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This week's guest is a Yorkshireman I'd heard whispered about by more than one person in the scene before I ever got him on the mic — David Piccioni. Born to an Italian father and South African mother and raised in Huddersfield, David got his real education in a punk scene that had him sneaking into soundchecks before he'd even worked out he wanted to DJ. A few years later, economics and politics at Liverpool University led him straight into throwing his own parties and playing American import records at Liverpool's Wednesday night club nights — and by 1986 he'd saved up for a one-way flight to New York with £300 in a bag and no contacts waiting for him.
What followed is the kind of story you can only get firsthand: getting schooled at Paradise Garage under Larry Levan, soaking up David Mancuso's Loft, and becoming one of the biggest DJs in the city within two years. When he came home to London, David co-owned Black Market Records with Nicky Blackmarket — the shop that helped break UK jungle and drum & bass upstairs while he ran the house side — before founding Azuli Records, a label that got away with pretending to be American for years, broke Afro Medusa's "Pasilda" and Spiller's "Groove Jet," and put out the Late Night Tales and Choice compilation series. When digital killed the vinyl business, David didn't look back — he moved to Ibiza and built a restaurant instead. This one's full of stories you won't find written down anywhere else.
Topics covered:
Growing up in Huddersfield and sneaking into gigs during its punk scene
Missing the Sex Pistols at Ivanhoe's on Christmas Day
The move to Liverpool University and falling into DJing by accident
Saving up for a one-way flight to New York in 1986
Getting schooled at Paradise Garage by Larry Levan, and David Mancuso's Loft
Coming home to co-own Black Market Records with Nicky Blackmarket
Building Azuli Records — and the fake American label trick that fooled the industry for years
Breaking Afro Medusa's "Pasilda" and turning down Spiller's "Groove Jet"
Curating the Late Night Tales and Choice compilation series
Why Azuli couldn't survive the shift from vinyl to digital
Trading the dancefloor for a restaurant on a clifftop in Ibiza
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