Mike Pickering interview

Were you with New Order/ Rob in the states when they were inspired to open the Hac?
Well that was just after. I think they'd been once, but I hadn't been. When we came back, they'd just bought the space which was an old yacht salesroom and part of the deal of me coming home was, cause I'd stated Quando Quango in Holland, that I could put records out on Factory. So we did and weirdly enough, no-one wanted to know in England (!) but Larry Lavan, Mark Kamins and a few other DJ's started championing it in New York and low and behold by 1981 I found myself playing for Paradise Garage on the same bill as Chaka Khan and Larry Lavan and you know that was the golden era of New York. There was like the Roxy which was only open on Friday night and was a skating rink for the rest of the week, Danceteria with Mark Kamins which is what we kind of based the Hacienda on, and the Funhouse with Jelly Bean and you know there was Streetwave with Arthur Baker and John Robie and it was fucking amazing, it was like the Golden era of New York.

What was your favourite club out there?
Well I used to love the Roxy on a Friday night cause that had all the breakdancing crews, yeah it was amazing but for kind of consistency and for my DJ'ing, Danceteria. Mark Kamins was the first guy that I heard mix a Rough Trade record in with an electro record and there was no compartmentalization and they were mixing it all as well and I was like, "fuckin hell this is amazing" you know what I mean? I remember he played Anne Clark which was a record on Rough Trade, a 7" single and mixed it in to "Hip Hop Don't Stop" by Man Parish and I was just like "WOW" it was amazing. And there was four floors and Run DMC used to play gigs on the 1st floor but the thing that you kind of noticed about it which we transferred to the Hacienda was that it was a meeting point for creative people. You used to get different crowds because it went on all night. The people that I met in that DJ box from Keith Harring, to Madonna, Everybody. Most of them are really nice, except for Madonna!

Is that how she ended up performing at the Hac?
Kind of, yeah. Actually she'd split up with Mark by that time and er you know obviously she went out with all the people that made records for her and I think that she was just bringing out Holiday. It was a bit of a coincidence because I remember going into the dressing room and she knew who I was, cause I'd met her loads of times and going, "Hello there", "Hi Madonna, how you doing?" and she gave me a really withering look and I said, "You know I'm Mike Pickering, Love Tempo - Quando Quango?" and she went "That Dross".
"Oh and fucking nice to meet you'n all love!" and it was great watching her getting cans and all kinds of shit thrown at her from upstairs because she was miming and no-one would have that in those days, know what I mean? Well they wouldn't any day, but it was hilarious. Then Tony asked her to do another song, "Go on, do another song..." "You're fucking joking..."

Were you DJing in the states?
No that was playing live at the beginning, all I know was the sound systems alone terrified me, they were so good. The other club I forgot to mention was The Loft cause at Paradise Garage and The Loft I couldn't work it out. There was no bars, there was spring water in bowls at the Garage. It was obviously a big gay scene but it didn't dawn on me until years later that everyone was on E. I was like, "Fuckin Ell, how creative is the dancing?" You know, I thought It was amazing and at The Loft the penny'd only dropped years later, what it was all about, because that guy, he didn't mix, David Mancuso, he played one record (he still doesn't) but he had the best Hi Fi and the best System. Basically the American clubs they built a sound system and built the club round it. The Garage had 6 huge circular stacks and Larry could fire from one stack to the other, the sound. You've gotta remember in those days in England you kind of danced round a transistor radio, you know what I mean, it was awful. It was the last thing that anyone thought of. It was a real eye opener. It was fantastic.