Interview: Cream veteran John Kelly gears up for the Cream Reunion

Ahead of his set at the Cream Reunion on the 5th Feb, John Kelly talks about how it all started for him, the Cream crowd and a Champagne related run-in with David Morales!

A local legend and Cream stalwart, John has been a regular to the hallowed decks since Cream opened its doors 18 years ago. A pioneer of dance music in Liverpool, John's ability to work a crowd whilst fusing an eclectic and energetic sound has led him to International acclaim.

As a DJ you've had an illustrious career spanning over 20 years, and have been pivotal to the scene in Liverpool. At what stage did you realise that you would be making a career out of it?
I DJ'ed because I loved it, and never thought of it as a career until I got a manager, which was around ‘94. Until then I looked after myself and everything was on a personal basis. I didn't charge much, and spent most of it on records. To me it was like getting invited to play someone's private party. It was an honour to be asked. 
 

When you played at Cream in the early days had you any idea it would grow into the Superclub brand it went on to become?
No way, I don't think anyone could see how big house music and clubbing would become. If anything people had thought it was in decline, but people had been trying to bury the scene from the very start. I remember in The State my cousin John saying "I've been doing this from the beginning, since before Christmas, now all these knobheads are into it it’s crap, it’s finished..." That was in 89, does that sound familiar?! So for Cream to become the best club in the country took a lot of hard work and a lot of bottle. But they did have something special, something that all the other clubs could only dream of... the Cream crowd

The Annexe or Back Room has staged some legendary nights over the years. What do you think makes it such a special club space?
Back in the early days of Cream the sound system wasn’t all that, and the lights weren't great, but the energy from the floor was something special. It’s people who make the party.

Do you have a favourite Cream memory?
Most of my Cream memories involve me dropping a tune and throwing my hands in the air... they are my best ones!

Your all time Cream classic?
I remember Sasha dropping the Hardfloor mix of Mory Kante’s ‘Yeke Yeke’ for the first time ever, and when that acid bassline build-up peaked the place exploded!

What can we expect from you at the Cream Reunion?
Ideally I would like to bring back to the floor that energy and togetherness that some of the tunes did to us first time round. I'll play some tunes you know and love, some tunes you have forgotten you love and a few tunes you just love! 

You've played all over the world. How does a Liverpool crowd compare to others?
I think the special thing about the Cream crowd was the energy and how open minded they were to new stuff. A lot of DJ's would wait till Cream to play the new tunes, because they knew where they would get the best reaction, so a lot of times the Cream crowd would be the first to ever hear a lot of the tunes that are now classics. For me, it was always the trust they had in me. If I was to go off on a tangent they stuck with me and let me express myself because they knew I would bring it back with a bang!

Apart from the mid 90's hit 'Outrageous' that you produced with Judge Jules, you haven't ventured too far down a production route. Is that something you regret?
I was always a party person, and DJ'ed because I enjoyed it so much. I always found studio work frustrating and too much like that four letter word "work". I didn’t know how to work the machines and so didn’t understand why it took so long to do even the simplest of things, and never enjoyed it. Besides one or two exceptions - Eddie Halliwell comes to mind - today it seems you have to be a producer to be a successful DJ.

You are still busy promoting and DJing, has it always been easy to maintain that passion and enthusiasm?
We have great fun putting on the Quadrant Park Reunions, seeing old friends and getting to hear the tunes that meant so much to us back then. As for staying passionate and enthusiastic, I think that it comes from the crowd in front of you. Dj'ing is like all art forms, and it is an art. It’s the interaction between the tunes the DJ plays and the crowd through the medium of music. Having played for over 20 years I have used all types of music to do the same thing, which is to achieve that interaction in the crowd... that connection that house music, in all its forms, can bring togetherness. And when that happens it is still as passionate as ever. 
 
You must have one or two funny stories from Cream over the years?
Well the one that sticks out for me isn’t funny really... well not for him... it happened when I was in the DJ box when David Morales was playing. I passed him a full bottle of Champagne as he was kneeling at his record box, half his tunes out the on the floor leaning on his box. As he went to take it off me I let go a fraction early and it slipped... the base of the bottle hit the side of his box and a big frothy snake of Champagne spurted all over in his face, blinding him. As he went to grab it, it looked like he was wrestling with a wet fish, it jumped out of his hands into his box and soaked all his tunes. Have you seen the muscles on him?! I made my apologies, and a sharp exit!

Catch John at the Cream Reunion on the 5th February in the Annexe at Nation, Liverpool. Tickets are available through Skiddle below - though they're selling out fast!

Tickets are no longer available for this event