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Abbey Discs - The End Of An Era

24

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 380 ✭✭c_o_ck p_i_ss chillage


    empirix wrote: »
    sorry but never bought nought in there, prices were outrageous, no sympathy whatsoever also never had any underground electronica, mainstream dance heaven!!! - crap

    You'd just buy early Warp stuff elsewhere! Imagine asking Billy for Caustic Window!
    :D

    P


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭Ronan Raver77


    Spent around 70quid a week in there for two or three years straight...
    Billys favourite quote when asking what day your tunes will be in .(cant believe i could be messing up what day as he said it so many times)

    TUESDAY BUD:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,850 ✭✭✭JDxtra


    empirix wrote: »
    sorry but never bought nought in there, prices were outrageous, no sympathy whatsoever also never had any underground electronica, mainstream dance heaven!!! - crap

    ....then why bother replying to this thread?


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,850 ✭✭✭JDxtra


    Sad to see them close, but I don't think it was unexpected. I was in the shop a few weeks ago and thought it was a little quiet for them to be paying rent, wages etc.

    Shame it's happening before Christmas - as I would have thought they would make a few quid in the run up to Christmas.

    I'm still missing one of the releases on the Abbey Discs label - need to pop in again to see if they have a copy.

    "I'll have it in for ya on Tuesday, bud. - Classic! :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 25 kenji


    Man used to love this place,started going in their about 96, for a few years,had to get the train for 3 hours and break into a half walk half jog crossing the haypenny in anticipation of fresh sounds:D,really sound crowd ran the place,Distribution of music has changed a lot since then though,also anyone remember Tag records on the quays?Loved that place too:D:D


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,672 ✭✭✭seannash


    kenji wrote: »
    Man used to love this place,started going in their about 96, for a few years,had to get the train for 3 hours and break into a half walk half jog crossing the haypenny in anticipation of fresh sounds:D,really sound crowd ran the place,Distribution of music has changed a lot since then though,also anyone remember Tag records on the quays?Loved that place too:D:D
    ha ha ha ha the half walk half jog as soon as you got off the train,i did that too.i remeber tag,bit more underground than abbey.english bloke ran it right?
    i think its more the atmosphere and the kind of community of people who went there that people are reminicing about.use to love going in there and just being in the thick of it with people who shared a similar interest,even somewhat minor celebrity dj,s sometimes too.and the staff were all really friendly and knowlegeable too.not the same as clicking on the buy button on beatport.thats the part of me that hates the digital revolution,missing out on the community of it.
    also purple moon records was one i went to alot,they even had there own label too,bought one of there releases,still got it i think


  • Registered Users Posts: 25 kenji


    Ha ha happened every time!No what you mean everyone seemed to no each other place was always buzzin,would spend hours digging through racks and find a gem,drop needle and boom woulnt put it down in case i lost it:Ddef dont get that on beatport etc,ya tag was run by Ulik,kinda david holmes look alike,more underground stuff thats what i liked bout it,they also had a store in London,Good times;)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 272 ✭✭lt_cmdr_worf


    For me, no trip to Dublin was complete without visiting that shop.

    It was where I got all my Pressure/Ken O'Flanagan/Asylum tapes in the last few years, and they get played regularly.

    First ever purchase there was Perfecto Fluoro (Oakenfold's Goa Mix sequel). Picked up a few Global Underground mixes there,too.

    They also had the Introspective/Retrospective of House series there,recently.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,723 ✭✭✭empirix


    JDxtra wrote: »
    ....then why bother replying to this thread?

    because i wanted to! any chance to take a dig at you mainstream boyracers!


  • Subscribers Posts: 8,322 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    kenji wrote: »
    Ha ha happened every time!No what you mean everyone seemed to no each other place was always buzzin,would spend hours digging through racks and find a gem,drop needle and boom woulnt put it down in case i lost it:Ddef dont get that on beatport etc,ya tag was run by Ulik,kinda david holmes look alike,more underground stuff thats what i liked bout it,they also had a store in London,Good times;)

    I used to love Tag too, was probably the best around Dublin for techno - spent hours in that place at a time. I had forgotten their names but the lads in there were sound and knew their tunes.

    Good times indeed!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 15 Avago


    i started goin to abbey discs in the mall back in 94, was 14 and just opening up to the whole scene. have so many great memories even some bad ones - got mugged there once, wanted my bag but told them to fcuk off they could take whatever was in my pockets but not my record bag :)
    flippin through the racks and finding stacks of great tunes and always askin for a few new ones in the knowledge that from the 15 records they gave you, you might just get one or two blowers. happy days.

    like a lot of people here, i gave up on the whole dj'in thing and stopped buying records and since the whole internet thing has made it so easy to get whatever you want, whenever you want its not surprising that smaller independant record shops will suffer

    fair play abbey discs and all the others that have fallen by the wayside, i second the comment that the communtiy aspect to record shopping is the biggest casualty


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,332 ✭✭✭311


    Felixdhc wrote: »
    I used to love Tag too, was probably the best around Dublin for techno - spent hours in that place at a time. I had forgotten their names but the lads in there were sound and knew their tunes.

    Good times indeed!

    Ulick was the owners name ,fairly quite bloke. I think some of the jungle lads ,that use to work across from abbey discs in the mall (one lads name was Ross),ended up working there too.

    Got some lovely stuff in there ,great sound in that shop.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,443 ✭✭✭Red Sleeping Beauty


    I never liked the place, it was overpriced. I know that it was more a specialist shop for dance/hip hop. The rest of their stuff never appealed to me. Freebird ftw


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,531 ✭✭✭jonny68


    Was in there on Fri for the first time in a few years, tbh there didn't appear to be much in the way of bargains on show (didn't look at the vinyl though) in fact one CD i have was vastly overpriced, Tunnel Trance Force, i think they were charging something like €32 or something for this:eek: http://www.amazon.com/Tunnel-Trance-Force-Vol-31/dp/B0006BLIWW im sure it was that one, madness charging that much, anyway didn't stay long just popped in for a quick nose, was busy rnough by the looks of things but maybe that's just old customers like myself who went in for a nose.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Im posting this on behalf of Dublin radio station Storm 99.1


    We will be down in Abbey this SAT 22nd November broadcasting live between 12 & 6 Playing lots of classics and tunes synonymous with the Abbey Era..

    We are calling on All Dj's past and present to call in for 5 or 10 Mins if your around on Sat We will be doing live interviews throughout the day with people to whom Abbey was their second home when they were bunkin off school to buy tunes or in trying to meet someone they could talk to about maybe warming up a gig for Whether you were a bedroom Dj or it was your life , soul and living Billy Murray was your Godfather of Dance....

    With the Famous quote of I'll have that on Thursday for you bud !!!!

    So we look forward to seeing you there make it a good turn out for old times sake and the end of an era in Irish Dance Music


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


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    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.

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    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.

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    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 ...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


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    So its 1994, and Im in college studying business and I hate it as a) I want to DJ fulltime and b) I have to learn German (GERMAN!) from scratch in one of the modules. I stick it out for 6 months from September to March when we're told we've to get work experience for a month in a retail outlet as part of the Diploma. A light bulb goes off in my head and where do you think is my first port of call? :) Billy knows me 4 years at this stage and Im going to be working free of charge - all he has to do is fill out evaluation forms every week. So he gets a free employee for a month and I get to work in the Mall.


    Abbey Discs in the feckin' Abbey Mall!


    I think I glided into work on my first day on the sheer excitement that was going through me.


    By now Billy had opened his Liffey Street branch so I was paired with Derek or "Pepper" as we called him in the Mall. Anyone who has shopped enough in Abbey will know what a lovely, crazy, warm, funny and helpful fella this man is. He showed me the ropes. There wasnt alot to it really, Abbey just opened up and the business and custom was there and it was there 6 days a week. I was still doing my weekend gigs and working in a record shop by day and smiling from ear to ear doing it, the absolute dream job for me at that time and place in my life. So when the month was up and Billy asked would I stay on I couldnt ring the college or write the "thank you but Im leaving" letter quick enough. Bye bye crazy German lecturer and business diploma I didnt need ..... and hello Abbey Discs.

    Selling records in the Mall was like selling ice cream to kids until the Dance scene began to split into dozens of sub genres in the Summer of 94 - put simply, everyone was trying to look cool and different. I was reading everything I could get my hands on to learn more about the dance scene back then - including MixMag (which could only, initially, be bought in one Newsagents in Dublin, a small independent shop on - you guessed it, Abbey Street. It would be a year before Easons caught up), "DJ" magazine was another and then "Muzak" came along.



    Then there was the 2 Dublin Dance fanzines which Abbey helped promote - Mark Kavanagh's aforementioned "Remix" and Ollie Dowling's "DFC" .... the competition between both was unreal and jostling for the best space on the Abbey Discs "flyer wall" was a monthly occurrence. All of these magazines were essential to keep on top of things as a record you'd sell dozens of one day could be forgotten about the next. And if you only got 3 copies of a hot new promo in you'd better choose those 3 DJs carefully! Some of the DJs went with Billy over to the new Liffey St branch, especially the CD jocks as we didnt carry a huge selection in the Mall, and some started to go to the newly opened Tag Records on the quays - but the cream of the capital's Dance DJs stuck with us in the Mall.


    DJ Pressure spent a small fortune with us, Mick Walsh, Pat Hyland, Jay Tang, Ed Case (I once witnessed a "Mammy" who was coming in to buy one of his mixtapes ask him to autograph it for her son when she learned Ed was actually in the shop), Aidan Kelly (crazy, fantastic DJ who also worked in the clothes shop facing us) Nigel H, Tommy Stewart, Greg Merriman, Colm Doogan, Andy Preston, the late Joe Jones of Vibe FM, Andy Jackson (although like Greg and Andy P, Andy had had the cop on to switch to CDs early and I mainly seen them in Liffey St moreso), Tony Pugh, Dave McDonald of the original Banana Boys, Chris Boshell, Liam Fitz, the absolute gent that was Shay Hannon, Mark Dixon (who would go onto to set up his own record shop) Toni Walshe and all of the "Horny Organ Tribe" collective, Brian Chamberlain of Power FM (who'd give me my radio break), Liam Dollard, Billy Scurry, Warren Kiernan, the mad El Mar and all the Sunset Crew (Darragh Hurley in particular was in loads), Dave Hales, Davey Kay, Al Stevens, Mick Morrison, Ken Brady, Dean Sherry, Orbit (Rory) and Ken O’ Flanagan, Johnny Moy, Tony Dexter (who I think has the only picture of me working in the Mall somewhere), Casper (John), Francois, Colin Daley, Podge and countless others. You then had alot of DJs who wanted to buy just from Billy as they'd built up a relationship with him - so they'd mainly shop in Liffey Street.



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    Big players like Mark Kavanagh and Ollie Dowling were mostly seen in Liffey St. It was also the place where you'd see all of the cities best commercial DJs, I knew by 95 that I didnt just want to be stuck in the niche of been a Dance DJ so I went back to doing the bars and went out of my way to see what these guys were buying and what equipment was been used - it was the first shop I heard the word "Denon" been mentioned in for example. The absolute cream of the crop was there spending massive money on CDs as the city’s commercial nightclubs got the Denon 2000’s installed and they needed to rebuild their collection; the likes of Pat West, Ian Cribben, Niall Boylan (I was in the shop when he was telling Billy that his entire CD collection had been robbed as he took it out of his car, every DJs nightmare), the still very sound Kieran Keogh, the aforementioned Greg and 2 Andy’s – Greg Merriman was an absolute CD junkie :) and always in great form, Andy Preston would go onto FM104 where Billy supplied the majority of the tunes for Telstar’s Euphoria, Andy Jackson did something similar on Club FM with the Abbey Discs Top 20, a young Al Gibbs was there too.

    Tommy Matthews was also in the Liffey St branch alot, the lovely Tracey Lee was in, as was Jimmy Kavanagh, Martin Cullen, Tony Quinn, Glen Stevens, Graham Short, two guys that would go on to run very successful agencies – Donal Fennal and Dave Lyons, the living legend that is Willie Forde who Id say must have paid half of Billy’s mortgage off :), if I had to pick who I think is the best commercial DJ in Ireland it would be the Wicked (but always genuine and inspiring) Willie. Tony Fenton back in his club jocking days was there, Micky Mac, Dirk Montage (always loved the name) the always interesting Tim Hannigan (not a commercial CD jock obviously, but he still preferred Liffey St), Chris Murray, Martin King, Gary Cruise seemed to prefer Liffey St too, Mark Downes, Tony Dixon was there, there was a very polite fella who was a doctor by day and a DJ by night and I remember thinking “now that’s real money!” … his name escapes me. There was an also an older, eccentric but nice guy who looked after all the gigs for Trinity College and some of the bigger hotels, he was kind enough to pass me on a few mobile gigs but his name is not coming to me either. Garv Rigby was there pre Star DJs, a DJ who I went out of my way to listen to was the amazing voice of Noel Clancy who was there too and Im sure I saw a young Barry Dunne in there also and – although I never got to speak to him as I was mainly in the Mall – Im sure the original of the species Jim Kenny has spent a fair few quid in there …. but I wouldn't get to meet him till 12 years later.

    2 DJs who say they remember me working in Abbey were 2 that Id go onto be very good friends with - Lofty Woods and Sean Daly. How do I know they're telling the truth? Well Lofty still reminds me now and again that I sported a fetching moustache for about a month in 1994 innocent.gif


    If Ive left out a major commercial jock here or in the Dance DJs bit above and you shopped in either branch a lot from 93 to 95 then I apologise. I have wracked my brains trying to remember all those faces and names from way back when.

    Finally re: DJs who shopped there – all of Ollie's DFC (Dublin Funk Collective) crew also spent heavily in the mall - DJ Bass (the best mixer I have ever, ever heard), Speedy D, Noel, Marbles and Latin Wolff. I met Latin (Barry) in the shop one day when he'd left some pics of himself DJ'ing in The Mansion House behind by accident.

    We got chatting as Id always loved his "Pop" article in the DFC and we clicked instantly - 14 years later and we're still best of friends, have spent 2 months together DJing in Turkey since then and we try to organise a lads holiday whenever possible, all because we got talking that day in the Mall. Another very good friend I met in the Liffey Street branch was Leo Kearns. He was doing a "Euro" show on Club FM at the time and by 95 I was doing a few hours in Liffey Street as well - again, 14 years on and he's my production partner, Ive DJ'd at his wedding and he remains another very good mate (despite the fact that its 3 years on and he still hasnt finished my website ;)). There are an awful lot of fair-weather friends in this business and many colleagues come and go - but of all the people I met in those years working in Abbey Im glad my path crossed with Barry and Leo the most.


    continues ....


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    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.

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    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 :D


    continues ...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    I noticed in my time working in there that I wasnt the only one collecting labels, this is what we sold, they were the shops bread and butter.

    Some of the ones that were exceptional as huge sellers included:

    Guerilla (A popular label in the shop in the early and mid 90's. Progressive House all the way from the likes of Spooky, D.O.P and was also responsible for one of my favourite dance tracks of all time - the aforementioned React 2 Rhythm's “Intoxication”)

    image006_01.png


    Stress(A DMC offshoot that most famously released the progressive house anthems "For What You Dream Of" (by Bedrock) and "Last Rhythm" (by Last Rhythm))


    XL Recordings (I know them best for giving us the Prodigy, T-99, Liquid, SL2, Jonny L and Cubic 22 and bought practically everything they released in the seminal hardcore days of '91to '94, they even do a bit of Indie these days!)

    image014_01.png

    De-Construction(Lionrock, N-Joi, Felix, The Grid, K_Klass, Way Out West, Sasha, Robert Miles, Usura, Hyper Go Go, Deep Dish, The Bassheads, Guru Josh, and De'Lacy all reading like a who's who of 90's dance. They even pulled off a masterstroke before they went bust in signing Kylie!)

    image001_01.png


    ffrr (or "double f, double r" records - founded and run by Pete Tong and artists back then included Orbital, Goldie, Brand New Heavies, Salt n Pepa, CJ Bolland, Sex-O-Sonique, Utah Saints and more)

    image002_01.png

    Hooj Choons(a now defunct house record label formed by Red Jerry)

    image003_01.png


    Strictly Rhythm (The New York-based label Strictly Rhythm was set up in 1989 and was a big seller in the shop considering the import cost. They unfortunately folded in October 2002 but at their peak were played to death by Dublin House DJ's who liked their vocals gospel and their basslines deep and bouncy. Greg Dowling and Brian Chamberlain are 2 DJs that spring to mind who championed the Strictly sound)[/FONT]


    Limbo (When working in Abbey I remember alot of DJs leaning towards this label to define their sound. Limbo was definitely a very popular choice back in the early to mid 90's. Based in Glasgow they gave us the likes of Havana, Gypsy, Mukkaa, Harri, Deep Piece and an early release from Josh Wink. Their early stuff still sounds organic, funky and great today)[/FONT]

    image005_01.png

    Junior Boys Own (They gave us many 90's dance acts including X-Press 2, The Chemical Brothers and Underworld)


    image004_01.png


    Production House(one of my favourite pieces of Dance Trivia ever is that this label was founded by Phil Fearon (of Galaxy Fame!) :D Baby D "Let Me Be Your Fantasy came from this label. If you were playing UK “Hardcore” in the early 90's then Production House is definitely in your collection. The whole sound of the 1992 Hardcore scene can be heard in Acen's “Trip To The Moon”)


    Logic Records (this was a popular choice for the CD jocks in Liffey St. A label that gave us a lot of commercial Euro-House in the 90's. From Snap, to Dr Alban to Rozzalla, Dance 2 Trance, Haddaway, Sub Sub, Cosmic Baby, The Real McKoy, and French Affair. Chances are if you were bopping to commercial dance in your local mainstream club from '93 to '96 the DJ was playing something that had either been released or licensed by Logic)

    image007_01.png


    Platipus Records(A very popular label in the Mall. The early releases were almost exclusively limited to the production of the label-co-owner Simon Berry and his various projects, including Union Jack, Clanger, Poltergeist and Art of Trance. All of which were responsible for some huge Ormond Multi Media Centre anthems played heavily by Latin Wolff amongst others)

    image008_01.png

    Positiva Records (If you've been to a club - underground or mainstream - in the past ten years, it's likely you've danced to a Positiva tune. Launched by EMI in 1993, the aim was to establish a respected dance label with a commercial edge and marketing and by jaysus it worked. I would take a rough guess that of all the *specialist* labels that Billy has dealt with in the past 25 years that this is the biggest selling one. All you had to do was put that famous blue logo up on the wall in the Mall and you'd sell 20 copies of a brand new track from an unheard of act in a day without breaking a sweat. I still remember buying and playing the very first release Exoterix "Void" for the first time and going "wow". Over the years they've given us, **deep breath**: Hyper Go Go, Judy Cheeks, Reel II Reel, The Bucketheads, Kadoc, Barbara Tucker, Lisa Marie Experience, Umbozia, BBE, Brainbug, Perpetual Motion, DJ Jurgan, Ayla, Fragma, Spiller, Paul Van Dyke, Axwell and more besides. We'll even forgive them for licensing the Venga Boys to the UK and Ireland market ;) Ive done a quick check there and they have released close to 300 different releases in 15 years - for a dance label that is nothing short of miraculous)


    image009_01.png

    Suburban Base Records (One of my favourite dance record labels of all time, Ive great memories of a lot of their releases - Sonz of A Loop Da Loop Era tracks in particular)



    ZYX Records (a German record label which was founded in 1971 but rebranded in 1992 and still managed to sell by the truckload despite how expensive they were. I think every 90s club DJ has a ZYX record in their collection somewhere)


    Italian Style Records (Another import label that was tough on the wallet if you were buying more than one. It gave us Jinny - "Keep Warm", Usura "Open Your Mind", Deadly Sins 'We Are Going On Down" (a massive Sunset FM tune), "Barracuda" and more)

    Time Records(the parent label of Italian Style, it gave us DJ Dado with the fantastic "Coming Back", The 3 Jays and more)

    Media Records (the home of Sharada House Gang, Clock and and R.A.F.)

    The runner up award for the label I reckon had the biggest *cult* following (not necessarily the biggest selling) in Abbey Discs goes to

    Cleveland City Records


    This label had a lovely big chunky feel to all its records. It was a given that you could pick up anything on the label and mix it with no hassle and you were guaranteed a big, bold sound in your nightclub. We sold this label by the box in the shop, some customers if they were in a hurry didnt even bother listening to the tune! The knew they were getting the Cleveland City sound.

    Tunes like;


    Alex Party – Read My Lips (on red vinyl that you couldn't miss)
    Chubby Chunks – Vol 1 & 2
    B Line – Herbal Hand
    Direct 2 Disc – Don’t Stop
    Rhyme Time Productions – You & Me, From This Moment On
    Ideal – Hot
    Screen II - Let The Record Spin & Hey Mr DJ
    Toni Di Bart – The Real Thing (what DJ doesn’t remember the first time they mixed this sublime song into a set? It had one of the most mix-friendly intros ever, all the usual Cleaveland style production but what it added was a proper Pop song with catchy verses and a chorus that had every Dublin clubber singing along. I still have the original blue vinyl copy that I believe is worth a small fortune but I wouldn’t part with it for love or money)


    And then there was Eve Gallagher – “You Can Have It All” ……

    I would have to flip a 3 way coin between this, React II Rhythm’s “Intoxication” and Sound Crowd’s “Think About It Please” if I had to pick an all time favourite dance track, and I have a funny feeling Eve would win. The “Rhyme Time Club Mix” of this still makes me smile 13 years on. A stunning vocal, amazing lyrics and a credible House backing all in one package. If Diana Ross, Gladys Knight or Dionne Warrick made House records back in their day they’d sound like this.

    And the most “followed” record label in Abbey Discs history? Im probably showing bias in thinking this (Jamie in the shop labeled me the “Red Groupie” :)) but Im going to say it was Dublin’s own

    Red Records

    Late in 1992, Tim Hannigan (aka Mista Fantastic, and now 2FM’s Mister Spring) and Mark Kavanagh released a couple of hundred white labels of the first Sound Crowd release on Red Records. From that four-track EP, the country’s first dance label and a distribution company were born. Sound Crowd’s first gig was to a few hundred at the Olympic Ballroom in ‘93, and a year later Denis Desmond added the Crowd to The Orb’s first show at The Point just five days before the gig. Ticket sales at that point were under a thousand – on the night there were over 6,000 in the Point. The pirate radio stations of the day, Sunset and Club especially, played a key role in establishing the act.

    762202081a7730290464l.jpg

    What can ya say except they made amazing dance music that was better than most of its kind in its day and they felt “local” because you’d see them both knocking around in both branches of Abbey.

    Was there even a record signing session of the “Olympic States EP” in Liffey St one Saturday or did I dream that bit? The label would also release music from Liquid Wheel, 4 Rhythm’s version of “Maniac”, Johnny Moy would release 2 singles, they would put out the first ever Irish Dance Compilation in the form of “Red Zone” and would peak when “Sixth Season” was signed to Pete Waterman’s PWL label. An incredible feat for an Irish dance act. Abbey Discs supported Red Records and Mark always repaid the loyalty - the green vinyl version of ‘Dream Lover”, the one sided versions of “Think About It Please” and their remix of Shining Path – all rarer than a virgin in Darndale and all sold in Abbey Discs first.


    Red would license Nikolai’s “Ready To Flow” and make a make a financial killing with it and I think this coupled with the amount of homegrown production talent that was shopping in both branches pushed Billy to set up his own record label.

    Simply named after the shop, the “Abbey Discs” label would debut with DJ Pressure's “Pride” in 1996 and along the way give us Irish dance music and tracks licensed from abroad, including; DJ Kayos, Shades Of Rhythm, Dublin DJ Kieran Keogh would have a hand in getting Billy to licence “Que Idea”, there were also releases by Ege Bam Yasi, Al Gibbs, Tommy Stewart, Area 51 Mark Kavanagh, The Banana Boys, Alan Pullen and then in 2000 Billy would release a live remix of Michael Sembello's "Maniac".



    51DEYjcwRmL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

    Released in 2000, Mark McCabe using a rap written by Al Gibbs would record over the 4 Rhythm version of “Maniac’ that had been previously a minor hit on Red Records. Helped by the massive radio support on the pirates (Pulse FM in particular), the dance buying public were screaming out for a copy long before it was released. It would go on to reach number one in the Irish Singles Charts, staying at that position for a mind-blowing 10 weeks (March 4th - May 6th). It is the 4th best selling single in the history of the Irish chart and I remember Billy giving me a lift home soon after it reached ten weeks at number one and saying “I don’t think I’ll ever top this” What an amazing achievement by an independent record label.



    Because Billy lived ten minutes up the road from me he offered me these lifts if I was in the shop near closing time (the Mall branch was long gone at this stage and there was some part time work for me in Liffey St till I went back to college – this time to study Sound Engineering - and I slowly parted company with working in the shop Id say in around ’96). I’ll always remember those short car journeys fondly. Billy would be asking me what was working for me in the clubs, who was upto what and we’d have a general natter like this at least twice a week. If I wasn’t going into town on Saturdays he’d let me give him a shout on the phone to place a CD order which was then dropped personally to my front door, all done with a cheeky smile by a man who had been up since 7 that morning and had put in 9 tough hours in a shop that – on a Saturday – you had to nearly fight to get anywhere near the counter.




    I have spoken already on Billy’s sales techniques (“ice to Eskimos” was a phrase I heard more than once about him) but he also had – probably – the most drive and stamina Ive seen in this industry …. A couple of nightclub jocks and one or two radio station managers Ive worked with also come to mind but Billy made it all look so effortless.

    Phrases Id hear on a daily basis would be “Do you want a hammer?” when the CD chart rack would come down on Jamie at least one a day, his “Have a nice daaaay” when customers were leaving, another was “you mean you don’t have it yet?!” when he had a hot new tune to sell and when a customer was taking 3 hours to listen to every record in the shop without actually buying anything he’d mutter a very funny “jaysus … braaain damage” to himself …. and of course we’ve all heard “I’ll have it for you on Tuesday/Thursday bud!” …. Fantastic.




    Concludes ...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    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.

    worthy.gif




    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!

    banner_logo-revolve.gif

    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.

    banner_logo-revolve.gif


    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


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  • Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭geoffraffe


    Well that about sums it up. Great post Jdee, really enjoyed reading it and it brought back some great memories. I've walked by the shop often but haven't dropped in in years. I'm looking forward to dropping in this week.

    Best of luck Billy, you gave me some great laughs, some cracking tunes and some very, very fond memories over the years. Thank you


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,787 ✭✭✭dSTAR


    What a shame to see it go :-(

    I remember them from the Abbey Mall. There were a couple of other record stores in there which never lasted. Used to love going in there to pick up the latest tastiest toons and stuff my pockets full of flyers.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,787 ✭✭✭dSTAR


    Here's a track by way of a tribute to many an afternoon spent there ...



    Are they going to have a farewell party?


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,102 ✭✭✭derra


    geoffraffe wrote: »
    Great post Jdee, really enjoyed reading it

    +1 :)


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,463 ✭✭✭Ronan Raver77


    Very good post Jason:)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Cheers for the "thanks" - as soon as I learned of the news last week I began working on the piece for a couple of hours a day, I wanted nothing short of the most comprehensive history of the two shops that I could remember. Only yesterday more DJ names and a couple of other stories Id forgotten came to mind - Ive added an anecdote to the last section above I remembered from the 1994 staff Christmas party. Ive also put in one or two DJs that didnt slip my mind, but rather I dont remember them shopping there (but they told me years later that they remembered me working in the shop!)


    I have suggested to a few DJs, Jim Kenny included, that because the closedown is on a Tuesday that we all head upto Jim in Tamango as his night has been going as long as the shop and, like Abbey, its synonymous with the Irish DJ industry. It would only make sense if Billy and Derek and the rest of the crew could be there on the night too, I wouldnt see the point otherwise. So I'll mention this to Billy too, its not set in stone at the moment.

    Thank you to Mark Kavanagh for a paragraph used in the Red Records section above, I had asked Mark to email me an old article he wrote for Hot Press years ago and he happily obliged. Its for a "Retro" section of an online project Im close to finishing and I got it from Mark weeks before the news of Abbey broke, it made sense to include that history of Red Records I thought. I think Red, Mark and Tim deserve their own history put into words in full some day, and if I ever do something similar again it'll be that.

    Thank you to some DJs for some very warm texts I received today regarding the post. I wrote it to piece together a very important part of my life but I also wrote it for the DJs that were there. In the words of Wham - "If you were there ... you'd know" :)

    One of those nice texts was from Andy Preston, in mentioning the huge list of DJs above I said he was most associated with Abbey for me with his Telstar Euphoria show but the memory of him in the shop that stands out the most is one I'll never let him forget. He was standing in the shop, smiling at the counter and I noticed he was a bit bug eyed. He explained that he had just finished three 4 hour shows on - wait for it - three different radio stations all within 16 hours. If memory serves me right they were, Sunset, Power FM and overnights on - I think - Kevin's Kiss 103 where he was "Captain Andy". It was 10 am in the Liffey St branch and he looked liked he happily go and do another 3 shows.

    He has given me permission to paste in his own thoughts from his FM104 blog. It is a fantastic read and you can find it below this line. I will spruce it up with one or two images later.

    Remember; Storm FM (the best dance pirate we've had since Energy 94) is broadcasting LIVE from the shop this Saturday from 12-6. Ive a crazy busy weekend ahead but Im going to try and make it in for an hour, hope to see ya there.

    Failing that, the last day of Abbey Discs as we know it is next Tuesday the 25th. Be there on either to witness the end of a true era :notworthy

    _______________________________________________________



    Andy Preston's thoughts on the closure:

    WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYBODY FOR THEIR SUPPORT AND WE HOPE TO BE BACK IN THE NEW YEAR DOING WHAT WE DO BEST - SELLING RECORDS, BREAKING RECORDS!

    SO WATCH THIS SPACE!

    BILLY, DEREK, TARA, ANTHONY, TRACEY, ELAINE, NIAMH.

    Seriously, I had a lump in my throat when I read this. When I started out in this business over 20 years ago, Abbey Discs was like a toy shop to me. Well, I was only 14 when I ventured in for the first time back in the summer of 1988. I'd heard a great song on the radio called "Rush Hour" by Jane Wiedlin and I was told that Abbey Discs would definitely have it. Of course I had heard about the shop from colleagues long before I visited for the first time as it was renowned for it's reputation for looking after DJ's with discounts and having the biggest selection of 12" singles of any record shop in Dublin.

    Jane-Wiedlin-Rush-Hour-17932.jpg


    I'm smiling to myself as I remember being told by the proprietor Billy Murray upon asking for the Jane Weidlin single that "I don't have it in but it will be in next week" - a typical response to a record request that many a customer will be familiar with. So, in I went the following week only to be told again that it wasn't in. And I went in the week after and the week after until eventually it was in stock. I remember being chuffed when Billy gave me the option to purchase the 12" for two pounds fifty, which I duly did. I thought that that day I had landed myself a place in amongst the Abbey Discs DJ elite.

    In those days I didn't often get to buy records as my only gig was a weekend night in the Dublin Ice Rink in Dolphin's Barn for the princely sum of ten pounds, most of which ended up in the Abbey Discs till. A few months later the resident DJ in the Ice Rink Got fired and I got the gig full time. Great I thought, now I can buy all the latest releases every week! And that's exactly what I did with the eighty pounds I earned every week, after I paid my mother the twenty pounds for my keep. Good 'aul Marie was a shrewd 'un!:) Good money all the same for a 15 year old!

    Dance music was beginning to make it's presence felt in those heady days of 88 and 89, and the flavour back then was acid house mixed with american rock and UK pop - the typical mix you would hear on my show on Radio Dublin and at a night out in The Ice Rink. All material supplied by the good people in Abbey Discs!

    As the 90's dawned it was clear that this was going to be the decade of dance, and where was the growing crop of DJ's going to get their tunes? You guessed it:)

    Music changed hugely in the early part of the 90's as 'rave' took grip of popular culture and venues like the Olympic Ballroom, Sides and Shaft played the soundtrack of the decade to eager clubbers while pirate radio found it's niche as station after station embraced the new music phenomenon. Once again Abbey Discs was the shop of choice for DJ's and fans of the music alike. It wasn't unusual for innocent punters to stumble upon the shop in the hunt for the tunes they heard on the radio and in the club and embark on a DJ career themselves!

    Whilst much of the business' success can be put down to word of mouth from the DJ's that frequented the little unit in The Abbey Mall on liffey Street, I'm convinced that it never would have lasted so long without the leadership of the shops founder - Billy Murray. It was Billy's 'Everybody's Mate' personality that kept many coming back for more and the fact that he made you feel like you were the only customer in the shop while he was speaking to you. I have a feeling that that was his way of hustling you into buying something you didn't really want to and my fathers shed is full of records and CD's bought in haste because they were "going to be huge". I didn't mind though, I just wanted to have the biggest music collection of any DJ in Ireland!

    Billy first ventured into the business of selling records for a living when he opened 'Billy's Record Shop' in Finglas. The astute Murray posessed an encyclopedic knowledge of all things to do with popular music - a trait you would be hard pressed to find in any member of staff of today's music outlets - and this led to the founding of Abbey Discs in The Abbey Mall On Liffey Street and another shop in Dublin's Northside Shopping Centre. By 1992 the original shop in 'The Mall' had become so busy that another shop was opened on Liffey Street, thus giving it a more accesible base for regular record buyers. Eventually the original shop in The Abbey Mall was closed along with The Northside Shopping centre branch, and Liffey Street continued alone.

    MusicCatalog%5CM%5CMatt%20Darey%20-%20Pure%20Euphoria%5CMatt%20Darey%20-%20Pure%20Euphoria.jpg

    I'll always be grateful to Billy for helping me to establish FM104's Euphoria dance show on friday nights way back in 1998. I went to Billy to tell him of my plans for a friday night dance show in the hope that he would furnish me with as many of the pre release tracks and white labels that he kept under the counter. I think he was a bit sceptical of the idea at first but after the first show he was swamped with punters he had never seen before all looking for the tracks I had played the previous night! He soon changed his tune and after that I got the pick of what was hot:)

    I can remember Billy asking me about Napster, the first of the free file sharing sites that I first became familiar with around 1999. He had noticed a slight downturn in business and somebody had tipped him off that a growing number of the old schoolers that had been customers since the early days of the shop were using the site. Many of these guys had indeed discovered Napster and instead of shopping in Abbey Discs, they were now downloading all their new music from Napster site - for free. While this was a worrying threat to a smalltime independent record dealer, Billy thought he would ride the storm since the majority of his customers were vinyl buyers. He didn't bank on the so called 'dance music recession'.

    It's true to say that dance music became less popular in the early part of the noughties. I figured that when the management at FM104 offered my the 10 - 3 show in March 2001 that it was a good time to jump from The Euphoria Show as I could tell that the clubs that were busy were either empty or just closing and there appeared to be less and less dance music appearing in the charts or in fact working with the commercial crowds in the venues that I was working on. This meant that less and less of the DJ's that had been buying vinyl were doing so and those that in the late 90's were buying decks instead of guitars were, in fact, buying guitars again. The writing was on the wall for Abbey Discs but I always thought that Billy would pull one final trick out of the bag. Sadly, it wasn't to be.

    The closure of Abbey Discs signals the end of the traditional record shop as we know it, and while I feel no sympathy for the record companies who ripped off the record buying public for years, I feel sad because I absolutely loved the idea of shopping for records. While that's something that you can still do, it just doesn't feel the same anymore. A lot of it had to do with the personal service provided by Bill, Derek, Tara and his staff. They all realised very early on that service was key to their survival amongst a small but loyal customer base and for that they reaped the rewards. Times change though and this is one service that is about to be lost in time.

    img0070.png

    I do sincerely hope that, as the message above suggests, the shop will ba back in the new year - be that from the old familiar shop in Liffey Street or a new place of business. I'll be in for one final splurge before close of business guys!

    Kind regards to Billy and the Murray family. You have earned your place in the history of Irish music!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Was just on the phone with Billy there ....

    Important Update:


    Abbey Discs in Liffey Street is now closing this Monday now and not Tuesday. Please spread the word as I know loads of jocks who were going in on Tuesday.

    We should all stand in the shop and applaud Billy and the crew either at closing time 6pm this Sat or the very last day this Monday.

    A standing ovation is the least they deserve worthy.gif


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Abbey Discs - The Commemorative Weekend Lineup

    Some important dates to remember:

    Tonight Friday 21st:

    Andy Preston stands in for Al on FM104's Freaks On Friday and, all going to plan, will have Billy Murray live on air sometime after 7pm - the live stream is http://img.mediaspanonline.com/6061/2205889.asx ..... Andy will do the shop more than proud as always.

    Saturday 22nd:

    This Saturday the most professional dance pirate station Dublin has had in years will be broadcasting LIVE from the shop. From 12pm-6pm Storm 99.1FM will be interviewing some DJs in the shop and playing the songs that shaped the Irish nightclub industry. Drop in and show your face if you can.

    Sunday 23rd:

    During the last hour of my show on Dublin's new licensed station The 90s Network I'll be playing plenty of Abbey memories. 7-8pm on 99.5FM - if you're not in Dublin we stream at high quality at http://www.the90snetwork.com/resources/90s+Stream.asx


    IMPORTANT

    The closing day is now this Monday and not Tuesday as previously proposed.

    Monday 24th:

    The curtain comes down on a 25 year era. Let's be there during the day but especially at 6pm to give Billy and the crew the applause they deserve


  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,778 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Best of luck lads, great to see such a good send off


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,560 ✭✭✭Molberts


    Jason - awesome posts, lots of memories, thank you :)

    I started going into Abbey in Liffey Street when I was 13 for ormond mix tapes and bits of vinyl when I had money. Oh and flyers! my entire bedroom was COVERED in flyers from Ormond, temple of sound and the like. I still havent fully forgiven my mam for not letting me go see Tony De Vit in the Ormond, or myself for not just sneaking out as it wa his last set here! I was 13 though, I can see her point :o

    The "it'll be in next week" line was a classic alright ;) Also the "eye of suspicion" newbies got from Derek and Billy, and how you were a bit afraid to ask for certain tunes in case they thought they were sh!t, but loved getting the little nod of approval and the box from under the counter if you asked for something they thought was good! :D

    On the "first day Billy says goodbye to you" thing - for me that was the day he said to me "you come in here a good bit don't ya?" And we had a little chat, then he took out his order book and actually wrote down some tunes I was looking for rather than just saying "tuesday bud". :P

    I remember the day I heard a rumour on a saturday that Billy had a white label of stardust's music sounds better v's madonna's holiday. I'd been searching everywhere for a copy of Stardust and figured a white label remix was even better! I was working on the saturday but rang that evening and begged them to keep me one for monday. I bunked off school and went into liffey street to get it (couldn't have possibly taken time off work as I needed my record money didn't I?) and was delighted with myself, still have it (of course) with some of Billys white labels of Gemini 5 and the like.

    I spent most of "school" hopping out the window to go to pirate radio shows or nerding out in record shops. Well if Billy was getting deliveries on thursday night I had to go in friday cos everything would be gone! :rolleyes: I don't regret it and I've a savage collection out of it :cool:

    Awesome sales techniques - I'm sure he had piles of those tunes that you simply *had* to have if you hadn't already but you simply *had* to have especially if was the "last one bud" :D

    I remember the day I went in to pick a record to review as part of a competition I was entering to write for Mixmag. I told Jamie what it was for and he offered to let me borrow it, listen to it and bring it back :eek: I was floored! As it turned out I really wanted the record so bought it anyway but I felt so special :o

    Im still a working DJ today and tbh I still do love it but I miss whiling away hours and hours in record shops now that I don't have to, it was so much fun :)

    I've wrestled people to the ground for rare records! You know when yourself and another person spot and grab a gem at the exact same time and have to battle it out, sometimes swapping tunes you already have in your arms if necessary? :o Ok so "gem" is probably a bit strong, especially since a mate and I didn't talk all the way home on the bus one time over the last copy of "Mr.ping & Mrs. Pong - your serve" in Virgin on the quays >.< it was a must have at the time ok? Club fm were playing it ftw! we had to have it! :pac:

    Sure you can just download it now but wheres the fun in that? :rolleyes:

    Thanks for the memories Jason,

    The best of luck to Billy and the crew for the future.

    Claire


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