PRESENTER

Claire Kalvis

4th Sunday of Each Month

2-4pm

I have wide and eclectic music taste, linked through harmony, layering of sound, feeling of expansion, mood and melodrama more than genre . . . but saying that, when it comes to playing out it’s mainly on the Rare Soul Collectors Circuit, and within that my focus is on mid-tempo, group harmony, deep and sweet soul rather than the dance floor. I guess that intense, emotive sound is at the heart of things. I’m part of a collective with Thierry Cochet (Dr Kruger) our founder, Jim Edwards and David Hill, running a monthly event called “Color One Tear Black” now at The Paradise in West London (previously Brilliant Corners and Star of Bethnal Green) and with guests that have included Arthur Fenn, Greg Belson and Steve Clancy (Mr Fish). The four of us recently played together over in Sweden for the Stockholm Soul Weekender, representing our club, which was great fun, we were back to back with Carib Soul, and those guys are off the scale! A few weeks ago Tuff Love’s Liverpool Soul Weekender ran, Chicano Soul legends, Ruben Molina, DJ Aware and The Flipside Lovers were over to play from LA, so to be sharing the decks with them on a nearly sunny Saturday afternoon was an absolute honour. I’m a regular on Voices radio with my partner Brett Franklin playing a mix of Soul, Jazz, Latin and Raregroove. Occasionally I present the Intoxica Radio Hour on Resonance FM, a throw back from the years I was partner of Intoxica Records whilst in Cecil Court. Collecting those old and curious 45s has given me wonderful times, being invited to share favourite tunes Internationally and at home, from Stockholm, Berlin, Barcelona, Bilbao, Sheila Burgel’s She-Boom at Our Wicked Lady, Brooklyn NYC and Memphis Sound Lounge. Wow Memphis was a real standout moment, playing with William Bell, Anne Sexton, The Masqueraders, Timmy Thomas and Millie Jackson in the room! I can’t really believe it when I look back.