Click
on the pic to see a high quality selection from the past 25 years of
Caister Flyers.
INTRODUCTION BY SIR BOB GELDOF:
Chris Hill is one of the major influences in British music. The first star club DJ, for over 35 years he could and still does pull more people to his gigs than any of the supposed "names" of radio. Conceivably he invented the modern notion of clubbing. Without him there would be no "Weekenders".
The first to mix soul, jazz, R&B, Latin, to toast, to shout, to blend arcane, unknown, esoteric and wonderful tunes, stuff we would never have heard had it not being for him with the most obvious, so that even the most obvious became re-heard afresh, differently and with a new potential. Above everything else Hill has impeccable musical taste. What was obscure to us was blindingly brilliant to him. The diamonds in the rough had never been hidden to him, they twinkled in obscurity until he blasted them at us while we danced deliriously never knowing what these miraculous sounds were. He conveyed that enthusiasm every night through his manic showmanship. Simply, he's a star.
For many of us in the 70's and 80's and still today a trip to Essex and the Lacy Lady or The Goldmine was obligatory. A joyous pilgrimage. From these jaunts emerged some of the better bands of our time. Aftershows were spent listening to Hill speaking in torrents of words, excitably shouting stories, a show unto itself, telling you what you should listen to, what you heard, who to look out for, and where to get it. From north London or Brixton the coolest, hippest kids serious about music, dancing and fun, took mental notes that later put them in the charts.
It
wasn't just soul, funk or jazz he loved. He adores songwriters, R&B,
the blues, country, rock and pop. People with stuff to say and passion
to say it. He was intimately involved with the bands of '76, signing my
lot The Boomtown Rats after a long night in Cork after a sweaty, screamy
gig and talking endlessly and brilliantly not about sales, markets, deals
and clauses but about music. He signed Sinead O'Conner, The Waterboys,
Incognito, Eddy Grant and on and on.
He's
still doing it. Gigging to sellouts, making the cooler compilations, his
Soul Weekenders, the pilgramages to Essex to see and hear the legend and
his music .A National Treasure. Go see, listen and learn.
Bob Geldof
CHRIS HILL REMEMBERS....
It was a very cold January Sunday when Robbie Vincent and I first drove up the old (pre-bypass) A12, to take a look at the original site for what was going to be called the "1st NATIONAL SOUL WEEKENDER".
Robbie had the idea after hearing of an 18-30s event the previous year. The holiday centre site was in a town outside Yarmouth called Caister. "I‘ve never heard of it, and its fuckin' miles away," was my first response.”it’s bleedin' freezing" was my second. "It wont be so cold in April" was his reply......"You want a fuckin' bet?".....
We arrived at the camp to meet The Showstoppers team (the original promoters) and Ladbrooks management who owned the site. It felt like a German prisoner of war camp that day. The idea was to get all those soul music fans that came to our clubs (The Goldmine, Lacy Lady, Frenchies, Royalty) and that listened to Robbie and Greg Edwards radio shows, together for one glorious weekend in April 1979.....a one off!!!.....After the visit to the site we all agreed - this could work!
The original DJ line up was Robbie Vincent, Chris Hill, Greg Edwards, Chris Brown, Jeff Young, Tom Holland, Froggy (and his sound system) and Sean French, along with Light Of The World, and the event sold out in no time. When we arrived at the camp on 20th April to kick it off, I had been right........It was still fuckin' freezing!!! but the heat generated by all those funkateers made Norfolk sub-tropical for the next 3 days! The music was awesome, all new Earth Wind and Fire, Billy Paul, Al Hudson, Mcfadden and Whitehead, new street funk, jazz-funk, philly soul, salsoul, New York - Miami - boogiedisco-tastic!!! and the tribes of soul fans had now created a new phenomenon...THE FAMILY!
Banners
hung from every spare space, and the incredible heat meant that everyone
was stripped down to shorts only, including the fellas! The rooms (Neptunes
Palace & Mermaids Hall) closed at 1am, no wonder there were chalet
parties! And the partying never stopped. In the mornings we had a mass
jog, then football matches, beach games, and a treasure hunt.......and
then it all kicked off again in the main room. At 5pm on the Sunday we
had finale......... it was suddenly all over. We had made history......
Driving back along that old A12 I thought, wouldn't it be great to do
that again, one day "Maybe we should do this again later in the year"
somebody said. "If this works we could do it next year too"
“And the next" "We'll have to call it The Caister Soul
Weekender" "Yeah, everyone will come back again, you know like
Billy Paul said "Bring the family back". We were high as kites,
just buzzing on the vibe of it all. The next day we were back in the real
world again. "Dont be fucking silly" I thought "they'll
all grow up one day, get married, have kids, and we'll be just sad old
DJs with our record collections and no punters" Mind you it was a
great idea. Thank you all for making a dream a reality.
CHRIS HILL - CAISTER SOUL WEEKENDER
MEMORIES
OF THE KENT SOUL SCENE by MARK WEBSTER
Trees
are green. The sea is blue. Essex invented soul music? The truth. Kosher.
The facts inviolate. Except of course, trees are more of a woody colour,
especially in winter and the sea is more see-through and, strangely enough,
also often woody coloured. Which leaves us with Essex inventing soul music.
Now far be it from me to doubt the qualifications of that fine county
and its association with a great black American art form. After all, I
was born in bleedin’ Rochford and I am the late, great Sam Cooke
(you’ll notice as you go along that some of this will be made up).
Nevertheless, I would like to put in a mild shout for the county on the
south side of the Medway where I spent many of my formative years. As
opposed to my borstal years, my army years, my wonder years and happy
new years.
Kent. Yes Kent. So good they named it, well, once but in doing so called
it Kent. Yes, that’s what I said - Kent. The garden of England. Hopping
country. Keeps the Channel out of London and stopping Bexleyheath becoming
Bexleyheath-On-Sea.
Kent
- birthplace of Bob (I’ll have a ‘P’ please Bob) Holness,
cod and chips twice, and everyone else who was born in Kent.
Kent. Sounds like a rude word when you say it, sometimes. So anyway, Kent.
Thing is, in the great scheme of things, Kent (home of Romney Marsh -
formerly a stylish number 10 for QPR, Man City and England and now a place
where they keep sheep) did have a role to play in getting The Good Groove
away over the last 30 years and I was one of the many bit part players
who made up the crowd scenes. OK, we didn’t have no Lacy Lady, no
Gold Mine, no Bentley¹s but we did have...
King
Arthur¹s Court. In an East Kent village just outside of teeming
cultural metropolis Ashford (name now changed to Ashford International
by deed poll) and so called because legend has it, it was the actual court
where Arthur was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years hard Kinging.
It was here amongst the tudor beams and student nurses that I cut my dancing
teeth. And anyone who’s seen my teeth dance will know it was time
well spent.
King Arthur's Court is famous now for giving Gravesend altar boy and former
Blues & Soul roving reporter Pete Tong a weekend residency and a chance
to practice his singing over Roy Ayers ‘Love Will Bring Us Back Together’.
Word has it Mr. Ayers never fully recovered. It’s why he is bald!
It also progressed the career of Nicky Peck (now PC Peck) and many others.
Kempton Manor. Similar village / Ashford
/ converted barn scenario to the above, only (as one of the flyers discovered
and reproduced in The Family Album pays testimony to) this is where Robbie
Vincent practiced growing his hair when he was 12. Resident DJ’s
were two brothers with brillo pad feather cuts and shiny shirts who played
Kool & The Gang’s ‘Open Sesame’ to get the night started
then spent the rest of the evening lamenting the absence of the gentle
breeze stirred up by 200 pairs of flares flapping. Kempton Manor also
played regular host to the likes of Chris Hill, Tom Holland, Froggy, and
many others along with some truly amazing nights and queues into the A20.
The
Atlantis. Even the crowd from Margate couldn’t believe they
could go out for a session in Margate. The Atlantis came into its own
at Bank Holidays when everyone had had as much fun as Dreamland could
offer (or a quick fag - which ever came first), then turned a dingy basement
venue into...a dingy basement venue full of great folks from all over
the South dancing to the sharper end of the scene (Earth Wind & Fire’s
two-tiered ‘Running’ my signature tune for the gaff). Had my
first can of Breakers malt liquor there - a beer so fashionably new, yet
so unsure about itself, it was flat and warm within 2.3 seconds of cracking
it open. But still looked cool in the fist, by golly.
King¹s Lodge. A mere careering, out
of control, bouncing F1 tyre away from Brands Hatch, this was the son
of Hilltop early-in-the-week session where the aforementioned Mr.Tong
really showed his worth. This ‘showing of worth’ comment has
absolutely nothing (or just about everything. Either way. You know, whatever)
to do with the evening when Tongy started his birthday night in his Anthony
Price suit and ended the night in his birthday suit. Also where he played
Neil Larsen’s brilliant ‘High Gear’ album in its near entirety
when it came out, so it wasn’t all spotty arses.
Woodville
Halls. This great lump of a municipal building in Gravesend town
centre is the only place I’ve been that had a sweetie shop open during
a big night out. It’s where a certain (or uncertain - who could tell
through that steely countenance) famous promoter learnt how to put on
a really big do, and it¹s also where I learned to kiss the feet of
Lonnie Liston Smith’s ‘Expansions’, watched Animal Nightlife
turn on one of the best moments of music and showbiz I’ve seen and
drank from a can of coke with a fag butt in it. The Woodvilles became
the ancestral Kent home for Hilly, Tongy, Froggy along with regular guests
like Brownie and Frenchie. Ah memories. Really, just a series of small
electrical charges in the brain. Anyone for a banana custard?
Flicks. A night club in Dartford. A proper night club in Dartford. They made you wear proper Dartford trousers. Me, I’m buying Ball jeans in South Molton Street for 35 quid (like, a yacht and and two pairs of gold socks today) while every nob end in the long, long queue has bought his fighting strides in Mr Byrite for £4.95. Nevertheless, not just Robbie but the great and good Colin Hudd ensured you still had to suffer those slings and arrows of contagious fault dunes (I don't know - bollocking Shakespeare said it) because the music was so fiiiiine. Poxy sticky keyboard.
Stage
3.
First, the caravans. Second, the dodgems. Third, the night club. The Isle
Of Sheppey is an island called Sheppey - that much i’ll give you.
What may now come as a surprise is that Patrick McGohan found it easier
to get away from that bloody great bubble in The Prisoner than you would
getting off the Isle of Sheppey late at night. They got a bridge that
rises and they’re not afraid to use it. Having said that, sometimes
it was worth the linger because one Nicky Peck (not two, but one) proved
why he was underestimated then and sorely missed now at some great one
offs down there. Nicky, of course, could have been arrested for that moustache
he sported for way too long; indeed, chances are he could have banged
himself up, being the copper he now is and that. Al Jarreau’s ‘Distracted’
is always on the car stereo to and from in this soldier’s brain.
And so that there it is - Kent (Cathedral town; Canterbury where the Kings
assassins said ‘are you Thomas Becket?’ and he said ‘eh?’
so they said, ‘alright, are you Thomas a Becket’). OK, so I
may have missed some Kent stuff. Indeed I may have made some Kent stuff
up. But its all totally true Kent stuff to the letter. The point is, Kent
was the early bastion of Soul.
Mark Webster - Essex-esque to start, Kentish-like then, and all London now.
Do you come from a county that thinks it has the remotest significance with anything to do at all with soulful matters? Do you have something to add about venues not mentioned in Kent and elsewhere... Bring it on. E-mail your story to include to...
Caister@weekenders.co.uk
THE CHRIS HILL STORY
Chris Hill started DJ-ing in the late Sixties having been around the Soho R&B scene, with his heroes Georgie Fame, Geno Washington and Chris Farlowe for a number of years. It was in Essex however where Chris established himself as the supremo Soul Jock. Firstly in a small club in Orsett and then the legendary Goldmine at Canvey Island. Throughout the Seventies the club was a catalyst for the growing underground soul scene with music fans from all over the country flocking to the legendary Saturday nights. Many of those Goldminers went on to became stars in their own right. Sade, Spandau Ballet, rubbed shoulders with Light of the World, The Clash, Depeche Mode and many more, whilst every visiting American Soul and Jazz artist would make a point of checking out the hottest soul spot in Europe.
At the height of its fame, Chris, who had also by then hit the British top ten charts himself with two comedy records of his own, decided to move closer to London and started his now legendary residency at Ilford's ‘Lacy Lady'. It was at the Lacy Lady that fashion, style, and music clashed in a spectacular shock wave that filled the tabloids and fashion magazines and had echoes in the later punk and new-romantic scene, as well as laying the foundations for today's current dance scene. It seemed that everybody that went the Lacy Lady in 1977 went on to form bands, make records, produce films, or make a name for themselves in the world of television media or fashion. At the Lacy, they were fed a diet of the best music black America had to offer, hard driving jazz funk, fusion and the hottest soul. It was here also that the jazz scene was formed with the dance floor packed for the most uncompromising bebop as well as the latest soul and disco from New York and Philadelphia.
It was during this period along with DJs Chris Brown and Tom Holland, and later with Robbie Vincent, Froggy, Greg Edwards and Sean French, that Hilly kicked off the first soul all-dayers at the Reading Top Rank Suite, then later the massive Purley and Alexandra Palace affairs. The FUNK MAFIA had been born, and in March 1979 it launched its most ambitious project - The Caister Soul Weekender. The original site was actually at Caister (giving the event it's name) a few miles from Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast. It played host to the largest gathering of soul and jazz fans there had ever been, for a whole weekend of music mayhem and madness. The British soul scene would never been the same again!
In 1977 Chris helped form Ensign records whose first signing, The Boomtown Rats introduced the young Sir Bob Geldof to the world. However the growing UK soul scene also enabled Chris to sign a new generation of home grown R&B talent. Light of the World, Eddy Grant, Incognito, Beggar and Co, David Bendeth, Phil Fearon, and Black Slate all spearheaded the new BritFunk movement whose music exploded through the growing soul family that had grown up around the clubs, the all-dayers and the new Caister Weekender.
In 1980 Chris moved back for his second stint at the Goldmine. Also during this period the Caister Soul Weekenders outgrew their original location and moved from Yarmouth to Bognor, to Barry Island and finally Prestatyn in North Wales, but they also outgrew their original dream with a new generation of DJs who moved away from the soul roots that had been its origin.
Chris decided to quit the club scene in 1985 and concentrate on his Ensign duties with a young Irish singer called Sinead O`Connor who he had recently discovered. In 1987 he was offered a weekend job in Hamburg on Radio 107 and created the hugely successful SoulBeat which made him a huge celebrity in Germany. When Sinead's world-wide hit (Nothing Compares to U) happened in 1989 Chris looked set for a quiet retirement, until Gary Dennis suggested he return to his old Essex roots. Reopening the Lacy Lady at the Kings, Ilford, they set about rebuilding a scene that had all but collapsed under the attack of rave, house and every other dance craze. The new Lacy Lady revived almost single handedly the greatness that had been. Then after a trial revival weekender at Camber Sands and a chance meeting with someone in a hot tub in Thailand, the return of the Caister Soul Weekender seemed the next logical step. The family was back! With most of the original team reformed along with those younger DJs that had kept the faith, the newly refurbished Vauxhall Park Holiday Centre at Yarmouth came on board. While a few miles from the original site the magical name Caister remained.
Meanwhile in February 1995 the Kings closed its doors for good and the Lacy Lady moved to the Island Ilford for 2 record breaking years, where a monthly gig regularly pulled in over 1500 happy funkateers.
In 1998 with another team at the helm, the Caister Soul Weekender extended
to 4 days and staged a live concert with D`Influence. Back on track musically
the best of Soul R&B Jazz and Funk, both old and new, now forms the basis
for the greatest and longest running event of its type in the world, and
Hilly is still there (just!) playing the best and climaxing the whole
event at finale, just as he did at the first one back in the days...........
What is the Caister Soul Weekender?
The 3 and 4 day Caister Weekenders are the UK's largest and longest running soul music event. The very first Caister took place in 1979, almost 30 years ago, truly a milestone achievement for any event and without doubt one of, if not THE, longest running music event in the world. Caister today is more popular than ever and has recently been filmed by both the BBC and Channel 4 television. The BBC described it as "The UK`s leading Soul music event"
What Happens at Caister?
The entire holiday resort complex is exclusively ours for each event. There are three venues in operation, including the fabulous Indoor Waterworld, all venues featuring the very best in soul and jazz/funk presented by the worlds top DJ team. Special Live guest appearances also take place and over the past twenty five years virtually every major soul act and artiste has appeared at a Caister Weekender. The venues are open throughout the day and night and on site the facilities are endless with licensed bars, restaurants, games and amusement centres, pool and snooker, sauna, solarium, fitness centre, adventure golf, shops and takeaways, supermarket, sports centre, indoor swimming pools, and most importantly...non-stop partying!
Included in the price is your on-site accommodation in modern fully equipped self-catering chalets, apartments and American style trailers, plus entrance to all the music venues over the entire weekend. There is free, security patrolled, on-site car parking but parking space is limited so whenever possible try and car share.
When and Where is Caister?
Caister is now held twice a year every May Day Bank Holiday Weekend and again at the end of September or the first weekend of October. More special events such as New Year weekenders also take place regularly. The Caister Soul Weekender takes place in Great Yarmouth. We take over the UK's finest holiday centre exclusively, which then becomes home for the thousands of soul music fans that join us time and time again just to be a part of the magic that is Caister!
FOR
MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT INDIVIDUAL CAISTER WEEKENDERS
PLEASE CLICK ON THE INFO & BOOKINGS
MENU
Who goes to Caister?
Caister is attended by hundreds of people at each event. Our guests come from far and wide and from all walks of life, many have been coming to Caister Weekender events from the beginning in 1979, with a significant number travelling from around the world.
Where do we go from here?
We have exciting plans for the future of Caister to make this prestigious
event even bigger and more spectacular! These plans include taking a Caister
Roadshow on tour through various clubs across the UK. An album launch
of pure Caister soul anthems plus a range of exclusive merchandise. (Caister
has previously been used to market the hugely successful 80's Soul Weekender
compilation albums and Caister video footage of previous events was used
in their TV advertising campaigns). Check out the Caister merchandise
page for more info.