I’ve never been to Carnival before so I’m really extra excited about this coming weekend. I’ve been warming up with Blaise’s special mix, learning all the lingo, dance moves, etc., and yesterday, to make my preparation even more complete, I went round to carnival legend Gaz Mayall’s house to have a snoop around his expansive record collection.
For those of you who don’t know, and this included me until about 48 hours ago, Gaz is the founder of London’s longest running club night Gaz’s Rockin Blues, which first opened it’s door in 1979. He also DJs and plays with his band the The Trojans. But this guy is much more than a DJ, he is the eldest son of Blues legend John Mayall and therefore has real musical pedigree. Gaz found an affinity with real skinheads in the 60s - like the good non-racist guys in This Is England - and his love and knowledge of reggae has only grown since then.
I caught up with him at his flat to have a look at his mammoth record collection, watch him water his plants and listen to his revolutionary plans for this years carnival.
After we visited the yard where Gaz’s stage will be at this years Carnival he told me he has been at every Carnival since 1963. This year I’m excited to be joining him and you should all come down too.