Soul Sam Full Interview: Six Decades on the Northern and Rare Soul Scene
Home Run Soul Club organiser and resident DJ Gary sat down with Martin Barnfather, AKA Soul Sam to talk DJing, record collecting and six decades on the Northern and Rare Soul scene.
It's just past 10am and I'm stood at the entrance to Tesco's in Altrincham. It's already boiling hot. This summer has been brutal, so I go and stand in the shade. I'm waiting for Martin Barnfather, better known as Soul Sam. As I scan the car park, wondering if he's already inside, he zips past and gives me a quick wave. After a couple of minor alterations, he's neatly tucked into the parking bay. "I hate reversing," he says. "It was the bane of my driving test."
Martin has been at the forefront of the Northern and Rare Soul scene for six decades. A record enthusiast, DJ and absolute soul devotee, Martin has probably put more hours and miles into this passion than most others. Throughout the '60s and early '70s he would be DJing three or four nights a week whilst teaching History and Humanities during the day. By the 1970s most of his gigs had moved to weekends. During Bank Holidays Martin could do seven bookings over a single weekend, going from Cleethorpes and Nottingham to Derby, around the North West, and beyond, depending on where the call came from.
Swiftly inside the air-conditioned Tesco's, I order our drinks and get comfortable. The purpose of this catch-up, and the subsequent Tesco Café "sessions", is to get Martin's insights on DJing and record collecting. What follows is a rich tapestry of information and recollection that falls somewhere between biopic reflections and observational commentary.
Born in Sale, Greater Manchester, Martin's father was a borough surveyor and moved the family to Kendal when he was four. "I spent most of my childhood there until I was sixteen. After both my parents died, I went to live with my aunt in Altrincham, which took me through sixth form and then university." At university Martin undertook a joint honours degree in English and History at Bangor University. "That's actually how I ended up in Wales."
Cap off and coffee in hand, Martin passes me a few photos of him DJing across the ages. Candid snaps with his mates — Ginger Taylor, Colin Curtis and Arthur Fenn — he also shows me his 80th birthday card. The card is covered in photos of Martin at the decks or sat with friends. Inside are messages of love and gratitude from those who know him best. It's a record, if one be needed, of his commitment to the scene.
Gary: When did music first become important to you?
Martin: I can remember some of the early 1950s records, but the real turning point was hearing "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954 or 1955. From then on, I started buying records and never stopped.
My collection between about 1955 and 1959 was purely rock and roll. Almost all American records. I had a real bias against British artists at the time because I thought they were poor imitations of the originals. Most of what I bought came out on London American Records, which was one of the key labels for bringing American rock and roll into Britain.
While I was at Bangor University from 1959 to 1963, I spent a lot of my student grant on records. Looking back, I think I may have been the first person to write a pop music column for the university magazine, called Forecast. We also had a Tannoy system in the university, and I'd regularly bring in records and play them during the day. I wasn't really a DJ at that stage, but I was always introducing people to new music.
A gamechanger for Martin was when he finished university and visited London. Having read about London's Scene Club in the music press, Martin wanted to see what all the excitement was about.
Martin: I heard records I'd never encountered before. One I specifically remember was "Mockingbird" by Inez and Charlie Foxx. That experience pushed me toward rhythm and blues and American soul music. At the same time, I became increasingly frustrated by British groups covering American originals. I thought many of the early versions by British beat groups lacked the quality of the originals. After that I concentrated increasingly on American releases.
Gary: Listening to records is one thing - how did you go about acquiring them, and at such volume?
Martin: Initially through record reviews. I used to read Record Mirror religiously. If a review described something as "up-tempo" or "soulful", I would buy it without hearing it. I was teaching by the mid-1960s and every week I'd go into a record shop in Wrexham, look through the release sheets, and buy records blind. At one point the woman behind the counter told me I'd bought one hundred records in a year that nobody else had purchased.
Then came the live performances. The Motown package tour in Chester during the mid-1960s was something else. The Supremes and the Miracles were on the bill, but what really impressed me was Earl Van Dyke and the Funk Brothers. To this day, I think Motown produced the greatest sound in popular music. Hearing those musicians live was transformational.
Gary: When did you start DJing?
Martin: Officially in 1968. By then I already had a substantial collection because I'd spent years buying records.
At first there were two of us. I bought the records and did the talking, while my partner operated the equipment. I've never been particularly confident with technology, so it took me a while to start doing everything myself. About two years later I'd bought my own kit and was going it alone. I began in Wrexham youth clubs such as The Victoria and Queens Park, while also DJing in nightclubs like Pepper's Place. In the 1960s I was playing records between live bands at venues like Overton Football Club. Kids would travel from around Wrexham just to hear music they couldn't hear anywhere else. I wasn't interested in playing the obvious records. I was constantly looking for imports, obscure releases, and tracks nobody else was playing.
Gary: Over the years of DJing, where have you enjoyed the most?
Martin: Cleethorpes, without question. It wasn't just the venue itself. Mary Chapman ran it for soul people rather than purely commercial reasons. She trusted her DJs and never dictated what should be played. One example involved Ian Levine bringing down tailor-made records and trying to persuade DJs to play them. I wasn't interested, and when he approached Mary, she simply showed him the door. Her attitude was straightforward: she didn't tell her DJs what to play, and neither would anyone else. At Cleethorpes we favoured authentic discoveries from America. The idea of creating records specifically to sound like Northern Soul always felt wrong to me, and spaces like Cleethorpes became safe havens from this.
Gary: Is it true you turned down the chance to DJ at Wigan Casino?
Martin: Yes. When Wigan Casino was starting in 1973, Russ Winstanley approached me. I was offered a fee, but I was already earning more at Top Rank in Stoke with Keith Minshill, so I turned it down. Ironically, within weeks the venue I was working at closed. Looking back, it changed the direction of my career. I did get my chance in the end - I did the Friday night spot, where I had the chance to play newer stuff.
Gary: In my mind, the 1970s was when there was a growing desire for new sounds, coinciding with more venues and an appetite for something different. This emerged alongside what became a more "traditional", and now longstanding, scene. What was it like to see this new parallel culture emerge?
Martin: That's what made the period exciting. We genuinely didn't know what was out there. We'd get packages from America containing records we'd never heard before. We'd listen to them and make our own judgments. Unlike mainstream pop music, records weren't chosen by the market. DJs effectively created the demand through discovery and exposure. That, to me, was the heart of Northern Soul.
Gary: With that in mind, how did you get into modern soul? What was the impetus to shift gear again from the traditional Northern sound, and later the funky stuff of Cleethorpes, to where you still largely operate today?
Martin: Around 1979 and 1980. I heard tracks like Larry Houston's "Let's Spend Some Time Together" as well as Zee Zee & Company's "Get Ready for the Get Down". I soon realised they were every bit as exciting as many of the 1960s records I was playing. Within a year my playlists shifted dramatically. By 1980 I was playing predominantly modern soul.
Gary: And over that time, what have been your favourite sounds?
Martin: From the 1960s, it's John & the Weirdest — "Can't Get Over These Memories". From the 1970s, I'd probably choose Joseph Webster — "My Love Is So Strong". That's a much harder choice, because there are so many great records from that decade. And my 1980s record is Mark IV — "If You Can't Tell Me". My current favourite is Alan and Hayes' "Winners and Losers". It's early eighties, but it's a baseline dancer. Incredible record — I'm just starting to play it.
Gary: Tell me a little about your record buying philosophy. Do you buy them to collect, or to DJ?
Martin: Both. I won't buy a record unless I genuinely like it. That's always been my rule. Occasionally I'll buy something because it has trade value, but fundamentally I collect music I enjoy listening to. If I don't like a record, I won't play it, regardless of how valuable or fashionable it is. Only yesterday I was listening to early R&B. It's not something I'd play out anymore, but I don't listen to my playbox at home. Depending on how I'm feeling I'll listen to some reggae or R&B, or revisit some of my favourite crossover and Northern oldies. I don't have the internet or a computer, and I don't have many LPs anymore, but I can spend hours happily sifting through my 7"s.
Gary: As someone who has been on the scene for such a long time, where do you see it going?
Martin: Many of the traditional events will inevitably shrink as the original generation gets older, and the mood for soul becomes more focused around cities. You can see this in places like Manchester, Bristol, and across Europe. New DJs and younger audiences are coming through in spaces far removed from the mainstays of what we have now. Though the reality is that nobody can predict the future. If you'd asked me in 1980, I'd have thought the 1960s side of the scene was effectively finished. Yet here we are decades later and it's still thriving.
Gary: Other than soul music, how else do you, or did you, occupy what little spare time you had?
Martin: I loved to walk and play golf. I'd play with Arthur Fenn, who was very good. I wasn't - I was more of a hacker.
Gary: And looking back, what made Northern Soul special?
Martin: Discovery. We weren't following charts or trends. We were finding records ourselves and creating our own scene around them. The records became important because people believed in them, not because someone in the music industry told them they should. That's what made it unique, and that's what made it exciting. That's why I still love it.
Soul Sam will be one of the guests at our upcoming weekender, 9th–11th October. Tickets are still available.
Comments