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Nag Nag Nag’s Next Star? 12 months after he started door-whoring London’s still oversubscribed, always interesting, alternative club Nag Nag Nag, man-with-the-clipboard Mr Cormack stepped up to the decks, joining John Taylor’s Punx Soundcheck crew as a fledging new electro (clash) DJ. And 8 months later, the expat Irishman spins monthly at The Ghetto’s equally fashionable gay/ electro weekly The Cock and beyond, while continuing to bar undesirables from Nag every Wednesday (notably Christina Aguilera and Irish boy band Westlife).
“There are nights you think it should be called Blag, Blag, Blag, the stories people come out with trying to get in,” he laughs.
“I’ve had girls groping my cock, trying to get in, people offering me money and drugs. Sometimes some of them get embarrassed by what they say, comments like ‘do you know who I am?’ Actually, only one person has ever said that to me; Kylie Minogue’s ex-boyfriend, what was his name, James Gooding? I said ‘Yes, I do know who you are and you’re not coming in’.”
“I’ve also been spat at in the street once,” he chuckles, “It happened when I was walking through Soho Square on day.”
Skrufff: (Jonty Skrufff) How long have you been DJing for?
Mr Cormac: “Not long, just a few months. I’ve been into dance music for seven years or so and I was previously a club podium dancer which made me understand I was more interested in the music than the movement. The DJing all came about through opportunity and good luck. I’d bought some decks and learned how to beat mix and found I really enjoyed it. Though I was actually offered my first proper gig before I could beat mix, to be honest, which I’ve since found out is quite common amongst lots of DJs who are nowadays well known. It’s a good way to learn, to make all your fuck-ups right at the start and also to get through the fear of getting up there and doing it. My first gig was at The Cock, eight months ago.”
Skrufff: How did the Cock gig come about?
Mr Cormac: “I’d been doing a project with John Taylor from Punx Soundcheck and part of that project was making music as a band, he was already doing the first Friday of the month as a Punx Soundcheck night at The Cock and he offered me the gig as a monthly thing. Everything progressed from there. My second gig was at Cock Live at The Face magazine party which was even better, I loved it. That was the first time I really saw people reacting to what I was playing and dancing and that was when I really got into DJing. I’d had so many lost moments myself dancing in clubs and to be able to create that atmosphere and effect as a DJ was amazing.”
Skrufff: You started from zero; how did you decide what records and what style to play as a DJ?
Mr Cormac: “I started from a position of playing dance music predominantly, though I’d also got into the whole electro thing a few years ago and by the time I started going to Nag I was so ready for it, it was so overdue. For years I’d been going out on the hard house/ tribal gay scene and had got so blatantly bored, so when I started hearing electro, with its tongue-in-cheek, more fun vibe I was immediately into it and knew that it was a scene I wanted to get involved in.”
Skrufff: When did you first move from Northern Ireland to London?
Mr Cormac: “I grew up in a little town called Banbridge, near Belfast, which was where I started clubbing and had my first foray into dance music and all that comes with it; the good and the bad, the natural and the unnatural. I was a podium dancer in those hard house clubs of the time (chuckling), I was about 16 or 17 then. Clubbing really inspired me to move to London, actually much more than the gay scene.”
Skrufff: How old were you when you came to London?
Mr Cormac: “I was 20 and came over not knowing anybody, I came here for a bit of freedom I wasn’t feeling it at home. It was quite challenging for my Mum to deal with my sexuality, being based in a small town, at that time. I felt out on a limb when I first got here and felt I had nothing to lose, which was great. So I jumped in at the deep end, starting working at an all night café on Old Compton Street, doing the night shift. From there I started going out clubbing loads and started finding out which clubs interested me.”
Skrufff: How did you end up doing Nag’s door?
Mr Cormac: “I met Jonny (Slut) in Brighton when he was trying to get another club he was involved with, Marvellous, off the ground there. I’d gone to Brighton after travelling in India, wanting somewhere a little quieter than London and I ended up being so fucking bored, it was terrible. I’m not into pub culture and found it really hard to live somewhere after London because I still wanted to be social. So I started going to Marvellous regularly; started flyering for him, then when Nag got going I got into the club via Fil (Fil Ok, who co-promotes the club with JoJo De Freq). I remember Fil being quite excited about this club he was doing, and when he was telling me I was listening to a Dave Clarke CD called World Sessions. When I went to Nag they were playing it and I was blown away. At that stage, I didn’t think the club was going to be huge or crazy, I don’t think anybody did, but I liked it anyway. Then when Nag moved to The Ghetto, bigger and bigger crowds started arriving at the door every week so I said to Jonny, ‘you need a door person, I’m going to do it for you’.”
Skrufff: Had you worked a club door before?
Mr Cormac: “I’d done it sporadically at various cheesy celeb type clubs, places like Kabaret. Doing the door at Nag felt right and I wanted to be involved. It was a good challenge for me, it’s been a real insight into what people are like (chuckling). There are nights you think it should be called Blag, Blag. Blag, the stories people come out with. People say they work for magazines, I’ve had girls groping my cock, trying to get in, people offering me money or drugs. It’s not so crazy now, though there was a period about a year ago when it was absolute mayhem.”
Skrufff: Did you really refuse entry to the boy band Westlife?
Mr Cormac: “Yeah we did and also Christina Aguilera once. Westlife just turned up at the door one night and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t recognise them, though I kinda’ did after I’d refused them, and I didn’t want to back down then (chuckling). But when I first saw them my first reaction was ‘those guys look like they’re out on a stag night, they looked dodgy’. The security stopped them initially and said ‘do you know this is a gay club’ and one of them said ‘I can tie my t shirt in a knot’ and was actually being quite witty. At the end of it all they didn’t seem that bothered, and weren’t that phased, I don’t think they’d set their sights on going to Nag, Nag, Nag, I think they’d rather stumbled into it.”
Skrufff: What happened with Christine Aguilera?
Mr Cormac: “With Christina Aguilera we have a mutual friend, and she phoned me saying ‘Christina wants to come down tonight, can she come with us?’ I said ‘of course she can come’ but she wanted to bring four or five security people with her. Jonny and I talked about it and we decided that we thought four or five security was a bit unnecessary in a club like Nag, Nag, Nag. It doesn’t fit with the feeling of the club; people should come down and leave their shit at the door. Christina’s response was that she didn’t use the bathroom without her security, so I don’t think we missed anything.”
Mr Cormac DJs at the Punx Souncheck night at the Cock, Ghetto, the first Friday of the month and door whores Nag, Nag, Nag every Wednesday (also at the Ghetto. Falconberg Court, Soho).
http://www.punxsoundcheck.com
Interview By: Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)
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