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refiwrites · 2 years

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Sparks

AN ALTERNATE STEVE ENDING FOR “Moral Of The Story”

WC: 1.7k

Warning/s: angst, mentions of blood, wounds, injury

Note: Surprise! An alternate Steve ending! Since a few of you suggested to have an alternate ending that reader ends with Steve, what shall I do than deliver? I hope you like this one.. Although I struggled quite a bit 😅 enjoy!!

GIF is not mine, credits to the owner!

Returning to Eddie’s trailer, the two of you sat on the ground, breathing heavily. Then there was a loud thud and a groan. You and Eddie snapped your gaze inside.

“Ah, shit, that hurts.” Dustin was there.

“Henderson! I thought I told you-“

“(Y/N)! Eddie!” At the sound of your voice, Dustin’s head perks up, scrambling to get on his feet. “(Y/N)! Eddie! Oh, thank god it’s really you!” Dustin ran to the two of you, and in an instant, he bends down to hug the both of you tightly. “Op, op, op. easy there Henderson.” Eddie breathes out.

You smiled, hugging Dustin back. Dustin pulls away, his smile bigger than before. “And you- Eddie, I didn’t like what you did earlier.” Dustin scolded him.

“To be honest, man, I didn’t either,” Eddie chuckled. “Thankfully, (Y/N) here came to my aid, thought we’re both going to be the main course of those assholes.” Eddie shows his patched up wound along with pointing at yours.

“Shit...” Dustin’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Yeah, shit.” You reply.

“You guys just about had me into having a full-blown heart attack back there.” Dustin sighs. “I’m glad you two are safe. And by the sounds of it, I think the other three are too.”

Letting out a breath, somewhere in you was relieved to find out that Steve was alright. He was alive, he made it. It made you smile.

“Guys!” You heard someone shout from the distance. “Robin!” Dustin shouts back as you saw the trio making their way towards Eddie’s trailer.

Then suddenly you find yourself standing up as Steve looked around, trying to find someone. Even with a few hours of not seeing and talking to him, seeing him standing there alive and breathing when he could’ve gotten hurt made you realized just how much you worried for him.

“Steve.” You called; he quickly turns his head to you. His face washed with relief as his features softened, slowly walking towards you. “(Y/N).” Steve said as you met him halfway.

As the space between you diminished, he wraps his arms around you, pulling you in flush against him, nestling his face in your neck as you laid your cheek against his chest, hearing his heartbeat. “Steve…” You mumble, slowly finding the courage to hug him back. “You’re okay.” He spoke, his voice almost cracking that made your heart ache.

The feeling of Steve’s arms around you led you to hug him even tighter, wanting nothing more than to stay in his arms in this moment. You’ve almost forgotten how it felt. His familiar warmth enveloping you completely. “You’re alive.” You sighed in relief, his breath fanning your neck. Pulling away, Steve held you by the arms, squeezing as he reluctantly lets you go. You could see tears in his eyes as you looked at him.

Before anyone could say anything else, there was a loud booming noise, familiar to a clock chime. Vecna.

All of you looked at each other, this could only mean three things.

Vecna got Max. Four deaths. The last gate has been opened.

The ground beneath you rumbled as you braced yourself. “What the hell is happening now?!” Eddie exclaimed. “Get away, look!” Nancy said as bleaks of red through Eddie’s trailer glowed, his trailer cracked, the ground separating.

Before you could even react, Steve was already tugging you towards him, shielding your head with his hand as his other arm wrapped around you as the two of you kneeled in the process as the ground shook.

Robin held onto Nancy while Eddie pulled Dustin towards safety. A few moments later, it ceased.

You were still nuzzled against Steve as he slowly pulls himself and you up, letting you go carefully. “You okay?” He asked you first, you nod. “Everyone alright?” Steve asks loudly this time, everybody replied with either a yes or a thumbs up.

“Guys… that doesn’t look too good.” Robin said, pointing at the reason for the earthquake. It stretched as far as all of you could see. No doubt it had already caused a massive damage in Hawkins.

“Oh man.” Dustin said.

The rest planned on how to get out of here now that there were massive gates connected to each other. You suddenly felt overwhelmed with what happened earlier with Steve. How he held you protectively, how his voice broke along with the feeling of relief in knowing you were okay. You breathe out, stepping away from the scene, walking a few feet away. It dawned on you that all of you weren’t going to be experiencing things the same way now that the gates were complete.

Steve watched as you walked away. Then he got a nudge on the shoulder from Robin, jerking her head towards your direction. “Not too late to fix things, Steve.”

Robin was right. He had to act fast, he couldn’t afford to lose you, he couldn’t lose you, not without trying.

She gives him a pat on the back, a sign for good luck as Steve sighs in preparation. Without wasting any second, he stands up.

You look down as you inspected your wound on your stomach, the gauze was already leaked through with blood. You went closer with your hand, carefully caressing it, but such simple movement made you wince, letting it go and letting your shirt drop to cover it again.

“What happened?”

You froze. “It’s nothing… just a scratch- technically a bite.” You reply as the figure of Steve came close to you, spotting the bloodstain on your shirt. He would’ve laughed at your reply, but his brows knit together.

“You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing, the sooner we get out of here the better.” You say, looking at him, but quickly averting your gaze down. There was a wafting sense of awkwardness between the two of you, as you stood there together. It was almost suffocating that it made you want to go back to the group.

Turning around, you were stopped by Steve’s hand on your wrist, a gentle but firm hold, making you stare at him with a questionable look.

Steve stares at you for a moment, not saying a word until you called his name out softly.

“I was hoping I could talk to you, (N/N).” Steve thought, saying your nickname as if everything was alright between the two of you.

You pursed your lips, grabbing his hand and slowly pulling it away from you. “Not now, Steve.” You wanted to walk away but as you gaze into those eyes of his, fuck, you never thought it would be this hard to say no.

Nancy sighs in relief once her eyes caught the two of you, hoping that this time Steve would make things right with you, to focus on the things that mattered to him, to forget what was once in the past. Eddie watched, an unfamiliar ache in his chest settled, but it faded as Dustin speaking caught his attention.

You stood, planting your feet firmly on the ground and shifting your weight to the other leg, sighing.

“Okay- since we’re already here, I’m giving you a chance to explain yourself, Steve.”

Steve nods, hoping he’d get to say everything now. “I know I’m in the wrong with this, and I’m sorry, (Y/N) I hadn’t realized I was pushing you away. Guess- I guess seeing her again made me thought of what we had back then.”

Those words certainly ached as he explained. “Nancy and I- we talked earlier. It made me realize how different you are from her. You know everything about me than Nancy ever did, (Y/N). And I’m stupid enough to destroy our relationship that we built within just a week of talking to her. It made me see that- me and Nancy- weren’t really meant to be. And if I had the chance to spend the rest of my life with someone,” Steve walks towards you, holding your hand. “I knew it would be you, (Y/N).”

As he talked, your eyes tried to look everywhere, trying to prevent the tears from coming, yet letting yourself be swayed at Steve’s words, along with his tender voice as he reached closer to you. You opened your mouth, looking at him. “H-how do I know if you’re saying the truth, Steve? Like you’re not just going to forget about me the second you take another look at her?”

“Because I love you, and I’m going to make it up to you,” He spoke. Steve grabbed both of your hands as he joined it together to press a soft kiss to it. “I’m willing to wait until you trust me again, (Y/N). I’m sorry, I might as well be the dumbest boyfriend alive but I want to prove to you that what I’m saying now is true.”

His hands felt rough against yours, his thumb caressing the back of your hand, a habit he does when he was sincerely apologizing after a fight you two often had.

“Do you promise?” You softly asked.

“With my life. I want to be the best for you, (Y/N).”

You slowly looked at him before firmly nodding. “Okay.”

Steve looked dumbfounded. “What again?”

His cluelessness at times made you want to hit him with a stick but this time you let it slide.

“I said okay, I’ll give you a chance, Steve. This isn’t easy for me, I hope you understand that.”

“Thank you, thank you, sweetheart.” He muttered, pressing another kiss to your knuckles, resting his forehead against it. Letting go, you spot him wipe at his eyes.

“Make it up to me when we get back to Hawkins, okay? First priority is getting out of here.” You said, feeling a sense of relief and sort of weirdness at how it was so easy to feel at home whenever you were with him. Maybe, you just truly loved him.

Even if its in the Upside Down or Hawkins, Steve swore he would cherish and protect you, even at the cost of his own life. He had never loved someone like you, nor he had someone love him so much like you did.

And from that moment on, Steve promised himself he’d never let you slip off his fingers again.

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eddiekaspbraklives-blog · 7 years

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I never should have said anything. (1/?)

Summary: Bill has some unspoken feelings he’s not sure how to deal with; especially when those feelings are centered around his best friend.

Pairing: Stanley/Bill

Word Count: 2,115... I’m sorry

Warnings: A bit of swearing, angst(but it WILL turn happy !!)

A/N: Everyone is 16+ in this, so they’re in high school. Inspired/modeled after something that happened with my best friend at the time and me. Why not incorporate my life into stories, right ? This will have a few chapters, so stay tuned !!

Bill had been the first member of the losers club to get their drivers licenses. Richie had been next, then Mike, Beverly, Ben, Eddie, and last but not least Stanley. Because of this order, Bill had been the first to get a car. Richie had been slacking and wasn’t practicing his driving, so he only had his permit and couldn’t drive everyone around. The rest hadn’t gotten in enough hours to be eligible for the drivers test that would permit them their full license. Given the circumstances, Bill had pretty much become the bus driver to the losers club.

As usual, it was a Friday night and the 7 friends had decided to gather at someone’s house to hang out. Richie’s, to be exact. This was actually a rare occasion, but this evening his parents wouldn’t be home until late at night so they would have the house to themselves.

Unsurprisingly, it was Bill’s job to pick everyone up who didn’t have a ride and bring them to Richie’s. Which was... Well, everyone.

With the other 6 teenagers in his car, he made his way to Richie’s house across town. Mike was riding shotgun, playing some tasteful music on the aux cord while the other 4 were squeezed in the back. Ben, Bev, and Eddie were arguing over the best cake flavor, while Stan stayed quiet and glanced out the window. He felt weird not saying anything, but in his opinion cake was nothing to argue over, so he kept his eyes trained on the trees passing by until a voice pulled him back to reality.

“What do you think, Stan?” Beverly questioned.

He turned to look at her, confused from his lack of attention to the conversation.

“What do you think the best flavor is?”

He shrugged. “If I had to pick one, I guess red velvet is pretty good.”

The 3 beside him erupted into sporadic chatter, trying to talk over each other to discuss how good red velvet really was. Stan rolled his eyes, beginning to turn back to the window until Bill spoke up from the front seat.

“That’s m-m-my favorite too.” He said, smiling softly and looking at Stan through the rearview mirror.

Stan grinned back, glancing up at Bill and meeting his eyes. The two gazed at each other for a moment before Bill tore his eyes from the mirror and focused back on the road, pulling into Richie’s driveway.

“Alright everyb-body, out.” Bill announced softly, putting the car in park and twisting the keys to power it off. He watched everyone file out one by one, resting his hands on the wheel until Stan was the last one in the car.

“If Richie makes us play truth or dare again I’m going to kill him.” Stan mutters, looking at Bill before stepping out.

He laughed shortly and followed the other 5 to the front door, letting Ben knock and seeing Richie open the door to greet them.

“Sup fuckers!” He smiled widely, making way for everyone to come inside.

“Wow, real classy Richie.” Eddie teased.

“Fuck off.” Richie scoffed and rolled his eyes, pulling him inside.

Stan and Bill walked in next to each other behind the group, laughing at Eddie and Richie and giving one another a knowing look, heading into the kitchen for snacks.

Bill opened the pantry while Stan went for the fridge. They piled snack boxes and bags into their arms and headed back to the living room where their friends were. As the group saw them approaching, Mike greeted them.

“Thanks mom and dad.” He teased, as the two handed food out.

Stan felt his face flush. The nicknames technically grouped them together as a couple. Don’t think about it too much. He thought to himself.

The 7 found themselves getting situated on the seats available, squeezing themselves in wherever they could fit. On the loveseat were Ben, Mike, Beverly, Stan and Bill. Richie and Eddie were on the reclining chair with Eddie on top of the other boy.

“Well, this is a tight fit.” Ben noted, gesturing to the fact that the 5 of them were packed into the couch like crackers in a box.

“Would you rather sit on the floor?” Richie challenged playfully.

“Don’t be rude!” Eddie scream-whispered, smacking his hand lightly. Richie just tazed him in response.

“Not really, no.” Ben said, looking at the cold wood floor.

Richie rolled his eyes, picking up the remote and setting up a movie on the tv.

“What are we watching?” Beverly asked, looking to the tv.

“Insidious. Chapter 2!” Richie beamed, clearly excited.

A few in the group rolled their eyes, but Bill looked next to him to see Stan’s reaction. He knew he hated horror movies. Stan glanced back at him, giving him a look that could only mean oh shit. Bill leaned over to whisper in his ear.

“D-don’t worry. I’ll p-protect you.” He said with a sweet smile.

Stan felt his face heat up a little bit, smiling at Bill. “That’s appreciated.” He said simply. They both turned back to the television as they heard the previews start to play. Richie quickly skipped through them, and the movie began.

They all kept their eyes glued to the screen as the night went on and the movie progressed, subconsciously huddling together even more than they had been before. By the time 2/3 of the movie was finished, Stan found himself curled up to Bill with their hands intertwined, pressing into him any time he knew a jump-scare was coming.

He had definitely taken notice of the fact that his hand was in Bills. To be quite honest, he didn’t know if that was normal. The two were very touchy-feely and that was a common and comfortable thing for them, but they’d never done this before. He had seen Richie and Eddie hold hands often, but the whole group knew they liked each other. He tried not to pay too much mind to it and just watch the movie, but it seemed like an elephant in the room to Stan.

As the movie was coming to an end, both Bill and Stan had found themselves growing tired. Bill had wrapped an arm around Stan and was rubbing his back at this point, while Stan rested his head against Bills chest. Half asleep, Stan heard Richie yell something in one of his obnoxious voices and lifted his head, realizing where he was currently placed. He looked up to Bill who was also waking up a little and smiled down at him. Stan smiled back but sat up, checking his watch.

“It’s 9:50. My curfew is 10:30 and you have to take everyone else home first, should we get going?” Stan asked Bill, being honest but also making an excuse to get out of his current situation. Bill nodded in response and stood up after Stan pulled his hand apart from his friends.

“Okay, is everyone r-ready?” Bill asked the others, looking at their nodding heads and slipping on his shoes. The others said their goodbyes as Richie stood in the doorway, whispering something in Bills ear before he walked out. After Bill made his way outside, the others followed him like a group of baby ducks with their mother as everyone loaded into the car. This time around, Mike switched seats with Stan so he could ride shotgun.

Stan plugged his phone up to the aux, playing death cab for cutie for a relaxing ride home. Bill looked at the speaker and then back to Stan, grinning.

“You and your indie m-music.”

Stan briefly twisted the corner of his mouth up into a half smile and lay back in his seat.

The ride home was quiet. Bill dropped off Ben first, then Beverly and Mike. Stan’s house was the farthest away, so Bill was taking him home last.

As the slow music played through the car, Stan noticed a change in the environment once Mike got out of the vehicle and said goodnight to his friends. He turned to look at Bill and noticed the troubled expression on his face, his eyebrows scrunched up as if he was thinking too hard about something.

“Are you okay?” He asked quietly.

Bill almost did a double take, obviously being pulled out of thought. He glanced at Stan for a few seconds before speaking.

“W-was I coming onto you?”

Stan’s eyes widened slightly. “No.” He said simply, feeling uncomfortable at the question.

“Yes I w-w-was.” He mumbled, looking to the road and avoiding eye contact.

“I didn’t-“ He stopped himself and paused. “I mean, I didn’t think so.”

“I’m sorry.” Bill said flatly. “Richie s-said something to me b-before we left. He said it l-looked like I was coming onto you. He-he started asking m-me if I l-l-liked you.” He struggled to get out.

Stan felt his stomach sink a little at the last comment. He noticed how Bills stutter was much worse than usual. That usually only happened when he got really anxious. He cringed as he realized he had pretty much ‘set the mood’ with his choice of music, hearing Hold No Guns begin to play.

“I mean... Do you?” He asked quietly, looking down at his hands. He didn’t like this. He didn’t want to be having this conversation.

Bill didn’t say anything.

“Bill?”

“Y-yeah.” He paused for what seemed like an eternity. Stan was unclear if he meant that as in he liked him, or if he was just responding to his name being called until Bill spoke again.

“I do.”

Stan’s heart sped up.

“F-fuck. That’s p-probably s-so weird to you, isn’t it?” He said in an almost frustrated tone.

“It’s okay.” Stan answered, not sure what to say back.

“I didn’t m-mean to come onto you. I know I c-c-crossed a line.” He informed Stanley, picking up speed in the car.

“Slow down, Bill.” Stan said calmly.

“Why w-won’t you say anything? Anything im-important?” He asked, growing more and more upset.

“You’re going too fast.”

Bill didn’t lose any speed. “I don’t even know w-why I m-mentioned this. I shouldn’t have.”

“It’s okay, Bill.” Stan repeated flatly as they pulled up at the top of his street.

“I know t-this isn’t your street.” Bill told him, parking the car and gripping the wheel tightly.

Stan didn’t answer.

“I know you don’t l-like me.” Bill threw out. Stan felt his heart lurch. “I j-just need you to know, I guess?” He said, stress and self doubt evident in his voice. “I know you’ve heard R-richie and them joking about-about us dating. They’re jokes, I k-know that. But at the same time, they’re... They’re not.” He confessed. “I don’t know when it h-happened, it just did. You’re just so cute and-and you always make me laugh and I t-think it’s adorable how you bird watch and all these o-other.. Other things. There’s a l-lot to love about you.” He cut himself off as he realized he basically confessed that he was in love. Bill froze, as did Stan.

Stan felt like he was going to throw up. He looked to the screen in Bill’s car that read the title of the song playing, and cursed death cab for cutie in that moment. This was like a movie scene; he didn’t like it. Swallowing his pride, he looked at Bill only to see he was already looking back.

There was something in his eyes. Stan knew that look. He knew that if he didn’t make as much distance between them as possible, the distance would soon be closed.

“I r-really want to kiss you.” Bill said, throwing his pride out the window.

An uncomfortable silence fell over them. Stan looked at the clock in Bills car desperately, reading the time. “It’s 10:28. I need to get inside.” He said flatly, reaching for the door handle.

“I’m s-sorry Stan. I shouldn’t have brought it up.” He began to panic. “I don’t want to l-lose you, you’re my b-best friend.” He whined.

“You won’t.” Stan said, but he knew he couldn’t guarantee anything.

“I’m s-so fucking sorry. I n-never should have said anything.” He apologized again, realizing what he had just done.

Stan opened the door and stepped out, closing it as Bill rolled down the window.

“S-stan!” He called out, watching him make his way down the street and towards the house.

Stan looked back as he stopped in front of his doorway and saw Bill resting his face on his steering wheel. He looked away and sighed, entering his house. He felt like the whole weight of the world was resting on his shoulders. This was bad.

What had just happened?

#stan uris #stanley uris #bill denbrough #stenbrough #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #reddie #mike hanlon #beverly marsh #ben hanscom #the losers club #it fandom #it fanfiction #stephen king’s it #it movie 2017

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enchantedrhythms · 7 years

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Interview with Mark “Turbo” Turner

Former Eastern Bloc records employee and resident DJ at the legendary northern techno club The Orbit has kindly taken the time to answer some questions and provide a mix for Enchanted Rhythms. Read the interview below and check out the mix on our Soundcloud.

So let’s start at the beginning of your musical quest, what was your entry into deejaying and music?

Breakdancing was my entry into music. In the 80s when breakdancing kicked off I was a popper and had a little crew. You’d hear the music whenever you went out, whenever you’d go out meeting other crews someone would have a mixtape. Hearing this music you’d be like, “Oh my god. This is amazing”, and you’d be like, “where do you buy this shit?” People go, “you can just buy it in like Virgin or HMV,” so I’d get my pocket money and get on the bus or train and go to Leeds.

Where were you based then?

Featherstone which is in West Yorkshire, just some little mining village. Like I say I’d get my pocket money, get on the bus or train, get to Leeds and I’d have enough money to buy a record.

What were the tunes you were dancing to?

Stuff like Egyptian Lover, people like Knights of the Turntables, loads of stuff on a label called Vintertainment, then GrandMixer D.ST, Celluloid, which was more arty New York-style stuff, always interwoven with people like Keith Le Blanc who did more of the big beaty dub stuff in the early days. Tackhead, people like that from the UK...just really industrial sounding drum shit with early repeat style sampling stuff. You could tell they’ve just got a sampler and are hitting the key going “ah-ah-ah-ah-ah”. Early roots shit like that, rough, not quantized. In that period it didn’t mean shit, it sounded like future music anyway. Labels like Music Specialist, Pretty Tony, the roots of electro, obviously things like Cybertron’s Clear. We were more into the West Coast stuff like I say, Egyptian Lover, all the Crew Cuts records, World Class Wreckin’ Cru which is obviously Dr Dre’s possy before NWA. All the Crew Cuts was fucking badass, stuff like Clientele Yella. In Straight Outta Compton (the movie) they don’t even touch on that vibe.

So how old were you then?

A teenager. I think I got a set of decks when I was about 14. I’m 46 now, so a long time ago. My first turntables were two identical belt driven Pioneer hi-fi turntables with no pitch and some crap Tandy mixer from Radioshack. What I would do is get Jocks magazine, which was a forerunner to DJ Mag, where they used to review records and include the BPM. I’d roll into a record shop like Crash Records in Leeds and give them a random list of things that were similar in BPM. The style didn’t really matter, just because I knew I could mix them on my set-up. After a while I got some Technics rip-off Soundlab decks, and after those it was just a matter of saving up and buying the real thing. After having belt-driven Soundlab turntables getting a pair of Technics is one of the highlights of your life. These solid pieces of kit where you can actually mix records night and day.

How did you get into House music?

My friends were getting into the early Chicago stuff and one of them had been buying all the old Trax Records and had started a little night in Wakefield. I went to this night and after starting hearing that I was like “what is this shit?”, Chicago, this 4x4 shit, this is the next phase. I mean there was a period where you’re like “I’m not into that”. It can be like you’re a little tunnel blind to what you’re into, no matter what it is. I had that thing where it had to be electro or hip hop, everything else was shit. But then going out and hearing one of my mates playing me this stuff I was like, this is even better than what I’m already into. From there on it was just house shit and hip-hop/electro on the back-burner.

From that things progressed, and the rave period came. We used to go to illegal parties, loads of little raves in warehouses. Discovered gear, speed, acid, party fuel. This music sounds wicked but with this shit it sounds even better. The whole rave period of the early 90’s, we did illegal parties. I got busted at one in Leeds at this big Guilderson Rave (The Love Decade) in 1990. I think it was the biggest mass arrest ever in the UK with like 800 and something people arrested. I was locked up for 9 hours totally wired in a police cell with some mad scouse guy in the cell next door banging on the wall going ‘Hey, Macca, where are you Macca’. After getting out the cell I had to get on the bus and go back to my Mum’s house and she is like “where you been”, and I’m like “err, nowhere”.

At this party were you playing or just raving?

Nah, it was a guy called Rob Tissera who was playing and he actually got a 6 month prison sentence. He wasn’t the organiser of the party but as the DJ everything got put on his shoulders. Those little parties were the intro to the Criminal Justice Act. After that party they really booted in strong with that but we did another under a motorway bridge in Wakefield called Finger In A Matchbox. It was just two parts under the M1. We got a rig under there, played one record and all of a sudden the wires were cut and the police were there with a roadblock.

So they were waiting for you?

Yes, this was before social media but the word had got out. What we had done was created a escape route. On a lot of motorway bridges there is a route from one side to another, like a hatch, and we had all these candles down there. When the police came we banged the turntables into these bags and legged it down this tunnel where we laid low for 4 or 5 hours, whilst everyone else on the other side of the bridge were getting arrested. When everybody left we got back down to the car and then fucked off.

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The aftermath of Finger In A Matchbox.

How did The Orbit start?

There weren’t any raves in West Yorkshire, you always had to travel. There were the Guilderson parties but everything was really was elsewhere, Blackburn, down south, Stoke, or Liverpool’s Quadrant Park, places like that. When the Orbit came along it was like there is a club where you can listen to all your favourite music and it’s 10 miles away. First night going there, I think it was Grooverider and Evil Eddie Richards. It was wicked, there were all the people you went out with everywhere else all over the country but you could just go to this party and go back to peoples houses afterwards. With the illegal raves it was just service stations afterwards, wired with a little bag with a change of clothes because you had sweated that much and you would stay there till about 11am. People were getting flats around the Orbit around this time, so we could go to the Orbit and then afterwards go to someone's flat.

Sounds better than service stations.

Well the thing with service stations is everyone got banned once they started getting wise to where all these people were coming from. At the service station they would have a roof that came all the way down to floor level and people would climb up on them and start dancing like crazy fools. They started closing the stations so you could get some petrol but you couldn’t go in.

How did you get involved playing at the Orbit?

The Orbit got so popular that they opened another club, so they had Osset and they opened After Dark in Morley. Some of my mates knew the guys that were running the Orbit so I gave them a mixtape and they let me have a set. I can’t remember who else was playing, DJ Sy or something, it was the hardcore period with Grooverider, Fabio, etc, people dressing up mental with Persil boxes on their head. We didn’t know but in After Dark there were loads of these little rooms and me and my friend Nidge, who I had hooked up with wandered up into one on a Saturday night and there was a DJ playing in there. We were like, what’s this? Nobody's ever told us about this. So we told Sean who ran the club that we would like to DJ in the backroom instead. So they chucked out the guy who was in there and I would bring two massive speakers and amp from a friend and some decks and we started doing the back room at the Orbit. It was hardcore and techno in the main room and we would play house shit in the backroom. As the backroom started getting popular we moved up into another room at the top of the club. That is where we started playing the more purist techno sound, it wasn’t really a chillout room. Downstairs, you would be getting the hardcore shit and upstairs we were smashing out early techno like Underground Resistance and all the Belgian stuff.

After a period Sean had gotten unhappy with all the happy hardcore clientele. So he approached a few people, for example Dave Angel, saying they want to take the club in a more techno orientated field. They asked for a list of names from someone already on the scene. Dave gave them loads of names like Sven Vath, all the Harthouse guys, Jeff Mills, Tanith, IQ, Westbam, Marco Zaffarano, we’d start getting the American guys like Mike Dearborn, DJ Skull all the Toronto boys, like Hawtin would be on a Plus 8 night, John Acquaviva, Mark Gauge as Vapourspace. With the UK lot, we had Sims, Oliver Ho, Ruskin, Surgeon, British Murder Boys, Mills played there loads of times, Laurent Garnier, everybody who's still on the techno scene today. We also started doing Reflex stuff, so we had Aphex Twin playing live and even on his Soundcloud page there is a track he did for the Orbit. It was wicked, but not everyone got it...some crazy long haired ginger guy lying down on an Amiga computer with a TV screen, smashing out Didgeridoo and shit like that.

Orbit flyer from 1995.

We had Wishmountain (Matthew Herbert), who used get dressed up in a suit and mime along to his tracks. He’d get on top of the speakers and get a trumpet out of his suitcase and do a crazy live set with shitty harmonicas. He did one thing with radios where he just sampled little bits of radio recordings and make tracks with it, it was wicked but not everybody got it. A lot of people were quite straight with what they want; repetitiveness, kick drums. We had a full Reflex night once with DMX crew, Cylob, and Aphex Twin deejaying. That night turned into a riot with the crowd throwing shit at DMX, we switched off the music and he was shouting back offering out the crowd. The crowd thought it’s gonna be Aphex Twin, it’s gonna be the shit. When he came on at the end he was playing Drum n Bass + 8 style, and people were going crazy, booing. I talked to DMX about it later on and he was like man, that night, one of the worst nights ever. It’s a night that always sticks out, not that it was shit music, just that the crowd weren’t ready for it.

What was the vibe like in there?

Atmosphere wise I’ve never been to a club anywhere like Quadrant Park in Liverpool in the early 90’s. It’s totally electric, hairs up on the back of your arms, everyone just dancing with their hands in the air all night long. It was the same with the Orbit, I think it might have just been a Northern thing. The more north you get the more people party hard. If you ever went to the Arches in Scotland, more north, more nutty, more hardcore, more up for it, more party! I’ve always found London more subdued, not pretentious but just always a bit tame, the North's always had it for me.

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Liverpools Quadrant Park.

How often were you playing there?

Every week we had the back room which was originally the foyer where you came into the club. There were a lot of nights where I missed the big guests because I loved playing in the back so much. We’d just turn up and be like let's have a hip hop night and play hip hop all night or be like let's have a electro night and just play electro all night. There was no control in that room, you could play whatever. You’d get your friends to come along and get them deejaying. It got to the point where people just wanted to come to play the backroom. You’d get people who played the back room and you’d see next to their name on flyers “The Orbit”,and they should have put in brackets “The Backroom”. A lot of close friends say it was always about the backroom for them as well. We used to come in there, all night sitting in the corner smoking reefers, listening to you play whatever basic channel till whenever. We did book people in the back room as well, we had the Orb, Fat Cat and we used to get these guys if Sven (Vaeth) did a night called Aural Float, really good electronic artists who did stuff on his label. The backroom was my Nirvana.

Did you ever play in the mainroom?

I didn’t really, although when one of the guys Nigel left, they asked me to play in there. Thing is I didn’t buy that much techno, I’d buy UR and Mills stuff and that but obviously working in the shop (Eastern Bloc) I had a massive run on promos. I got a name for being the guy getting asked what I’m playing and it’s some white label promo that I can’t even remember the name of. The main room was mad. It opened at 8pm because it finished at 2am. So you’d start the night with some electro, some dubby Basic Channel shit and then it would just fill up so at 21.00 and you’d have techno skinheads on the dancefloor going “Come on, Come on”. I’d be like fuck it, and stick something on with a kick drum and they’d all be like “Yeaaaaaaa”. You couldn’t really take it as a warm up, you couldn’t really progress. You could do a hour of what you wanted but then all of a sudden it would change gear because you had such a short period of going out. Nowadays you can go out for days but at that period in time you only had till 2am so people just wanted to go out and have it. That’s where I got my name, but it was never my thing. I was into it but what I was playing wasn’t my true love, if you know what I mean. The backroom was me, the backroom was about how I expressed myself in what I played, in the electro shit or the house shit. I love techno but I’ll always go back to house and if you came and saw my records it would be mostly house or old electro shit. I’ve got techno but a lot of the techno from the period of the Orbit I found it a bit throw-away. So when the Orbit finished I saw those records as just tools to pay the man and got rid of alot of them. I’ve had a few deejay jobs where I’ve just bought things, you do, you buy shit and years later I look at it like what is that shit and I’m sure there are records that I’ve got rid of and I’m thinking shit, that is £100, £200. It’s not the fact that I still like it, just that I sold that for 1p or job lots for 100 records for £100.

What sort of size were the rooms?

1200 capacity in the main room and on a busy night that would be full. The backroom was about 100. One of the problems with my room was that we didn’t even have proper speakers. I used to bring some little speakers every week in the back of the car, proper DIY style. I had to plead with the club to get some big speakers and when they finally got them, they just gave me a stack of gear and were like, there you go. I had to wire everything up and figure out crossovers myself. When I installed them it was the best thing ever. The club didn’t see the backroom as a financial thing until a bit later. Unfortunately the speakers didn’t last long, we rinsed them out and blew them up!

What happened to the Orbit?

It wound down because the minimal thing came along and people got into different things. The clientele were shrinking and the new audience weren’t going for the 135-140 BPM techno stuff. So in 2003 the Orbit closed. The last night we had Ruskin and Surgeon. We didn’t even announce it was going to close we just had the last night and it just ended, and that was it.

Tell me about Player.

When the Orbit was still going it had a studio upstairs and Sean who ran the club was thinking about starting a label and asked us if we wanted to get involved. It was me, Jon Nuccle and Mike Humphries who put stuff out on a techno label called Red Seal, and another guy called Ignition Technician. It was just a little collective. We named each release Player 1,2,3 and so on, it was never about who had made each one. That was a hard thing to push because it had no identity, it was just a label. We just had some fun making tunes, cut and paste shit, sample whatever, just put it out. That mentality, just fun, no seriousness to it, we just wanted to do something different. We styled Player on UR 003 and just that UR way of doing things. We didn’t wear masks because we didn’t have press shots but the records were just a track, no info, maybe just a email address on it and that was the way if anybody would get in touch with us for licensing etc. A lot of people liked the Player stuff at the time. I think it was because it was different and we didn’t push the fact who we were. We were invited down to Radio 1 to do a mix by DJ Fergie. The thing with the Player stuff is it was fast but it still had that cheeky house vibe to it. One of the best ones was Ignition Technician did Player 3 that starts with the Jeru The Damaja bit from Playing Yourself. The first two releases had been kinda back-burners but when that came out, that just smashed the label into another level.

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We did Player 8 called Zilcho which is one of my favourite Player records because it’s just a house cut-up of Rick James’ Give It To Me Baby, it’s a Beltram remix. We asked Joey to do a remix of Player 8 and he said you know what I’ve just done a version of that track (Give It To Me Baby) without even hearing yours, so he sent that back and we put it out. It was a lot of money, about £3000 for this remix but at the time the label was paying for itself and we all thought Joey Beltram was a god. Joey Beltram putting out a release on our label, you can’t get better than some stuff.

We did a remix for Billy Nasty but he never put it out, one of Gaetek old tracks. We did quite a few things that never got released. What happened was people heard certain tracks of ours and they wanted us to recreate it for their remix, but then we’d do a remix and it would be like this hip-hop, cut-up, pumped-up, big shearing 909 thing, and they’d be like we don’t really want that. They’d email back saying ‘we don’t like that’. Well, we’re not going to do another. We’ve just spent days doing that, that’s it. We’d just put it out ourselves, what you gonna do about it? We’re from Yorkshire and you’re from Italy or whatever. I think we fell out with some people. There were some stories going around that it was going to kick off if they came to play the Orbit. Not sure where it all came from but we had this backstory going on that we were all bad boys and that it would all kick off if you messed with the Player squad. Well it wasn’t true, we were just pussycats just putting out records.

What Happened To Player?

We had 28 releases as well as remix EPs, so about 35 releases in total. We were distributed through Intergroove, who were a massive distributor. As well as Beltram we had Adam Beyer, Mark Broom, Ben Sims all doing remixes for us and people like Derrick May and everybody playing it. The label for a while was massive, but it was that period you could sell shit, loads of records. People now press 300 records, back then we’d sell out of 1200-1500 copies in a week. Thing was with all these distribution companies everybody had these P+D deals, you never had pay any money out. You sent them your new tracks, they pressed it for you and then they recouped the costs back from your sales. But what happened was all these companies were taking on so many labels that they couldn’t recoup the costs back and then all these distros started going bankrupt. We started moving the label from distro to distro but they kept going bankrupt. We’d put a record out with one, it’d go bankrupt and we wouldn’t see any money, move to another, same thing. So we thought, we’re not putting anymore records out. The label finished in 2003 when the club shut.

Check out the Player Bandcamp where you can find vinyl, digital and merch.

Eastern Bloc Records former location on Oldham Street.

How did you end up working at Eastern Bloc?

Eastern Bloc opened a shop in Leeds in 1995. This guy Pete Waterman wanted to make a little entity to rival HMV and he bought-out a lot of underground shops. He bought Flying, Scott and Scooby’s shop, Shindig up in Newcastle, Unity Records in Liverpool and he bought Eastern Bloc Records. I was originally just buying records. I used to visit Eastern Bloc in Manchester from the early 90s, once a month, wazin a full month’s wage and be skint until the next month. I’d say to Jon Berry who still runs Eastern Bloc now, “If you ever have a job going, I’ll pack my job in and I’ll come and do it any time” and so when the Leeds shop opened I was in there doing the House buying. Nidge who DJ’d at the Orbit did the techno buying.

That was the period when Relief had just kicked off, Ron Trent's Prescription records, all that shit, so musically wise it was amazing time. When deliveries would turn up it would be like ‘Have you heard this fucking Paul Johnson shit?’ or this new Chez Damier shit or this new thing on Strictly Rhythm, you would just be buzzin’. Now everything has been invented, and it’s a case of re-inventing things, just changing it, say slightly changing the production style of it, then there were still things to come, so when things turned up I’d be like, I’ve not heard this shit before, this is the future shit. Obviously the Dance Mania shit and some of the UK stuff like early Pepe Braddock coming out, people like Motorbass and the good French stuff, obviously Daft Punk coming out, when the Daft Punk Homework album came out I’d be like fuck me, I’d play the album in the backroom of the Orbit all night. Same with a lot of shit like Basement Jaxx, when they first dropped they were totally different to anything. It wasn’t ghetto but that Atlantic Jaxx shit they used to do with a dub influences with big wobbly sub bases. Man, I’ve got a crazy Bassment Jaxx collection, so big. Never got rid of them because I love that vibe. They're not very good these days, same with Daft Punk... but back in the day.

Mark in Eastern Bloc, Manchester December 2016.

UK garage also started arriving in the late 90’s. With UK garage there was a lot of shit and there was a lot of good shit. I used to be a quiet lover of it, just take the odd ones like all the Ice Cream stuff and Social Circles. Most people that worked in the shop hated it, but I think they hated it because of the clientele. There wasn’t really a garage scene in Manchester, that was always about London, so you’d have Garage Nation, Sun City, all these nights down there. You’d get countless bad boys rolling into the shop as we’d stock all the tape packs and do tickets for the events. Some were cool as fuck but a lot of bad people used to roll through the shop. It was one of the most hardcore environments to work in for a while, in a good way but also it could be in a bad way. We used to get a lot of garage nicked. You’d give piles to people on a busy saturday and you’d be like where has that pile gone! We also had threats of violence, threats of getting shot up. There was this time where some guy asked us to save some tickets for Garage Nation but they had accidently been sold. This guy is coming in going “do you know who I am, I’m gonna come back and shoot this place up, I’m gonna get my knife.” So he’s there threatening one of my mates in the shop whilst I’m on the phone to one of the promoters from Garage Nation asking if they can sort out some guest lists for the guy. I’m like to the guy chill I’ve got the guy from Garage Nation on the phone here you can have a word with him. We evaded some kick-off moments but it could have become quite hairy in the shop.

You can be a bit of a nobhead working in a record shop and I’m sure a lot of people thought that I was a nobhead working in a record shop. Thing is, working in a record shop it’s got a persona sometimes and when people come into the shop they know there is a persona so they act with a persona as well. It’s gets to that point where it’s just people trying to outsmart each other, “have you got this”, “have you got that”, “have you heard this shit”. Just because you work in a record shop doesn’t mean you hear everything. Someone will roll up and be like have you heard that, and you go no, then they would be like what do you mean you haven’t heard that. I ain’t heard but I’ll look into it. I could just say I’ve got 1000 records down there that you haven’t heard. In the record shop it’s like a mates thing, you become like this little gang, and you have private jokes with each other. You try not to get the customers wowed up but sometimes it used to happen. I’m not saying we were nasty, not nasty, but funny nasty, just banter. We had cheeky slogans and little one liners like “Have you had a taste bypass?” or “Did you leave your taste at home today?”. It was always banter, just tongue in cheek. Thing is after working in a record shop I really don’t like going in record shops anymore, just because I can’t handle that me being there. Phonica is one of the worst ones, I just want to go in and look at the records behind the counter and the guy in there is going “what you into mate” and I’m like “I’m just having a look mate”, I’ll say, “I’ll have that, that, that and that” and then he’s like “Are you sure you don’t want me to play you some more stuff?”. Even though they might be doing their job, pulling shit out for people and turning me onto something new. That is a good thing about working in a record shop, you always wanted to turn somebody on to something that you loved in the shop. Sometimes everybody in the shop would love something and then this guy would go “oh I don’t like it”, everyone would be like “what you talking about mate, it’s fucking brilliant, what's your problem.”

What is your show on KMAH?

It’s called WERD. With the show, KMAH were after different genres to cover and someone put my name forward for electro. I really like that kind of outlet, because it’s not about mixing records it’s about playing records. On some of my shows the flow works perfectly and the tracks aren’t even mixed together. I don’t even like talking on the radio, sometimes I’ll say hello. I usually get people writing me asking me the name of the records so I just put some voice overs telling people what they are. The show has been really good, like I say, it’s been a outlet for something that I don’t really get chance to play. As we were discussing before, electro is like the new techno, people over the last year have got more into the show than when it first started. When I was living in Berlin for a bit I was in the Record Loft and some guy overheard me talking to Ben Williams who used to work in there about KMAH and he came over and went “oh yeah KMAH that’s a fucking wicked radio have you heard that Mark Turner guy he plays some wicked electro”. I was like “oh yeah man it’s a good show”. I didn’t say like, that’s me. It was nice to hear some random guy who was into it. You know it’s not a massively listened to show compared to some others on the station but that doesn’t matter to me, so long as people appreciate it. Same with my soundcloud page. I don’t advertise the fact that I do mixes and shit. My friend Will (Arnaldo) will be like I’m going to share that mix for you. Obviously because he has a big following that opens it up and it gets some more people listening to it. With the DJ thing I’ve never really seen it as a career. I’m sure with the Orbit I could have pushed it and took it as proper career but I never did it for that reason. You know you meet people who are so focused on becoming this DJ and deejaying here and there. It puzzles me sometimes how much these people want to go down that path. I mean I’ve done it, I’ve travelled places and deejayed in other countries. I liked playing in the club but you’re basically by yourself, you’re not with your friends, you’ll be in a hotel room by yourself usually waiting another day for the plane to come and I was like I’m not into this shit. I’d rather work in a record shop and go to the club on weekend to play some tunes, just do that. I’d get people coming in the shop who you can see in their eyes the hunger was there, and I’d watch them develop into these career hungry deejays, but that were never my thing. People say I could have taken it that way, but it never interested me whatsoever. I’d rather just have a chilled life on the back-burner, just buying records and doing the odd mix here and there.

How big is your collection?

Thousands, thousands, thousands, thousands and thousands. I ain’t counted them. 10,000? 8,000? I don’t know. The thing is with record collections it doesn’t matter how big they are. Anyone can have a big collection, it’s about having the quality within that collection. You can buy a job lot of 10,000 records but it’s only gonna look good on your shelf. As soon as you start pulling things out and playing people shit it’s going to be 15 rachmaninoff albums. The records that I have kept I don’t have in any sort of order. People go “why don’t you have them in sections”, and I don’t, I just like doing it where you pull a record out and think “that’s a tune, I’ll just put that on”. When you pull it out maybe it’s not going to go physically, it’s not the correct BPM or anything, but that is me and that is my record collection. Maybe one day I will put it in order but, but maybe just favourite labels, that way i’ll know where to go to get them for example Dance Mania. That is one of those labels that I absolutely just adore. I’ve got a lot of Dance Mania records I have a thing where I buy one a week and if I miss a week then I have to buy two, and so on. If I went a month I’d have to buy 5.

Is that just dance mania?

Yes I’ve always got to buy a Dance Mania record a week.

How many do you have then?

Couple of hundred. I’m getting close but I don’t think I want all of them because some of them are forgettable. The crazy thing is the really expensive ones are not the best ones. It’s one of them labels, I know because I buy them, that it’s so overpriced for what it is. I like the fact they reissue them. It doesn’t piss me off if something gets reissued that I have already got because it’s another copy, I’ll buy the reissues because they are 7 quid. Some of them aren’t very good pressings, some of them are good pressing but just pulled off the original vinyl, which isn’t such a good pressing. That is the beauty of Dance Mania when you play it out, it’s raw shit. There is going to be a crackle, there might be a jump in the background there might be a “schrich-schrich-schrich” sound but that doesn’t really bother me. I just love Dance Mania. Same with Relief and all that Chicago vibe. I just like the ghetto vibe. I don’t know what it is, maybe it ties in with a working class background. I wont say I was under deprived but where I grew up it was a bit ghetto. I find it the same with garage and bassline, it’s music from the suburbs, it’s working class shit. You listen to that Chicago shit and you know it’s just kids of the street on their little tape decks and their cheap little 909. DJ funk and all them kinda guys, from the hoods or wherever. I just love the rawness. It’s not done on a Neve desk it’s done on a fucking Tascam 4 track tape recorder. I just love the raw shit but I also love the really expensive sounding Dance Mania, the older ones that sound more classy. Obviously it changed from being a hip house kinda label, Chicago house, nice vocal shit, then merged into this wo-down ghetto sound with Slugo and D-man. From the old classic shit to the newer stuff, I love it. I’d love to own them all but I won’t cry if I can’t get some overpriced anthems. Well it’s not even anthems, the crazy priced ones seem to be ones that they didn’t sell fuck all of so they probably just destroyed them and they are really bad pressed.

You mentioned before you’re working on some production stuff, run us through that.

I’ve been working on some stuff over the last few years, it’s only recently started taking shape. The style is just like my record collection. When I make music I don’t just switch the computer on and be like this is going to be a 4x4 track at 120 BPM. I’ll start with something, maybe a drum pattern and decide it’s not 120 so turn that into 110 BPM, so whatever comes from that. I’ve been working with a guy called Heinz Kammler in Rotterdam who’s originally from Greece. Hopefully something will come out in the next year but we’re in no rush to put stuff out. What we have been doing is timeless so if it comes out in 2 years time it’s still gonna sound fresh. When I play it to people they say, that’s different, people say it’s garagey but it’s, I dunno, you can’t blow trumpets about your own music. I make music and I think it’s ok but I’ll play it to someone and they think it’s brilliant. That’s the thing a lot of people when they make music they think it’s alright, then they send it to someone and that person things, wow this is the shit.

I’ve got a little ambient project as well called Ecodintun that’s more kinda soundtracky. I can’t really say what sort of style it is, it’s over processed, moody stuff. There is a track already out on soundcloud. It’s like a big 10 minute epic. One of my friends grandma died and he was really depressed, I did this music and was thinking this is really depressing but I sent it him anyway and he was like “oh man, that just uplifted me and made me feel loads better”, so I just put it out there. I’m just plodding away taking things easy. Music is my love number 1 but I’m not a producer. I’m a DJ / record collector or record collector / guy who plays records. I’ve never considered myself a DJ. I’m a guy who buys records and plays records to people. If 1 person appreciates something that I’ve played on a night then I’m happy. If the full crowd is appreciative then that’s even better. If I’ve changed someone's way about thinking about things musically or if I’ve turned them onto something new that is great. Miles out of Hate, he said to me once he came into the backroom of the Orbit and someone was mixing Basic Channel’s Phylyps Trak II with Kraftwerk’s Tour De France and he said from that night onward my music taste just changed. He asked if that was that Jon playing that and I was like, nah that was me. Just that little thing can change someone. It’s not boasting, but if you can steer someone towards something musical through your influence or turn them onto another route and then they have then taken that on to a career that it’s a very nice thing to think that you have influenced people, even if no one said thank you. If you were to die tomorrow it’s nice to think that you have influenced people and given something to the world, a bit philosophical but you know I don’t go out there for me to make money or be this trademark DJ, I just go out to play good music to people. I’m a music appreciator and I hope that people I play music to are appreciators. Sometimes you go to a night and people are there just to get smashed but there is a group of people there for the love of the music. A lot of people go out, it’s just a part of growing up. Might be at uni going out in a collective, or into this for so long it’s just a thing. Some people are like I’m into Dubstep then 2 years later you talk to them and they're into guitars or whatever, that was just a fad. You see with a lot of people, music is just a fad for them. There’s a lot of people as soon as they discover music that is it for the rest of their life. Which is nice when you meet younger people and you talk to them and they have that same vibe what you had, 20 or what years ago. Buzzing about things or buzzing about old things coming up to you going like “aw man have you heard this shit by whatever” or old electro shit by Egyptian Lover, or anything like that and I’m like “yeah I’ve got it mate”, and they're like “brilliant”. There is nothing better than that.

To accompany the interview Mark has also mixed the latest Fruitcast, listen below.