“It’s your record. You discovered it…You love it for the feelings it conjures…
Thirty years ago some now-forgotten musicians cut that record. Without them this brilliant song wouldn’t exist. But without you – a DJ – that record would be in a bent cardboard box in a basement…
This is the thrill, and the compulsion, of DJing. This need to share music, and to constantly find new music to excite people with, this is the primal force of DJing.”
Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton
The Record Players (DJ Revolutionaries)
Past and Present…
Cookie-Dough was a monthly underground house night in Liverpool that we founded, promoted and were resident DJs at between the years 2002 to 2006.
Our partnership formed through a mutual love of House Music circa 2001 when our paths would often cross as we would often be DJing at the same venues or attending similar club nights.
Our good friend Mike Deane, who at the time was working as a promoter at Garlands nightclub, gave us our first break into the club circuit. It wasn’t long before we became Friday night residents, playing house and disco in Garlands boudoir room.
Whilst this was a great introduction to the club scene we soon began to feel the need to push forward, and experiment with more underground sounds. At this time we were listening to (and bought) a lot of Chicago and New York house tracks and our music tastes were changing. This ultimately led to us toying with the idea of starting our own party as we needed an outlet to play this style of music; our party….our music!
Around this time, our friend and local promoter / DJ Rob Lime offered his monthly slot at the Lemon Lounge above the Brewery (as it was called back then) on Berry St. We jumped at the opportunity, as the venue was the starting point, and still home of some of the cities’ best underground nights (such as Alderaan and Chibuku). The venue was small, basic, very DIY and almost hidden away. It was known for cutting edge music and attracting a knowledgeable crowd. No scally would be seen dead there, and most importantly they probably didn’t know it even existed.
After weeks of talking about what to do we came up with the name Cookie-Dough. God knows where, why and how we chose the name, but it wasn’t long before Cookie-Dough became our lifestyle. The last Saturday of the month was what we lived for.
Cookie-Dough @ the Lemon Lounge
The night began in March 2002 and for our first night we booked local DJ John Ryan. Like most small club nights black and white photocopied posters and DIY flyers were the order of the day. At the time we thought the posters and flyers were great but now looking back they were…erm… pretty rubbish, but not bad for some new comers (have a look at the flyers on this page).
Cookie-Dough gained momentum quickly and after a few nights we got together enough money to book one of the Hed-Kandi DJs (Paul Wilkins) for our October party. This was at a time when Hed-Kandi was under Jazz Fm’s umbrella and was still considered credible. A couple of old friends, Mike Deane & Matt Gilmore came on board to expand the team as the night grew.
Over the next few months a website was set up (at the time having a website was a pretty big deal) and promotion was taken to the next level. We had a professional graphic designer producing our flyers and posters much to Liverpool city councils dismay.
For Cookie-Dough’s first Birthday we booked one of our favourite producers / DJ duo, the Inland Knights (Drop Music). This was a significant milestone in the Cookie-Dough journey as it was our first big night with internationally known guests. The night was a roaring success and put Cookie-Dough on the Liverpool underground club map. Over the next few years we welcomed guests such as; Norman Jay, Marshall Jefferson, Jesse Saunders, Bobby & Steve, Jon Cutler, Audiowhores, Sonny Wharton, Cricco Castelli and Phil Kieran to name a few at venues across Liverpool including; Nation, Heebie-Jeebies, the Masque, Garlands and of course the Lemon Lounge which will always be Cookie-Dough’s ‘spiritual home’.
In addition to our Liverpool nights we would often organise road trip for up to 100 Cookie Dough faithful who would join us at some of the clubs that we would be hosting a room at; Brighton and Dublin be two of the most memorable. We were also lucky enough to be invited to DJ at a number of clubs across the UK and Europe, the highlight being Cream @ Amnesia, Ibiza.
You know the saying – all good things come to end and; well in 2006 with mixed emotions we held our last party. Things had changed, and people had moved on. The time was right to wind it down.
Although Cookie-Dough the night had ended the bug to collect and share good records for people did not leave us and for a couple of years after we held weekly residencies at Heebie-Jeebies, Magnet and the Metropolitan (formerly the Brewery) playing more experimental eclectic sets of old funk, soul, disco, classic hip-hop, indie and anything else that we were into at the time.
In 2008 Ste moved abroad and the DJ partnership ended, however our obsession with collecting good records didn’t and now, some four years later, after many Skype calls, emails and WhatsApp messages we have decided to team up again to produce a monthly Cookie-Dough Radioshow Podcast.
So sit back, turn it up and enjoy!
Ste & Terser
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