John Kelly On Gangstas, Football Hooligans & Liverpool Life

"You need a big dog on the door to keep away the other big dogs because otherwise one is gonna' get bitten."

As Manumission's resident DJ and the original 80s club land partner of Cream boss James Barton, Liverpudlian superstar DJ John Kelly remains one of dance culture's most experienced and knowledgeable players. As a first generation DJ the former roofer not only helped kick start rave culture, but went on to become one of England's most popular house and trance DJs. Nowadays a proud family man (his 21 year old son Daniel also now DJs) he regularly DJs for Cream globally, and recently met up with Skrufff's Angie Ng, as he passed through Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).


Skrufff: You're playing loads of sets in the UK still while continuing to travel, how different is it, playing outside the UK these days-

John Kelly: "It can be very different sometimes but not always. I'm a resident at Manumission in Ibiza and that seems to be a melting pot for the whole of Europe and also there's a lot of Americans there now, plus a lot of people from Asia. Ibiza is where the British scene first started and the more people go there the more international gigs I seem to get booked. I don't know what Ibiza does to people but it scars them for life sometimes. (smiling) It seems like the scene's still getting more global."

Skrufff: You speak on your biography of being a family man with your 21 year old son also DJing, how do you maintain your own enthusiasm and energy-

John Kelly: "I don't know if you've ever played in front of a few thousand people but it's THEIR enthusiasm and energy that drives me. There is nothing worse than playing to a crowd that for some reason or other, isn't working. If that happens, then I really do lose enthusiasm quickly. But it's only natural I suppose. It's the crowd that I feed off and as long as they are there for me, that excites me. DJing the best job in the world."

Skrufff: Ozzy Osbourne's family is on MTV at the moment and Ozzy was filmed recently advising them not to take drugs and wear condoms if they have sex: how easy is it for you to advise your children, given the dangers that exist in club land-

John Kelly: "You can only make them aware of what the dangers are, it's all about education. Ultimately it's their decision because you're going to take drugs whether your mum or your dad says it's right or wrong. The way forward is education and that's what I try to do with my children. I actually know Ozzy Osbourne's son he lives in Ibiza. (Louis- not on the show), He's got a house there and he's a cool guy."

Skrufff: Going into your background, you opened a club with Cream's James Barton back in the 80s called The Underground, how much was that an acid house thing-

John Kelly: "That was a proper, proper acid house thing. James and I started together in 1988, we were both DJing but he got his records stolen very early on so he used to use my records while I bought the records for both of us. We started a club and were really given a club effectively. The owner owed everyone money and he was leaving so he said 'You can have it'. So we just said "it's ours now", he's not here no more; "if you want your money, go and find him. So we went from promoting parties in lock up garages to a club."

Skrufff: Lock up garages..-

John Kelly: "The reason we'd been doing them in garages was because the latest you could open to at that time was 2am so there were a lot of illegal parties and I think that's one of the reasons why the scene grew the way it did. If clubs had been open until 6 o'clock and you didn't need a shirt and tie to get in, acid house as we know would never have happened. So we went from doing little parties to owning a club and that's when we split into two different departments. James went into the more promotional side while I went solely into DJing. When the club got closed down, we went our separate ways then it was about 3 years later that he started Cream."

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