The Reading Rooms has an extra-special guest DJ for Hogmanay, in the shape of rockabilly/northern soul legend Keb Darge.
The Scottish-born “dancing fan”, now living in London, first experienced the northern soul phenomenon when he was blown away by the sheer excitement one night in Dundee in 1975.
He has played the Blackscroft venue previously but his real memories of Dundee, he says, are of when he came down from Elgin to experience his first all-nighter.
Keb said, “It’s been eight years since I played at the Reading Rooms but it’s about 35 years ago I first got into northern soul, and that was at the Marryat Hall in Dundee.
“I lived up in Elgin and used to go to the local disco it was all Abba and Gary Glitter, that kind of stuff. I met these two RAF blokes and they said there was an all-nighter in Dundee and did I want to come.
“So we went down to the Marryat Hall and the music just overwhelmed me. That was me then, after that I went down to Wigan Casino and I just loved the dancing.”
Keb made an appearance in the nationally-televised 1979 UK disco dance finals (dancing in the “northern soul style”).
He was also a dancer for the Wigan Casino, while collecting northern soul records. Soon after, he was DJing in Wigan at a club next to the casino and taking his record collection around Scotland throughout the 1970s.
At the age of 22 he moved to London, giving up his DJing.
The scene now might not be reaching the same crazy heights, but Keb says the kids are once more getting into the old music.
He said, “Now loads of kids go to the clubs and are getting into the stuff, it’s not being billed as northern soul nights but they just love the music. It’s taking off big style.
“Rockabilly seems to be the thing down here and abroad, I’ve even been asked to go to Manilla to play in the Phillipines (he’s married to a Filipino woman) rockabilly scene and in Japan and I play in Spain and Australia.
“It’s not an underground thing, it’s the run of the mill public coming to the club, they’re not putting up with rubbish any more, they’ve been hearing the real thing and it makes them feel good.”
He added, “I’m looking forward to getting back to the Reading Rooms on Hogmanay, the Scottish troops have always had a lot more oomph about them.
“You’re going to get a more exciting crowd they’re not trying to look cool and trendy, they’re just really into the music.”