Terry Turbo - Profile & Interview

Terry Turbo pulls up in his brand spanking new Porsche Carrera 911 with personalised 'T U R B O' number plate, my first impression was; what a flash bastard, but when he got out of the car and began to talk about what he has done over the last ten years my attitude rapidly changed.

Terry Turbo has often been described by people in the clubscene as the dance scenes answer to Richard Branson as he has his hands in everything!!! Terry cuts an impressive and towering figure, his physical presence, fearless straight talking and obvious ability to hold court combine to give the impression that you are in the company of a forthright, larger then life character.

His story is a real rags to riches one, and began in a flat on the Old Dean Council estate in Camberley, Surrey. He was a builders labourer and spent all his wonga on clubbing and class A's,  after a couple of months he finally found his true vocation in life.   He began in 1990 by joining the Flying Squad who distributed leaflets advertising rave and club nights.   They got Terry and his pals into the clubs for free and paid them £10 each to give out flyers at the end of the night.   Now bearing in mind Terry used to go out clubbing with 10 - 15 friends every week, every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.   His friends all gave out the flyers for free (they did not mind as they were not paying to get in the clubs) so Terry was having it large both clubbing wise and financially!     He was also a major ticket agent for all the big events and would regularly sell 300 tickets for one single event and he was earning 10% on the ticket price,  he was sometimes clearing a grand a week!!! A Lot better than £150 per week on a poxy building site.

In 1992 he had a fall out with his employers and then decided to set up his own flying company and called it 'Turbo Promotions'.  On from this a few months later his company became the biggest club promotions company in the south of England and at its peak Terry had over 40 people working for him around the south of England 4 nights a week.   He gave them all bright RED MA2 flight jackets with 'Turbo Promotions' logos on the front and back so that everyone would notice Terry's people flying outside the various dance venues.

HIS NEXT VENTURE WAS TO SET UP A CLUBBING MAGAZINE CALLED 'THE SCENE' IT STARTED OFF AS A 12 PAGE BLACK AND WHITE MAGAZINE AND OVER THE NEXT 2 YEARS GREW INTO A MONTHLY 128 PAGE FULL COLOUR MAGAZINE WHICH WAS SOLD FOR £1 AND WAS DISTRIBUTED ALL OVER THE UK. TERRY AT THIS POINT HAD BEEN IN THE RAVESCENE FOR OVER 4 YEARS AND HAD ALWAYS WANTED TO PUT ON HIS OWN EVENT, HE DREAMT UP THE NAME 'ONE NATION'.

"MY FIRST EVENT WAS FINANCED WITH AN ABBEY NATIONAL HOME LOAN, AS I REALLY COULDN'T BE FUCKED TO TO DO A BUSINESS PLAN AND SIT IN FRONT OF SOME OLD FART WHO THOUGHT THAT CLUBBING WAS AN EXCUSE TO TAKE DRUGS AND WOULD HAVE PROBABLY TOLD ME TO FUCK RIGHT OFF ANYWAY! MY FIRST EVENT WAS ON THE 11TH OF DECEMBER 1993 AT THE ROLLERS EXPRESS IN EDMONTON, NORTH LONDON. WE HAD ABOUT 1500 PEOPLE ATTEND THIS WHICH WAS AN OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT, IN MY EYES. SO I FOUND OUT MY TRUE PASSION IN LIFE WAS PUTTING ON LARGE SCALE DANCE MUSIC EVENTS FOR THOUSANDS OF CLUBBERS IN LARGE WAREHOUSE TYPE VENUES."

TERRY HAS JUST STARTED TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT HIS OUTRAGEOUS & UNBELIEVABLE EXPERIENCES THAT HE AND HIS BUSINESS PARTNERS DAVE COURTNEY AND JASON KAY HAVE HAD THROUGH THE LAST TEN YEARS AND PROMISES THE BOOK TO BE A REAL EYE OPENER TO WHAT REALLY GOES ON!!! THERE ARE ALREADY BOOKS WHICH TERRY ALREADY FEATURES IN AND THEY ARE 'STOP THE RIDE, I WANT TO GET OFF' AND 'RAVING LUNACY'. BOTH ARE WRITTEN BY HIS BUSINESS PARTNER DAVE COURTNEY AND AVAILABLE FROM VIRGIN AND ALL GOOD BOOKSTORES.

TERRY THEN STARTED AN EVENT CALLED 'GARAGE NATION' IN THE YEAR OF 1997 WITH DJ/PRODUCER JASON KAY AND THEN THEY BOTH DECIDED TO DO TWO OTHER EVENTS 'RAVE NATION' WHICH WAS OLD SKOOL RAVE MUSIC AND 'INSPIRATION' WHICH WAS UK GARAGE MUSIC. THEN IN MARCH 1998 THEY BOUGHT 'DREAMSCAPE' WHICH MEANT THEY OWNED 5 OF THE BIGGEST ALL NIGHT DANCE EVENTS WHICH PUT THEM AT THE TOP OF THE TREE.

IN THE SPACE OF A NORMAL YEAR THEY WOULD DO 20 LARGE EVENTS FOR UP TO 3000 PEOPLE PER EVENT AND A FURTHER 80 SMALL EVENTS FOR UP TO 1000 PEOPLE PER EVENT. THIS THEN LED ONTO AMERICA, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, AYIA NAPA AND IBIZA WHICH THEN MADE THEIR DANCE COMPANIES INTERNATIONAL.

GOING ONTO EXPERIENCES I THINK THE MOST HORNIEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME AS A RAVE PROMOTER WAS WHEN I WAS IN IBIZA LAST YEAR, I WAS IN A CLUB WITH ONE OF MY PALS WHEN WE GOT TALKING TO 2 OF THE SEXIEST STAGE DANCERS YOU HAVE EVER SEEN. WE ENDED UP TAKING THEM BACK TO OUR VILLA, BUT ON THE WAY ALL THEY WANTED TO KNOW WAS HOW MUCH CHARLIE WE HAD AND DID WE HAVE ANY PILLS? THEN THEY STARTED ON ABOUT CHAMPAGNE!!! I THOUGHT YOU FUCKING CHEEKY MONKEYS BUT I WAS IN IBIZA, AFTER ALL! SO I FORGOT ALL ABOUT IT AND DONE THE RIGHT THING, BUT WHEN THEY SUGGESTED PUTTING ON A SHOW FOR FOR US WHO WHERE WE TO ARGUE!!! THE FUNNIEST THING WAS ABOUT 3PM THAT AFTERNOON WHEN WE DECIDED TO SWAP DANCERS... I KNOW, I KNOW BEING A CLUB PROMOTER IS A HARD JOB TO DO, BUT HEY! SOMEONE'S GOT TO DO IT! JUST TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT YES WE DID USE CONDOMS AND NO WE DIDN'T SEE THEM EVER AGAIN!

MY MOST FUNNIEST MOMENT WAS ALSO IN IBIZA AND I WAS STANDING AT THE HARBOUR WITH ALEX P, BRANDON BLOC, THE RUFF DRIVERS AND ADRIAN LUV DUP, NOW BEAR IN MIND THAT WE HADN'T SLEPT IN DAYS! I REALLY COULD SEE A RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE DJ LUV DUP AND TIM NICE BUT DIM (THE HARRY ENFIELD CHARACTER) DO I DECIDED TO CALL HIM TIM ALL NIGHT! WHEN WE WAS ALL STANDING BY THE HARBOUR HE STARTED TO GET PISSED OFF WITH ME (probably BECAUSE I KEPT INTRODUCING HIM TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON WE MET WALKING DOWN THE STREET AS 'TIM') HE STARTED SAYING ALL THESE REALLY CHILDISH THINGS LIKE "YOU'VE BEEN TAKING THE PISS OUT OF ME FOR 2 DAYS NOW AND IF YOU DON'T STOP IT I'M GOING BACK TO MY APARTMENT!" NOW I DON'T KNOW WHY I DID THIS BUT I PICKED HIM UP AND THREW HIM INTO THE HARBOUR, WHICH WAS QUITE FUNNY UNTIL HE NEARLY DROWNED, EVERYONE WAS ON THE FLOOR IN FITS OF LAUGHTER APART FROM TIM, I MEAN ADRIAN BUT THE ABSOLUTE ICING ON THE CAKE WAS WHEN HE CAME OUT CLUBBING AFTERWARDS WHICH WAS FUNNY AS HE SMELT LIKE THE HARBOUR AND WAS SOAKING WET AND EVEN HAD A FISH ON HIS HEAD. I BECAME AN OVERNIGHT LEGEND IN IBIZIAN HISTORY THAT NIGHT I CAN TELL YA!!!

MY BEST EXPERIENCE HAS TO BE STANDING ON A STAGE AT ONE OF MY EVENTS WITH A FULL VENUE WITH THE WHOLE PLACE ROCKING THAT TAKES SOME BEATING. THE 3 MOST OUTRAGEOUS THINGS I HAVE DONE IS TO BLOW UP A POLICE CAR ON STAGE AT WEMBLEY IN FRONT OF 10,000 PEOPLE, IMAGINE THAT!!! GETTING A QUEEN LOOK-ALIKE AND THEN A FEW MONTHS LATER A PRINCE CHARLES LOOK-ALIKE TO WALK AROUND A RAVE GIVING OUT COPIES OF OUR ALBUMS AND THEN GOING ON STAGE, STOPPING THE MUSIC AND THEN MAKING A SPEECH, NOW THAT IS PRETTY OUTRAGEOUS!!!

MY WORST EXPERIENCE WAS AT THE SANCTUARY IN MILTON KEYNES, WE HAD A FIRM OF TWENTY BLACK GUYS FROM MANCHESTER WHO CAME DOWN TO FUCK UP OUR RAVE AND TERRORISE US, SO US BEING THE PERFECT GENTLEMEN, KICKED THE ABSOLUTE FUCK OUT OF ALL OF THEM! THE ONLY DOWNSIDE TO THIS WAS WHEN THEY WENT BACK TO THEIR CARS TO GET THEIR GUNS SO THEY COULD SHOOT US. AT THIS POINT WE CALLED THE POLICE ARMED RESPONSE UNIT AND THEY ARRIVED IN SECONDS, THANK FUCK!!! THE MANCHESTER BOYS FUCKED OFF AND WE GOT AN ARMED ESCORT HOME.

WE HAVE WON 2 AWARDS SINCE WE STARTED PROMOTING, THE FIRST WAS FROM KISS FM FOR BEING THE BEST CLUB PROMOTER AND THE SECOND WAS FROM KNOWLEDGE MAGAZINE FOR BEING THE BEST LARGE VENUE PROMOTER. A LOT OF PEOPLE DO BELIEVE THAT ALL PROMOTERS HAVE THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD, BUT THE REAL TRUTH BEHIND THE MYTH IS THAT THERE IS A LOT OF LONG HOURS AND HARD WORK BEHIND ANY DANCE EVENT, NO MATTER HOW BIG OR HOW SMALL. THERE ARE BIG FINANCIAL RISKS AND WHEN THINGS CAN GO WRONG THEY ALWAYS WILL WHEN YOU ARE PROMOTING. ANY PROMOTER WHO JUST TAKES DRUGS AND LAYS IN BED ALL DAY SHAGGING PODIUM DANCERS WILL NOT LAST VERY LONG! SO DO NOT THINK FOR ONE SECOND THAT PROMOTING IS EASY. THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING A PROMOTER IS DEFINITELY THE MONEY, I COULD NOT THINK OF ANY OTHER JOB THAT COULD PAY ME WHAT I EARN AS A CLUB PROMOTER. WE HAVE ALSO RECENTLY BEEN INVOLVED WITH PUTTING TOGETHER A COMPILATION ALBUM FOR 'DREAMSCAPE', 'GARAGE NATION' AND 'ONE NATION', WHICH HAVE ALL TURNED OUT TO BE VERY SUCCESSFUL!!! I AM ALSO RUNNING A 2 DAY PROMOTERS COURSE WHICH I RUN 4 TIMES A YEAR AND THIS HAS ALSO BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL.

OUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE ARE TO MAKE OUR BUSINESS BIGGER AND THIS YEAR WE ARE LAUNCHING OUR 'GARAGE NATION RECORDINGS' RECORD LABEL. OUR FIRST RELEASE IS OUT AT THE END OF FEBRUARY AND IS CALLED 'GARAGE NATION' AND IS BY CHART TOPPING 'TRICK OR TREAT' WHO RECENTLY HAD A TOP 20 HIT WITH 'BABY D' 'LET ME BE YOUR FANTASY'. I HAVE ALSO JUST GOT MY EQUITY CARD AND HAVE GOT 2 PARTS IN 2 FORTHCOMING FILMS, SO IF YOU KNOW ANYONE WHO NEEDS A 'CLUB OWNER/PROMOTER/DOORMAN/THUG/GANGSTER/DEBT COLLECTOR' PART IN ANY FILM, LET ME KNOW AS I'D BE GLAD TO OBLIGE!!!