True House Stories® Youtube & Spotify Video Podcast
TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ DAVE BEER # 081
Dave Beer interviewed by Lenny Fontana for True House Stories # 081
Part 1
The man behind the iconic brand Back 2 Basics speaks about his life from quitting high school and becoming a roadie. Come listen to one of the greatest promoters from the 1990s golden era of house music lay it all out on his rise to fame and being part of the New York City Club scene.
His vision was to take a part of the New York Club scene and import into the UK and he did it and very well at that. Beer’s obsession with the punk-music scene saw him become a groupie, hitching up with punk band The Clash. As a keen Photographer, he captured many exclusive shots of the bands he followed incorporating them into art projects at college.
His persistence on the tour circuit led to his first proper role as a roadie and later as tour manager for bands including That Petrol Emotion, The Ramones, Ghost Dance, The Utah Saints, and The Sisters of Mercy who he lived with at the time.
During a spell with Stourbridge noisemeisters, Pop Will Eat Itself, Beer found himself working on the 1987 Def Jam Records tour that included Public Enemy, Ll Cool J and Run – D.M.C., but life as a tour manager would soon takes its toll.
Part 2
In this episode you will hear Dave Beer explain the faced post-warehouse party world with the DIY ethos of a punk direction helping to create Back To Basics in 1991 which it was named literally to represent what the club was set out to do.
Partners Beer and Alistair grew tired of the acid house scene and wanted to put on parties, where alternative music to the rave scene was played. Through Back To Basics, they made club nights fashionable, and throughout the 1990s it was one of the most desirable places to go, causing road blocks in Leeds city centre. At the time, Back to Basics had a strict, sometimes controversial and inconsistent door policy which made it one of the hardest clubs to get into.
Beer personally greeted all 80 clubbers on the opening night and those who were refused entry due to their dummy sucking or poor choice of trainers were encouraged to try harder next time. Its opening night was held on the top floor of The Chocolate Factory, which was later renamed, The Music Factory. Weeks two and three of Back To Basics saw the crowds double in size until it was attracting 1,000 clubbers every week.
By Nov 1992 at the end of its first year, Dave and Alistair found themselves on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, looking out to a packed auditorium as they picked up the DMC and Mixmag Award for Best Club in the UK. Over the next 20 years from 1991 to the present day, Beer toured Back To Basics all over the world from Australia to the USA and held club residencies at Home London, and Space Ibiza.
He was responsible for nurturing and discovering the talent of Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada giving them some of their first gigs as unknown artists. Beer was also responsible for bringing international talent into the UK for the first-time including Danny Tenaglia, Doc Martin, Josh Wink and Frankie Knuckles.
Back To Basics holds numerous awards from the music and events industry and has gained worldwide recognition thanks to its forward-thinking music policy and loyal following. Today it is considered a “household name” in UK clubbing and Beer continues to be “the life and soul” of the Basics party. Listen to breakdown the next 20 years in this episode.
Dave Beer YouTube Video Part 1
Dave Beer YouTube Video Part 2
Biography Dave Beer
David Michael Beer (born 24 January 1965) is an English music mogul who came to notice in the 1990s as the promoter of the UK’s longest running club night Back To Basics. In the early days, his passport occupation read “purveyor of good times” and he went on to be nicknamed by music Mixmag as the “King of Clubs”. With his Leeds based club night Back To Basics, Beer features as one of the youngest men in Leeds City Museum’s exhibition chronicling the popular culture of Leeds.