The music had become a commercialised parody of what it once was, and to top it all, mercenary promoters were ripping off gullible clubbers at ever opportunity. It wasn’t fun anymore. Make no mistake. I had become completely fucked off with the situation. I couldn’t be bothered to go out and as a result wasn’t getting laid, which in turn led to all manor of weird behaviour on my part.

Taking pity on me, a couple of my mates decided to drag me along to a new night at the Music Factory in Leeds. The mates in question had been to the first two previous nights and I was assured that this would in fact be "the absolute bollocks". Yeah right, like Leeds was just spewing out great nights - I don’t think. I’d been told to make an effort in the clothing department and as luck would have it. I had. This proved to be a bit of a coup, as the people on the door weren’t letting anyone in who looked like a turbo raver. So what was it like? Well, to cut a long story short, we had it right off. The club was the ‘absolute bollocks’, all plans for divorce were shelved, the music was excellent as were the people, but more importantly, I got laid.

The club was Back To Basics, the DJ’s were (if my memory is correct) Ali Cooke, John Kelly and Ralph Lawson. Oh, and the girl was Catherine from Garforth.

Fast forward to July 1995 and I find myself in the presence of both Dave Beer and Ralph Lawson at the trendy eating establishment of Indie Joze within the heart of Leeds. The reason? To discuss the continuing success of Back To Basics and it’s namesake record label.

"With the label, the most important factor for us is to put out material on the strength of how good it is. We don’t ever want to release material on the back of someone’s name." Dave begins, taking a sip of his vanilla milkshake. "We’ve always been a club that’s featured quality music as a rule and it’s got to be the same with the label. We could just release commercial material on the strength of the club’s name that would go top twenty, but we’re not about doing that. That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t like to go top twenty ‘cause obviously we would but with credibility not commerciality."

Commerciality is not something you could accuse the Back To Basics label of striving towards. The first release, ‘Hoth’, was the creation of Basic’s resident DJ Huggy and confirmed that the label was committed to pushing out original material from their own stable. A Ralph Lawson/Chez Damier project known as ‘Chugger’ came next, complete with remixes by X Press 2, and again illustrated the Basic’s commitment to home grown material. Next up was an excellent trip-hop track ‘based’ by DJ Emma (of DIY fame) and the Ron Trent/Chez Damier/Sundiata collaboration, ‘Come Together’. More recently the label has been a platform for the distinguished talents of both Josh Wink (How’s The Music) and Eddie ‘Flashin’ Fowlkes (The Truth EP).

"In the case of Eddie Fowlkes", Ralph states, in between bites of his chicken burger, "I honestly believe that we have released his best work for the last few years. The material is just brilliant and I’m pleased it’s on our label".

The label itself, is little over a year old and I asked Dave and Ralf, if there was any reason as to why Back To Basics had not developed the label earlier.

"Basically, we were just running around off our heads for two and a half years". Ralph answered, tongue firmly in cheek.

"The thing is", Dave interjects. "We’ve never really been about merchandising and that kind of thing. I mean, we’d have T-shirts made up, but they were for us and a few mates. To be honest I never really liked the idea of any old sod wearing our stuff. But we’ve had to get into the whole merchandise game. We’d be shooting ourselves in the foot if we didn’t. Besides which, everything’s become so competitive YOU have to do it".

"I try to look at mix tapes that we do". Dave continues, in full flow, "as a way of taking a piece of Basics home, so that people can play it and maybe recreate some of the atmosphere. That’s about as far as we do with merchandising. I have it all on just running the club and Ralph and Mickey have got their work cut-out with the label. Plus we made a conscious decision not to go overboard with mechanising".

As the conversation continued I got the feeling that perhaps Dave and Ralph harboured a secret contempt for the business side of things at the club and with the label. The whole concept of Back To Basics had come from a Punk ideology that seemed to scream. "Let’s have it right off!" So was there a certain dislike towards the business element at work in clubs today?

"A bit". Ralph concedes. "But this is all we know. We’re all musicians involved in the club scene. We enjoy what we do. I have to admit though, I didn’t realise how hard it would be running a label, to actually sell records. The paperwork’s unbelievable".

"Not everyone is as lucky as we are", Dave says of the subject at hand, "We’re lucky to be in a position to earn money from something we love doing. And we do love what we do, that’s why we do this. It isn’t really for the money, and that might sound like bollocks, but it’s true. Yeah, we’ve had to join the rat race to keep things going, but that’s due to the way things are. We’re not a business first and foremost. That’s a secondary consideration for us".

Many a magazine has given much editorial to the antics of the Back To Basics posse. So are these tales of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll true?

"Some things get blown out of proportion", Dave says, smiling, "I’ve never actively sought the attention that I get or that the club gets. We are ".er".colourful characters and sometimes things do happen, but we don’t go out with the intention of getting into strife, it just happens sometimes..... We party as much as the next person", says Ralph, "But we’re in control. To me there’s nothing worse than seeing some young lad totally out of it, bragging about what he’s done and not really in a condition to contribute anything to the ambience of the night. I don’t care if you do one pill or five. If it’s too much, more than you can handle, then you’re missing the whole point of club culture. Use these experiences creatively, benefit from them. Lying on the floor like a vegetable isn’t what it’s about at all".

The club has not been without its lows, obviously the worst being the tragic loss of both Ali Cooke (co-founder of Back To Basics and a key figure in the rejuvenation of the northern club scene) and Jocelyn Higgin (Ralph’s girlfriend) in a car accident in 1993. The tragedy had a huge impact on the nations club scene and the response was overwhelming. It takes strength and courage to pull through a tragedy of this type. Many people can’t and who can say how they would react in such difficult circumstances.

Fortunately for everyone involved in the House Scene, Dave, Ralph and Back To Basics came through the most difficult period of their history with great dignity and a determination to carry on. That would make Ali and Jocelyn proud.

The organisation goes from strength to strength at its current venue of the Pleasure Rooms. Each Saturday night sees an eclectic mixture of House music that has been instrumental in putting Leeds at the heart of the nations club scene. The label continues to develop and has new material from the likes of Mr Onester, Caucasian Boy and Becky pencilled in for future release.

The future looks good.