So, I was pretty uninhibited (tired!) after DJing at Aimee and Paul’s wedding at Secession Bar on Great Western Road in Glasgow last month, and paid a wee midnight visit to the site of the former Woodside Social Club (“the Woody”) around the corner. I ran “Pin Up Nights” there for 2 years in the noughties and in the short video below I reeled off all the folk we had brought to Guest DJ, paid my dues to other resident nights of the era (National Pop League, Superfly, Mungo’s Hi Fi, The Winchester Club), but forgot to mention Alex James of Blur.
The Woody had various shortcomings as a venue and in my opinion the best parties we ever held came during the years afterwards at The Flying Duck below Renfield Street in the city centre. But I also accept that some revellers could never get themselves beyond the West End Force Field (excellent chat (c) Pin Ups DJ Young Niall) and the only Pin Ups they would ever know were the Woody ones. And of course some people just think the Woody nights were more selectively (unprofessionally) promoted, in a more obscure secretive venue, and more mental as a result. And the visit of Alex James was certainly a wild one. The pics below, by Iain Ross Baillie, speak for themselves.
I was delighted when I picked Alex up at Glasgow Airport and he walked straight towards me without prompting. I proudly concluded that I must have looked like a Blur Person.
I had spoken to Alex a few weeks before the party and he declared that he would be playing an “indie wedding DJ” set, and that’s exactly what it was. He was accompanied by his wife Claire and didn’t touch a drop of booze all night. For his big Woody appearance he had unfortunately chosen a khaki t-shirt that became drenched with unflattering sweat patches in about ten seconds flat. (Stifling heat and no ventilation was a major Woody problem.) As you will see in the pics below, Alex looked like a harassed American GI in a Vietnam jungle.
At one point he bowed to some pressure to play some Blur, sticking on Popscene. He then stopped it after 20 seconds, saying “that’s b*llocks” over the microphone (he was on the microphone a LOT), and replaced it with Le Freak. Some boy. Thanks to our live bands on the night The Plimptons (who almost became a house band), the Heebie Jeebies, and The Nintendos.
Overall Alex and Claire were lovely and I’m delighted to see their ongoing success with Blur, farms, festivals, sparkling wine and all sorts. I’d thoroughly recommend Alex’s recent book Over The Rainbow which was marketed as being about the 2023 Blur reunion, but hardly mentions Blur at all, and is somehow far more charming as a result.
If you’ve enjoyed this stumble down memory lane, please snap up a copy of my book Retired Teenagers: the story of a Glasgow club night.
