I’m known as DJ Derek, I’ve been known as that name for I should imagine from the late 70’s, I started DJing for the West Indian community in Bristol up to the current time, the 80’s were really the formative years of my time learning what art I got as a DJ, because as a white man, playing among the west Indian community it was, some was unusual to say to be actually asked my immediate memories of the 80’s are some what confused because I suddenly found myself two years in to being on the dole basically because due to domestic matters at the end of the 70s.. I handed in my notices at Frys without knowing really what I was going to do. I’d always loved black music and being involved listening to it in the night clubs particularly the bamboo club in Bristol and other places where it was played like the dug out.

I was very well accepted within that community by the time I was actually asked to DJ that was 1978 when Hector Willington took over the Star and Garter, he was a Jamaican bus driver friend of mine and the star and garter was already an established west Indian club I went in there on casual basis and things built up, I got asked to do wedding receptions and birthdays parties then the man open a turn table club in Bristol and much to my surprise asked me to play on the grounds if I didn’t play for him he would have to go to Jamaica to get a DJ. Because he knew I had the volume of music to please the type of clientele that he wanted, which is basically what we call big people not children, in his case certainly no Rasta influence.

That’s when I learnt the division at that time between the attitudes of certain classes within the West Indian community, which largely excluded anything connected with Rasta and ganja. I use to get my roots and culture music by going down to the many illegal blues party’s and house parties every weekend and literally there were probably 15 going on in St Paul’s and Easton there’s hardly anything of that nature going on at all. A lot of it was a bit of a haze cause I was just trying to stay on my feet and make enough money to live on, I was signing on initially and then I discovered I could sign on as a part time worker so I only had to go to the dole once every fortnight to claim the earnings I was making as a DJ but I could also claim any money I was spending on expenses and records so that and the reduced dole money enabled me to survive and just about keep the bailiffs from the door. Council tax was a problem or the original poll tax was a real problem.

The funny story about that, when the bailiffs did finally come they realised the only thing of any worth I had were the tools of my trade and they couldn’t touch that. Weather they took pity of me, or what the guy took a record order off me, but at that time I was also supplying Bristol with records as and when I could find them then the riots hit us in the early 80’s and that was a seminal turning point in St Paul’s and years later in the 90’s BB2 made a film about it recreated a scene of me and African social working based a couple of doors down from the Star and Garter called Manny, Manual. An African distinguished man who was loved by most people his genuine ability to try and help not only the youths but the older people with problems, weather it was utilities or whatever you know generally and we walked down through City Road immediately after the riot the police line was still drawn across the road, and we walked through there and they parted and me and my three piece suit n thing, and Manny in his African robes walked down to people leaning out windows to people shouting Yeah Derek! Yeah Manny! And the sombre faced policemen looking at us as we walked through to the Inkerman and it was just as if somebody had taken the lid off a pressure cooker, the illation of people in there, alright some bad things went on that night but also some very socially good things, like the ring of people surrounding the chemist so that no body could brake in and take dangerous drugs out, the number of premises which were protected by people because they said, “no these are good people”. But they might be in a particular Asian shop which didn’t get broken into, on the other hand the furniture ware house got burnt down that was the old cinema which is now being replaced by a big block of flats next to the criteria. But as I said the illation that night was tangible where you can just touch it and the music was going on and the following morning there must have been some incredible hang overs I don’t remember much of the next few days. I do remember going through uhh, Portland square a couple of days later when the riot vans were still parked up and being referred to be the police as a nigger lover and black bastard you can edit that if you think its to strong but it actually happened. The one thing that did start to improve is the start and I notice is still improving is the relationship between the community and the police.

Community policing does seem to have taken some effect down here I haven’t had much experience it’s the general attitude I see around. You will always get fractious youths of any colour who resent authority at any time but that goes without saying but when they cleared out the crack houses down here which they done occasionally the community is on the street appalled the officers as they lead these mindless thugs away, that’s only can be appalled. And finally this was in the nineties after a film was made about me which showed the scene I just described I was approached be police officers who actually pulled over in a car on City Road who said, if every man was like you, there would be no problem in the area at all. I said if every police officer has been like you had been like you there wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place.

Because we’ve got the medium of being able to record things now which never existed in the past people will have a far better understanding of what life was actually like these days then we could possibly know even by shake spare or anything of that written on the page. We got the ability to film and audio recording, to actually let people not only hear but see what it was like, we can only imagine its like take it to the ridiculous degree images of God or Christ nobody knows what eh looks like because no body was around, no photographs around. It must make a difference down the line.

Whether people will be interested and weather global warming would of wiped all this stuff off the face off the earth anyway I don’t know but working on the basis of some of it will survive its worth doing. Feelings in the 80’s as I say were dogged by my personal circumstances just deciding what I was going to do how I was going to continue to make a living baring in mind I was in my 40’s by then. Not dreaming of one day I would be a pretty well known DJ you know to some extent international I’ve worked all over the world all in a limited sense in certain types of festivals but I’m also recognised within, I hope, the black music industry as a hole and certainly the Caribbean music industry as having integrity and that’s one thing I regard so strongly it would be so easy for a black DJ etc to have said I only managed to do that because you were white and that’s never once been said to me I’ve only congratulated in spreading the people’s music. I mean I fell in love with the music when I fell in love with the people, against the common trend of the time which my initial response was in the 60’s when I use to go down to St Paul’s “you don’t wanna go down there its dangerous” and all I ever found down there was great music, great people. And love. And that’s continued to this day.