wOnK was 2 in October. Celebrating the 2nd Birthday Party of their HQ underground nights at Ashiana in Stafford. haLLowOnK 3 was on Saturday 29th October and Soul Mekanik, aided and abetted by Dixon Pickles, tore the roof off with a mind blowing 6 hour set.

More to come in December with PLaNeT wOnK, wOnK’s outward bound space craft is set to land in venues around Staffordshire, playing to the home crowd that is organically growing and attracting like minded music loving souls along the way  :-)

For full details of upcoming nights see DJ dates.

December 2011 at a glance . . .

3:   PLaNeT wOnK @ The Old Brown Jug, Bridge Street, Newcastle u Lyme

16: PLaNeT wOnK @ FaT CaTs BasemenT aka JILL, Trinity Street, Hanley, Stoke

26: Official Shelley’s laserdome reunion – all nighter, The Sugar Mill, Stoke-on-Trent

31: SUpeRwOnK, Ashiana, Foregate Street, Stafford

See yOu on the danCefLoOr!

What a pArty!!! The attention to detail on this one was second to none. Everyone who came made a spectacular effort with costume and enthusiasm. With over 200 people giving it their all at one time or another on the dancefloor through the night, this simply was a party to remember.

Stalwart wOnKers who have been coming since the beginning of these underground nights, mixed beautifully with those who have been termed ‘VirGin wOnKers’ popping their ever so ripened wOnK cherries for the very first time.

The music was off the scale and the vibe undoubtedly knocked peoples socks off. With people traveling from across the UK, guests came from Stoke, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Derby, Nottingham and Wales. There were even a few from the local vicinity of Stafford who discovered this well hidden gem in the underground crevices of their hometown who hadn’t known it was there.

The crowd now ranges from the age of 18 to 60 and it’s safe to say that each and every one of these wOnKers is having the time of their life, sharing the dancefloor in harmony for good times, good vibes and great tunes aplenty.

haLLowOnK 3 was a definite hug fest and in the aftermath the feedback and comments of those who came has blown us away. The positivity just shines through and we KnOw that our 2nd birthday party was evidence of the good work that has gone into creating our Stafford HQ underground nights.

We were very pleased with how the night went and are so excited about our next underground venture at HQ in Stafford . . . the forthcoming sUPeRwOnK on New Years Eve!

We’ve got @NathanJay to thank for this old interview which he sent us yesterday.

We thought you might like it.

Click the image to expand it for easier reading.

Sure is Pure - Mixmag interview 1993

It’s from an old edition of Mixmag, sometime in 1993, which you’ll see from the Soul Mekanik Discography was a few years after we’d adopted the Sure is Pure moniker, but it really got going late in 1992 and on through that year.

Great times and loads of great music.

It’s nice to see that even then Danny & Kelvin were bickering about the music they were making – something that still makes sure that only the best material that they make sees the light of day.

Let us know below if this sparks any memories of 1993 for you.

If you came to the party last night, we’re surprised that you’re up and about to read this!

It’s a quick note to let you know that we’re popping off to Bristol on 29th April to avoid watching a Prince and Princess on telly all day.

Instead we’re playing at what we’ve heard is a great party – Alfresco Disco.

You can find out all about it on their Facebook Page.

You’ve got the day off so you might as well WoNk it!

Now, hear this!

Quite literally.

Kelvin and Danny have bagged themselves a radio show on Stoke station 6 Towns Radio, starting this Thursday at 9pm.

Obviously named rAdiO wOnK, this weekly 3 hour session will allow them to indulge themselves and you in their history of house. They’re going to give you more of what you get at the now legendary wOnK pArties interspersed with house music from back in the day to records from the future.

You know how they are!

Interviews, stories and a little bit of weirdness and it’ll be an unmissable weekly event.

Kelvin had this to say:

“This is going to be so much fun. rAdiO wOnK is really the culmination of a life long obsession with underground dance music.  You can expect to hear us get excited about hot records old and new , with plenty of exclusive tracks , and  some exciting guests lined up for the coming weeks. Off the beaten track disco madness and mixed up wOnK pArty classics from 30 years of that house music feeling.”

The best way to get tuned in is at www.6towns.co.uk, where there’s a player or a host of other ways you can find the show.

You can also chat with Danny & Kelvin live in the studio by logging in on the site or with your Facebook profile. And, you can also text them in the studio on 01782 454180.

The show starts tomorrow Thursday 24th February and is then weekly from 9pm -11pm every Thursday, repeated at 2am Sunday mornings just in time for you to stick it on when you roll back home from a Saturday nights woNkeRy!

About time too!

We’ve been waiting a while!

House music as in the stuff with the original, simple ethic of classic drum machines, sing-able basslines and heartfelt vocals. For instant proof of this, remind yourself of one of 2010′s BIGGEST.

There’s even PIANOS!  (without any trendy guilt of enjoying ourselves too much!). Chicago style acid tracks and motorik drum workouts are smashing the cool dancefloors of Berlin ,Tokyo, Stafford and London.  Acid house, it seems, is once again the DJ’s and ultimately, the dancer’s chosen mode of hedonism.

This Armando edit has been big for us all last year and sounded epic at Andrew Weatherall’s party in Shoreditch just before Christmas.

Even the dubstep kids are discovering house. There’s a young crowd among the dancers at our WoNk parties who discovered electronic music through the dubstep world and now they’re embracing house just like some of their heroes are.

The thing is though, disco hasn’t disappeared this time! Even though the tidal wave of average edit mania had threatened to send it the way of lilac skinny flared baggies.  There’s loads of great new disco flavoured tunes and some great edits too. Cosmic Boogie’s new Boogie Originals label has a top EP on the way, it’s a collaborative affair with hot tracks from from Andy Ash, Neil Diablo and the man like Stu himself, Cosmic Boogie so keep a look out for that.

We reckon it’s all about the melting pot. House, disco, techno, funk, dub, balearic and all the good stuff from the sub-genres that get created. Who cares what it’s called… as long as it makes you smile and gets you moving.

You may have heard that we’ve had this in the works.

Our most helpful friends in the North, All Ears distribution, are helping us get a rather lovely DigiPak CD (designed by himself at Eyeronik Eyekonik) of some of the highlights of the Creative Use series.

Most of the original vinyl versions of these sought after gems are long deleted but you’ll find some of the best on this CD, along with a couple of exclusive new cuts thrown in !

Started back in 2003, Creative Use helped spearhead a resurgent re-edit movement with Kelvin himself, brother Danny, Mark Seven, Balearic Mike & Mark E all having contributed sterling reworks for the label, breathing new life into not only Disco & lost Balearic classics, but Soul, Electronic Funk and Gospel cuts alike.

Both brothers are master craftsmen behind the decks, and their dancefloor nouse informs the selections you can enjoy all over again here.

A true one of a kind and a benchmark for quality.

Release date will be forthcoming – as soon as the CD’s are back from the factory!

Listen to all the tracks below.

We haven’t decided yet whether to make these available digitally (WAV’s only and only from this site if we do!) – let us know what you think by commenting below.

As it’s my first post in person, I’m setting out my stall.

This is the collective conscience of us 2 brothers.

A stream of ill advised rantings about why MP3s are only useful for low level reference, what music we’re feeling new and old, and why Kenny Dalglish, Bruce Lee & Raymond Scott (amongst others) still loom large on our poster wall.

Star Wonk on New Year’s Eve was our 9th party and probably the best WoNk yet! Watching from the booth, it was surreal and hilarious to see two proper stormstroopers dancing in unison to Nico Jaar’s gypsy harmonics on Mi Mujer.

There was a light saber fight between a Jedi and a Sith during Marshall Jefferson’s Move Your Body and a mass singalong to that amazing Prince edit by Dimitri . 100 raving Star Wars characters belting out  “I wanna be your LOVER!”  was a fantastic moment.

Our Dixon did the first 2 hours and we did the final 6 , and that gave us plenty of time to indulge ourselves.  Simo’s Funktion One Res 3s sounded incredible all night!  Other tune highlights that spring to mind were Audion’s Trust remix for Tiefschwarz , Hunee’s Took My Love, The Hold’s You Can Take My Glowstick But Don’t Touch the White Glove, Japan – Quiet Life, Lone – Cloud 909.  our edit of Ronnie Jones – Me And Myself  (played as our last record , making us late setting up for the afterparty!).

Our new track Bozlem got it’s first airing too, and we’re so chuffed with how it was recieved. It properly went off! And we kept it a secret So no bias or hype interference.

It’s been a real buzz getting back to house music in the studio again. We’ve had a great response from the DJs, press and radio on the Mekanikal EP and that just gives us the confidence to finish the next one . . and maybe an album by the end of 2011? We like that idea.

We’re dead chuffed that the first EP by Rowdent on WONK went down a storm.

We’re even more chuffed that they’re back again with a second offering!

With another fiendish mixed bag of cuts which includes Cjords, Lurch and Machine Drummer, RowDent’s new E.P is released on 7th February on WONK.

You can listen to RowDent’s Debut podcast for Ibiza-Voice here.

And here’s the new EP.