‘Pips’ Roxy Room was where it all started’ – DJ Dave Booth tells us the story of a city’s Goth club culture

By Emily Oldfield

Meet the official Stone Roses DJ (playing the likes of Spike Island, Blackpool) who was on the decks in a packed venue underneath where the Corn Exchange now stands in Manchester city centre – playing Goth tunes.

The DJ is Dave Booth and the venue was Pips; the underground club which Dave argues was a key catalyst behind music tastes at the time.

“I attended Pips for about three years, two as a customer and then as a DJ. I only missed one week in those three years!” Dave told HAUNT.

Dave was invited to DJ (by the resident Roxy Room DJ Alan Maskell) in this eclectic place because Pips was known for playing the latest music, putting the new tunes out there – and at the time Dave was recognised as having a significant record collection.

He described his venture into the iconic Roxy Room at Pips:

“I was there at beginning, and I really do think the basis of Goth Music for the city was laid in Pips. We played music as it was coming out, and the DJs at Pips recognised that their role was to progress the scene. That’s why we weren’t playing bands like The Sisters of Mercy for a while… as we were waiting for them to release records. It was all records then.

“The Roxy Room in Pips was an interesting place to be. It went from the likes of punk rock in 1976, to Goth in ’79 and electronica during the 80s. When it came to the Gothic music choice, we were playing the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, early Dead or Alive, UK Decay, Birthday party,The Cramps, Killing Joke and much more.”

And his time at Pips certainly proved popular, as this year Dave has been invited by the people behind Electrik and The Refuge to play an exclusive Pips set at the massive Bluedot Festival.

But Pips was not the only place where Dave was experimenting with Goth (and so much more music). During the 80s, he DJed in a number of the city’s most  iconic locations including Deville’s (based on Lloyd Street off Albert Square), Cloud 9, Berlin and Legends (which is now Fifth Avenue).

Interestingly, Pips closed in the same year that The Hacienda opened, and Dave is determined to set some things straight:

“Some People have always cited the reason Pips closed was because the Hacienda; but in reality it was because Pips was getting run down and the Perry boys were causing trouble.”

Dave Booth and Alan Maskell then went to another club, Deville’s, and Dave also started playing at The Exit; a mysterious club which people still struggle to describe the exact location of.

In the years 1982 and 1983, Dave emphasizes a distinct shift to people listening to and wanting to hear music which we may today describe as more ‘Goth’. This included the likes of Sisters of Mercy, Sex Gang Children, The Cult, Theatre of Hate; all were played at Deville’s. Dave’s time there only lasted about six months, before they then went to the legendary venue Cloud 9, off Cross Street close to The Royal Exchange, which became known as the go-to place for the Gothic subculture.

Next door was a much-loved shop called The Cave – an emporium of accessories popular with the club-goers. Dave affirms that he thinks that fashions in the 80s had a particularly large influence on music tastes and vice versa.

“At Cloud 9 we were playing all sorts there, the likes of Play Dead, The Mission, Chameleons, The Damned, Virgin Prunes. It was always busy and seen as one of the go-to clubs for sure. Berlin was also popular, but a bit further out.”

Dave was regularly playing at Cloud 9 from 1983-86, but he also was one the founding members of the Berlin club DJ set. Berlin was another basement club, on King Street West. It was here that he worked with a good friend Debra Allan, a key female DJ who is often under-discussed in Manchester music history. That is what Dave is keen to raise in discussion of the city’s past; the people and venues that were doing pioneering work across genres – the Hacienda often soaking up the majority of the cultural credit, when actually so much more was happening.

It was Debra Allan and Dave who then went onto create their own night ‘The Blood Club’, which they hosted at another venue, Annabelle’s, and was in effect Manchester’s answer to The Bat Cave in London. Dave and Debra also put bands on here, known for their raw power at the time, including the likes of the Angelic Upstarts, New Model Army in their early days and Manchester’s own Inca Babies. Debra then went on to become a DJ at another iconic Manchester club known for its Gothic connections, The Banshee – on Oxford Street.

“Another very important person is John Gannon,” Dave added “He worked the Cyprus Tavern, and also landed the plum job of DJing The Ritz on a Monday night (along with resident DJ Ralph Randell) – John’s a really good DJ, deserves so much recognition and is now at Satan’s Hollow, still in town.”

And whilst working in Manchester during the 80s, Dave also started DJing at what was a stand-out club of the times – Legend, now Fifth Avenue.

“Legend was a beautiful club,” Dave reflected, “It didn’t look like Manchester. They had clearly put money into it and how the sound travelled round was amazing. The Happy Mondays track ‘Wrote For Luck’ was even filmed there. Thursday was the alternative night, whilst Wednesday was disco and funk. Greg Wilson – who is my favourite DJ – was there.”

But if the late 70s and 80s clubs of Manchester was where Goth music in the city took off, Dave stills maintains that “Pips was where it all started, playing the new music.”

Dave is still busy on the decks, which includes an eclectic mix of DJ sets, family raves and festival appearances – including at Shiiine-On festival. His Pips and Spellbound events sell out on a regular basis and he’s also got Mark Burgess ‘Chameleons’ DJing at his next event in October. He also has residencies at the George and Dragon and the Old Nags Head - so why not go and get involved with one of his nights for yourself?

Photo credit: Trudi Kaye