15 years is a while, so it’s time to reflect on the events that caused this label Hospital Records to happen.

Way back in 1978 when I was 17, I reluctantly went to my first disco. Reluctantly, because all I liked listening to was punk, new wave, prog rock and early metal. I simply hated dance music up to that point, i had no idea what it was for or why people liked it. Well that night would change everything for me. One song in fact - the intro to one song to be exact. That intro was the rhythm guitar intro to ‘Le Freak’ by Chic. I was on the dancelfoor trying my best to appeal to a girl I really fancied and failing - I wasn’t feeling the music, therefore i wan’t dancing well. When I heard the opening bars of Le Freak something clicked and a big switch marked ‘FUNK’ went on somewhere between my legs. Suddenly I could dance. She was interested now. By the end of the song we were dancing together, singing together and by the time the next tune came in we were lost in a deep snog, as it was known back then. The girl became my girlfriend for about 7 weeks which was a record for me then.  The song however has been my best friend ever since. As soon as i got home I picked up my guitar (which had only ever felt my fingers trying to be like those of Jimmy Page of Led Zep or Steve Howe of Yes) and attempted to play the very simple sounding ‘chucking’ intro from Le Freak. It was impossible. I kept trying and after about 2 or 3 years I started to get the feel. I can ‘chuck’ pretty much any chords now and it’s become my natural way of playing, it’s automatic for me. 

What has this all got to do with Hospital Records? Well, that was a turning point for me. Right there on the dancefloor i got dance music, got the bug for it and started buying as many records as my Sunday job cleaning the bar at the Berni Inn would pay for, which at £4.99 for a whole day’s work equated to approx one album every 3 or 4 weeks. I got into Funkadelic, Parliament, more Chic, Michael J, Stevie Wonder, Narada Michael Waldren and black music became my first love along with Greenwich Village minimalism like Steve Reich and electro pioneers Kraftwork - being a teenager can play interesting games with your taste hormones. Had I not had that formative moment, I may never have switched from prog rock to dance. Or I may have had it in another disco to another tune, and my musical path could have been totally different. All I know is that my journey in dance music started at that point in that disco with that girl and that guitar intro. And I know that learning the mechanics of funk informed an outlook in me that I apply to everything I do in music, wether I apply it to music I write write or to the process of A&Ring it. Funk has taken me on a journey that is not over yet - i’m hopefully in the middle of it, and I don’t ever want it to end. 

Nile Rodgers who was one half of the Chic Organisation is the only surviving founding member and a year ago he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. His self prescribed therapy is to tour the world like a crazy man. Not bad for a 59 yr old in rehab from cancer treatment. The band played at the Forum in Kentish Town on 10.11.11 and I dragged the Lady Colminator there early so we could be down the front. I don’t generally get my phone out when i’m enjoying something but I captured the end of the encore - one of my fave Chic tunes Open Up. The whole gig was amazing, i danced and sang and cried like a kid - I was back in that disco 33 years ago, but this time I was 10 feet away from my hero. Thanks Nile, you changed my life. I recommend everyone to buy Nile’s autobiography ‘Le Freak’. If you think your upbringing was in any way strange or hard and therefore an excuse for you to bemoan your fate, chances are you’ll think again after you read this book.