I delivered an awful lot of newspapers when I was 12 and in December of my 13th year shelled out what was then a phenomenal amount of money on a pair of gramophones. In the 90's Yogi Haughton wrote a column for DJ Magazine. In this round up of Scottish club events he credited a character he mockingly referred to as Erik Da Viking as "a guy to watch for with his very mature ear for music, playing soulful / deep grooves all the way". Once you harvest a good quote you need to keep hold of it with both hands, so the name stuck. Whilst at University I founded a Mafia of deep house and techno DJs / party starters called Subtle Logic. By taking pretty much every gig that came my way I think I might have developed a reputation for serving up decent deep house and soulful stuff in places like EH1 and the City Cafe. On the side I kept the back-rooms of a number clubs about the city happy with what I think was a good selection of disco and funk. I always stuck to Mr Haughton's esteemed soul boy's code: no re-issues or compilation albums, please gentlemen. It was the fixation with disco and its tougher brother that caused me to become a self confessed vinyl junkie. I've got a problem, but it is nothing I can't deal with. In 2002 I launched Trouble At the Bluenote with my feared Nemesis and adversary at Fresh Air FM, Hobbes (AKA Andy 'The Hat'). Known for his appreciation of music that was a bit weird and tendency to go on a bit caused us to become good mates. I’ve had a hand in loads of different club nights over the years, most memorably Get-Together, Missing, Fleamarket Funk & SaySamba! I even had a job writing for esteemed purists magazine Blues & Soul's in their Club Hoppin' section. Then the nation's R&B fixation kicked in and I had to get out because I couldn't handle it anymore. I felt my time in Edinburgh was coming to an end and left to work as a music programmer in Glasgow at The Arches with artists such as Matthew Herbert Big Band, Bugge Wesseltoft, Toots & The Maytals, Jimi Tenor, Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith, Azymuth, TY and Norman Jay. I religiously came back to DJ at Trouble whenever I could.

After an interesting 14 months in Glagow I recently decided to return to a place that felt more like home.  I can once again been found pounding the streets flyering and DJing for a small group of friends mid-week in any number of Edinburgh's brilliant bars or clubs.  I feel happy again!

Email: erik@getintotrouble.com