DJ, producer, promoter, record collector, journalist. Yogi does the lot and has done for many years. From Northern Soul to Jazz Funk to Acid House to Techno and everything in between and beyond, he’s been on that journey from the very start. With an immense record collection and knowledge to match, Yogi has been at the forefront and continues to move forward. Brutally honest and stories that could fill books, his passion for music continues after being involved in various scenes for many many years.
I spoke to Yogi over the course of a month or two and he has been so generous with his time, words and knowledge. Its been a pleasure hearing about some of the stories, his passion for music and his thirst to still put on parties – his MFSB day time parties in Edinburgh- and to still have that drive and hunger to discover new music, pull records out of his vast collection that mean so much or ignite a certain memory but not just to leave them on the shelf but play them for people to listen and dance to. Over to Yogi:
Bit of a background question really lets start from the beginning – where did you grow up, any early influences, what were you listening to (bands/artists/djs/radio shows), what sort of scene was around when you were a teenager?
I have always followed what I term as the natural bloodline of black music, without any deviation from that purist path. I got into northern soul in the mid 70’s and like a twig on a river, was carried along by a musical tidal wave, picking up genre debris as I went along. I was quickly turned on by the Mecca sound, disco, jazz funk, dance floor jazz, modern soul, boogie, Chicago house, acid house, underground house, broken beats, right up to the current flavour. I have an insatiable thirst for new music but also glance back at the forgotten musical territory from the past. As they say “to understand the future, you must respect the past”.
I’m from Manchester, which in the 70’s and 80’s was the epicentre of the musical world for me. I stumbled into northern soul and very rapidly immersed myself into that scene, which was the blueprint for modern day clubbing I guess. You’ve got to remember, you NEVER spoke ’bout drugs to anybody and you certainly would never admit to taking them, apart from to fellow “soulies”. It was still a very, very dirty word and thing to be involved in. I quickly started to go to legendary clubs such as Legends – Greg Wilson/Colin Curtis, Rafters Colin Curtis/John ‘TnT’ Grant, Berlin, Manchester with Colin Curtis, The Ritz, Blackpool Mecca, The Carlton Club in Warrington – Kev Edwards. I mean, I was out four or five nights a week and travelling all over Britain. The Wag, Doo At The Dinosaur, Birmingham Locarno, Hummingbird, Notts Palais, Queens Hall in Bradford, Morecambe Pier, Stars And Stripes in Yate – jus’ tell me to shut the fuck up when you have had enough. In about 1980 I was busted at Wigan Casino and I knew this was gonna cause me problems with my parents, so I moved to Newquay. There was a massive jazz funk crowd there working in the hotels and we all used to go to a joint called Berties, which is where I probably did my first ever gig outside of Manchester. There was a lot of northern soul bods workin’ in Newquay back then too, so I was right at home.
Do you think the soul/funk/northern genres are very similar to the House scene in how it grew from being an underground sound/movement that was very working class and also with the music/fashion/drugs etc?
The comparisons in the organic stuff between northern and house is ridiculous. Things such as Chicago, Detroit and New York being the triangular hub and foundation of a large amount of the music is mirrored but northern soul was and still is much mo’ intense and obsessive. There were a lot of flaky folk involved in house in the early days, gangsters and rogues, whilst that kinda thing was really not tolerated on the soul scene. It was such a tight circle and you had to be in the gang really to be part of it as a promoter. Anything commercially orientated was simply not allowed, although that is slowly starting to erode away as lots of newlies (new soulies) have appeared on the scene and it’s starting to become a bit laughable and commercial BUT, there still are proper northern nights around, if you do yer home work.
Drugs wise, back then it was pharmaceutical amphetamines that were the cocaine of the day, Filon, Black Bombers, Green And Clears, Red And Browns, Chalkies, Daps, Two Tone Pinks, Dex, SK&F Blues, Phentermine, Duramine etc. There was also a lot of back street stuff such as Speckled Blueys, Dex and of course Sulphate and Methadrine Crystals but you NEVER saw Cocaine. Barbiturates and opioid based gear such as Dipipanone Hydrochloride, Dextromormide and other dangerous substances were very popular on the scene also. It was very much a case of, if it fucks you up, take it. Folk were dropping like flies back in the day. Back to the music thing, there always seemed to be mo’ experts on the soul scene and jazz funk scene compared to the house scene, where the numbers are made up by the “I just like the music” fraternity. I mean punters back in the day HAD to go out and buy the rekkids, it was the only way to hear the stuff really and yeah, northern soul was ridiculously working class. Although now because of the records now costing upwards of £35,000 for one rekkid, it’s a rich persons hobby to an extent. I guess you get a lot of rich kids into house now, it’s far more global than northern was in its infancy, the internet has a lot to play in that of course and now northern is worldwide, instead of being restricted to shitty mining towns and industrial cities.
You can tell especially from your Instagram account that you have an extensive knowledge of music and a record collection to match – is there a particular genre of music that is your main passion? If you had to save 5 records from your collection what would they be?
Thank you, kind of you to say so. Yeah, am at about 60,000-70,000 records and CDs now, I never sell anything unless I get a triple copy and the odd double. Northern does sommat to me that no other genre does but that is because of the youth memories I guess but no – jazz, deep funk, gospel, house music records all send me. It’s like yer kids or cats man, you can’t pick a fave and if I had to save 5 rekkids? Not an option, we are goin’ down together or we will fight until nobody is left standing if anybody comes between us. I have wacked a couple of people over the years that I caught trying to sneak a rekkid out my box. Fingers crossed, I will be able to dig a big hole and fill it with me and the rekkids when it’s time, although family members have said they wanna keep the collection together after my toes curl lol.
What were you playing/buying/listening to early/mid 80’s onwards and when were you first aware of House music? Was there a tune, a progression, a moment that caught your attention and turned you on to the sound?
Yeah, in the early to mid 80’s I was buying a lot of jazz funk, dance floor jazz, Japanese imports, indie soul and major label soul. Once Wigan Casino closed I was travelling about a lot to Northern, modern soul, Electro/hip hop and jazz funk clubs but I was straight to Spin Inn in Manchester to buy new imports most weekends. I have bought Northern slowly and methodically over the years as and when I heard sommat I liked and when I could afford it I was binge buying jazz, hip hop and jazz funk like crazy. Unless you are a zillionaire or a dealer, you can’t binge buy Northern but I wish I knew then what I knew now. I must of fingered some ridiculously rare and expensive records back in the day, that were financially out of reach but those records have increased value out of step with inflation.
Was it a natural progression from what you were playing at the time to House music or did you stick to what you were doing at that time? I always thought it would be a huge jump from a certain scene to House but when I spoke to Paul Stuart recently he just found it a progression from what he was playing or going out and listening to.
Yeah, I agree with Paul. It was and still is a natural progression from one genre to the next. I don’t sit there thinkin’, ooooh, I better start likin’ broken beats or I better be hip and get into trap, grime and chipmunk R’n’B. I jus’ go with the ebb and flow of musical development and if I like it, I collect, buy and play it. I’m the river of musical curiosity, if I don’t like a musical tributary downstream, I dam the fuckin’ thing up and continue downstream until the water is fresher and mo’ to my liking. It’s as simple and easy as that. You know, if you love music, it’s like playing football if you are a natural, it all comes with the greatest of ease and without effort I guess. It’s sommat I love, so, easy peasy and I’m not trying to please ANYBODY but myself. I’m a music fan first and foremost, not a DJ. I just happen to be fortunate that folk take an interest in my hobby and wanna be part of the journey. The world has too many DJ egomaniacs and DJ’s that put themselves before the music don’t you think?
Where were you going out during the early House days? Did you notice/were you part of the movement in clubs where the music policy was gradually changing to include more House music? Did you also notice a change in fashion too? I understand you held a residency at the Sub Club – how was that?
Very much so, we were playing records that were house music, before the house term was coined. I mean look, music is like anything, there is a natural progression, it’s never as simple as waking up one morning and GoGo is born, or hey, Gabba appeared on such and such a date but you can sit down and name pivotal records that contributed to morphing music and conflating genres. I guess this is why the soul scene has a sub genre called crossover, because it is jus’ that, when two decades collide and so does the sound. And with the way technology moves so quickly now, so do the sounds. You know, folk always quote Kraftwerk as the birth of techno but it ain’t techno, it’s a development in a sound, a crossover of production. Is Orange Juice’s ‘Rip It Up’ acid house? No, of course not but they were one of the first bands to use the TB 303 and Indian musician Charanjit Singh was making acid house in 1982 with a TB 303 and didn’t even know he was a fuckin’ pioneer and practically invented acid house.
Music development all moves naturally and organically, jus’ like the natural world and evolution. It’s a fascinating subject. Think cavemen hittin’ blocks of wood, thats where we are at now and all the musical twists and turns we have gone through.
The Sub Club – Yeah, I was in the first wave of residents at The Sub Club, I’m very proud to be associated with it. Being part of laying the foundations of anything that lasts is sommat to be proud of.
Do you consider yourself as starting the House/Techno scene in Scotland or is there more than just one person that can be credited? Did you see a difference between the scene in Scotland and England?
Some folk credit me for starting the house and techno thing up here and I would be a fool to say no I didn’t start it but I would be a fool to say yes I did start it! It was a movement and like pushing a tiny snowball up a hill, as it got bigger, mo’ folk have to join and help push the fucker up the hill to the point where the identity of the original folk pushing the ball becomes less important, it is a team effort but yeah, The Hoochie Coochie in Edinburgh and Club 9, both clubs I played at from 86 were certainly trailblazing and no doubt, if you ask a lot of original house heads where they first heard acid, techno and house, I’m sure they will say one of the clubs I played at. I do recall playing with some DJs that are still around today and they were NOT playing acid, techno and house from day one but it gathered momentum so frikin quickly, you would be lucky if any DJ was more than six months to a year ahead of the game.
Yeah, there was a difference between Scotland and England. Sure, London claims it started the whole thing and never gave or gives credit to anywhere except Manchester perhaps but the Scottish scene was totally raw and cutting edge. I would put my record collection up against anybody down South, co’s after all, that is the physical, forensic, timeline evidence of what you were playing. Don’t believe everything you read in the house/techno history books, the majority of journalists were far too lazy to leave London in 1986 on wards to see what was poppin’ in Scotland. The South was not the be all and end all of house music and some day, a brave, tenacious and methodical writer will set the record straight. I have had ONE writer from the South come to me in all these years to ask about the history of house up here, that was Bill Brewster who wrote a small piece for the web about five years ago. Decades of history that has never really been documented, although Jon Mancini and Streetrave did do a great DIY documentary called The Story of Streetrave 89-09 but apart from that, fuck all on the telly, documentaries, radio, books worth talkin’ ’bout and man, I went to some amazin’ parties up here, both legal and illegal.
With huge football rivalry in Edinburgh and Glasgow how did that go down in clubs? Did House/Ecstasy break down barriers or did the rivalry still carry on?
Look, we all got into Northern soul to get away from neds, beer monsters and folk that had no interests in life apart from gettin’ pissed, goin’ out to a club, gettin’ in a punch up and goin’ home with some ugly ride and then football nonsense on Saturday afternoon. The 70’s and 80’s were brutal for Saturday night disco normaloids that didn’t know how to conduct themselves or know anything about music. I mean, if you go to the high street disco and dance to the fuckin’ Wombles or Mud, you are gonna end up bein’ a bit culturally devoid.
You had to wait until you stumbled across black music or Northern soul in many cases, it was so off the radar, you found it by pure chance, as I did. Edinburgh was the least coolest town in Scotland in the 90’s, EVERY fucker had discovered house music by 1989/90 around Scotland but the soccer thing was still very embedded in Edinburgh culture. All the clubs were full of ex casuals that had grown up, got into gear, discovered house but in Edinburgh, it was still like being in the fuckin’ 70’s at times. The scene was held back drastically by the 70’s mentality of certain folk in Edinburgh. A lot of those people don’t come to clubs in Edinburgh co’s they were so fuckin’ far behind with what was going on culturally that they got left behind and yet I can go to a big event and see HUNDREDS of blokes from other cities that DID get into house that are still going out and yeah, of course the clobber reflects that football past but everybody left that shite on the terraces when they were 15, it jus seems a lot of folk in Edinburgh left it too late to wise up and realise that gettin’ along and off yer tits is a lot nicer and enjoyable than a weekend in the cells.
You know what, drugs have made clubbing safer, perhaps that is why there was NEVER trouble at Northern soul events, because there was no beer and loads of drugs. Clubbing is safer today than it ever has been. You never see folk wack someone co’s they are from out of town, like you did in the old days. All very childish and neddish if you ask me. Am happy to say that Edinburgh is now a very cool city to go clubbing in and is very musically astute
Do you think the House scene would have been as big as it is without Ecstasy?
No, Ecstasy was the glue, the bond that brought every body together. I used to find myself back at parties with complete psychopaths, gangsters, with neddy soccer thugs from opposing sides and all of a sudden they were mates and all gettin’ on. The one word you associate with E’s is Euphoria and it is a great drug for emphasising that emotion and producers knew what E buttons to press with euphoric break downs, piano sounds, chord progressions etc. Take that break at the start of ‘Playing With Knives’ or that piano at the start of ‘Where Love Lives’, all rush inducing tricks.
There was already a healthy underground dance music scene, a natural blood line if you will, northern, disco, jazz funk, modern soul, rare groove, if they were the burning embers, the house music scene was the petrochemical works explosion that brought dance music to the masses and attracted a lot of folk that dance music might well of passed people by. Oh and don’t forget, The Sun fanned the flamers by demonising acid house and drugs, we all love to do what we are told not to do and those headlines attracted a lot of folk that had never been to anything but a discotheque on the high street but you know what, most folk got it right away and a wee tab helped them along the way. Drugs was no longer a dirty word, which it was prior to house music and E’s.
Did you carry on playing cross genre sets or did you feel the pull of Acid House/Techno was bigger and ended up just playing House sets?
Nahhh, I’ve always done cross genre gigs, one night a modern soul night playing rare sevens, the next night playin’ in a cow shed at a rave. A lot of folk focus on one or two genres, I jus’ have a very broad taste in dance music, from very rare northern records, to Italian piano house and techno, to electronic music and gospel. It’s cost me a fortune to keep all these genres up to a decent level with vinyl but hey, records are my hobby, am not complaining.
An old flyer that was posted on your Instagram had a picture of a sad smiley face and RIP Acid House 23.10.88 – is that how you felt at the time or was it in reference to something else? Was the scene becoming bigger even at that point or was it a tongue in cheek flyer?
That was a flyer somebody planted on my wall. When you are in a scene from the start, some folk just hate their precious scene going overground and being diluted, which is kinda happening on the northern scene at the moment, it’s full of spanners and “divs” as they are called on that scene and the original soulies HATE it. Musically, once the record companies can smell a pound or two, things get watered down a bit musically also but there are always folk that still wanna hear real underground house. Like I said, by the start of 1989 The Sun had done a great job of promoting drugs and illegal parties and the proverbial snowball (pun intended) had been pushed over the hill and house music and acid house was part of the English language and culture but who the fuck woulda thought that it would still be here almost forty years later. That would be like Teddy Boys and rock ‘n’ roll still being around until the mid 90’s ffs.
I wasn’t
Do you/did you embrace the digital world and the change in buying and playing music?
Yeah, 90% of my promos are on digital but there are some genres I refuse to play off a stick, if you want an acid set, original disco, or rare soul set, yer gettin’ vinyl. Those scenes have a lot of train spotters and folk want to see the records. There is a lot of interaction at that gigs, folk wanna look at labels but my new house music is pretty much digital but I do try to buy house on vinyl also, jus’ for my collection. I bought a Moodymann album on vinyl jus’ this week actually.
You recently spoke about losing a few friends due to drugs/addiction – is this from the Rave scene/back in the Northern days forward or just life in general?
I have lost so many folk through drugs, mainly on the northern scene. The guy that first brought me up here in 1980ish to a Clouds (that big club in Tollcross is where Clouds was) Northern all nighter died of a barbiturates overdose. Folk on the Northern scene dabbled in much harder drugs, Diconal, Sodium Amytal, Mandrax, speed was jus’ a small part of what went on on that scene and there was a LOT of bangin’ up, on the train to the all nighter, in the all nighter, in the street when there was a puddle, anywhere.
SSW (Scottish Soul Weekender) – for anyone that doesn’t know about it could you explain the weekender?
SSW was a weekender, a weekend of two all night parties and then back on it at 12:00 mid day. Alas SSW Kavos is off until next year because of the virus. We put on the world’s top DJs and some bangin’ live acts. The people we have had play is insane.
MFSB (Mutha Funkin Soulful Beats) – looks fantastic – twice a month, daytime clubbing I’m assuming for the older crowd – how long has it been going, does it cover all the kinds of music that you love, do you have guests etc – tell us a little bit more about MFSB.
There is no age boundaries at MFSB, we have 18 year old folk attend, right up to older, seasoned clubbers and nobody gives a shit, they just get on down and do it to death. You will hear Theo Parrish and Moodymann next to Motor City Drum Ensemble and then a £500 disco record and an unreleased funk record all within ten minutes. If you wanna be musically educated then MFSB is a good place to be and if you wanna be part of sommat special, ditto. We have had lots of incredible guests play also, Jocelyn Brown, Nicky Siano, Al Kent, iMROMULL and so on. Free entry every 1st and 3rd Saturday at The Street, Picardy Place in Edinburgh. 15:00-21:00 and by 18:00 it’s like being in a club at 04:00, it goes right aff.
What would be your dream line up and where would you have it?
I have lots of reasons I wont book a DJ and I have lots of reasons why I do book DJs but they are my wee secrets lol. I love folk that are realllly into music and not falkin’ it and the fakers stick out like a sore thumb and also those folk that are clearly into it for all the wrong reasons get my goat. Of course comical DJs such as Steve Aoki, Timmy Trumpet, David Guetta and folk that drag the scene through the gutter and bring it into disrepute would not get to play, even if they offered for FREE.
That aside, I couldn’t tell you what my ideal line up would be, that would take too long and most of them are grass roots DJs and collectors but what I will tell you is, I would argue that UK DJs have a lot mo’ musical knowledge and sense of the history than the Americans. You can lose most yanks in a conversation ’bout rare black music in the time it takes to snort a line. Guy comes up to me at WMC and plays me his new joint, “you will NEVER get the sample man” he boasts. Two bars in, it’s The Rimshots, ‘Do What You Feel’ bro on Stang. I gleefully inform him and that is the level most of them are at out there BUT there are some guys in America that are quoted, guys such as Spinna, Egon and Kenny Dope know their shit when it comes to funk and obscure joints, Sadar Bahar collects rare sevens ‘n’ stuff but considering they live where the music comes from and how many DJs are out there, a lot of ’em get pretty smug jus’ playing a Salsoul record and thinkin’ they be bringin’ something radical to the table. American DJs are not as exotic as they might once of been considered and a lot of them leave me scratching my head after playing a load of commercial disco records, records a mobile jock could probably play but I guess that there is sommat to be said for “good times” records but hearing loads in one set is jus’ not my bag. Personally though, I like DJs that dare to dream, that dare to clear a dance floor, DJs that dig deep and folk that play lonnnng forgotten obscurities. Maybe am jus’ not easily impressed but going back to your original question, there are way too many DJs I respect and love to nail it down to a handful.
Thank you. When this lockdown is over you catch the MFSB parties every fortnight in Edinburgh. Keep updated by following Yogi on his Instagram page where he posts an unbelievable amount of records. He also has a Facebook page too. News, events and his record collection are all on both. https://www.instagram.com/yogihaughton/ https://www.facebook.com/yogi.haughton/timeline?lst=552820011%3A616191810%3A1588402947 Check out his record reviews – Yogi’s Choice Cuts https://www.iamcru.com/
InTheBeginning 
Thanks for this guys. Looks great
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