November will mark five years of Will Foot and Lewis Henderson’s DJ outfit and independent record label Deptford Northern Soul Club. We chatted to the South London lads at Big John’s Biltong Bar in Deptford.
Why Northern Soul?
We wanted to do something that was unique and different, to create something unlike any other night we’d been to. I’d to the most amazing Northern Soul night in Berlin when I was 19 with nowhere to stay. I went to a locker and put all my stuff in, then I worked out it was cheaper to go out and dance than get a hotel, so I just bought a ticket to a club that stayed open until six o’clock. There was so much love in the room. I never thought that I could enjoy dancing to Soul, but man I did. And now, what’s crazy is that young people love our Soul nights. I’d say the 19 to 27 bracket makes up about 80% of our audience.
Will Foot and Lewis Henderson
Talk me through the history of Deptford High street, I know it’s very dear to you?
The name ‘Northern Soul’ was actually coined on this street. The record shop was called Soul City and the owner used to have retro record boxes. All the Northern football fans would come down to see their team play away in London and they’d try to get soul records because they just didn’t have them up north. They’d always be asking for the same thing: fast, upbeat soul with a four-beat you could dance to. The owner got so sick of people bursting into his shop and having to repeat himself all the time that he just wrote on one of the retro boxes ‘Northern Soul’.
Big John and the boys
How did this all come about, and what were the early ideas behind the project?
In the early days we wanted to build it up as a club, something that was more than just us two, then we could send some people out to DJ and just run it from the venue. What we didn’t clock is the fact we couldn’t trust anyone. People arrive late, get totally drunk, and are generally useless. One New Year’s Eve a DJ stole a 20 pound note from a punter at the bar, before ordering shots and drinking them in front of her with her money. Another DJ found out what was going on and decided to fight him.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced?
Finding someone to cover for you when you need to go for a wee! With Northern Soul it’s mainly two-minute tracks, so you can’t just leave them playing, you need to be on deck at all times. I don’t understand how people do it on their own! Sometimes we grab a random poor lad out the crowd, tell him to stand there and press play.
One of our pals put it really sweetly, he said it’s becoming a bit of an institution…
But it’s all worth it. One of our pals put it really sweetly, he said it’s becoming a bit of an institution and that’s a real aim for us – for people to know it’s always here. As a community. We have certain fans who literally never miss a gig and still receive written emails from people who say, ‘Look you don’t know me, but I came to your night four years ago and met this girl and we’re getting married this weekend, you might not think that you’re doing something good but you really changed my life and I love you.’ and then we’re just like wow.
To find out more, and discover up-coming dates, look at https://deptfordnorthernsoulclub.co.uk/
