Abbey Discs - The End Of An Era

Where to start on this one?


I suppose we'll go back to Billy's first shop in Finglas .... Disc It.

I was only 6 at the time but a DJ uncle of mine played me a record he bought there that made me stop listening to Adam & The Ants records forever .... it was the 12" of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, I don’t think any one record has changed my perspective of music before or since. “Disc It” gift tokens then came my way a couple of times for Christmas after and I think I got mainly pop 7"s out of them, probably whatever was top of the charts at the time.

By 1984 Billy had decided to leave Disc It and was a year in the Abbey Mall with his own shop - Abbey Discs .... and my uncle had moved his custom with him. He was still DJ’ing in the “Apartments” in town and still coming into the house every Saturday armed with amazing 12" after amazing 12" - Herbie Hancock "Rockitt", Malcolm McClaren "Buffallo Girls", Kraftwerk "Tour De France", Gary Byrd "The Crown" (in all its ten minute glory and the lyrics on the back cover). I might be blurring some of the Disk It/early Abbey years into one but the songs mentioned and more gave me a taste for "remix culture" and it wasnt long before I saved up some pocket money and wanted to buy my own first 12"



If Im ever asked "what was the first record you ever bought?" I forget about the pop 7"s that had come before as they were really just flavours of the week and Id sometimes pick whatever my sister wanted that week. Although I didn't go into the shop myself to get it I can still remember Sean coming home with the bright red cover and him playing the breakdown in the record that you couldn't hear on the radio edit - it was The Jacksons & Mick Jagger "State Of Shock" I spent the best part of that day playing it over and over, making my own tape edits of the track and thinking "Im never buying another 7" again" .... it would be the first money Id spend with Billy Murray but it wouldn't be the last


At that time I didn't know Abbey Discs by name, just the "shop where Sean bought great records" It wasn't until years later, when Id say I was about 15, that my Dad said he was in town and he'd come across a shop that had a huge Old Gold catalogue, he'd also heard they gave DJ discounts. My Dad was the driving force behind my DJ'ing back then and was always trying to help in any way possible, before that he'd managed to hear about a DJ discount in Dolphin Discs. Any DJ who's had to do their share of family parties starting out will know how handy the Old Gold catalogue was so I decided to go in and have a look.

The first thing that struck me about the Abbey Mall was the atmosphere. The place was absolutely buzzing. I went into Billy's shop and just stood there and took it all in - all those records and all of them DJ friendly, this definitely wasn't Dolphin Discs. After going in to look at the Old Gold collection I discovered Derek was sold out of most of the big songs and was "waiting for it to come back in" (my first time hearing the phrase from him, but not the last ) so I decided to spend a fiver on a 12" and treat myself. To put it into perspective I was getting 10 -15 quid for doing the local Disco back then so it was a huge part of my budget. It was Megabass - "Time To Make The Floor Burn", a megamix that’s close to the hearts of many a DJ, it was that rare thing - a megamix that was technically fantastic but didn't have loads of clutter or obscure songs like the Max Mix's of the day. Im listening to it here on YouTube and the tunes are definitely of the time.



My next purchase was also a megamix - Computer Dance 5, it had a green cover and a cheesy space on the back where you could place your name after all the European DJs the producers had thanked on the back of the cover. Did I add my own name? I was a teenager DJ, of course I did! "Chopmaster Jay" (I know, dont ask) was scrawled into the back of the credits. The mix itself was as tough as nails and unplayable at my youth Discos but I bought it as it had "bonus beats" on the B side which I found fascinating.... so whilst playing Betty Boo "Doin' The Do" to the innocent local kids Id be using these beats to try and remix the track live and get it back off in time to line up another chart song. Billy got 8 pounds out of me for that one - mental money for one record but as a learning tool worth every penny.


Alot of purchases after that would be "Now ... Dance" and "Deep Heat" compilations from Billy and this went on for most of 1990 and into early 1991, at this stage I still hadnt bought a stand out single on its own yet. That changed in 91 when a song came along that sounded like it was from another planet .... if pushed to answer what my favourite *dance track* of all time is then React II Rhythm's "Intoxication" would be definitely be in the Top 3, it was pegged as "Progressive" in its day but listen closer and you'll hear layers of funk and soul in there, an amazing tune. In a similar vein was my next purchase - Leftfield's "Not Forgotten", it was one of those "up on the wall" specials that Billy put up for collectors. At this stage I was doing a Saturday night gig in the same youth centre that catered for everyone from 15 to 19 and they knew their dance music inside out, Id heard the song on the "Sides" tapes that were going around the estate and I figured spending the 15 pounds (allowing for inflation it'd be around 60 euros today?) would be worth the reaction at the gig - thankfully it was. More money well spent in Abbey.



It is as cheesy a bejaysus today but 17 years ago 2 Unlimited's "Get Ready For This" blew me away, not only that but Id read in Mark Kavanagh's "Remix" fanzine (exclusive to Abbey initially) that it was the same BPM as Cola Boy's "7 Ways To Love" My decks at the time had no pitch control so I went in and bought both hoping to finally do something as smooth as Id heard Jim do on Sunshine 101 years previously and Ray Summers on Century at the time. They were both 122 bpm and both matched up perfectly. I locked myself away again for the day and practiced chopping, slow fading and even scratching both until the gig on Saturday night arrived when I got to show off. Did the kids even notice? Maybe one or two of the ravers at most but it didnt matter - Id mixed my first 2 songs together and both were the European imported versions that Billy kept in stock. My vinyl addiction was getting to be an expensive hobby but there was no going back for me. Ive loved and love DJ'ing but Ive always remembered that there's a business aspect to it, I wanted to make a profit at some stage. With the lure of the Mall there every weekend this went out the window completely and I think I must have pumped every cent back into equipment and Abbey Discs in those heady days, but if the memories are anything to go by it was beyond any price I could put on it.



The Mall wasnt just about Abbey in those years, it was literally heaven on earth for DJs back then, at one stage there were upto 4 different dance shops all competing against each other - Abbey, Outlaw, Hugh Scully's mixtape shop and Beat Records. Aaaah, how can we have a thread about Abbey without mentioning Beat and the two mad Tonys eh? I remember going into Beat as a teenager, looking through the racks for about an hour and - even though I knew I couldn't afford a single tune in the shop - I listened to a few of the imports cos Id heard them on the Ray Summers mix the previous weekend. It annoyed the tits off the Tony's to the extent that when we came back 3 hours later for another look and listen the older Tony made a sneaky "ah yes, a 'day trip out in the Abbey Mall'" remark ..... funny at the time. He'd seen us go from his shop to Billy's mall branch and back again and not buy a record in the space of about 5 hours. So why did I spend thousands in Abbey Discs over the years and, maybe, a couple of hundred euro in total with all the other dance shops combined? The answer is simple, and you know it already ....... Billy Murray.



The reason why Abbey Discs has lasted 25 years when every other independent record shop I can think of in Dublin has long gone is simple ...... Billy Murray.

The catalyst for most of the best DJ sets of the past 25 years in this country .... is Billy Murray.

The reason why we had groundbreaking national radio shows like Simon Young's and Peter Collins "12s On 2" .... is Billy Murray.



The dance and DJ scene in Ireland would have happened eventually but I dont think it would have got there as fast or reached the heights it did without this man supplying us all with the tools. Someone would have filled the gap .... eventually, but they wouldnt have done it with the same style or charisma as Billy and his knowledge of music. Here is a guy whose favourite genre of music is Motown (like myself) but instantly knows a hit record when he hears it, be it Pop, Dance or whatever – he can usually make a call after hearing the first 30 seconds.

I have seen him first hand listen to promos in every sub dance genre from Happy Hardcore to House and everything in between and he always knew how many to order in or if to order at all. Any successful people Ive seen reach the very top of their sector - be they club DJs, radio presenters, promoters or whatever – have all had one thing in common ….. they are all outstanding salesmen. And Billy is the best I have ever seen.

He knew how to make the customer the king.

Its been said on another forum by someone that you never forget the first day Billy said hello to you by name, and its true. Im not sure how he did it but after a few months visiting the shop he'd suss your name (maybe from Derek) without asking you and then say - for example - "Seeya Jason" out of the blue one day. You cannot buy sales skills like that. The first day he said it to me I, in my innocent youth, went "wow" to myself ... as Derek initially dealt with all the new DJs in the shop and then after awhile you got a chance to get to know Billy. When Billy came upto you at the desk in a shop that was absolutely rammed you still felt like the only customer there. Anyone that begrudges him and the shop its success dont understand that it doesnt matter what business Billy would have gotten into back then, be it records, retail or whatever - he was going to make an absolute fortune with it regardless. That requires something "extra" ..... that certain indefinable quality, be it balls, charm or whatever - Billy has it in spades.





continues ...

Apart from the incredible experience of working there - some days right beside the best salesman in the country in Liffey St and some days in tears of laughter in the Mall when Derek was in his funny moods - and getting to meet all the DJs of that era, getting to make career making contacts and all the rest .... I think getting a lend of one off promos for my radio shows and gigs was the best perk of the job.


I remember Billy leaving me in charge of the Mall one day when Derek was sick and him dropping over with a few new boxes of goodies that had just arrived in Liffey St .... and just one copy of a track with a red label and a red sleeve that Billy asked me to listen to and then ring across to Liffey St with an opinion on - it was Artesmesia "Bits & Pieces", the first copy in the country. He asked me how many he should order and I told him straight away "a minimum of 60 copies" - back then even if a promo was fantastic and was on an established label you'd conservatively order maybe 10 -20 and see how it went first, if it was a new label you'd risk no more than 5. This track was on a new label called Movin' Melodies and Billy wasnt too sure. That night I was playing in the Ormond Multi Media Centre for the Horny Organ Tribe (best collective name ever!) ... I was on first so I kept it mellow - first tune was Crystal Waters "100% Pure Love" and I built up the pace till it was at around 127BPM .... a nice warmup tempo. But this red record in a red sleeve kept staring back at me, I knew it was too fast for 11.45 in a club but Artemesia was so good I had to try it ... right? I used another track to bridge the tempo up a bit more, I had time for one more track after that so I just went for broke and played Artemesia "Bits & Pieces" .... pitched at about minus 3 It sounds as cheesy as hell today but back then there was no sound like it. I stood back and waited for the reaction to *that* big riff .......... it was building so I waited some more ........ it eventually kicked into the massive hook and the place went absolutely, completely and utterly doolally ape****. Phew! There are certain moments that every DJ looks back fondly on and that night in the Ormond was one for me. The promoter let me away with such a fast tempo for that time of the night after he saw the crowd reaction and asked me if he could borrow it to play it again later that night! The next day when I came into work and Billy asked me how it went down I told him to order in as many copies as the distributor could supply him with. It would go onto be licensed by the Hooj Choons label and went from this tiny little record to selling hundreds of thousands all over Europe.




The "Movin' Melodies" label was one I then started to follow and collect avidly in the shop. There was one production genius behind all of its output and subsidiaries - Patrick Prins. The Ethics "La Luna (To The Beat Of The Drum)" was him as was Subliminal Cuts "Le Voie Le Soleil" and "Drumtrack Melody" and the jewel in the crown for most of my Dance gigs in 1994 was his "P.A.R.T.Y" track on Slate Records. There was just 5 copies ordered in initially and I was actually a bit glad that this took ages to re-stock as it gave me a couple of months of exclusivity! I covered up the label with a sticker to avoid prying eyes in the DJ boxes and wrote “Abba – “Dancing Queen” “(Sound Crowd Remix)” across it just to see if any punters who didnt know the original Abba song would fall for it….. a few days after playing it in the Harp that weekend I had 2 customers asking for it by the name they saw on the sticker, I don’t know how I kept a straight face

Another funny incident was asking people on air on Club FM to go into Derek and ask him for 2 copies of Diddy’s “Give Me Love” with the phrase “Derek, can I have 2 Diddies please” …. ‘I was greeted the next day with a “ya little bollix ya” by Pepper but it was all in good jest.



But the funniest that stands out the most was one Saturday morning when Billy opened the Mall branch and I was left to my own devices till Derek got in. It was the era of the “Piano Breakdown” in Irish clubland;

Midi Rain “Always”, Rollo Goes Camping “Get Off Your High Horse, Punchunella “San TranSisco”, Pianoman “Cast A Spell”, PCP “Blurred”, “That Whitney Song” …….

Out of around 500 different 12” that we had in stock Id guess 90% of them had a massive piano breakdown on there during this particular period. So Im sorting out my float, writing out “Description Cards” that we stuck onto the labels and other bits that you’d do in the first quiet hour of opening …… and in walks a poor lad that was, for want of a better expression, still completely off his tits from the night before.

In his best Aslan accent I was asked;

"Here Bud, ya sell records yeah?


Yeah?!

Right see I was in this club last night and the DJ played a bleedin rapi’ tune with a deadly piano on it

Have ya got it bud yeah? The DJ told me to come here”



That was it. No humming of the riff, what label it was on or any other details. Just “that tune with the piano on it” and there's me standing in a shop with 400 records with "pianos on it" and a customer who was trying to chew his eyebrows off ….. just then Derek walked in, fresh as a daisy and raring to go. I introduced my new friend to him and decided to go on my break


continues ...

What else?


There was the Abbey Discs 1994 Christmas party. I think we started in Kielys (now K3) of Liffey St or somewhere close by. The drinks would then continue to The Kitchen nightclub in Temple Bar and this is where things got very interesting. The Kitchen were famous for vodka promotions and this night was no different. We weren't long there before copious amounts of this was consumed and the shots were been knocked back. Everything is grand so far, everyone is merry and the atmosphere (as it always was there) was fantastic. I come back from the toilet to find that a circle has gathered around someone on the dancefloor and they're cheering them on.

I notice its most of our group doing the cheering.

I go to investigate and the man paying for all our dinks, Billy Murray, is dancing like a man possessed! Its a universal law that DJs cant dance and I thought the same went for record shop staff - but no. Here was Billy doing a combination of the following:

James Brown's (semi) splits

A bit of Michael Jackson's moonwalk

And he was way ahead of his time with the "Ricky Gervais" dance from The Office.

All rolled into one.






I have seen some wonderful, remarkable and extraordinary things in nightclubs over the years and that performance is up there with the best of them.

From there it was to Leeson Street where Tony Dexter was DJ'ing and kept us entertained. Myself and Tara were singing along to Mariah's "All I Want For Christmas" at the top of our voices by the end of the night and it was a suitable end to a great night. I dont know how, but I even managed to drag myself in the next morning to work in the shop.




There was the time Billy was asked to judge what would be the last DMC Irish Mixing Championship in – I think – McGonagles in town. I was grounded for a week after I fell in the door at 4am and was up for school 3 hours later. DJ Mek would win it. He was good but DJ Bass was better on the night.

There was Tara’s 21st; she asked me months before to do it which I said I would free of charge. That was a great gig. A lovely youngfella called Joe, who also working part-time in the shop went on after my commercial set and played flat out House music for a half hour till I was asked to go back on and calm it down a bit. So I did, ….. with “Insomnnia”

There was the always cool Jamie. This guy knew his Rap/Hip Hop and RnB inside out. He’d be selling it by the dozens at the top of the counter as you walk in, Derek would be in the middle looking after the CD Chart jocks and Billy and Tara would mainly deal with the dance DJs and vinyl and although the roles would change as the day went on one thing remained consistent – everybody wanted to talk with Billy at some stage.


Abbey Discs wasn’t just a record shop - it was a meeting place.

I remember going into the Liffey St branch one day at 12 mid day, I wasn’t working there at this stage, and because of the chats you’d have with DJs you knew, or new music that was due at 3pm, or that courier delivery at 5, I stayed there till 6. This wouldn’t be a daily occurrence mind you but it really was a shop in which you could happily lose a whole day and you felt at home in. Id walk in and Jamie would ask if I wanted a cup of tea – try getting that in HMV!



Speaking of which, I was in HMV in Henry St last month and there wasn’t a sinner in there either. So what is to blame for the downturn in record shops?

We all know the answer and we’re on it right now – the internet.

I adopted to it very early in ’99 and I don’t see how I could prep either a radio show or a gig without it now. Its all just there on front of you. Loads of music to be legally and above board downloaded on the likes of Beatport and iTunes. Dozens of websites to check for the next up and coming big tune, whereas years ago I went into Billy to read his copy of the industry magazine – Music Week. The same magazine is now online.

DMC, Mastermix both have a web presence. Every wannabe dance DJ can just check Pete Tong’s tracklistings and go off to try and download the lot. Bebo, Facebook and the other nonsense “networking” sites (I use them both begrudgingly) can not take away from the buzz that used to be going into either branch of Abbey and meeting a random DJ you hadn’t seen in ages and just having a good old chat.

The personal touch is not there with music downloading sites. You don’t get to hear the best laugh ever in Dublin when Derek was in hysterics, or get to see Billy coming back from his holidays with a stud earring! You don’t get that feeling when you’ve gone through 7 soso tracks till you’ve found a gem and its the only copy left in the shop – as opposed to been down-loadable by thousands.

You don’t get a bag with that famous orange and blue logo full of CDs and records waiting for you with your name on it. What you do get is an instant music fix but its not the same warm, fuzzy feeling you got shopping in Abbey.




Who knows, maybe Billy will re-locate in the new year and we’ll all have a re-think about this music downloading malarkey and actually start dropping into the shop again (Ive heard Temple Bar as one possible new location) – I know I will drop in more often if they re-surface. Maybe they’ll set up an Irish version of Beatport? Who knows. Ive only spoken to Billy briefly on the phone since the news of the closedown broke but I want to have a chat with him face to face this week and ask him what the new plans really are.



Thank you Billy, Derek, Jamie and Tara.



Thank you Billy for taking a chance on a kid who wanted to work in a record shop. Thank you for teaching me the art of sales from just looking at you. Thank you for letting me learn the business from the bottom up. Thank you for introducing me to all the invaluable contacts over the years. Thank you for the music. Thank you for the promos. Thank you for establishing my early radio shows for been a place you’d hear exclusive first plays. Most of all thank you for some of the happiest memories of my life.

I love ya like an uncle Billy.

Thank you.

Jason