Welcome to Part One of my special mini-series with Dave Beer, the legendary co-founder of Back to Basics and one of the most recognisable characters in UK club culture.

In this opening episode, Dave takes us right back to the beginning.

We talk about discovering house music in America, walking through those famous plastic sheets at The Haçienda, and the inspiration that eventually led to the birth of Back to Basics.

What started with around 80 people grew week after week, becoming one of Europe’s longest-running weekly club nights, with Dave at the helm every Saturday for 20 years.

Dave also tells the brilliant story of how, before business cards and booking agents, he would write his phone number on a $50 bill, pass it across the DJ booth and tell the DJ: 

“That’s your deposit.”

But this conversation goes much deeper than clubbing.

Dave opens up about the four-and-a-half centimetre tumour that came frighteningly close to his spine, as well as the horrific road accident in which he says he died before being brought back.

This is the story of Dave Beer and Back to Basics, but it’s also the story of an extraordinary life lived well outside the ordinary.

And this is only Part One.

Part Two coming soon.

If you enjoy the episode, please subscribe to the Dexter Jones Podcast, drop a comment below and let me know your memories of Back to Basics.

Chapters: 

00:00 Coming Up
01:53 Dave Beer on Surviving Cancer
04:00 From Roadie to Club Culture
05:14 Discovering House Music in America
06:38 The Hacienda Changed Everything
08:32 The UK Rave Explosion
11:17 Charlie Chester & the Early Days
13:15 The Birth of Back to Basics
15:30 Building a Legendary Club
18:01 The Music of Back to Basics
20:39 Two Steps Further Than Any Other Fucker
21:42 The Iconic Back to Basics Artwork
24:46 Bringing American DJs to the UK
26:01 The $50 DJ Booking Trick
27:02 Dave Beer’s Unfinished Book
30:28 Finding Buddhism
34:28 How Buddhism Helped Dave Through Cancer
36:27 Given a 5% Chance of Survival
40:15 Finding Strength in Other People
42:11 “This Isn’t the First Time I’ve Died”
42:53 The Car Crash That Changed Everything
44:24 Two Weeks in a Coma
46:00 The Strange World Inside a Coma
48:08 Dyslexia, Knowledge & Altered States
50:12 20 Years of Back to Basics
52:25 What Made Back to Basics So Special?
55:36 How Club Culture Has Changed
57:48 Synchronicity, Spirituality & Life