Well Mr Darge, this is a bit of a strange situation we find ourselves in….
"Aye… I thought when my agent said who wanted to interview me, well b****r me, that's a bit of a turnup (Keb's a Scotsman with a 'colourful' repartee). So anyway Miss Troops what d'you want to talk to me about? Northern soul music?"

Actually yes because that's how you and I met and over the years, you've pretty much championed the bringing of soul music to the mainstream
"Have I? Oh well if you say so (laughs). Seriously though I love northern soul music, it's still my favourite music, but I think the scene is so bloody boring. Outisde of the UK, it's great, but here it's full of sad old b******s moaning about whether or not a record should be played and how much it costs. I can play northern soul, modern or funk to thousands of kids in Japan or Barcelona and they appreciate it for what it is - just good quality music. They're even starting to get it in America which is odd really considering that's where it all came from originally. I run a record label with Kenny Dope and he keeps ringing me saying 'Hey Keb I just love that record you played me the other day, let's do something with it'."

Keb Darge

Yes just a bit of name-dropping there…
"Oh well you know how it is, I've been working with Kenny for a while now and later this year we're going out on a big tour of the Far East with Louis Vega, and I'm managing to get some of the Northern Soul boys out DJing with me as well. I've taken Butch (leading Northern Soul DJ) to Japan and Barcelona and he loves it."

But you haven't really done much in Manchester before, the Sankeys gig is a biggie for you.
"Yes, I'm really looking forward to it, I don't know why I haven't done Manchester that much, I suppose they didn't get what I was about, but they're a pretty soulful bunch and they'll have a good time."

So what can we expect on Saturday night?
"A bit of Northern, bit of modern, bit of funk… I generally play 50% deep funk, 30% soul, 10% Northern, 5% bopping blues and 5% new releases, music that enriches the soul, things that take people past the chicken adverts and give them experience of music which the soul scene takes for granted. For me there's nothing better than playing a classic soul track and knowing that half the people in the room have never heard it before."

And in the next chapter of Keb Darge?
"More producing, more touring, real music, real musicians and real people, I've just played to 28,000 people at the Queen of Holland's birthday party and they got what I'm about, so let's hope that after Saturday Manchester does as well!"

Sport

Music

Arts

Features