Story of Simon Birch
People often ask about my inspirations and how I developed @the14thfactory. This is my story...
04
At 17 the new wave of music changed my life. Public Enemy Erik B and, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, The House Sound of Chicago and Detroit, Grace Jones, Prince, New Order, Soul2Soul... an explosion of new culture with no borders. So of course I became a DJ and then a promoter.
My events were called ‘Head’. Our first events, in Leicester, were with Sasha, Carl Cox, Ragga Twins, Judge Jules, Mickey Finn, Top Buzz, DJ SS and everyone and anyone, many of whom went on to be huge DJs and are still going strong today.
For a minute I was hot!
I partnered with London crew Raindance and held a party on NYE 1991 for 15,000 people. It was freezing but amazing. We had many amazing events but I was 18 and had no clue what I was doing and within a couple of years it all collapsed as I mismanaged the business side and ended up broke and in debt.
A few things happened in succession. My oldest childhood friends died in a car crash. I got into trouble with some gangsters. My dear friend Wilfred was shot and killed. I nearly died in a car crash, head-on collision, woke up in the ambulance. And then a second crash that was even more dramatic but walked away with not a scratch.
My brother was stabbed and almost died, I remember him delirious in the hospital having lost 5 pints of blood. He tried to stop a guy beating his girlfriend and the guy put a bread knife through his arm severing the artery.
Note that my one last childhood friend, always loyal and a great father, Richard is still my friend today as is my brother from another, the brilliant DJ, Leroy (DJ SS). He hates when I tell people the SS stands for Scratchenstein!
Anyway, I left England with nothing but a passport and at least some choices to travel that are sadly denied so many in terms of options when in crisis. But, wow, what a rollercoaster.
I'm lucky to have experienced directly, this huge new culture movement, music, energy, even with some challenging experiences. An alternative and wonderful education that I somehow survived. Many I have known from similar circumstances did not have great outcomes.
