Picked by the Face as one of the top clubs of the 90’s- Magick was run by three handsome fellas – Eseh, Saul an Adil. Startin around Feb/92 in Macs wine bar in Cleveland St, W1- before movin on to Wildes in Chinatown 6/7 months later- it also had a run of around 10 months or so at Ormands in Piccadilly, an then a short stint in Burlington St, off Regent St.
-“When Magick first started it was in a little wine bar- they used to have poetry, random musicians, bongo players an stuff, a bit like a beat scene”.
– “early on it was more of a retro scene-the music was mostly late sixties, early seventies funky rock stuff, with a bit of psyche, freak an trippy s**t thrown in- but very funky, an very danceable!”
– “it was a pretty amazing scene then, they used to come up with all these mind blowin tunes that absolutely nobody was playin then- things like ‘Psyche Rock’, ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’ by Ananda Shanka, Slver Apples an Can.
“Magick was a very cool scene then, it was very word a mouth. But it grew quickly too”.
– I remember the one sweaty night-the break in Chicago Transit Authority’s ‘I’m a man’ it felt like it was goin on forever- fantastic times”
“A couple a years later, a lot a the tunes like Psyche Rock, Mathar an EVA become standards on the club scene an there were a lot of remixes made, people jumpin on the bandwagon”-
“The Magick we started goin to regularly was upstairs, above a restaurant in Chinatown-
That grew from a few regular faces to the point where they had to move on as they had long queues out front, too many people inside an the floorboards would bounce up an down- I think they were worried we might end up in the restaurant below!- I mean can you imagine a small club, absolutely packed to the rafters-just freakin out to Psyche Rock!! It was amazin”
“Once word got around they’d be a stream a celebs droppin in- actors, musicians –
It was a very small underground scene, but very influential”
“They also used a lot a guest dj’s- esp in the warm up slots- I played a few times, Saul was a great D.J but Adil played some amazing stuff, he had a fantastic collection, I think at the time he was definitely one of the best DJ’s in London- course he went on to have a No.1 with Goldbug- ‘Whole Lotta Love”
“I remember a lot of heavy funk or rock influenced funk, Rare Earth, the Stones, Temptations an the Bo Diddley -Gladiator album- wow!”
“It seems like one week we were down Solaris dancin’ to Deep House, the next, freakin to magick, an funk rock psychadelia!
-Later the music policy expanded to include more contemporary stuff, -but that’s another story……
1.Rare Earth- Hum Along An Dance
2.The Jimi Hendrix Experience-Foxy Lady
3.Ananda Shankar-Jumpin Jack Flash
4.Bo Diddley-Elephant Man
5.Silver Apples- APox On You
6.Chicago Transit Authority- I’m A Man
7.Pierre Henry-Psyche Rock
8.Aerosmith-Walk This Way
9.CCS- Whole Lotta Love
10.Dave Pike Set- Mathar
11.Can-I Want More And…
12.Area Code 615-Stone Fox Chase
13.Bridget Bardot-Contact
14.Doobie Bro’s- Long train Runnin’
15.Merry Clayton-Gimme Shelter
16.Brian Auger,Julie Driscoll & The Trinity- Indian Rope Man
17.The Bob Crewe Orch-Black Queen Beads
18.Rolling Stones- Sympathy For The Devil
19.Jean Jaques Perrey-EVA
20.Donovan-Barabajagal
21.Sergio Mendes- For What it’s Worth.
(compiled by the slippery1. an a few a the regulars).
Footnote/contacts-
Adil is still D.Jin/remixin as Cowboy and Indian-
http://cowboyandindian.co.uk/index.html Saul is now a qualified Lawyer an sadly we haven’t been able to track Eseh down. But like all the guys involved in bringin us these great times, we thank em an wish em all the best a luck!
MAGICK TIMES !