Interview: Deli-G

Adam Burrows meets veteran Bristol DJ, broadcaster and promoter Deli-G, fresh from launching his brand new club night Blue Print. 

Dance music moves quickly. Genres rise, club nights fall, and DJs get burned out and move to Cornwall to run surf shacks. Some people are part of a scene’s architecture though, and Bristol’s Deli-G is one of them. “My DJ career goes back to the 70s,” he says, “helping in record shops and setting up soundsystems. I did my first party at Bannerman Road Junior School.” Deli built his first soundsystem in Kingston, Jamaica, where he lived from 1977 – 1985, returning home with a box full of the new U.S club sounds. At that time the Bristol scene’s key players were “The Wild Bunch, FBI Crew, Soul Twins, Dirty Den…”

He was soon a regular on B.A.D Radio, one of the Bristol’s first and most influential pirate stations. Pirate radio was crucial – “unless you went to London and picked up Kiss FM you couldn’t hear this music anywhere else” – and it was a small scene back then. Deli fondly recalls “sitting in one of the kitchens off City Road with Grant from Massive Attack, waiting to go on air.”  

Here in Bristol Deli is best known for his shows on Galaxy, Vibe and most recently BCFM. Immersing listeners in soulful house and garage grooves, The Touch has endured for 25 years. An education for two generations of music fans growing up in and around Bristol, the show has featured guests spots from giants of the scene like Marshall Jefferson, Roger Sanchez and Masters at Work. What have been his highlights? “The interview with Frankie Knuckles for his debut album in 1991”, says Deli, “and The Rebirth – the full band – live in all three studios at Vibe FM.” In 2000 Deli’s show was joint winner of the Best Overseas Radio Show award at the Miami Winter Music Conference. His co-winner was Danny Rampling, then at the peak of his Radio 1 superstardom. 

Deli’s parallel career as a club DJ – “I love both equally” – has taken him all over the world while his local reputation has been burnished by the long-term success of his club night Roasted, which started at Bar Latino before moving to The Tube and most recently The Love Inn. “The parties were originally aimed at bar staff”, he recalls, “who wanted to party after they finished their working week on Sunday.” Roasted caught on quickly, and is still going strong 11 years later.

September saw the launch of Blue Print, Deli’s new night inspired by “the great clubs who set the blueprint before us: The Loft, Studio 54, Paradise Garage, Zanzibar, The Warehouse, Ministry of Sound…” It’s not a history lesson, he insists, “just a big record collection to play with” (he owns a stunning 50,000 of the things in all). He describes the vibe as “deep, soulful, funky”, explaining that “myself and the guest DJs spin vinyl only back to back…so the music can take any direction to that 4/4 beat.” The first outing – which he describes as “giant” – featured like-minded Bristol head Sean McCabe, while Deli’s guests for the next two are Tristan B and Deli’s old Roasted sparring partner Ben Daley.

Blue Print is at The Doghouse, October 3 & November 7. Hear The Touch with Deli-G Saturdays 9pm – 11pm on BCFM.