Middle Age Spread DJs turn it up to eleven

This one, dubbed Stranger Spread, is the 50th event since the foursome - the Rev Daryl Easlea, Beardy Al Johnson, Dan Curly Newman and Grandmaster Adam - first started out with the MAS overlord, Jules Easlea, working behind the scenes.

The theme for Stranger Spread is of course Halloween, so dress up to kill and don't delay on your ticket buying - these gigs always sell out, and this time they reckon they'll be "turning it up to 11".

It's been quite a journey since the gang first started out and are now much sought after DJs for all kinds of events, including Village Green where the crew have got the 20,000 strong crowd jumping for six years.

Stranger Spread takes place on Friday October 27, from 8:30pm until 12:30pm.

Tickets are £10 from Fives record shop, Broadway, Leigh and the Book Inn, Broadway West, Leigh.

Visit the-middle-age-spread.co.uk to keep on top of news and other events.

Kelly Buckley catches up with the lads.

Kelly: Hello! Please could you briefly introduce yourselves and tell us what you each bring to Middle Age Spread.

Dan: Hello, I am the curly one. I bring the Balearic bliss.

Adam: My name is Grandmaster Adam. I provide the spectacle and logistics and a lot of energy.

Al: I’m ‘Beardy’ Al and I bring the left to the middle age spread

Daryl: My name is Daryl. There are those who call me the Reverend. I bring the party.

Kelly: This is the 50th Spread! Congratulations! Can you take us back to the very first one?

Daryl: Our friends Steph Stevenson and Zoe Sanders, asked me to DJ a charity event, and although I was on my own at that one, that was the first MAS in 2010. Jules (Easlea, wife and MAS overlord) coined the name. I’d wanted to put a night together with fabulously like-minded souls, seeing we were all getting older but still with an unquenchable thirst to party.

Al: I was at the second one and had a great time. Great fun, great friends and that initially very intense sweaty vibe.

Adam: The atmosphere and enthusiasm was intoxicating!

Kelly: How did you all meet and why did you get together to form MAS?

Daryl: Through a happy sequence of events!

Dan: I met Daryl through mutual friends. Daryl and I met Al a couple of years later.

Adam: I’d met Daryl at some local art and social events, and as I had equipment he invited me to DJ with him at The Ship in Leigh. Daryl and Jules then expanded it from there.

Kelly: You also play at other events such as Village Green. Have there been any particular MAS highlights and why?

Dan: An act at Village Green 2016 had technical problems so were playing records for about an hour and a half and had the huge crowd rocking. Seeing thousands of people bouncing to Jump Around was a 'rock n roll' moment.

Adam: The last Spread, I Feel Love. Apart from DJing, I spent the entire evening on the dance floor whirling around, and leading the formation dancing - a dream come true for me at the Spread.

Al: We’ve had great fun up at the Fling in Chelmsford. And a couple of private parties stand out too, got very messy. But the highlight for me is our camaraderie.

Daryl: The first MAStonbury with hay bales, tents and everything at the Ship. Halloween is always wonderful, the effort people put in. That moment when you and the crowd are completely at one.

Kelly: Conundrum: You’ve somehow got caught up in a crazy gangster scene and the super-wired boss decides to hold you at gunpoint and tell you to play a song that will make him dance, or he’ll shoot. Which song do you pick?

Dan: I might play a bit of drum and bass such as DJ Hype's mix of Ready Or Not. Or the tune I play loads and still love to bits would have to be Groove Is In The Heart.

Adam: Uptown Funk makes everybody dance, old, young, I mean everybody.

Al: It’s got to be Move On Up, hasn’t it!

Daryl: 54-46 Was My Number by Toots and the Maytals, his hands would be in the air so much, he couldn’t shoot.

Kelly: You are each involved in other personal musical projects - please can you tell us a little about each one.

Dan: I host Sea Shanties, an internet radio show on Al's station Ship Full Of Bombs. I also make electronic music as Bingo Wings with poet Cherry Scott and others. I also put on an annual spoken word/electronic music event at the Fishermen's Chapel called Electric Tea Set.

Al: Aside from running SFOB and I am Alien - I make electronic, psychedelic music with a hint of Krautock and postpunk - I have another project with singer Lulah Belle called Palindromes.

Daryl: I host The Daryl Easlea Spectacular on SFOB, compile and annotate CD/vinyl releases and am very fortunate to write about pop music for a living; I also play a mean prog rock set.

Adam: I leave that to the others!

Kelly: If the record decks blew at a huge festival gig and so you had no choice but to perform a record yourself live, which song would you go for and what would it involve?

Dan: This did happen to us once and Daryl instantly got a crowd singalong going. If it happened again, I'd choose something with words you'll remember, a bit cheesy and with lots of obvious dance moves. Summer Nights from Grease!

Adam: Rhinestone Cowboy. I have enough of a voice to just about pull it off, and almost everyone can sing along to it.

Al: The Clapping Song by Shirley Ellis.

Daryl: There is something about Erasure’s A Little Respect that makes people just want to sing and sing; even the cool cats - initially, they’ll think it beneath them and then suddenly their arms are open wide and it's "I’m so in love with you . . ."

Kelly: What is next for Middle Age Spread?

Dan: More. Bigger. Better.

Adam: Much more of the same. To see that moment when somebody is whirling around, lost in their own head on the dance floor because you played the right tune – it’s priceless.

Al: World Domination.

Daryl: The next time is the best time, we all know!