Hi Ash, it’s been twenty years since we last spoke, and a lot has happened in the intervening decades! It’s brilliant we’ve been able to reconnect and reflect, but that wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for your Cheeky Little Monkey reunion plans. We’re not alone in having made a re-connection, and it’s clear to me that “The Dawn” pre-party at Key West on the Pier has had a similar positive effect for a lot of people. Is that a true reflection of what you saw and felt that night?
Hi Marc, it certainly has been a while for sure. “The Dawn” was something very special. I’ve always maintained it was the crowd that made Cheeky Little Monkey what it was, and boy did they prove that - and do themselves proud. The spiritual and physical re-connections were happening all night, along with the forming of new friendships. The hyper friendly atmosphere was simply electric and something I have never experienced before - I don’t say that with any promoter bullshit and spin - It is genuinely how I saw and felt it.
I think you nailed it with the word ‘positive’ as the whole night felt like that. After the Party it was heart-warming to read some of the stories on the Cheeky Little Monkey facebook group of people having gone by themselves and feeling they had made new friends for life.
To hear all those all-important tunes by the brilliant South Coast DJs - Rich Bright, Brian Holt, Jason Nightingale, Jakes Ayres, Dave Scott McScottish, Scott O'Hare, Kym Ayres, Paul King and some bloke called Jody - was simply magic for me
I can’t explain how good it was to see everyone again. I sincerely thank every single person who had faith in the concept for coming to it.
How are you feeling now the dust has settled on the initial warm-up event and what can you take from it?
I feel confident - and also still quite emotional for reasons that will no doubt be covered later in the Interview. My head had been out of the game for so long. I guess to a point, you almost have to doubt yourself at times to help you look at things from a different perspective – well I did and still do. Getting the balance right did prove a challenge at times when I had some serious unrelated health issues in the run up, but it certainly seems I found my way through it.
Of course, the main event that everyone is waiting for is coming in April with the huge reunion taking place at The Old Fire Station in Bournemouth. Given all the time that’s passed, why are you doing this now? And why didn’t you do the reunion after 10, 15, or 20 years?
If completely honest I had no intention of ever throwing a Cheeky Little Monkey Party again, for reasons that I would need a whole book to fully explain.
Then - Long story short-ish - I was diagnosed with Incurable Lymphocytic Leukaemia (Blood Cancer) 7 years ago. Things got unexpectedly grim around the middle of 2023, ultimately the prognosis could have been as short as a year. I happened to be in Dorset a few months later and found myself drawn to the Pier in Bournemouth on a hot sunny day. There was an event on outside Key West and I got truly sucked into the atmosphere and music from the outside.
Night-time Club/Rave events had proved problematic in the past on Bournemouth Pier, so as a general rule they did not allow them anymore. But I still had this desire to finally put some ghosts to rest and most importantly, party and reconnect with my Cheeky Members and Friends one more time. Bournemouth Pier seemed the only place to do it. I provisionally got the go ahead to have a 25th Birthday Reunion as a Living Wake there.
Within a few weeks I was called back to see my Haematologist. My Leukaemia was not at the final stage as suspected, my test results were actually getting thrown out because I now had another incurable blood cancer – But this was better news and better for longevity. I mean, I know it makes sense, but I do still struggle at times to get my head around that having another cancer is better.
Rosie and Peter from Key West / Bournemouth Pier proved to be absolute honourable legends and allowed me to continue with the 25th Birthday Reunion. I put a simple word graphic out on the dormant facebook group that had just 400-ish members, suggesting to the Monkeys to save the date - 20th April 2024.
It literally just exploded in front of my eyes as it was shared. It became apparent that I had completely and utterly underestimated the desire and want for the Reunion. What a thing to get completely wrong – I mean seriously what an ape! There was now a genuine concern that the Pier would be mobbed with those unable to get tickets. This would have gone against all the personal promises I made to Rosie and Peter and would have been completely unacceptable to me, as they had shown utter faith in me.
Seeing the momentum build and build, I was approached by an old friend Chris B, who introduced me to - and vouched for me to - Sam, the Manager of The Old Fire Station.
The Cheeky Little Monkey 25th Birthday Reunion on 20th April 2024 in The Old Fire Station and The Dawn - The 25th Birthday Reunion Warm Up Party on 2nd March 2024 in Key West on the Pier was the result - and what a result!
Chris has been so supportive and has not just left me on my own, he has been a font of knowledge when it comes to The Old Fire Station and has always put up with my rambling phone calls and emails. Thanks Chris for all the time you have given me to help make this all possible.
Let’s go back in time before we get too deep into the details of the reunion. I am sure many people who came to the club back in the day would love to know how it all started in the first place. Can you explain how you got into hard house, and what the journey was that led you to creating Cheeky Little Monkey?
I was serving at RAF Locking in Weston Super Mare when Acid House and Raves became a thing, I went to my first rave in Bristol in 1989. I was a very active Mod then and went to the rave on my Vespa, that was a sketchy ride back to camp in the early hours. Never did that again!
I then spent 3 Years based at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. Attending raves in Cambridge, London, The Midlands and Peterborough etc. This was also when I started attending Clubs that were then playing house music regularly. I was literally travelling the country and the world in the role I was in. I discovered I seemed to have an innate ability to sniff out house music wherever I was. During this posting, I also went out on my first operational tour/war when I was sent to the desert to join the UK Helicopter Force to take part in The First Gulf War/Liberation on Kuwait. I guess that was my boy to man moment and I absolutely thrived in the harsh conditions. If anything, my love, and passion for House Music increased after that as I had missed it so much.
I was then hand picked for a role in Northern Ireland and spent 3 years over there. I have as much Irish Blood as I have English, so I genuinely saw myself as trying to keep the peace. That 3 years opened my eyes in every single way possible. I was serving with a fantastic bunch of people. Boy did we do some clubbing in Northern Ireland, sometimes admittedly in places that were out of bounds to us. We also spent a lot of time travelling over to Scotland, and also - as my clubbing friendship group was heavy in Lancashire and Yorkshire Born and Bred - the likes of Manchester and Leeds. I guess it was during this time that Hard House of sorts was becoming a thing. They did like it hard in Northern Ireland and Scotland, I loved Tony’s Sets there, especially Northern Ireland.
Throughout all this time in the RAF I was lucky to be returning home to Devon on Leave - there I eventually had the regular delights of The Warehouse in Plymouth, Claires and The Monastery in Torquay. South Devon was heavily influenced by Rachael Shock and Graham Eden of The Brainbashers and Shock Records at the time. They became good friends and became the Guest DJs that played the most amount of times at Cheeky Little Monkey, even playing at the last party in The Showbar.
Next posting was RAF Uxbridge in London-ish. Again, it would take a book to give justice to my clubbing adventures during that time. Ultimately this was my proper introduction to Hard House Clubs and eventually Trade. During this tour I was sent out on Operations in The Former Yugoslavia. Unbeknown to me I came back with an acquired brain injury, Epilepsy and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So much for the lucky escape I thought I had from an ‘incident’ or two!
I started having seizures on my return. I was working hard in London and playing just as hard. Realising I would be facing a medical discharge if it was Epilepsy, I took a posting to the Armed Forces Careers Office in Bournemouth to chill out by the sea and try to get myself better. When I arrived, it was the healthiest living I had ever put on myself in my life. Even running to and from the Careers Office every day.
I was only going out-out only every couple of months, mainly when Tony De Vit was playing in the area. Yet, if anything the seizures got worse. When Tony de Vit sadly passed it was a real struggle for me. There was this something special missing in my life. I eventually got a private diagnosis of Epilepsy. Not wanting to be pushed out and told I was unfit for service I put my notice in to leave.
Without knowing a single DJ, not being in with a clubbing crowd in Bournemouth or even knowing what a Promoter was and did - I had this epiphany and desire to start Cheeky Little Monkey to try and recreate that something special…
You can’t understate the impact Tony de Vit had on you, and I am sure many will remember the photo of Tony on the wall of the stairs leading up into the Showbar, that had the Lord of the Dance lyric typed over it. What was it about him that contributed to you creating what you did?
No, I guess you can’t understate the impact Tony de Vit had on me. Family aside, nobody has had such a positive impact on my life. Cheeky Little Monkey would not have existed but for his passing.
I guess it will all make sense once you watch the Film about him ‘Don’t Ever Stop’. During the film numerus people mentioned how things just changed in a club once he started playing. Cheeky Little Monkey was not about trying to recreate his sound, it was my attempt to recreate that something special. It was more than a sound, it was acceptance, togetherness, and energy.
I am sure you are going to have some nerves come the big night and know you probably won’t be able to relax until everyone is through the door come midnight. But can you take us back to the first ever Cheeky Little Monkey event and describe how that went and what you felt 25 years ago on that evening in 1999?
Yes, I’ll have nerves on the night, it helps to keep me on my toes if honest. I’ve given up trying to fight them and just embrace them and find a positive. I’ll always be tense when the doors are still open, more because I feel responsible for the Monkeys working on the door where The Monkey House meets the Outside World. Especially Maria - the former Mrs Monkey. I can’t thank her enough for always being there to support me, and volunteering to come down for both events and be the welcoming face of Cheeky Little Monkey again and running the door at The Dawn and The Old Fire Station. Thank you Maria x
She will only be on The Door at The Old Fire Station for the first couple of hours. Then she wants to Party with the rest of the Monkeys. Once she is in, as I’m a protagonist by nature, my complete focus and attention will then be on everyone having the best time possible, but without the worry for her. I won’t finally relax until a few days after I imagine. I suspect I might even be a bit emotional.
Friday 30th April 1999 – I wasn’t nervous or anything. I still had the Military mindset of just cracking on and getting the job done regardless. It was ultimately the biggest reality check I’ve had in my life once the night unfolded. It was a great night for all those in there, but I realised I had to up my game and start doing things differently. Hence, ultimately why Cheeky Little Monkey stuck out as being different, because I was different and I didn’t know what the norm really was – I just did my thing.
The music policy and programming of the night were always extremely important to you. The flyers in the early days labelled the night as being funky hard house, and there was also the classic poster many will recall with the headline “No Trance Please We’re British”. Why was it important for you to put that guidance on the music style and tempo?
I’ll happily admit I nicked the music policy and programming straight out of the Trade Playbook at the time. It was so important. I guess it was down to the mixed make up of people who then came and made it a success. We had the House Clubbers who would come in and would ultimately get taken on a house journey to the harder sounds. We also had those who loved it hard regardless, who would also be on that journey, but with full on energy and anticipation waiting for the harder sounds.
I believe the success of Cheeky Little Monkey was its openness to all. That included being the first openly and promoted mixed club in Bournemouth where the Straight and Gay communities clubbed together in harmony.
I guess even with the DJs it was a tongue in cheek ‘no trance please’ request, you’d obviously get the odd Trance tune played and I fully accepted and understood that. They tended to go down really well as it wasn’t bombarded at the Monkeys all night. I might be ultra focused when I’m on task, but I am not narrow minded, and I have a very broad personal taste in dance music.
From my own experience when Tony de Vit played at a house club, especially when following tough funky house, his sets would follow suit keeping the funkiness and taking the club to somewhere truly magical. Hence - Funky Hardhouse. It is still my favourite Sound and was the sound when I saw people at their absolute best. It had a future then, and I believe it has a future even more so now.
I feel it is important that I experience all the different environments The Monkeys also enjoy now. I’ve specifically been to a number of Clubs in Bournemouth of late and I was at a brilliant proper little Rave in Exeter in March 2024. EEGSTOCK - It was to celebrate the heavenly 50th Birthday of a Country Club Legend. It was a Charity Event to Raise Money for his Sons. Much Kudos to Iain Cross for his part in organising it, for doing the brilliant artwork that got my attention and for that absolutely blinding last set.
I was there as a Clubber with my bestie and my partner in crime - Monkey Junior. It was brilliant the amount of people who came up to me on the dancefloor and said, ‘so much for you not liking trance’. Tended to lead to a hug but always a laugh. I’m glad more people are seeing it as the Cheeky humour it is and always was, the clue is in the name Cheeky.
No Trance Please We're British...
I simply saw a very similar poster of a show on the Pier Theatre, as was, the show was called ‘No Sex Please We’re British’. I was feeling mischievous that day and was working on the Summer Flyer for the forthcoming couple of months. ‘No Trance Please We’re British’ was born. It would have been a marketing masterpiece but for the trouble it caused with the Council who owned and operated The Showbar and The Theatre. The show at the theatre got cancelled due to lack of numbers. I genuinely thought it would help both when I ran with it, we even got a half page PR story in the Daily Echo on the dispute.
Ultimately if you lived in the South of England and you wanted to go to a Hard House Party and hear Hard House Music you knew Every Friday there was Cheeky Little Monkey at The Showbar in Bournemouth. You could just go without even knowing who was playing, and many did just that.
But then you did dabble in catering for a harder music the policy at one point, with some weekends dedicated to going tougher. I am thinking of the occasional Hard Little Monkey nights. What was your reasoning for doing that, and do you think it worked?
Hard Little Monkey first started when we managed to secure a one-off Saturday at The Showbar. At that time there was enough people who had converted to the much harder style, and I felt the need to give them what they wanted. There was still a progression, but it started and finished further up the line.
When I had to jump from The Showbar I knew there was still a need, so I had the odd Hard Little Monkey night. There was a point, a while after The Showbar, where I temporarily stopped officially running and being responsible for the Cheeky Little Monkey events for health reasons, they were being run under license. That included a number of the later Hard Little Monkey nights.
One of the reasons that Cheeky Little Monkey at the Showbar was unique compared to other events at the time, was that it was held in just in one room. There was no room two, so for the duration of the night all the clubbers were in one space and listened to the same music and experienced the same energy. Do you think this is what helped to make Cheeky Little Monkey become what it was?
Yes, I think it was a big part of shaping Cheeky Little Monkey at the time for sure, certainly gelling the crowd and maintaining that atmosphere and energy. I think it being held relatively early on a Friday Night, and only being 5 hours was a contributing factor to making that work.
It is different now, we are all 25 years older, hence having the Upstairs of The Old Fire Station open and having the option to have some Feelgood lighter fun up there. I think at the Reunion the crowd will feel gelled and either at home and/or part of something special as soon as they walk into the Club. They’ll just be in The Monkey House, that is all that will matter.
Coming back to the music policy, what are the top 5 tracks that defined the sound of Cheeky Little Monkey for you?
Well I had to literally toss lots of coins to narrow it down to 5 tracks.
• Brainbashers - Do It Now (Original Mix)
• 12 Inch Thumpers - Don’t Cross The Line (Original Mix)
• Lisa Pin Up - Rock With Me (Original Mix)
• Tony de Vit – The Dawn (Paul Janes Remix)
• Ian M – Annihilation (Original Mix)
I can't imagine many would disagree that the Showbar was the best venue for Cheeky Little Monkey at the time, but there were other venues it was held in too. I can think of Enzos just outside of Salisbury, Saffire in Ringwood, Passion in Bournemouth, The Matrix in Reading, The Poole Arts Centre, Bartonka in Bournemouth, an event in Southampton, and there was another place near the train station in Bournemouth, but the name escapes me! Out of all of those, what was your favourite second venue to throw a Cheeky Little Monkey party in and why?
Enzo’s without a shadow of doubt. It was a proper Nightclub in every sense.
You will notice I didn’t include the Wobbly Wednesday or Sorry Sunday venues in that mix, as I felt they deserved a mention all to itself. The midweek were always a great social highlight to break the week-up before the next event came around. Over the last twenty years or so, have you missed that huge social element and circle you had with the club events?
To think we had Sorry Sunday in the Roundhouse, Wobbly Wednesday in The Great Escape and Conjunction in - name escapes me – on Thursday as well as The Showbar on Friday.
If honest as the Chief Monkey I found it lonely if anything after a while, I hardly ever had any conversations as just me - Ash.
I’ve missed my friends and the members from those days for sure. I feel absolutely blessed that I reconnected and connected with those I did at The Dawn.
Personally, I have amazing memories of Cheeky Little Monkey. Much of it we couldn’t possibly discuss in the public domain! But if I was to pick out two events it would be the 2001 NYE event at Poole Arts Centre, and the trip to Ireland on a Cheeky Little Monkey club tour, but both for entirely different reasons! Of all the nights, which was your favourite and why… I suppose you can pick more than one if you like!
Yes, there would be some stuff only fit for stored memories for sure.
Cheeky Little Monkey 1st Birthday at The Showbar - Maria and I officially left the Royal Air Force at Midnight.
Then the New Years Eve Party 1999 into 2000 at Bartonka (now The Vault). Was just the maddest party, everything about it.
The period of 1999 to 2001 was the peak of hard house, I don’t think anyone could dispute that. It felt to many of us that these were incredible times that would never end. But it did, and eventually Cheeky Little Monkey would wind down, and lots of us moved on to pastures new. Why do you think the event, and hard house in general, had that drop off?
I think it was down to venues and saturation more than anything. Clubs all over the country were struggling to keep two nights busy with their normal trade. Hence what became Hard House Friday, where they now allowed dance music promoters in on Fridays. As Hard House broke out of the Underground it became the go-to choice and current sound. Saturation occurred, new nights didn’t work, established nights suffered, and clubbers, promoters and clubs moved on to the next thing. The music being produced started going to rats as well if honest.
I could see what was happening and I knew how to survive and still push on, despite The Showbar getting sold off. Cheeky Little Monkey only wound down due to my health issues, otherwise Cheeky Hardhouse would have been a massive sound then and would still be now.
Let’s chat a bit more about the forthcoming reunion party. There are some familiar names on the line-up, and rightly so, as they used to play regularly for Cheeky Little Monkey and helped put the event on the clubbing map. But one name jumps out at me, and that’s Lisa Pin-Up. I don’t recall her playing for Cheeky Little Monkey in Bournemouth, unlike the other main room acts. However, I do remember there was always a desire to have either of the two Lisas (Lashes or Pin-Up) play at The Showbar back in the day, but I recall it might not have been possible due to their appearances with Slinky. Is this outlier on the line-up an attempt to put that right?
And I said please no politics please lol
It was impossible for me to book one Lisa due to her contractual agreements with another club. With Lisa Pin Up and also Anne Savage I was told it would affect their relationship with the same said club if they played for the Monkeys on a Friday Night. This was the same when Fergie and The Tidy Boys started playing there and stopped playing at The Showbar.
Anyway - I know right! Lisa Pin Up is finally playing at Cheeky Little Monkey. I’m so excited for this. Her sound was most suited to Cheeky Little Monkey then, so I booked her for the now.
If honest she was sort of fundamental to the success of Cheeky Little Monkey at The Showbar, so I had to try to get her involved for the reunion.
Long story short – I was in Bagley’s, Kings Cross, London. The Hard house was downstairs in a small dark basement room. I loved it down there; I could truly get lost in the music. I then went upstairs and through to the big open room at the front. Lisa Pin Up was playing and dropped a tune I had literally just heard downstairs. The place erupted as it did downstairs, but it was different. The concept of Cheeky Little Monkey starting in the same sort of environment came from that moment.
I noticed that Jody (your cousin) one of the former resident DJs, spent a couple of hours getting back into the groove on the decks before the warm-up party. But what about you as a promotor. Did you have to dust off any promoting skills, or is it simple muscle memory on how to promote a party and generate excitement?
How lucky was he that my cousin Jody happened to be studying at Bournemouth University when I decided to start Cheeky Little Monkey.
Obviously, when this planning started, I was expecting and was only prepared to be inviting everyone to a Living Wake. I was then preparing for a small party at Key West and now here we are. Talk about a learning curve.
Back in the day the Internet was only just becoming a thing. I never had any social media and was reliant on Old School promoting. It is a matter of adapting the promoting using the new technology and outlets. I’m still doing things differently and seemingly I’m not just doing what everyone else is doing.
Have you developed any new skills, or an outlook on life in the last twenty years that have made you approach planning and promoting any differently to how you did in your thirties? Or is there anything you have had to change?
To again think how this started, what I was prepared for and what I’m up against health wise - I’m beyond impressed with myself on how well I’ve coped thinking about it, if honest - and I’m usually my own worst critic.
Most of the skills I’ve learnt have been part of neurological rehabilitation programmes and are proving helpful in ways I never saw possible.
If parties continue after 2024, I’ll certainly know what I’m doing and how I’m going to do it from the onset. I don’t see that I’ve changed anything. Just adapted to a new way of doing things.
Most will be familiar with “The Rules” that were pinned to the wall of the Showbar, which implored clubbers to not annoy, torment, pester, plague, molest, worry, badger, harass, heckle, persecute, irk, bullyrag, vex, disquiet, grate, beset, bother, tease, nettle, tantalise, or ruffle the other monkeys. Of all of those rules, is there at least one that can be broken on April 20th?
Tantalise, definitely Tantalise.
I love those Rules, I feel they define the Club.
We’re coming to the end of the interview, so I wanted to do some quickfire questions, just to test how agile your chimp brain is with some old school hard house questions.
Hoovers or horns?
Me so me so horny, me so love you long time.
140 or 150?
135 to 145
Tidy or Nukleuz?
Tripoli
Pin-Up or Lashes?
Pin Up obviously, I genuinely believe she is going to be a fully fledged member of the Cheeky Little Monkey Family.
And to wrap this all up, some readers might recall the old Cheeky Little Monkey website, which had the When, Where, Why, What, and How buttons on it. Just so nobody forgets about what’s coming up in April 2024 please answer each one as succinctly as possible please:
• When: Saturday 20th April 2024
• Where: The Old Fire Station, Bournemouth
• Why: They Wanna Have A Party Like It’s 1999!
• What: Cheeky Little Monkey 25th Birthday Reunion
• How: Thanks to the Internet!
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