“DJ Pilgrim, a name that graced nearly every event in the
early 90’s. Based in Wolverhampton and rarely seen at
today’s major events, why I do not know because he is one of
the finest DJ’s I’ve heard”. (MC Magika 1996)
DJ Pilgrim first started getting into music back in early
1988.
At this point he was into Hip-Hop in a big way and started
going to a regular weekly Jam, this was at a club called the
Raglan in the heart of Wolverhampton. In the latter half of
1988 the clubs music policy started to change into what was
to be known as Rave. When he crossed over he took his
Hip-Hop technique with him, this involved using his feet and
elbows to scratch as well as using two copies of the same
record, one slightly more ahead than the other to make a
doubling affect, hence the record sounds like it has been
re-mixed. This was used by the DMC DJ’s the Cashmoney and
Cutmaster Swift, who had influenced him in the earlier days
and was just one of many things that made him stand out from
all the other DJ’s on the local circuit.
“For me, a DJ has to do something more than just mix two
records together to gain respect. Let’s face it, most of the
DJ’s on today’s circuit can mix two records together but
when it comes to scratching and doubling it takes a lot of
courage and talent to do it live. I myself choose to do
these things because not every DJ can, it makes you stand
out and sound different from everyone else, I think that is
why I rate Hype and Sy as the best DJ’s on the scene mixing
wise”.
It was 1991 before he got his main break, this was at the
opening night of the legendary Quest in Wolverhampton and
was the first major weekly club that ran every Saturday
night. DJ’s who played were the almighty Top Buzz, England’s
premiere female DJ Rap and Pilgrim, the night was a great
success and the atmosphere was electric. After this Pilgrim
became a resident playing week after week, as the club got
to be known nationwide so did his name, with people making
the trip to the club from as far away as Scotland. He
started to play and headline big events such as Shelleys,
Universe, World Party, Vision, The Edge and Fantazia at
Donnington Park where Pilgrim played to over 25,000 thus
establishing himself as a mainstream DJ:
“People in today’s scene would never have thought that I
have headlined nearly all the biggest raves there have ever
been in this country”.
By 1994 he had started to notice the music was segregating,
what used to be classed as Hardcore was now Happy Hardcore
and Drum ‘n’ Bass with each having their own DJ’s and MC’s.
At this time Happy Hardcore did not have many people
producing this type of music so DJ’s like Dougal, Billy
Bunter, Slipmatt and Seduction started to provide their own.
This was a trend that was picked up by a lot of the DJ’s who
decided to stick to what was starting to be called 4-Beat.
At this point the scene became even more segregated, Pilgrim
found playing Drum ‘N’ Bass attracted a following that was
not into the same good vibe and that it was getting harder
to incorporate 4-Beat in the same sets.
“With the Drum ‘n’ Bass music going through a dark,
atmospheric style I found the music was reflecting onto the
crowd, the atmosphere in the clubs was getting more dark and
tense. On the other side, the 4-Beat was happy and uplifting
which also reflected on the crowd, thus creating a happy
pleasant atmosphere, this is what raving always used to be
about”.
With club nights kicking off all over the UK catering for
the individual sounds, Pilgrim started playing at just
4-Beat events like Pleasuredome, Vibealite, Pandemonium,
Labrynth, Fusion, Kinetic, Rezerection, Diehard, and many
more. Pilgrim feels that with the current state of things
within the whole dance spectrum, that to be seen as a
versatile DJ is a bad thing, promoters prefer DJ’s to play
one individual style:
“Back in the earlier days being a versatile DJ was a good
thing, people of all musical tastes were under one roof and
you could cater for everyone, that’s why DJ’s like Carl Cox
were such big names. Nowadays people see it as a bad thing,
they either play one style or the other. I used to play
versatile sets with all kinds of musical styles, whether it
was Happy Techno or Drum ‘n’ Bass, there was a bit in there
for everyone but those days are gone. Now it’s just 4-Beat
with a lot of hard bouncy Techno thrown in. I still listen
to my Drum ‘n’ Bass when I am out on the road as well as
4-Beat, I think it’s good to have an open mind”.
Pilgrim lives in the Midlands region which is seen to be an
area dominated by Drum ‘n’ Bass, this is not the case
anymore, things are changing. Because of this tag he has
been given, he feels that promoters have typecast him as a
Drum ‘n’ Bass DJ and thus prevented him in playing at events
such as Helter Skelter, Dreamscape, United Dance, Dreamscape
and Hardcore Heaven.
“I speak to people on the scene and they turn around to me
and say, ‘Oh, I thought you still played Drum ‘n’ Bass
because I don’t see you at big events anymore!’, that’s
mainly because of when they think of the Midlands they think
of Drum ‘n’ Bass, whether it’s to do with DJ’s, Promoters or
Record Artists. One of the other things that have held me
off big events of recent (and a few clubs are guilty of this
too) is there seems to be few promoters out there that don’t
seem to realise the amount of work and effort a DJ puts into
his performance, and with this they try to get you to
perform for next to nothing”.
“Back in the earlier days it was a case of if the promoter
thought you were capable of doing the job he would book you,
money was not the first priority, not it’s a case of if you
sell yourself cheap enough, the promoter isn’t that bothered
whether you are experienced enough or not, it’s the price
that counts. Some of the big names on the scene at the
moment are guilty of this, they are in a position to make a
stand against this kind of thing but they don’t which makes
it harder for everyone in general. This is why so many are
selling themselves cheap and making it harder for people
with not as big a name. On the same subject, people will
look at their flyers and will think, ‘This DJ must be good,
he is on seven out of ten flyers’, what they don’t realise
is they are not on there for their ability but rather the
price they charged the promoter. I think this is wrong,
sometimes the raver does not get good value for money
because the promoter is being tight fisted and trying to cut
corners. At the end of the day you have to give the ravers
value for money which they so rightly deserve, without them
there is no scene”.
“So you guilty promoters out there wake up and smell the
coffee before it’s too late to do anything about it, start
making the line-ups a bit more varied, give the people a
choice of what music and who they would like to hear rather
than putting the same line-ups on time after time. You had
nothing like this in the earlier days, things have changed a
lot since then, now there is a lot more competition with a
lot more DJ’s, MC’s, Promoters, Labels and Magazines on the
scene. I know it is hard for up and coming new names to get
on the scene, it takes time and practice to gain skills
needed, but when you have made a bit of a name for yourself
and continue to sell yourself cheap, I think that’s the
wrong way to go about it, if you don’t respect yourself how
do you expect other people to respect you. In the past
promoters have asked me to perform for them cheaper, but I
think to myself I should not be doing that, I am not an up
and coming DJ, I am a well experienced DJ and have been
around a long time to know that things work like that, I
think this is something that has also led to my name being
missed off clubs and events”.
Not content with just playing 4-Beat, Pilgrim also likes to
turn the clock back by playing at Old Skool events. The
atmosphere is always 100% at these clubs, it not only brings
back good memories but also the old faces that left the
scene. He has recently played at London’s premiere Old
School event, Moondance at Club UN and will be resident at a
new Old School night that is due to start in August. The
people behind this night are myself (Magika) and Gez the man
behind Quest, Pimp and tmic Jam. It is due to be held at the
old home of Quest in Wolverhampton, look out for flyers
nationwide.
On the 4-Beat side of things Pilgrim is starting to
concentrate on putting out his own music, current work
includes a release on DJ SS’ label ‘Viscious Vinyl’ which is
a subsidiary label to Formation Records and is due to be
released soon. Other plans are to release music with other
4-Beat labels including a track with DJ Energy who also
lives in Wolverhampton.
“My ideas are to release a standard style of 4-Beat on the
A-side and to try and break new grounds with new ideas on
the B-side”.
Pilgrim’s plans for the future are to continue playing the
4-Beat and Old Skool music he loves nationwide and abroad,
to be a big part of the mainstream scene again as well as
becoming a first class snowboarder and winning the lottery.
I will end the insight by saying that this DJ is an
excellent mixer, he knows what the crowd want and executes
it. He has been around for a long time playing alongside
some of the original Old School DJ’s like Carl Cox, Stu
Allen, Grooverider and Sasha with sets that justify himself
being as good as any top 4-Beat names.
DJs
