At the turn of 1990s two acid house fiends, Alistair Cook and Dave Beer, started a night in their home city of Leeds in the north of England. With its punk rock attitude, Back To Basics was an instant success. Tragically, Alistair was killed in a car crash in March 1993 but Dave decided to carry the club night forwards in his great pal’s memory.
It was the friendly, community feeling and hedonistic aesthetic that made Basics one of the success stories of the 1990s. Musically, they were on-point: they gave UK debuts to US DJs such as Doc Martin, Derrick Carter and Francois K, early opportunities to Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada, and helped nurture resident DJs such as Ralph Lawson, Denny, Paul Woolford, Tristan Da Cunha, James Holroyd, Huggy and Burnski. At the centre of the dancefloor madness was Dave Beer — the life and soul of the party, always thinking of others before himself.
Hosting a long-running party is a talent in itself. What a lot of people haven’t realised is that Dave, latterly, has become a great DJ himself, a surrealist painter of some repute, and has dabbled in producing music himself over the years — without ever releasing anything into the outside world. Until now.
2025 will see Dave release his debut album, preceded by a number of top-notch singles. First up comes ‘For The Beloved’, which features some amazing soulful vocals from Chicago house music legend Robert Owens, recorded when he stayed over in Leeds.
The new year will also see the release of a film and a book about Dave. With his new wife Aimee, who he married at Glastonbury Festival, and legacy assured, everything was looking rosy for Dave. Until he was diagnosed with cancer.
As the cancer was cut out during an operation in early November, Dave had to be taken to intensive care to have a blood transfusion, but he rallied — it’s not the first time he’s diced so closely with death — and recovered in time for Back To Basics’s 33rd birthday party in Leeds in mid-November.
And now it’s time to refocus on his art, putting himself squarely in the limelight to receive the plaudits he so heartily deserves.
Dave Beer & The Blessed
Back To Basics Kingpin, DJ & Bona Fide Legend In The Game, Dave Beer, is also very good at producing house music with his Dave Beer & The Blessed project.
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