Backstreet!

Northern Soul in Norwich

Promoter Mark Chamberlin (right) talks about Backstreet! the club which has kept the faith for Northern Soul fans in Norwich for thirty years.

We started in 1983 and we’re heading for our 30th anniversary in June 2013 though we’ll be celebrating all year as we feel it’s quite an achievement ! I think we’re one of the longest running Northern Soul clubs in the UK alongside Ady Croasdell’s 6Ts club in London.'

Mark knew of an earlier Northern Soul night in Norwich called Peoples which had run from 1975 to 1979 but

he was too young for its heyday and only attended it once. Five years later his evolving passion fired a belief that Norwich deserved another dedicated Northern Soul night:

We originally started at the Flixton rooms in Tombland and managed to get about 100 people in which was fantastic given that it was a school night. Thursday night was the only night available for booking back then and we did about half a dozen there before the numbers arriving dictated that we needed a bigger venue and a weekend slot.

Running a club is not easy and the club has moved through a dozen different locations.

After the Flixton Rooms we found the marvellous British Legion Centre on Aylsham Road and did three or four nights there. The Executive Suite at Carrow Road which is now Delia’s Restaurant was another great place. We also spent some time at the Oasis

Health and Leisure Centre in Pound Lane. The club has actually outlived some of the venues we used. We spent some time at the Conservative club in Norwich but it's no longer there and is a Cafe of some sort now.

Our current home which is the Keir Hardie Hall in Gregory’s Lane. The wooden floor, vinyl-studded bars and flock wallpaper are authentically 70s so it’s absolutely fantastic for the night we host. Northern Soul is renowned for holding nights in places that are a bit run down like the Wigan Casino which I went to between 1979 and 1981. It was an old ballroom that was also used by punk bands on other nights so you can imagine what that was like.

At Backstreet! the music policy is always a talking point.

Certain people always want to hear the same top 100 songs. Where we’re located in Norwich a lot of people don’t travel much further afield so we tend to be a little bit stuck in a timewarp.

We’d like to be educating people but you can only get away with so many newer or different records because people do like to come along and dance.

A lot of people have come back onto the Northern Soul scene after getting married and raising a family and they want to hear the scene as it was. They bring their grown up children along with them now.

For me personally the music has always been about progression. The original ethic of the scene was about trying to discover new records.

Obviously most of the great sixties records have already been discovered and whilst some people still find the odd new one here and there trying to uncover a really great record from the original era these days is very, very hard.

We have an open door policy which welcomes anyone young or old to come along, hear great soul music and have a good time.

We love that regulars and irregulars arrive dressed in the full Northern Soul regalia but it’s not required for entry and not as common as in Nottinghamshire venues where practically the whole crowd will be dressed up .

I personally prefer a more retro, late sixties look with a Mod touch but on the Northern Soul scene these days anything goes really.

Mark Chamberlin: interviewed by Ian Townsend: November 2012