Drugs in the scene

Drugs in the scene 
The inclusion of drugs is explained more in my own words throughout the project in other posts these are just a few sources I found talking about it.

Links for these among with other articles I used for research are on a separate  post.

A few of my own notes and quotes from an article titled 'The Clubs of Northern Soul' published by Mixmag explaining the place drugs had in the northern soul scene and why they were a big part. 

Blue- Drug related

• Northern Soul was the birth of the crate-digger, the start of modern clubbing as we know it and a fully-formed drug subculture some 20 years before ecstasy arrived in the UK.
• “What I noticed was that people who came from the north were not buying what was subsequently called funk,” (David Godin, Soul writer). The sound was uptempo and mainly based on the stomping beat personified by the Four Tops’ ‘Can’t Help Myself’ and other Motown productions. This sound was largely fuelled by increasing amphetamine use at all-nighters, where Northern Soul was forged and thrived.
• The birthplace of northern Soul, The Twisted Wheel, Manchester... soon developed a reputation not only for its musical influence, but also in establishing Northern Soul’s drug culture; with events often lasting until 10am on Sunday mornings, amphetamines were commonplace among clubbers wanting to last the distance.
• The altered state of the club’s clientele also had a significant impact on dictating its sound, requiring a much faster beat. As black America moved into the 1970s led by James Brown and his funk disciples, the bpm dropped to a leisurely groove and so Northern DJs began searching for songs that had the required tempo – and feel – to feed their speedy dancefloors.
• “It combined a rock beat to dance to, jazz chords which elevated your mood to make you feel happy or wistful, and great sing-along choruses. That was the sound of Northern Soul.” By 1971 the Twisted Wheel’s reputation as a drug den became its undoing and it was closed down by the police for allegedly turning a blind eye to the drug dealing and drug-taking that was rife on the premises. “The drug squad saw it as a haven for people taking drugs,” recalls DJ Richard Searling. “Though it was true that it did go on, it wasn’t the reason people went there.”

These next notes are from a Vice Article titled 'Poor man's speed; coming of age in Wigan's anarchic Northern Soul Scene', written by Paul Mason. This one is more of an anecdotal article where he talks about his experience in the scene, specifically a night a Wigan Casino. Altogether this was my favourite article to read from all the research I did, it's amazing to see the scene told form the perspective of someone who experienced it, he talks about the emotions and connections made so well because fro him it was real life, he was part of those friendships, he was part of the feeling, the music. Its also really interesting to see the opinion of someone who was in the scene of how the scene ended and grew and what came of it now. A really personal article told amazingly. 

• He talks about going to a shop he knew "For certain sell you Bronchipax: ephedrine capsules, the poor man's speed" which was sold without prescription back then, now illegal.
• He talks about swallowing the whole pack at the age of 15, 8 times the maximum dose. "We were 15, and about to set off for the greatest dance club in the world"
• "There, in a steam-bath humidity that reeked of Brut, sweat and cigarettes, I executed spins and back-flips until I dropped – which was about half past four, doubled up with stomach cramps from the Bronchipax." 
• In fact the revival has partly happened because of the film. Constantine trained upwards of 60 young actors and extras to do the dance style. And the teenagers got so good at it that for some it became a way of life. The attraction for them is the same as it was for us.- This being about Elaine Constantine's 2014 film.

“The thing I love when I’m dancing is when I see other people. I just feel like we’re all connected. If I wanted to go clubbing... well, the music’s just rubbish and the people, they’re starting fights and that. At a Northern Soul night it’s like a family.”

^I thought this quote from Mason summed up the whole idea of northern soul so perfectly^

• But as drugs were withdrawn even from prescription, and the shops made more secure, “backstreet” amphetamine sulphate powder came onto the market. Even in that short time I saw people destroyed by it: having to crush it and inject it to get the same buzz they were getting off three capsules a year before. In soul culture there had been an explicit and deep hatred of the drug paraphernalia of the rock scene – the syringes and the junkie lifestyle were as detestable as kaftans and patchouli perfume.
• Even without speed you were able to experience the massive euphoria that was the defining atmosphere about an allnighter. I am convinced it was the product of the collective empathy that took place on the dancefloor, and not just the drugs.

While doing the project a useful document I found for this was a journal entry by Andrew Wilson titled 'Northern Soul; Music, Drugs and Subcultural Identity'
It was a useful document to refer to as it covered a lot of grounds on the topic. I have not included notes from this as it is quite a bigger document than an news article.