. You have to have a kit on. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:especially summer time, yeah, yeah, well, I mean, like you know, when the weather gets warmer, obviously you're not gonna. You're not gonna be like some Newcastle fans that don't even wear a top in the.
Speaker 1:I mean, where do they get that from? From them people in Poland and then just like turn the backs and just tops off and everything. It's like what is that about really, really, yeah, it's freezing, it's freezing, snow's falling. What are you doing? People do it, you know. Each to their own. I won't do it personally.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So growing up, I mean you especially, you know Manchester Oldham, you know, being a Liverpool supporter oh, mate, it's all. Manchester Oldham, you know being a Liverpool supporter oh mate, it must have been. But I mean, you know, we had a really good team back then.
Speaker 1:We were, we was great, we was brilliant. You know I mean winning. I think we won everything all the time. We were always winning. So it was great for me as a kid going into school with my Liverpool top on. But then, obviously, premier League era, when that started, that changed everything. But prior to that, you know, we dominate. So for me it was just great being a Liverpool fan living in Manchester and, well, living in Oldham. At the time Oldham weren't doing very well anyway. So for me, you know, it was like oh, you're a glory hunter. Well, how can I be a glory hunter when I've been following them since I was a kid? I didn't know no different. I mean, I didn't know no different, it was just I followed my, my, my favorite color and my favorite person at the time, which was kevin keegan so when I mean was your, was your dad, it is city fan, right, so main road.
Speaker 2:You know, um, for all those City fans that don't remember, there was Main Road before the Etihad, so Main Road was full to capacity, unlike the Etihad. I always like to dig on them, god.
Speaker 1:I just remember he he didn't really go to matches or anything like that, but he still, you know it was on on TV and everything like that. He'd be like, oh, this go to matches or anything like that, but it's still, you know it was on on your TV and everything like that. It'd be like, oh, this person's done this and this person I'm just thinking who are them people? I mean, I can't remember if somebody like called Green off. I can't. That sticks in my head. Somebody called Green off. My dad used to call him out and like can you not just see how good my team might have? Why are you watching them? Why are you even bothered about them? So yeah, it didn't go down very well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean for you. Then when was your first? First?
Speaker 1:match or first interaction with the team. First match must have been about 11-12. Must have been about 11-12. And Anfield was. It was just like the Holy Grail to go to for me. Just going to that place and actually walking up to it and all them people walking up.
Speaker 1:I remember I think I went with like a family friend and it was just like wow, what is going on? You know, I was just completely in awe of everything that was happening. Everybody else, you know, was just completely in awe of everything that was happening, everybody else, you know, in Liverpool tops and it was like this is just like, this is ace. And then being on the actual I don't know where I was sat because, like I said, I was quite young so I don't exactly remember where I was sat, but I remember watching and just thinking wow, just like sat in awe of everybody that was playing and then thinking I love him, I love him, I love him. You know every single player that was playing, you know, from whoever it could have been uh, from dermot to green, um to graham, soon, as it could have been just like this is just great, this is. And I was just sat there thinking this is just heaven, this is just having this.
Speaker 1:And then I mean going for years and years on. From that point. I mean I wish I could go as many times as I could now. You know previously, but just being there and just being wherever you're sat, in the Anfield or Road End or wherever you're sat in COP, wherever you're sat, it's just like this place is amazing. I've been to many, many grounds. You know watched football from Barcelona to Madrid to Seville, to Bleeding Oldham. You know watch football from Barcelona to Madrid to Seville to be an older, you know what I mean. And when you go to Anfield, there's nothing like it. No, no matter what ground you go like, there's nothing like it at all At all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I used to still get goosebumps yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I remember taking my son and when I took him he must've been young when I took him I remember taking him and we sat there and I remember him sat there just mouth wide open, thinking wow. And then when he's singing Never Walk Alone, he cried. He actually had tears coming down his face, just like wow. So, yeah, nothing like it. And people start saying that there's other teams that are anywhere near us. They're not. They're just not because we're just special. We really are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's just. You know, when you walk up to Anfield you just get the tingles.
Speaker 1:You know when you walk up the steps and you just see that beautiful pitch you know, Even walking through the park and you can see everything on the other side, it's just like this is just, this is just madness, but it's ace, this is love it.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is the best feeling in the world. Do you remember your first match?
Speaker 1:Not fully, not fully. No, bloody hell, I'm a bit old man Not remember the first match. No, I remember so many more going on, but not the first one. I just remember just thinking about the players that were playing and thinking, wow, I can actually see them, I can see the players that I see on TV, I can see them and that'd be like the first time I've actually seen them, you know, live. So, yeah, that was more. It's more that for me than trying to remember the time. It was just like a memory that you just you'll never forget or remember the game. I don't remember the game. I don't remember what he was playing.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, when you forget, then yeah, that's, uh, yeah.
Speaker 1:I was about 11, but between 9 and 11 I was between them ages, so for me it was just like you know, just young kids sat there in awe yeah it's good when you go now, when I go on now. Well, it's good when you go.
Speaker 2:You know, as a teenager as well, and you kind of you know like my grandad took me a lot, but you know when I was finally able to go by myself. It's just like you just feel you know, billy big balls. Oh yeah, yeah, all right, I'm with, I'm with the, I'm with the crew going with your mates is completely different, completely different.
Speaker 1:Oh what, that is just ace in it. When you go with your mates and you know, put before, you know main, full works, the walk up to the ground, everything in the game, getting your little trinkets that you might get as you're walking up, all right, it's ace, it's just you can't beat that. That's something that I think that's a special part of going to any, any football, any footballing person that will go to the ground. That's one of the special things that they love about it. But but for us, you know what I mean as soon as you get in and the never walk alone starts, that's it. Goosebumps, no matter who you are, even if you're an opposing team, you're going to get them goosebumps, no matter who you are. My missus went and she's a City fan and she was like wow, what is this? I said exactly, yeah, exactly. It's not nothing like where you go to your ground oh, no, plastic, plastic flags, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:It's just, you know, it's just one. I always tell people like you know, because there's a lot of people you know throughout the world that will never, ever get that chance to go to anfield. And then you know I I wish everyone could go because it really is at least one time. You know, I kind of do get a bit pissed off when you know some people start going on about the day trippers and all that. But you know what they. They spend money.
Speaker 1:You know they buy, they buy, they buy the merchandise and all that, and all over the world you know what I mean, from all over the world and the gold to Anfield and they just do the tour. The tour, I mean I'm going to take my little one. She's only she's nine, just turned nine. I'm going to take her on the tour, I'm going to do it. You know, just us that do it. It's not just people all around the world that do it. So anybody that can put us down for doing that it's just daft. That's just daft. That because it's special. So, yeah, you do want to go and see it and you do want to witness the history of the place I, I, 100, agree, you know, take it all in.
Speaker 2:You know, the only thing that does annoy me is like the, the people that do like have their cameras out for 90 minutes. It's like just live in the moment. I think it's the same like in the. You know, for me, the DJ world as well. It's like go and experience it, don't you know? If you want to take a picture, take a quick picture of the DJ or whatever who's playing on stage. Then put the phone back in your pocket and enjoy.
Speaker 1:That scene now in the music industry is right. You got, I see, as two, two different um paths. Now there's the old school path with us of djs who like to play tunes and just want to get on with it and make people dance. You know, that's, that's that side of it. And then there's the other side of it. People now expect some form of social media interaction with that.
Speaker 1:So if you are performing, you have to have a video crew with you to perform. The video crew will do that and then they'll share that after your set. There's hundreds of djs. I know that I do that. Um, it's not something that I personally do. I'd take a few videos, or my missus might take you or whoever might be with us do a few videos of the sets, but it's not something I'll purposely bring somebody to do that. That's not your job. Your job is not to actually interact with the crowd. You're then the people in the crowd enjoy the moment, dance.
Speaker 1:You know, don't just sit there with your phones for the whole set, just recording a set and then going looking for each tune. Which. What is that's like? Again, that's a different path. That is a normal pathway for other industry, other well, not other industries, other genres of music. That's like, again, that's a different path. That is a normal pathway for other industry, other well, not other industries other genres of music. That's just the pathway. They expect to listen to them tunes, got them on the videos to go back, listen to find out right and they'll find these tunes, what these djs will be playing. So that's another way that they're interacting, by having the phones with the whole set up. It's really weird but it is, like I said, different paths now and the way the industry's changed over the years, it seems normal for many people.
Speaker 2:That's the norm for many people well, I mean, it's, it's branding, isn't it? Yeah, you've got to have like a brand now you've got to be, have a big artist to do, yeah definitely massive social media presence. You know, like um james hype, he, he comes to mind. You know he's he's. It's not my cup of tea, his music, but you know he's he's. He's playing the the game. You know he's put the brand out like. You know he has got skills, but the whole camera crew and it just doesn't sit well with me.
Speaker 2:It's like just come to a night. I've noticed more and more some of the old schoolers are asking attendances to basically put stickers on their phones or a lot of people are saying don't bring your phones into the venue.
Speaker 1:Now that's a lot of things that are starting to happen as well. But, as, again, being a teacher, I have both aspects of that. My students that come in they want to be DJs, they want to be the next Calvin Harris, they want to be whoever. They're. Looking at that and thinking that's what we want to go down. What path do I need to do? So I have to teach them not just DJ skills, but the social side of it as well, as well as what can happen to them if they don't watch for the pitfalls that can happen with doing something on social media or putting something on social media that can hinder them rather than help them.
Speaker 1:So these are the two things that you know is, um, it's a cat's 22 because, like I said, I teach it, I live it, but then I'm still old school, so I still want to just like look, you don't need to film everything, just dance, listen to this tune that's coming in. You know I mean that kind of thing. So, yeah, I have both aspects of that which, unfortunately, being a teacher, I have to teach it as well. So I I don't understand both sides. You know I mean the old school side and the up-and-coming side. You know I mean with these I can't even see kids now, because not kids are half of them, you know, between 25 and 40 and they're still doing the same thing. You know they get the social media aspect. That is first, and then DJing is after, which is like no wrong way around well, the thing is too, you know.
Speaker 2:I remember back in the day, you know, when there wasn't social media, like DJs would cover the records with something so nobody could the train you'd see the train spot at their heads just trying to go around around, follow the label. And now, because you've got shazam and all that that stuff, people, people, you know, rip, rip the song off and then the phones are out all the time. All the time it's out. You know that. Rip the song off. Yeah, you're thinking about the phones. All the time, all the time it's out. You know that song that just came out is on the internet within two hours.
Speaker 1:I seen it in an old school play. I was playing an old school thing I can't remember who was playing and I saw her turn around and there's like two punters there just buzzing, like, dancing away, and then they got the phone out. And I saw her turn around and there's two punters there just buzzing, dancing away, and then they got the phone out and I saw the Shazam logo come up on the phone and I thought, no way, you're actually Shazamming an old school tune now. So I was like, wow, it's happening in drum and bass. Drum and bass is standard procedure. I see it every week in drum and bass, but in an old school, you know rave. I was like, wow, okay, it's happening here as well. Okay, yeah, yeah, it's like I said, the world's changed now, dan. It's gone down a path which is never going to go back. Especially now, with AI coming in, it's changing even more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's tough, but you know you don't want to be like that. You know that old fart on a rocking chair, you know get off my grass kind of person. It's a younger generation's time and even though I don't agree with the phones and all that, they still seem to be having fun and again, that's what it's about. But yeah, I have my opinions.
Speaker 1:You're not the only one mate I do as well. You're not the only one mate I do as well. You're not the only one I do, unfortunately, when they're 18, 19 years old, they go into a rave with 10,000 other people in there. You know what I mean. They want to know every tune that this DJ is going to play. Some of them are going in to have a good time. A lot of them are going in because they want to be up and coming-coming DJs as well and they want to know, right, what's that tune? I want to know what. And that's I mean.
Speaker 1:Back in ours, like you said, we had the tunes covered up. You know what I mean. You couldn't even see what people were playing and then, half the time, when they did the mixes, it was like where's that from? What was that? When these kids now will say, all right, what was that mix? Okay, and they do it within two seconds on you know little controls that they have. Oh, there we go. That's what he did. Yeah, he pressed that and then he pressed two buttons and it's there. You know I mean, but it's not the same as the soul of doing it live and understanding what you've just done to that crowd so, for you know, we'll talk about the djing and stuff.
Speaker 2:How, how did you get involved in that, was it? You know, you just obviously brought up in the scene and you were like you know, I want to give this a go, or was it?
Speaker 1:um, no, I was more. I was a breakdancer, if I'm honest. I was a breakdancer and I loved like dancing and stuff like that. But but then I watched somebody called Jazzy Jeff. I watched Jazzy Jeff do this thing in about 85, 86. And he was doing this thing with the records, making them scratch and making them twist and doing all different things, and the rapper was emceeing over him and I was thinking I don't want to do that. What is that? And so from that point, me and my friend I had a friend called Paul H and we was like the old version of Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince. So you know, I practiced the scratching over and over and over again on my little one deck and that was it. It just grew from that.
Speaker 1:And then my cousin Paul noticed I was getting better at this scratching malarkey. He was DJing all the bars and places like that around Oldham playing old school hip hop and R&B. And then he said, oh, I'm going to do that scratching malarkey at one of these pubs. I must have been about 14. He said, all right, okay, went to this pub, did this bit of scratching over this thing, mixed these two tunes in Next minute. I was doing it every week, you know, with him.
Speaker 1:So, and then from that point we formed a group called Mix Factory, me and him and this guy, a guy called Alan, formed this group called Mix Factory. And then we just same, we started playing bars. And then we got quite a few clubs started wanting us to play, and then I went into DMC and I won the. I won DMC at the Hacienda, started playing at the Hacienda, started playing at the Hacienda, downstairs playing hip hop, and that was it. Everything from that point just spiraled, spiraled, and you know, then drum and bass was formed from loads of old breakbeat, jungle, breakbeat, hardcore stuff that we was playing. So then I had the record shop called Spinning. Spinning brought in a new genre of music called Jungle, and that was it. From that point then, mate, it's just, it's not stopped, and it hasn't stopped since I'm very, very lucky.
Speaker 2:But when you won the DMC it was the Northwest right Northwest DMC Championship. How old were you?
Speaker 1:17. Yeah, 17. That's mad. Yeah, that was. It was really really mad. 17 just had a, just had a baby. 17 didn't know my arse from my elbow, didn't have a clue what. You know what the hell was going on, mate, and that was it. Just I was actually. I was more involved in, well, more obsessed with, liverpool back then than DJ, you know. Know, I mean liverpool was everything back then. You know, john barnes, and it's like, oh, you don't mean, that was me, but then other people were telling me I was good so I should pursue it.
Speaker 2:So I did, basically, and thank you well, to go from 14 to 17 in three years and be the DMC champion. You know, that's mental. To me, that's dedication. I mean, obviously, when you're, when you're that young as well, you know you've got everything going on chasing girls, watching Liverpool, and then, at 17, baby, yeah, baby as well, yeah. And then you win the DMC. You're playing Hacienda, which you know again is in folklore, one of the best clubs back then, you know, had amazing if it wasn't for that place, I wouldn't.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't actually be half of what I do now how did it feel playing there, though you know I mean if I'm honest, if I'm honest I was.
Speaker 1:I was a hip hop kid. So for me, the Hacienda and remember, I was from Oldham, so I just had a baby so for me Hacienda wasn't appealing. It was more the fact that I'm going into DMC and when I got through to the, the um evening because you go in the daytime, you do your set in the daytime, you put your skills and you do a little bit in the daytime and then you get through to the evening showcase, you know, and fortunately I got through to the evening showcase and I won. I won with this guy called Beanie and it was just like me. For that I didn't even think Hacienda. It was like a few months later when all the other people was like Matt, do you realize that was Hacienda? You was in Hacienda, you won it in there. Can you absolutely is? That sunk in and it didn't sink in until I got the gigs downstairs and playing in there and then it was like well, well, this is now work as well as working the record shop. That it was work.
Speaker 1:I'd leave the record shop, go straight to as you end up, play downstairs and then go on. It was, it wasn't um, you know it was. I wasn't like what, the big house dj, because I was more of the hip-hop, um and hip house downstairs dj. And then when I got the breaks to play at the old you know upstairs and all the different raves that I played, that's when it was like, wow, yeah, I played at the Ascienda, I won DMC at the Ascienda. That's just madness. You know what I mean. But it it happened and it was like you know, like I said, football.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just crazy because you know Sasha Graham, mark Dave Haslam, lauren Garnier Sasha was like this is like I've got a story for you.
Speaker 1:So there was a night in Coventry called the Edge I think it was called Eclipse at first and Sasha was booked to play one of the nights and he used to always come in the shop, Sasha, and he's like I need some tunes. I've got to play this place. And if you remember Sasha, prior to the Eclipse, Sasha used to just play really, really nice piano, hands in the air stuff and he'd come in and he's like Mark, I need some a little bit harder stuff to play at this Eclipse place. I mean, so I'll just give them loads and loads of tunes to go and play, played in the at the the eclipse became a resident of the eclipse and became the superstar that sascha is right now.
Speaker 2:There you go, sorry for you yeah, so you, you sold in those records, which is you know even when I was in eastern block.
Speaker 1:That was when I was in spinning. Even when I was eastern block, sasha came downstairs and bought drum and bass downstairs oh, you're at eastern block as well.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I left. I left spinning, um, we, we opened up, um. Basically, pete waterman bought eastern block. You had a pete waterman, he bought eastern block and there was an owner called john. John came to my shop called spinning and said right, mark, I'll give you the second half of the shop. Do your drum and bass and you also and your hip hop and hip hop and r&b on the second side of the shop. You can manage it, do what you want. I just want you to leave here and I'll give you whatever you need in that shop. I would.
Speaker 1:My old boss, gary. I said, right, I'm either gonna leave or you're gonna make me a partner. He didn't make me a partner, so I left, took marcus with me and a guy called matty, guy called sefton. Um, we all just moved on to eastern block and you know, from that point we got kiss fm and galaxy record label. Loads of things happened then. From that point we got Kiss FM and Galaxy record label. Loads of things happened then from that point on. So it was a good move moving to Eastern Block yeah, it was an incredible record store.
Speaker 2:You know, I used to go to 3 Beat in Liverpool oh, you want to see Prue.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, not Prue. Prue was in Bolton, weren't you? 3 Beat, that would have been, was it Brendan and Steve Parry.
Speaker 1:Steve, yeah, so he owned them as well. Pete Walkman owned them as well. He owned the 3 Beats and all them shops. Oh did he? Yeah, he bought, he bought loads of them, flying Records. I think he bought Beat Street off Prue as well, in Bolton, all the Eastern blocks. Unity Records in London, unity Records in Liverpool no, brendan was in Unity in Liverpool, not 3Beat. So, yeah, mad Must have been minted. Then he was Pete Waterman. You know, pwl just took over the world, didn't they? You know so.
Speaker 1:So how big is your record collection then? Um, from being in record shops from being 1991 to 2004, I think I stopped the record shop thing. So think of how many years that I've collecting records. I've got I'll say maybe about000 here, and then at least four or five times that amount of my mum's.
Speaker 2:Wow yeah, and I bet a lot of them too are like dub plates and white labels From 1984 to present day. Oh man.
Speaker 1:That's some years, darren. That's some years, mate. Let me tell you that's some years. I think I bought my first ever record 1983 or 84. It was Tears of Fear, shout First. You never bought, and I've still got it. And yeah, from that point then I've never stopped buying records.
Speaker 2:It amazes me because you know, I remember, you know DJing and parking the car a couple of miles away from the gig and having to go through fields with two boxes of.
Speaker 1:It's a lot easier now with just a, I've been doing loads of vinyl sets lately. I've been buzzing, actually, because I've been doing loads of vinyl sets. I've been like, yes, yes, I love these vinyl sets, bring them more of them, more of them. I mean it's a pain in the arse carrying bleeding record boxes around, but yeah, it's just the. You know the authenticity, authenticness of just playing it. You know, in front of all these people playing the record, it's like, oh, mate, love this. And, like I said, loads, loads of dubs, loads of dubs. I mean especially the intellect stuff. We've got so many tunes that didn't actually get released, or mixes and different things that we did. It's good, when we do these vinyl sets and I play dubs and people are like, oh, what's that one, what's that version of that? I've never heard that before. No, that one never came out. You know what I mean. So, yeah, I love that where you met.
Speaker 1:Marcus. No, I met Marcus actually at Angels in Burnley. We was playing there as Mix Factory. Marcus was like the understudy to Paul Taylor, just like a little warm-up kid, but he played breakbeat stuff. Like me, he didn't play all the hands in the air stuff all the time, he played the breakbeat stuff. So he me from you know uh mix factory as well. So we got to talking. He ended up working in a record shop called manchester underground but he still bought all these records off me. So I just said to him look, why don't you just come and work for me? There's no point. You're working going in that record shop down there and when you come here and buy all the tunes anyway, just come here and work me. So he came and worked for me in spinning. So that's how me and Marcus got together. And that was in what 92, 91, 92? 91, 92, and then you know from that point then we decided to make music, make music together and basically did everything together.
Speaker 2:You know what was your first setup like, like studio-wise.
Speaker 1:Oh right, we had two s950s, a yamaha sy35 keyboard, uh, atari st and a dap machine. That was it. That was it. We didn't get no sense or anything till later on, when we first started out, I think in fact, at first we have one 950 and then akai 950 sampler, and then we got two, because we it just, you know, we progressed so we got two, so we had 16 outputs instead of eight, and um, it was just brilliant because we could just sample something. I mean, obviously, when you got your deck and you got your turntables, we had our decks at the side, obviously at the side. So when you're sampling something straight from the deck straight into the Akai, you'd have to speed it up and then you could slow it down in the Akai. So you'd save memory. Great days, great days, mate, not like now.
Speaker 1:You can just sample anything you want and it's crack on everything now and that's that's the issue with now, with these people that make music, get a million people can make tunes, but it's to get it sound like all the other tunes that are out there, and you need the plugins more often not to make it sound like them tunes are out there now yeah, and I think you know having a sound engineer really helps, because you know, if you get on b port, there's you know millions of tracks out there that like there's only probably you know five.
Speaker 2:I really like because you can tell that this, they've got a sound engineer that probably costs about five quid and it just doesn't sound great. You know, that's the thing. You know, these bedroom producers, you know, think they can do it all and then they put it out and you're just like that, just especially if you heard it on a proper I mean you mostly know sapo as well.
Speaker 1:So sapo is another another diablo fan like myself. So him being from manchester and being a diablo fan, we've got quite a close bond. Um, obviously playing the same genre of music as well, but since not djing as much, sapo's gone deep, deep into his mastering and being a sound engineer, a studio engineer mainly, so he'll get a song and he can master it and make the sound just immaculate. You know what I mean. So that's why I think having, like you were saying, having a sound engineer or somebody who understands that, makes life a lot easier. Because if I make a tune, if I don't make a tune with other people like Amin or Simon you know two ex-students who are now very successful in their own right If I make a tune with them, more often than not they've already got the plugins and everything to get the sound right.
Speaker 1:If I make a tune on my own, I don't have any after the plugins. I don't have time to have the set up the plugins. So what I'll do then is give it to Sappo and say, paz, can you master this for me? Mix it down, make it sound, you know, boost the bass, boost the drums. You know what I mean. That's what I can give him to. So, like I said, sound engineers can make your tune sound much better, but half of these kids already know exactly what they want to put on it to make it sound loud or boosted or distorted, whatever it may need for that specific track using the plugins.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, you know, I guess, being like a teacher as well, being able to tell these kids, like you know, you've got to really have a good ear, because it is pretty simple these days to be able to put a 4-4 beat together or, you know, a break in there and put some synths over the top, a bit of reverb and all that good stuff. But to really make it sound like it should be on a world-class sound system, you, you need a sound engineer. But how did the, the teaching come, come out of it?
Speaker 1:that's a very, very good one. Um, when I was at school I always liked maths. I love maths. I was a maths geek, don't know why, I just love maths. And, uh, I had a teacher called mrs pickles.
Speaker 1:Mrs pickles used to always say to me you're really good at maths, you should pursue it. You know, you're good at doing what you do with maths. I mean, I was rubbish at first, I remember that. But if it wasn't for her I would have. She made me better.
Speaker 1:But I just always thought to myself I'd love to be able to do what she did and implement that into someone the way she did it to me and pushed me and forced me into this thing which I hated, that I ended up loving. So I thought, right, maybe that's something I could do, especially when the record shops sort of faltered. I always thought to myself I could. I'd love to be a teacher and be able to teach these kids how to DJ, how to, you know, make music bit of maths. I would love to be able to do that. So luckily I was very fortunate there was a man called Martin Moscrop, martin ACR, a certain ratio band from Manchester certain. It was a man called Martin Moscrop, martin ACR Certain Ratio, a band from Manchester, certain Ratio. Martin was a bass player in Certain Ratio and he was also one of the managers at Manchester College. He asked me to come and do some guest lectures you know scratching and DJing because he knew me anyway and just asked me to come and do that. So I did that with John De Silva, one of the DJjs from hacienda. I did that with john. Um, obviously, knowing each other from hacienda days and things like that, it sort of was good to do that with friends.
Speaker 1:Then, um, martin just said, why don't you? I must have been about 25, 26, then 27, late 20s, late 20s. And then marty said, right, why don't you just pursue this? It's, you know, teaching thing. You're quite good at it. Um, I'll pay for you to go and get your teaching certificates. I was like, uh, okay.
Speaker 1:So then went that and he said, right, I'll pay for you now to go to uni, go back to uni. And because I remember I went to uni because I got my first degree, you know, years and years before. But then he said, look, I'll pay to go back to uni to get another teaching degree and be able to come here and teach full time I was like really Okay, but you know, if somebody was willing to do that for you, then why not? That was I can't remember what year that was. Well, I've been teaching there now 22 years, so it must have been 32, 31, 31, yeah, so I must have been 31 when I actually got full time post at Manchester College.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, martin Musgrove got me, got me the job. So, yeah, it's like it's again friends of friends and again what I was saying to you before. The whole Hacienda thing from winning DMC you know, the North West Championships in I don't remember what year it. From winning DMC, you know, the Northwest Championships in I don't know what year it was, when I was 17,. From that point then, linking up with them, people then got me the job as a teacher as well as DJing all over the world like I do. So, yeah, I owe a lot to the Hacienda mate. I really do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people do you know DJ-wise, even clubber-wise.
Speaker 1:You know we owe a lot to Hacienda. As you said, my cousin giving me name, the XTC name, my cousin giving me that extra tough cut on, yeah, I was only a kid, you know what I mean. So I had no idea about drugs or anything like that, still to this day never had a drug or anything like that. So I'm like you know, keep touching wood. I can maintain that. But he noticed, he must have realized if I call you extra tough cutter with the whole XTC thing coming in, he must have thought, yeah, I'm doing a nice one here with my cousin. He's doing well, he's scratching my larky. I'll use the XTC thing and yeah, it'll still be even bigger because of the, because of the drug. Yeah, because it was very smart. I already get. He was very smart.
Speaker 1:The light bulb moment. Yeah, he had lots of them. He had a very, a very lot of them. He came up with the name mix factory, so the whole band, and then he obviously went and did the songs mix factory songs which did the songs Mix Factory, songs which are burning, take me away, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2:It was Paul, was the driving force behind all of them. Well, I think it's great, especially, you know, you've got to be proud being a teacher because you also work with one of your students, simon, who's exiled. I mean, how good is that you know to you know watch somebody who's in? Is that you know to to you know watch somebody who's in your class? Uh, you know. And then you're like this, this lad's got it.
Speaker 1:Well, there's a, there's a quite a few, there's quite a few. I'm, I'm, I'm very, very proud that I've got I couldn't I mean a good five, six students that have gone into the industry and become very, very successful within the industry. I mean Simon and Amin. So there's Boo and Exile. I work with both of them separately because when you're at college and you see them and you're working with them at college, you see something in them and I said that to them at the time. Look, you can pursue this and you can get into this industry if you do it right. Just take a step back. Don't just jump in like a million other people. Take a step back and watch and own your craft. Own your own craft. When you own your own craft, other people will see it, everybody else will see it. Just stay with what you know and what your heart's telling you and you love. Simon is a prime example of that.
Speaker 1:Simon's a rock kid full-on, full-on rock kid. When he was my student he did not even know what drum and bass was. He didn't know what um logic pro was nothing, he was just into. He loved his guitar. Still loves his guitar now. But when he got in and he realized what he could do and the potential of making music with a computer, with his outboard synthesis and everything that he knew. He was like, wow, this is ace, I can just do anything.
Speaker 1:And, as you can see, simon's gone from strength to strength. I mean he was always. I mean I've said it many times I mean he had the heart and the soul. What Marcus had. He was the passion that he had for music and having some kind of soul underneath it. I mean I always had that. Even though he makes like noisy drum and bass music, he's still got that soul about him. So when you hear a boo tune, you know that there's something else in it that and that's his soul. He's got that in him that he can just make a tune and make loads of people love it because it's it's part of him. So, yeah, I love that. I love them. Then my boys and my boys, my two boys and two boys are really really well. They're doing really well and I couldn't be proud of them. I couldn't be more proud of them, if you know, I am so proud of them yeah it.
Speaker 2:I mean it's just great to hear, you know, I mean it's like any teacher wants to see their student do really well, but for you, you know, it's hands-on, you're making tracks, tracks with your students, which is brilliant. Yeah, I wanted to talk a little bit, you know, I mean with the, with the rave scene. You know it was like hardcore and stuff for me. Kind of, after the rave scene I kind of dwindled down a bit. For me, ltj Buckham was a game changer for me logical progression, because it was drum and bass that I hadn't heard before. It was a lot more jazzier, mellower, you know.
Speaker 1:Soul behind it. I think it was noises, but there was soul behind it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly you know, and he's still doing it to this day. But you know, good-looking doing it to to this day. But you know, like good looking records for me change things. Um, I was always massive into moving shadow.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know, I've sent a side message from two by my set side to a message before he was laughing about. He was he's done this like little video thing and side doesn't really do things like that from two by my don't really do little videos and things about himself. So I was laughing, said oh look at you looking all serious. So he didn't like it. But yeah he, he started like um, the, the moving shadow, everything. He started back up again um, and he's just whatever he's what he's done with it now with the break. But I don't think you've heard any of the new break but stuff that they're doing it's amazing.
Speaker 2:It's amazing, really, really, really good well, I mean, you know you, you look, you look on anything classic. It's too bad. Mice bob's bomb scare, like it's, it's still. You can play that today and kids will come up to you and be like what is that? And you'll, you'll have a little laugh and go well, you know this. This came out in the 90s but it's still to this day. But every track that was coming out on Moving Shadow, you know, for me you had to get and same with Good Looking. I had to get all those tracks.
Speaker 1:It's great having a record shop. Mate, can you imagine having a record shop and say, helicopter, tune, tune comes in made by deep blue? You know, you know, deep blue is like one of two bad mice. So you know, when Sean made it it was like what? And then everybody was like, oh, my actual God, this is, this is drum and bass, this is well, this is like the new jungle. It wasn't sort of drum and bass back then. This is the new jungle which then got, obviously, you know, wasn't sort of drum and bass back then. This is the new jungle, which then got, obviously, you know, pigeonholed into drum and bass. But yeah, it was.
Speaker 1:It was amazing having record shops and then tunes coming in. I mean the the demons theme for me was one of the tunes that changed everything meet for me musically. When making drum and bass, when you make, when you hear demons theme, you just think, right, okay, the bass on that, the drums that's, that's, that's me, that's drum and bass. And then, obviously, making music with marcus, marcus had more, more, more soul in than many, many people I've ever met in my last. That young man there, he, he, and techno as well, he, the combination of his soul and techno together. He, just, he, just. You know, it was great making music with him. He just just ace really was yeah, I mean again.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's been a massive part of my life um drum and bass. It's just just it's, it's a feeling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is, you know, I mean Demon. I mean I just mentioned Demon's theme. What do you think of, like Horizons when Horizons came out back in the day? Because Horizons, like now, is still, you know, anthemic, still?
Speaker 2:Yeah, every single track on Horizons was just well, I mean, for me it was. I missed the days of actually going to a record store half the day there, only coming away with again five, ten records, but listening to about 15, yeah, but, but actually it was more the artwork as well, you know. I mean, the smell of brand new vinyl is just something that will never, never get old for me. But just, you know, you get a check on beatport now you buy it, you know it's on the usb, there's no artwork with it, it's just the whole record and just you know the earth it doesn't have that feel anymore, does it? No, it doesn't. Yeah, it was a game changer, just everything.
Speaker 1:Where did you buy your tunes from oh 3-beat. 3-beat is what you bought your tunes from yes.
Speaker 2:And then over here in Austin there was a place called Alien Records. It was a brilliant bit, shut down years and years ago. There really isn't too many places here. If you want to buy vinyl, you've got to get it online, and then that costs God knows how much. There's a shipping cost on top of it.
Speaker 2:Stuff from the UK then yeah, and then that cost God knows how much the shipping cost on top of it. Yeah, stuff from the UK then. Yeah. So again. You know I stick to. You know Beatport or Juno, you know, get me tunes from there, or Bandcamp. That's the way to do it, mate, that's the way to do it Bandcamp yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bandcamp as well. Mark Houghton, he set up this thing on Bandcamp as well. Mark Holton, he set up this thing on Bandcamp and he always says to me, mark, if you're going to release something, put something on Bandcamp as well. So, yeah, it's good. It's good, give him back. Give him back as well. I love the fact that.
Speaker 2:Well, I love that with Bandcamp a lot of producers put out some free tracks. But then it's also great because they do like the uh bank camp friday where all the money goes to the producer, which, again, you, you know this business. It's like one, one penny for you, a whole pound for the label label the distributor, whoever it may be yeah and that I mean.
Speaker 1:I said when we had the record label, um, we had the intellect record label and it was. It was great because pete and he had an accountant and his accountant just said, right, here's x amount of money for this next release. We'd have to go. We didn't have to worry about pressing because we'd tell them how many we wanted pressing, but we'd go and sign the artist and make sure that we got everything lined up properly with the artist before we'd actually read the songs. But most of the songs were us anyway, between me, of me, marcus or st files, it was like you know.
Speaker 1:So we had the, the majority of the tunes that was going out, and the money that was coming back was ours. So it was great. You know what I mean, because we owned the label with PWL. But PWL said look, no, you're controlling it, so any profit that's made comes back to you lot. You know what I mean. So, after costs, we did make some money, but we didn't make a lot. But we did make some money because it came back to us. So, yeah, it came back to us. So, yeah, we could split it between each other. It was good yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to get back to Liverpool. So, beginning of this season, you know, after last season's, just you know, just terrible, terrible yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't even know what happened last season, I can't even put my finger on it. Well, I mean, yeah, I don't even know what happened last season, I can't even put my finger on it. Injuries, obviously, but it was just sort of fault.
Speaker 2:Burnt out. I think Some players stayed longer than what they should have. I don't think anybody thought Fabinho was going to drop off the face of the earth that quick. Yeah, that's not what he did, just lost his legs. There is as well, and, henderson, you know all the engines that we had failed, you know they turned into, you know broken and then Endo was like you know, wondering why he was like he was willing to let him go.
Speaker 1:He was like, no, because you are getting a little bit older and you did lose loads of energy, so you know the season before. So, yeah, if somebody comes in for you, yeah, we're going to let you go. And I see what they've done and it is I mean well, carly sir, well, go get off well, I'm sure you're just like me, you know.
Speaker 2:We basically, you know, got a brand new hole midfield. I never expected them to gel.
Speaker 1:Not in any shape or form. Endo, Endo oh, what the hell yeah, People, people yeah, People laughed.
Speaker 2:People laughed at Klopp. You're getting who again, and you know that. That that's what I love about Klopp. On the scouting team, they get players that we aren't even thinking of. You know, I think again, a lot of football fans want teams like they play on FIFA. You know, they want the Mbappes, they want the Neymars, you know, but that's not how Klopp works and I love that. He sticks to his guns, that he brings in players that we would never think of and he makes them superstars. He makes them world-class.
Speaker 1:That's one of the lines somebody said to me the other day. When a player comes to Liverpool, they are made into stars. We don't buy stars and that's the fact of it. I mean, like I said, mcallister anyway, we knew how good he was when he was at Brighton. We knew that because I always liked McAllister rather than the other kid that was with him. I never wanted him. And then when the 100 mil thing came in, I was like really we don't want him, we don't need him. You know what I mean? We don't want him. So then I suppose blew over anyway. But then an endo come in and they all started giving us the abuse. So, endo, you got a new endo. Have you like that now? Now look at him. Now look at him. That guy is an engine. He just doesn't stop. He doesn't stop, he just reminds me, just like Maserano. He just up and down, box to box, box to box, just doesn't stop. He's not great all the time, but his engine. That's what we needed. We needed that.
Speaker 2:He does the job, what Klopp wants him to do. It's not beautiful, it's not like mesmerizing to watch, no, but I think if you study the game and if you're into analytics and stats and everything, then he shines. Yeah, you really see what he does. And I think, like if you're there at the game, you do see what he does. Yeah, you're watching on telly. You kind of miss things because camera all pinned, you know, over here, instead of like so many people slag off Nunes?
Speaker 1:yeah, exactly. They only think that he's just a striker that's up there because they only see what they see on TV and they don't realise that that kid is end to end, end to end. You know what I mean? He'll be in our box. He'll be in our box defending. Then next minute he's in the other team's box. Missing. He's in the other team's box. Don't always miss, though.
Speaker 2:Don don't always miss, though. Don't always miss, nah well, I mean, my thing with Nunes is he gets in these positions and he gets these chances. If he wasn't, he wasn't getting them, then I'd be worried, you know, I mean Mr Robot. Uh, halland, you know, was knocking him in last season for fun, this season not so much. And you know he missed a sitter from what? Four yards out the other week, but nothing's really said. But when Nunes misses it's like oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, I get it. You get it all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is wrong. But you know what? I'm fine with everyone having a laugh at liverpool. You know, blah, blah, blah. We're not going to challenge this year. I mean I would. I would have bitten your hand off if you were, if you would have told me we'd already won one trophy. We, you know, nearly got to. Well, we won't talk about that one. The FA Cup Nope, don't talk about that one. It's open and challenging for the league.
Speaker 1:I would have bitten your hand off because At the beginning of this season, first two, three games in, I'd have gone really. Then now you think, bloody hell, what's he done? Brilliant Kloppy. You know we're all going to miss him. We know that we're all going to miss him. We're all going to miss him yeah, I just think you know.
Speaker 2:Obviously, I think there's many factors in it. I think he's just sick, sick and tired of probably the the schedule it's, it's, you know, the media, the refereeing decisions. I think he just needs time out. I think he will be the German manager. I don't think he's going to go back to to club football for a while. I mean, what's your thoughts on on Jürgen? Like when, when he leaves what, what you know, what mean? What's your thoughts on on jrgan? But like when, when he leaves what, what you know what, what are your thoughts on on, you know, your memories of jrgan?
Speaker 1:nobic clop, yeah, uh, when he came in, I'd I'd studied him, I'd redone my research, I went online and I did full research on him. I did I actually research a little thing about him. So I knew about him at Mainz, at Mainz, I knew about him in Dortmund and obviously we played him when he was at Dortmund as well. So I knew about him then and his passion. I thought, right, well, that's the kind of manager we need, we need somebody like him. We got him. He chose us over them. So that was even better.
Speaker 1:I didn't think he was going to go. I didn't see it coming. I didn't see it coming this year. I thought, right, we're building something nice now. At the beginning, in the middle of the season, I thought, alright, we're doing well now. Next season we're going to be really good, we're challenging. Next season we're going to be good, especially with some of the, some of the wins we got in mid season this year. This year, you know, you know bang, bang some goals in against some you know pretty good teams. And then, when he made the announcement, it was like devastating.
Speaker 1:Well then, who we're going to get? Obviously, first choice was Zabby Alonso. I said Zabby weren't going to come for two reasons, I said. He's either going to go to Bayern because it's close to what he's been living for the last few years, or he's going to stay at Leverkusen, because he's only been there not long and this is his first year of success. So he's going to want to build on that, rather than just coming straight to us and thinking but we are not going to wait for him, so who are we going to get instead? The Brighton manager. You know what I mean. He's a good manager. He's a good manager, but how will he manage people like Virg or Mo? You know what I mean. The Sporting manager? Now, he seems all right. He seems, though, he might have something about him and he could manage big players. So we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 2:And then, I think, for the dark horse in Zaghi.
Speaker 1:Well, my dark horse was Zidane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just with him. I just he's come out twice now saying he wants a job. Yeah, I just With him.
Speaker 1:I just he's come out twice now saying he wants a job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I just Zidane and Liverpool for me, just don't go together I know he was my dark horse, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But Insagi, well, okay, insagi, go on, where are you going with that one? I didn't see that one because I thought he was, you know, nailed on. Go on, where are you going with that one?
Speaker 2:I didn't see that one, because I thought he was nailed on. He's not leaving. Well, no, I'm just hearing this from Neil Jones and a few journos who are saying he could be the dark horse. Now, obviously, amaran is probably the leading candidate, but yeah, you never know, there might be a spanner in the works and somebody comes out of nowhere, because that's the Liverpool way, that's the Liverpool way.
Speaker 1:And I was about to say it's word for word there, darrell, word for word. I was about to say, yeah, that's the Liverpool way. You don't know, always you can have your speculation for the next minute bang, Especially with getting what's he called back. You know he's he. He has loads of little fingers in loads of little pies. Yeah, edwards. Yeah, yeah, he has loads of fingers in loads of little pies. That's why united wanted him, because they knew that he's got fingers in loads of little pies. He can bring in people from left, right and center and people wouldn't even think of it, but they'll do a really good job and that's what he's known for. So, yeah, god knows, god knows who we're going to get. Now, I think, who would you like to get? Who would you personally like to get?
Speaker 2:I like Amarant, I do, I like.
Speaker 1:Amarant.
Speaker 2:He seems to kind of play a little bit like Klopp.
Speaker 1:He's like a young Klopp for me. He, he's like a young Klopp. For me, he's like Klopp and what's he called? What's he called Chelsea and United manager? He's like them put together. Mourinho he's like Klopp and Mourinho put together yeah, a bit of sarcasm a bit of sarcasm in there. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:But then when you watch him, his managing tactics is a lot like Klopp yeah it'll be an interesting summer, but I think you know again, klopp's left this squad really well. It's the opposite of how, like Sir Alex left man United, he left man United an absolute mess. The infrastructure is terrible.
Speaker 1:It's still terrible that stadium is falling down, yep, that's why, apparently, they're getting a new stadium now, apparently, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know Radcliffe's going to come in and revolutionize man United. You know, and and they'll look at us as the blueprint. You know infrastructure done. Get your new training facilities done. Get your backroom, your analysts and everything sorted. Get the manager that you know is going to stay for a while, ten Hag to me he's just a filler.
Speaker 1:I've never been a fan. I've never been a fan. I mean, everybody was a fan of Fergie in some form or way and Mourinho in some form or way. But this Ten Hag guy, when he came in his attitude straight away, was he was. I mean, you can be brash and you can be bold if you've got something behind you. He's gone in there brash and bold saying he's going to knock Klopp and Pep off their perch. That's the first thing he said before he even played a game. It's like mate, really. So yeah, we'll see, we'll see what happens, but obviously it looks as though they don't want him to stay, don't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so what are your thoughts for the rest of the season? Are we going to win the Europa and are we going to win the league at number 20?
Speaker 1:I was watching Jamie Carragher the other night and he said Europa is expected. Europa is expected by many Liverpool fans. We expect to win Europa. We shouldn't do. We should never expect to win anything. But that's you know his comment and I thought you know what. That's true. Many Liverpool fans automatically think we're going to win Europa. It's not a given. It's not a given. We still have to fight it.
Speaker 1:The Premier League is still ongoing. Still have to set you as favourites. I want us to be favourites, and I'd love to be, but the squad they have and the depth they have in the squad, it just takes us to have one draw. Arsenal have one draw and they're backing and they don't go away. They don't go away.
Speaker 1:I mean, how many years have they thwarted us? You know there was one year, I think we got 100 points, or close 100 points, and they still beat us. It was like really, and it's still that now. You know it's still that now. Don't get me wrong. Arsenal have been really good this season and they was last season and they fought well and they've got a good manager. But we're getting stronger because we're getting, you know, the first teamers back and City are just that strong. Arsenal. Just a couple of injuries will hurt them now. Luckily we're getting people back. A couple of injuries now for Arsenal would hurt them, whereas City they've got a couple of injuries and they're still strong. You know what I mean. They should have got beat by Arsenal the other day because they've got so many players out. They've still got a draw.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what you know. Talking to my mates, it was like I wanted Arsenal to beat City, because then that would have put them more back. You know, you can never write off City.
Speaker 1:To me they're still favourites to win, they just are you know I'm so glad you said that, because I've had loads of people give me abuse for saying that and it's like no, they still are. You know what I mean? We. It's like no, they still are.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. We're still. You know, we're still a little bit shaky. I mean, I'm not surprised because we've had half the team out. You know and I don't think the media has talked about that enough you know, when Arsenal get one injury, or even United, or even United, and they're were down there, it's not. You know, we've had Connor Bradley, connor Bradley.
Speaker 1:Connor Bradley. Connor Bradley as our right back for the last, yeah, five months. Five months that kid's been playing right back, yeah, our main right back. To be honest, you know what I mean. It's not been Gomez. Gomez has been flirting between what I mean. It's not been Gomez. Gomez has been flirting between left and right. It's been Conor Bradley. If he's been fit, he's playing. If he's been injured, gomez might go in. That says it all that says it all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just not not enough. Said that these, these kids have stepped up. You know the fringe players. Every single one of the squad has stepped up. Gomez, to me, has been absolutely amazing. He's played defensive midfield as well. I know, yeah, I know, yeah. Have you given him gloves? Shoot, shoot. Yeah, they need to stop that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they need to stop that yeah.
Speaker 2:But I think it's going to come down to probably the last couple of games of the season.
Speaker 1:I just think I learned Tottenham are very hard games. People, you know they're writing these teams off and you can't. You can't. Every game's hard, every game's not easy. You live in the real world, that's the thing you know on paper.
Speaker 2:You know we should be beating these teams, but this is the way it is. The three games that really are making me nervous are the three away games all in a row. I think it's Fulham er well towards the end. West Ham yeah, it's Fulham er well towards the end. West Ham yeah, it's right. Bang in the middle, oh oh, fulham, everton, west Ham. Those are the three games that make me really, really nervous because in between we have, at Atlanta, away as well. So that's four away games and I think if we can get through those, I think we can win the league.
Speaker 1:I do injuries because we're getting people back could help us. But if we get a couple of injuries, having Ibu back is going to be massive because him and Virg at the back, I feel confident. Then for me, when they're at the back, them two, I feel confident, no matter who's on the right and left. You know, obviously, if it's Connor and it's somebody like well, robbo's back now, so hopefully it'll be Robbo on the left. But when you've got them two at the back don't get me wrong, kwanzaa's been brilliant, he's been absolutely brilliant. But when, get me wrong, kwanzaa's been brilliant, he's been absolutely brilliant. But when Ibu's in there and he's on form, you're not getting past him. You're not getting past him. He's just like a new verge. He's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, not too long to go. I mean I can't believe there's like six weeks left of this league campaign. But yeah, hopefully I'll be celebrating.
Speaker 1:Like you said before, you know when was at the top. Of you know we were talking nine wins, nine one, nils, nine one nils. I'll take that all day.
Speaker 2:I'll take that all day before we go um, I always like to ask this question for uh musicians and producers your ultimate festival lineup friday through sunday, um, and can be dead or alive. Uh, what would your friday, saturday, sunday head?
Speaker 1:line oh, cc, because my lineups. Well, it depends how many I can have, how many I can have, how many I can have, how many DJs can I have and can I have bands as well?
Speaker 2:Oh well, it's DJs or bands, but just I'll give you two each night. Two each night.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what am I to? Thursday to Sunday?
Speaker 2:No Friday to.
Speaker 1:Sunday Right, so Friday night, saturday night and Sunday day, okay, okay. So Friday night I'm having Goldie live and I'm having just to be completely obscure, I'm having Kyle Cox. I'm having Goldie and Kyle Cox on my Friday night. On my Saturday night I'm having, and we Green Calcots on my Friday night. On my Saturday night I'm having, and we can only have two. If you want three, go ahead, we'll have three.
Speaker 1:Good, I'm gonna have Sasha, I'm gonna have Randall and I'm gonna have ooh, who else can I have? On my Saturday night I'm gonna have Lauren Garn, happen. On my Saturday night. I'm going to have Laurent Garnier on my Saturday, with Randall and Sasha. And on my Sunday day, oh, I see now, on my Sunday day I'm having who's my favourite DJ? I'm going to have Jazzy Jeff. He's going to be playing, and one more bloody hell. You put me on the spot here, darren DJ. I'm going to have Jazzy Jeff, he's going to be playing, and one more Bloody hell. You put me on the spot here, darren. I'm going to have Jazzy Jeff and I'm going to have Calvin Harris. He's a bloody great DJ.
Speaker 2:And people love him. You know, it's like he does really well at festivals, you know Good.
Speaker 1:DJj mate. He's a good dj. He really is. He's a good dj. People you know might make the music that not a lot of people like, but he's a good dj and he's liverpool's dj, isn't he?
Speaker 2:they all love him, so, yeah, well, mark, it's been an absolute pleasure it has, man it has.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this has been brilliant. This has been absolutely. I could do this all day me, mate. I could sit here talking about Liverpool music all day.
Speaker 2:This is heaven yeah, that's why I like doing these, you know.
Speaker 1:I love this, thank you. Thank you for having me seriously. Thank you for having me you're welcome.
Speaker 2:Thanks everyone for listening. Please like and subscribe and we'll see you next time. ¶¶. Oh Jesus and Lord, oh Jesus and Lord, in your heart and in heaven.
