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Music

My First Club: Sparky

How Hamburg led to Glasgow for the Numbers don.
THUMP Staff

My First Club takes us back to the beginning, transporting DJs and producers back into the depths of their memory, asking them to take us on a trip to those pivotal first nights in clubland. Following entries from the likes of Michael Mayer, Herve,MK, Slimzee,and Hudson Mohawke_, _we caught up with low-key Numbers man Sparky.__

Although I'm from Glasgow, I lived in Hamburg, West Germany from 1984 to 1990, the exact duration of my teenage years. Initially, my small group of friends were mostly into Punk, US Hardcore, Post Punk, SynthPop and Psychobilly records, and dance music certainly wasn't on our radar at all.

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By late '87 pals were coming back from trips to Britain with cassettes of dance mixes and recordings of UK raves, and we engaged with it reasonably quickly. At my school American 'Hair Metal' was the fashion of the day and I hated it, but there were a few of us who explored the weirder and seedier parts of the city looking for other musical experiences, and one night a few of us (totally by accident) found ourselves in Hamburg's 'Front' club.

My First Club takes us back to the beginning, transporting DJs and producers back into the depths of their memory, asking them to take us on a trip to those pivotal first nights in clubland. Following entries from the likes of Michael Mayer, Herve,MK, Slimzee,and Hudson Mohawke, we caught up with low-key Numbers man Sparky.

Although I'm from Glasgow, I lived in Hamburg, West Germany from 1984 to 1990, the exact duration of my teenage years. Initially, my small group of friends were mostly into Punk, US Hardcore, Post Punk, SynthPop and Psychobilly records, and dance music certainly wasn't on our radar at all.

By late '87 pals were coming back from trips to Britain with cassettes of dance mixes and recordings of UK raves, and we engaged with it reasonably quickly. At my school American 'Hair Metal' was the fashion of the day and I hated it, but there were a few of us who explored the weirder and seedier parts of the city looking for other musical experiences, and one night a few of us (totally by accident) found ourselves in Hamburg's 'Front' club.

'Front', as I've since learned, was one of West Germany's first ever house clubs and that fortuitous visit blew my mind. It was the first time I saw a room full of people doing nothing but focus on the music - little chat, no sleazing on girls, just dancing. The music sounded so different at that volume, so powerful and energetic, and when an Acid House record was played it was virtually like another universe.

My great friend Juri and I would go when we could - we were still at school, underage and our parents got very angry when we came home so late. But those early experiences were the catalyst for me to explore dance music much more, and to find great clubs once I moved back to the UK.

Perhaps without 'Front' I may never have found 'Pure', '69', 'Optimo'.

Sparky appears as part of Numbers' night with Hydra this Saturday, alongside Jackmaster and Denis Sulta. Find out more here.

Sparky's new single "Signals"is out now on Numbers.

'Front', as I've since learned, was one of West Germany's first ever house clubs and that fortuitous visit blew my mind. It was the first time I saw a room full of people doing nothing but focus on the music - little chat, no sleazing on girls, just dancing. The music sounded so different at that volume, so powerful and energetic, and when an Acid House record was played it was virtually like another universe.

My great friend Juri and I would go when we could - we were still at school, underage and our parents got very angry when we came home so late. But those early experiences were the catalyst for me to explore dance music much more, and to find great clubs once I moved back to the UK.

Perhaps without 'Front' I may never have found 'Pure', '69', 'Optimo'.

Sparky appears as part of Numbers' night with Hydra this Saturday, alongside Jackmaster and Denis Sulta. Find out more here.

Sparky's new single "Signals"is out now on Numbers.

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