Why?

I'm tracking down photos, videos, mix tapes and memories of that time and posting them on this blog. It was a fantastic period in my life that I shared with so many. Having not even thought about it for 12 years the sudden rush to pay my respects and share is overwhelming. Please feel free to contribute and enjoy.

George


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Film


I promised this ages ago. A dusted down VHS tape of Tribal Funktion, filmed back in 1997. September the 13th to be exact, Cajmere, a stunning evening. There is an hour and a half on the old video tape but I thought I'd post the last ten minutes. At least for now. The full length film was shot by Kristina Glitters and is in three unedited sections. It's very natural, charming, I see many old faces (or should I say 'young faces') and the mood is ecstatic. I want to be there now, everyday, for ever and give you all a big kiss! Gx



The Venue, Edinburgh rip long

Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Legend of Mark Farina


So here's how it goes. We're deep in the Chicago sound. Dance Mania, Relief, Prescription, Trax and all the wax that could never come from anywhere else. And the Chicago dj's? Incredible, original, inspirational and all making those insanely good records. I mean, thats how we found out about them! Whenever we booked one of our Chi Town heroes, Cajmere, Gemini, Farris, Carter, it was primarily because we knew their tunes. Bought their tracks!

But back then Mark Farina never released records (one in 89 under a pseudonym). His outstanding reputation filtered through to us from his Chicago compadre. From in the know agents and old friends. They all said the same thing.

Mark Farina is legend!

Then the opportunity arose to book him.

The recording here is from, I think, his first visit to Tribal Funktion. Some time in early 96. I have stacks of DATs from Tribal nights but currently no DAT machine and this recording has been lifted from a chrome cassette bearing only his name, TF and the year 96. No matter. It sounds great and as soon as I clapped my ears on it I was transported back like a tardis on steroids.

Who else could blend Jeff Mills with Sting or anything with something you'd not expect. And this was no gimmick. This was just how he djed. How he expressed his love for music. That and his compulsion to play records in a way you've never heard them before. To take chalk and cheese and blend them to sound like Ella and Louis. And all this with two (or three) turntables. No laptop, cd's, software or modern methods that dj's all take for granted now. It made it all so bloody exciting.

So before I settle into my "back in my day" armchair please click here to download what I think is Mark's first visit to Tribal. Enjoy and stay tuned for more in the very near future.


Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Danny Tenaglia Night.




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It was Saturday the 6th of August 1994. Tribal had vacated student union Moray House, bid bon voyage to the Blue Oyster Club at the arse end of Rose Street, ended its transitional Thursdays at the Venue and now played host on Saturday nights at that same delightful whore of a nightspot.

We were in love. And booking international guest djs for heavens sake. We'd been bitten hard by the house music bug and it was time to nail it to the wall. Our sets were always fairly international but the dubs of a lot of the NY/Chicago Garage tunes were often exquisite in their own right and, to our minds, overlooked. Producers like Todd Terry, MAW, Kerri Chandler, Mood II Swing, Murk etc all fed our insatiable appetite. That heavy swing and almost hip hop production that lived happily alongside the roughest techno and the deepest soul. It was this 'hidden world' of US Garage that really brought Tribal Records to our attention. They seemed to like the same things.

So when we caught wind they were touring europe to promote a spate of now timeless releases we jumped. The tours official dj was Danny Tenaglia. There was very little in the Tribal catalogue we didn't have in our collections. Or so we thought.

The night itself was incredible. Mere words cannot do justice to the impact it had on me. I was not alone. This was real house music played the way it should be played. That perfect period of Danny's career where he was still very NY and not so Ibiza. A bridge between the two. Emotive, exciting, hypnotising, both alien and familiar, deep and ecstatic. Mr Tenaglia played an incredible four hour set . He literally rearranged my djing DNA. His experience, patience and restraint gave every rise and every fall a near spiritual significance.

So I've decided to offer up both halves of that evening for your downloading pleasure. Part one and part two. You'll hear now classic house tracks making their official auld reekie debut and rare beasts you wish you knew the name of even now. Listening back it's clear Danny Tenaglia was not the only star that evening. Tribal Records had hit their stride with an incredible rosta of artists and an unparalleled run of releases and they knew it. They wanted to be the ones to drop those monster tunes on you for the first time.

Label boss and founder Rob Di Stefano was present at every night of that tour. To him even now that night in auld reekie at that delightful whore of a nightspot was the perfect Tribal night. At Tribal.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

In The Beginning...

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This weeks blog post comes from Christian Spurrier.
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I was 20, I’d just moved to Edinburgh and I was desperate to start a club. I knew nothing about clubs, I had no idea how to mix and I only owned about ten records. But that didn’t matter because I’d met George. He had the same idea and he owned another ten. He introduced me to Harry and Simon, they had about ten each – so between us we thought we were in business.

We dreamed of a glamorous twilight world, making our mark on the UK music scene – rivalling Pure or even the legendary Glasgow Slam nights. We ended up at Moray House, the fetid union building of a dodgy PE college – a rickety fire hazard with the worst PA you can imagine and 20 years of spilt beer and student sweat on the walls. The place was so foul that before our first night, we hired industrial floor sanders and spent two days giving the owners a free refurb.

Doors opened at 9.00 pm on a chilly Friday. For three hours we were dead. The venue was way down the bottom of the old town – miles from anything. We played nervous 20 minute sets, trying not to use our best records. The bar staff looked scornful and warned that we’d better play more Sisters of Mercy. Offering a (then) weird mix of dub, funk, hip-hop, ragga and jazz to a crowd that wasn’t exclusively student or casual started to look very dumb. Then someone told me to go to the door. I poked my head out and saw a hundred people stamping their feet and grumbling at the bouncers to get on with it. Poshies, locals, veteran clubbers … as Ollie said, the music changed and the venues got nicer (a bit) – but Tribal Funktion always had a great crowd.

So, whenever I hear that Edinburgh is dead and there’s nowhere fun to go any more – I always say: get your ten best records, start knocking on student union doors, and get those floor sanders out….

Christian

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CHRISTIAN’S MORAY HOUSE TOP 10:
Take A Rest – Gang Starr.
Magic Disco Machine - Scratch.
Depth Charge Vs Silver Fox – Depth Charge.
Theme From Starsky and Hutch - James Taylor Quartet.
Brothers on the Slide – Cymande.
Hooligan 69 - Ragga Twins.
You’re Losing Me – Ann Sexton.
Step Right Up – Young Disciples.
Love Will Bring us Back Together – Roy Ayers.
Revelations Part 1 – Jazz Not Jazz.

TribalflyerfREAR4


This weeks download is a recording from Moray House era Tribal Funktion. Early 1992 to be more exact. I've no idea who is playing but seeing as we were keen on quick fire 10 minute sets it is at least three if not all four of us (40 minute recording). Listening to this and recognising these old tunes is a an absolute trip! A very heady and pleasing variety. Tommy Boy, reggae, eight ball, house, Shut Up And Dance, disco, Guerrilla, and so on. Thanks for the post Christian. You nailed it!


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Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Angel Has Landed



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Back in the summer of 1995 a certain Angel Moraes released a record that so blew our tiny minds that we set about doing what ever we could to track down this New York producer/DJ and book him to play. The record was called “Welcome To The Factory” and it’s barely contained euphoria, rumbling bass, hypnotic trajectory and beauty encapsulated everything we thought Tribal Funktion was and what we wanted it to be.

If you know what I mean!

It was the deepest fucking thing we’d ever heard!

So we booked him and he came from New York and changed the way I, and many others played house music forever.

He was not the only one. In time Cajmere, Mark Farina, Gemini, Sneak, Eric Rug and a good few others did the same. And previously Danny Tenaglia had literally altered our DNA (more about that WITH download of Mr Tenaglia’s legendary set at TF in the next couple of months) but Angel played like he was at home. A belonging! And a nicer guy you’d never meet!

I’m in the process of tracking down the recording of that first show at Tribal but in the meantime here is his second appearance at the club. A three deck juggernaut. Angel Moraes at TF, 25th of May 1996, Part One. Another incredible night! He tore the roof of the Venue, spread his wings and took us all along with him.

And thanks to Nicki Forrest for not only tracking down this recording but for keeping a copy of an interview Angel did for DJ Magazine in 1995. This is what he said.

“Tribal Funktion....if anyone in New York is reading this, get over to the UK and check this place out! Great vibe man, it made me feel like I was at a basement party back home. I was getting some pretty strong flashbacks….an awesome experience”.

In 2001 he released a record called Tribal Funktion.

We miss those times too Angel.

George

Monday, February 20, 2012

Frosty J


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Tribal had four different stages in it’s eight year life. Born at Moray House, some serious development at the Blue Oyster Club before Thursdays and then Saturdays at the Venue. One of the constant’s throughout was James, Frosty J!

There from day one as a Moray House regular, Frosty’s ability to balance inventive deck skills with a knack for putting a smile on everybody’s face was first shown in the back room at the Blue Oyster. Alongside Harry, Joni Lyle, Gmac, Steve King and an array of smoke machines, Disney super 8’s in reverse and a grand bifta or two, Frosty led the way.

Which leads me to the second mix for you to download. Frosty J circa 1996, The Cooler era and his uncanny knack of mixing accapellas with instrumentals and giving you the party you would never get anywhere else.

There’s plenty more to come, some words, some mixes, some photos and a video made of TF by Kristina Glitters from 1997. So enjoy Frosty and feel free to get in touch with your own shizzle.

One more!!!!

George

Monday, February 13, 2012

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today



The first blog post comes courtesy of Tribal regular Oly Findlay. Cheers for popping this cherry Oly!


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At its height, when it had fully formed as a nightclub, strutting into TF you entered into a peculiar social mix. Posh students, plumbers, transvestites, dentists, uncle Peach, the unemployed, lawyers, doctors off duty police, hibs casuals (also off duty mostly, you hoped), psychopaths, politicians, pimps (all true by the way).

Maybe Mitsubishi's did help them from having differences with one another on the dance-floor, but like all the best clubs on the remote and tiny little ball that we live on, it was all about the music. Music that was other-dimensional, or like music that had been made in another galaxy. Or like music that didn't even sound like music at all. Music that still sounds great today. I'm happy to report that a lot of the young team these days love hearing those tunes. That's if you can find them on YouTube (and that's if you can remember what they were called).

Wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Oly Findlay

And the first Tribal Funktion blog share is Chicago's DJ Cajmere on the 3rd of August 1996.

Much more on the way. Enjoy