True House Stories w/ Graeme Park interview by Lenny Fontana #029 (Part 2)

TRUE HOUSE STORIES W/ GRAEME PARK #029 - PART 2
The story of DJ Graeme Park really mirrors the story of the evolution of dance music and club culture itself. Graeme found himself working in a Nottingham record shop called Selectadisc in the early 1980s, when the very first house records began to filter through from Chicago, Detroit and New York. When the shop’s owner opened a nightclub, it was only natural he should turn to Graeme to select the discs. Determined to showcase this new style of music, his reputation as a house pioneer soon brought him to the attention of Mike Pickering at The Haçienda in Manchester, who asked him to cover for him while he went on holiday in 1988. Simply put, there was no-one else in the country who could do the job. The Summer of Love followed, and Parky quickly became one of the biggest names on the emerging dance scene. Aside from his nine year residency at The Haç, he was one of the first British DJs to play places like Australia, South America, the USA, Asia and beyond as well as producing and remixing tracks for the dancefloor, including The Brand New Heavies, Inner City, Eric B & Rakim, New Order, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and others.
In the past few years Graeme has performed alongside a host of legendary DJs such as Todd Terry, David Morales, Derrick Carter, Louie Vega, Danny Krivit, Marshall Jefferson and others for a variety of FAC51 The Haçienda club nights playing a selection of contemporary tunes alongside a variety of forgotten classics.
Graeme has been a major part of the critically acclaimed Haçienda Classical shows which have performed around the UK since 2016 to rapturous response where he performs live alongside the Manchester Camerata Orchestra, Peter Hook and special guest vocalists to a set of classic club tunes from the 1970s up to the present day. This euphoric show has had rave reviews and gives you the chance to hear classic club tunes like you’ve never heard them before with a 70 piece orchestra, live percussionists and a choir. Graeme even performs some lead vocals at some shows too. The show opened the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and has also performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Castlefield Bowl in Manchester, the Isle Of Wight Festival and lots of other arenas and festivals around the UK as well as in Dublin, Dubai and Switzerland.
Graeme recently released compilation album “Long Live House Volume 01: 1980s” is a triple CD or double vinyl album of early house cuts from 1985 to 1989 which were all massive tunes for Graeme in the early days of house. Released in December 2018, reaction to the album has been huge and has led to Graeme launching his own Long Live House club nights.
Graeme is also producing a forthcoming music documentary called “Embrace The New” which features Marshall Jefferson, Johnny Marr, Shaun Ryder, Peter Hook, Rowetta, Clint Boon, Melanie Williams with others lined up too.
Celebrating over 25 years on the radio with shows on Kiss, Galaxy, Key 103, Radio City, Juice FM, Forth One and more, Graeme’s years of experience help him understand the specialist skills required by a radio DJ.