Leeds UKG Night Spin City Announce New Label

With events only just becoming a realistic possibility now, the last year has forced many club nights to reassess, and to find new ways to keep doing what they love in a world without nightlife. Leeds UKG night Spin City - run by Tañ, Kimura Soundsystem, Millennium Edit and R-O-V- have taken this downtime as a chance to pour they speed garage expertise into a new project whilst their usual nights are off the cards. Spin City is now a record label, and we're very excited.

We caught up with team to find out about how the idea of becoming a label first came about, what we can expect from their upcoming release, and how they have found Leeds' reaction to the news.

What initially led you to decide to create a label? Was this a conscious decision, or was it something that you felt was inevitable, and that the you were always going to end up doing with Spin City? Having such a rich pool of talent in Leeds, it got to the stage where it just made perfect sense to showcase some of this talent through a vinyl record label. Buying records has got us through lockdown in some respects, and it’s a great way to keep the scene alive whilst the clubs are shut! It wasn’t originally part of the plan, but it seems like a logical progression, particularly in the current climate.

How long has this idea been in the works, and why have you chosen now to carry it out?

Since about August last year really, but when we heard the track that Alex (Skins) had made, we decided it would be perfect for our first release. The B side took slightly longer, we wanted to echo classic speed garage releases, which are often comprised of the original track, as well as a remix. Speaking to Dinn (Highrise), he really liked the track, and the idea we had for the remix, and so agreed to make the track. Between Covid and Brexit, the whole process will have taken about 6 months from beginning (sending off the premasters) to end (receiving the records), which is much longer than usual, but we think it’s worth the wait!

Do you see the fact that you are starting a label during a pandemic as an additional challenge, or do you see it as something that you could potentially use to your advantage?

The pandemic has presented certain challenges with respect to lead times for pressing plants as we mentioned above, but besides that, vinyl sales have continued the trend of increasing year on year since around 2009, apparently not being affected too much by Covid.

Tell us about your first release.

The release is a 10” white label, on one side: Skins – 24 Hour Dub, a track made by our good friend Alex that immediately stood out to us as something a bit different to a lot of the other music that’s coming out at the minute, and an interesting take on the speed garage sound. On the flip side, Highrise has done a great job of the remix, keeping the chord motif from the original, but crafting them into a faster, heavier track. Dinn is originally from Darlington, and studied at the University of Leeds, but has been living in London for a good few years, hence the name 24 Hour Dub (Highrise Back Up North Mix).

How has the support from other creatives from Leeds and beyond been since you announced this?

It’s been really well received so far! We’ve loved hearing great feedback from friends getting test presses and can’t wait to see what everyone else will think of it.