‘If you were there, you’ll know. If you weren’t there, you’ll wish you had been’ – so goes the tag line for the new movie Northern Soul, in which comedian John Thomson makes a cameo appearance as he told What’s On. Jo Roberts reports.

Wigan Casino was the unlikely epicentre of the Northern Soul club culture that shaped a generation in the late 1960s.

By the early 1970s the scene had reached the south. Passionate pockets of clubbers dedicated to the music and lifestyle sprang up. and Kent was no exception. Today, Northern Soul is still popular and nights dedicated to the music take place every month across Kent.

On a wider scale, a British movie launching this weekend at a limited number of cinemas is set to trigger a revival of the distinctly British club culture that grew up around the love of back-dated, black American soul music of the 1960s.

Actor John Thomson is a friend of the filmmaker Elaine Constantine, and took a cameo role as a DJ who has to make way for the wave of Northern Soul music that’s fast overriding his own pop tastes. The film also features John’s long-standing mate Steve Coogan, Lisa Stansfield and Ricky Tomlinson, with standout performances from newcomers Joshua Whitehouse and Elliot James Langridge.

John, 45, told What’s On why people are so excited about this film.

John, you were born in Lancashire in 1969, so although you were in the right area for the Northern Soul you were too late for it?

“Yes, I was too young for it and my mum and dad weren’t into it at all. I was Salford born and Preston bred, which is quite rural, so Northern Soul didn’t really touch our lives. I liked the music but I didn’t follow the movement myself.”

You’ve done a bit of DJing yourself at Manchester club night Bop Local, so did you know much about the music prior to the film?

“Yeah, I know the difference between what laymen would consider Northern Soul tracks, like Jimmy Mack, and the real thing. Bop Local is like a youth club for adults and I took to DJing like a duck to water. I’m a funk, soul, disco and hip hop fan.”

Tell us about your own role in the movie.

“It’s a cameo role. The known cast is Ricky Tomlinson, Steve Coogan and Lisa Stansfield but it’s the two leads [Joshua Whitehouse and Elliot James Langridge] who drive the story. I’m a DJ who plays very safe chart music at the youth club. Kate Coogan – who is Steve’s brother’s wife – plays the woman who runs the youth club. One of the kids asks to play a Northern Soul record. My character is a bit reluctant but he’s alright with it, and the kid knows the dances because he’s been going to the nights. The whole youth club gets into Northern Soul.”

How did your involvement come about, was it through your friendship with old uni mate Steve Coogan?

“No, Elaine [Constantine, the film maker] is a friend of mine. Elaine’s got a passion for Northern Soul and a photographer’s vision. We met when I did a magazine shoot during the Fast Show and early Cold Feet days. She said then she wanted to do a Northern Soul film. My role is very small, it’s not going to win me a BAFTA!”

Having seen the era come alive on-set, did it make you wish you’d been there the first time around?

“Well, we had the rave scene and so history repeats itself with different music. I’m sure there will another repetition or renaissance, I will be surprised if this film doesn’t reboot the movement: it’s a brilliant
British film. John Newman is a current artist who has done a video with Northern Soul dancing.”

You previously appeared in the film 24 Hour Party People with Steve Coogan, about the birth of rave culture at Manchester’s Hacienda nightclub. Was the rave scene your own Northern Soul equivalent then?

“The rave scene was a national epidemic. I was a student when it kicked off, and I was more interested in finishing my drama degree than getting caned. I went to the Hacienda about six times, but it was when I came down to London that I got into clubbing.”

Did you stay in London?

“No, I did 10 years in London. Now I’m back in Didsbury in Manchester. I love Manchester. Don’t get me wrong, I love London too, but I would hate to live there again. I have three words for the north: cheap, friendly, inclement.”

TOP 10 BEST NORTHERN SOUL TRACKS EVER

1 Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson

2 Out On The Floor by Dobie Gray

3 You Didn’t Say A Word by Yvonne Baker

4 The Snake by Al Wilson

5 Long After Tonight Is All by Jimmy Radcliffe

6 Seven Day Lover by James Fountain

7 You Don’t Love Me by Epitome Of Sound

8 Looking For You by Garnet Mimms

9 If That’s What You Wanted by Frankie Beverly & The Butlers

10 Right Track by Billy Butler

Chart by You Tube

WHERE CAN I SEE THE MOVIE NORTHERN SOUL?

Bluewater Showcase on Saturday, October 18, at 7.30pm. Visit www.showcasecinemas.co.uk

Herne Bay Kavanagh on Wednesday, October 22, at 11am. Visit www.kavanaghcinema.com

Canterbury Gulbenkian on Monday, November 24, at 8pm. Visit www.thegulbenkian.co.uk

Margate Black Cat Club on Friday, November 28, at 7.30pm. Visit www.westcoastlive.co.uk/black-cat or call 01843 448595.

For more information, visit www.northernsoulthefilm.com

THE KENT SOUL SCENE

Several big Northern Soul club nights are coming up if you want to experience the scene for yourself.

DJ Pete ‘Vinyl Flair’ Crascall and Nicki ‘Bint of Soul’ Shaw bring a flavour of Wigan Casino to Deal’s Astor Theatre on Saturday, October 18. Guests include The Spitfires, who will perform a live set. Pete is a member of Let Your Heart Dance, a company that stages and promotes Northern Soul events across the South East. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets cost £5. Visit www.theastor.org or call 01304 370220.

Northern Soul clubbers and Mods will descend on Margate for Face Up at the Black Cat Club on Saturday, November 15. The Black Cat Club meets at the Westcoast Music Rooms in Fort Hill. Entry is free before midnight. Visit www.westcoastlive.co.uk/black-cat or call 01843 448595.

Sweat is a new Northern Soul club night in Margate, which is also showing the new movie in a special screening on Friday, November 28, at 7.30pm. DJs on the night will include Richard Epps and Tony Jackson. This night is also hosted by the Black Cat Club at Westcoast Music Rooms in Margate. Tickets are limited to 100 and cost £10 each. Visit www.westcoastlive.co.uk/black-cat or call 01843 448595.

Back to stand-up

John Thomson is going back to his comedy roots with a stand-up gig in Kent.

The actor best-known for Cold Feet and comic characters in The Fast Show, Coogan’s Run and Knowing Me, Knowing You has also enjoyed a successful stage career, but it’s as a stand-up that he made his name.

He will take to the mic at the Black Cat Club’s comedy night in Margate’s Westcoast venue on Saturday, November 29.

John said: “I started back in stand-up two years ago after about a 10-year break. My acting had taken off so I didn’t need to do it, then I thought ‘I should start again’.

“It’s terrifying. I played to 1,600 people in Nottingham recently and when it goes well it’s great, you get a fantastic buzz out of it, but it’s a hobby now really.”

John says he’s looking forward to visiting the Black Cat Club and has hazy memories of a day out spent in Margate during his younger days living in Greenwich and knocking about with the Fast Show bunch.

“They called it going out on ‘a beano’ – we’d call it ‘a jolly’ up north,” said John.

He also has clearer memories of spending time in Canterbury when he appeared in the panto Robin Hood in 2010.

“Yeah, the Marlowe Theatre hadn’t been finished so we were in a circus tent on a coach park and it snowed,” said John, who recalls it all too well. Still, the city’s restaurants made a good impression.

“I ate a lot at a Moroccan place, Cafe Mauresque, and at Cafe de China. That’s a great set-up. I was told that the lead actor takes the whole cast out for dinner so I treated them all at Cafe de China. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet and they serve you the food.”

See John do his stand-up comedy at the Black Cat Club in Margate’s Westcoast venue in Fort Hill on Saturday, November 29, from 7.30pm. After-party until 2am. Tickets £22.50, must be bought in advance. Visit www.westcoastlive.co.uk or call 01843 448595.