My children often ask me* “Papa, did you ever DJ amongst the bright lights of London?”.  My only answer would be “yes son, at a wedding in Bedford” had I not found myself DJing at Camden’s famous KOKO ballroom in the winter of 2009.

I say “found myself”, but what happened was we, the Pin Up Nights club night, asked a weekly night called Buttoned Down Disco if we could guest DJ, and their DJ Dollyrocker said yes.  

Dollyrocker was a slightly silly name for what turned out to be a big tall guy with a huge fringe called Christian (pictured below), but there was nothing silly about how he ran Buttoned Down Disco from 2000 right into, presumably, the ground around 2020.  The crowd he was pulling into KOKO on a weekly basis was absolute insane, with cheerful tunes, some inflatables and a first come first served free online guestlist apparently his only gimmicks.  I subsequently started putting “electropop” on all the Pin Up Nights flyers.

On the night we were installed in the top room, given some free booze by Dollyrocker, and after a brief chat, left to get on with it.  Behold below snaps of Pin Ups DJs myself, Iain OC, James “Butcher” Cassidy, Natalie and Wendy and assorted revellers sporting Indie Ties or dressed as sailors – you’d expect nothing less from a venue only a nautical mile from Amy Winehouse/Mighty Boosh hang outs like The Hawley Arms.  I’ve dredged up notes of what we played and apparently the set included Mstrkrft’s “Paris”, “I Believe” by REM, and the Marcia Griffiths’ reggae version of “Don’t Let Me Down”.  A completely undiluted Pin Ups mix. I have no idea, dear reader, why we never invited back…

ps *my children have never asked me this.

pps snap up a copy of Retired Teenagers for more tales of noughties indie rock and clubbing action