JAY FRICTION & ALUN HARRISON - KINKY MALINKI
money all week and purchased my first dance 12” on Champion Records which was Colonel Abrahams ‘Trapped’. From then we visited the shop most days, sacrificing food every day so that we could buy a new record each week.
Then we discovered Trax Records and our weekends become an adventure, trawling the shops in Central, listening but not really having a lot of cash to buy many records. The passion continude to grow and after becoming good friends with my DJ idol at Labrynth Vinyl Matt, He introduced me to promoter Joe by handing him a mix tape without telling me, and Joe loved it and I got my first taste of DJ’ing playing house and progressive in the basement of the 4 Aces in Dalston Lane, every Friday and Saturday. It was now 1993. It was around this time that I met Alum who was the manager of Bluebird Records in Bromley, where I’d often hang out for the entire day. It was easily South London’s best and busiest record shop at the time. After leaving Labyrnth, I was a frustrated want-to-be DJ and like many did, started putting on my own parties to feed the house music addiction I’d developed. I hired restaurants and wine bars, regularly getting a few hundred people, until I plucked the courage to do a proper club, and I hired the Park in Kensington, and I have no idea how, but I managed nearly 400 people, hiring two double decker buses to pick up our local friends from Sydenham. It was 1996 and this was when I first booked the brilliant Paul Gardner to DJ for for me.
Forward to 98’ and I wanted to go bigger. I somehow blagged Raymond into letting me do the Imperial Gardens, however I felt needed a new, snappier name. After seeing a kid in Nando reading a Childs book, ‘The Adventures of Slinky Malinky, it came to me, Kinky Malinki, in a moment of inspiration. I joined forces with Paul Crane, as we shared a lot of mutual friends, and we grew quickly. After filling the Glasshouse with 1250 people every month in the early 2000’s,
we landed a residency at Pacha London and we were the longest running night there, totalling 9 years. We ran parties around the UK, Ibiza, Croatia, Australia and Miami and did parties at too many London venues to mention here. I no longer run the night, however I’m still a resident DJ and a member of the promotion team, helping Paul where I can.
We just celebrated our 25 th Anniversary at 93 Feet East which was an incredible success, and this may just be the return to London clubland, for what used to be one of London’s most respected funky house nights.
Alun –
I met Jim in the early 90s, managing Bluebirds Records in Bromley, where he would regularly empty Jim’s pockets in return for the latest US and Euro imports, and homegrown British house records.
When not selling music I was busy making it in a home studio in the bedroom of an old school friend, Graham Simmons. My first success came with Moonchild - ‘V.O.A.T.’ which Sasha and Digweed included on their seminal House CD, Renaissance: The Mix Collection. Together with a studio partner, I managed to turn my hobby into a full time career with a new studio used by the likes of ATFC, Dirty Vegas and 187 Lockdown, and the record label UltraVinyl on which we
released our own works, music licensed from the likes of Soulfuric Trax plus original recordings including Mark Knight’s first ever release “Part Of This”. Remix credits include Monica, Christina Aguilera, B.T. and pop/indie band Garbage.
DJ’ing included UltraVinyl nights in conjunction with C.J.Mackintosh’s City Loud events at Turnmills, as well as Ministry Of Sound, The Cross and a first time playing for Kinky Malinki at Pacha in April 2004 and later that year in El Divino, Ibiza.
Family commitments meant taking hiatus from music, but I’m very glad to be back behind the decks, and once again recording, producing new material.
We’re so delighted to be able to share our Kinky Uplifting House music to the House FM listeners around the UK and we’re very appreciative of the opportunity.
