True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ DJ DISCIPLENICKY HOLLOWAY
Nicky Holloway interviewed by Lenny Fontana for True House Stories® # 040
Part 1
Nicky Holloway’s connection with music began as soon as he was born.
Growing up on a boat and witnessing bands such as Pink Floyd playing live, Nicky got into DJing and started his own events in 1985 at The Royal Oak with Giles Peterson and Pete Tong as his residents before they became super DJs.
Nicky Holloway was renowned for his events in quirky venues such as the natural history museum, London zoo to name just a few. He talks about his experiences in Ibiza with Danny Rampling and Paul Oakenfold and playing at venues such as Cafe del Mar before Ibiza became popular.
Hanging out with Bono from U2, Kylie Minogue at the Milk Bar, Nicky was the first event promoter to bring Todd Terry and David Morales to the UK. Nicky was always one step ahead of the game. Hear how he was able to put on a surprise show with Sister Sledge whilst they were touring in the UK. Irvine Walsh asked Nicky Holloway, Paul Oakenfold and Danny Rampling to be part of a film about Ibiza – how did it all go so wrong?
Part 2
Nicky talks about the beginnings of house music in London. How he helped transitioned the sound of London from Hip hop to house music. As in the beginning of the dance scene there was no other “Dews” that played this style of music. A whole new movement was born from it and what came was “The Summer of Love”.
He is the first promoter to bring Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May and David Morales. He also brought Dj Hippie Torrales to sing his hit song called “Your Gonna Miss Me When I Am Gone” known under as Turntable Orchestra. He hosted many artist as well as Tyree Cooper and Sister Sledge so public performances were very important for him to put on stage.
He also touches how he rose to the top in the club scene and how it all came tumbling down. Nicky shares about drug addiction and making a complete turnaround and his focus today is to get this double set album ready for the world. As covid ends he is set to play music again and is ready to take on the DJ World and make his mark as a hit making producer this time around.
Nicky Holloway YouTube Video Part 1
Nicky Holloway YouTube Video Part 2
Biography Nicky Holloway
Since the 1980’s, the “Brit thing” has been considered the cutting edge of style innovation and central to that has been London¹s contribution. This phenomenon in popular culture has evolved around a small band of individuals who have kept the nation¹s capital – and in turn, the rest of the word – buzzing and a man who has remained at the forefront of this is Nicky Holloway.
Like all the best innovators, Nicky began his journey at street level, DJing at milestone party nights and events before discovering that he was in the perfect position to provide dance crowds with the whole package. Nicky became responsible for some of the biggest promoted events in London before owning and running The Milk Bar and Velvet Underground – two of the “must-be-seen-at” night clubs of the nineties. Nicky was even responsible for the excursions to the island of Ibiza where his DJ’s such as Pete Tong and Paul Oakenfold developed the acid house sound and his imported party crowd started the rave scene.
However, for Nicky, the bottom line was always the music and his position at the head of the club scene gave him the opportunity to start making his own. Nicky recorded the first ever “baeleric house” record, remixed material for the likes of Boy George. As the nineties rolled into the new millennium, Nicky bought into the burgeoning global influence of the internet by helping develop the Trust The DJ website – producing online mix albums for internationally renowned DJ¹s such as… Carl Cox, Goldie & Gilles Peterson.
He then put his money where his mouth is and started his own studio, Global Pillage Productions, where he now oversees music-making on all levels – releasing CD’s and vinyl, remixing, producing mixes for the web, creating music for new cell phone technology and writing and producing jingles.
When not in the studio, Nicky is still very much “out there” – be it DJing at a small underground club in London, a ritzy Bangkok disco or a private parties for the like of Madonna and Giorgio Armani
– proving that not only is his experience and expertise still much sought-after but also that the stuff he’s got today is as fresh as when he began.