Liverpool’s legendary MelloMello will be back in its old home for one night only

One of Liverpool’s bar legends of the 90s, MelloMello, is coming back to its old home on Slater Street for one night only.

Opened as a pre-bar for Cream by the superclub’s owners, MelloMello became one of the most unique and best-loved venues in the city.

After a seven-year spell, with a few different operators the noughties, MelloMello closed for good in 2014, reborn as The Merchant two years later.

But two original resident DJs, Les Ryder and Robin Jackson, are returning to revive the magic of the original Mello this October.

Les, who’s originally from West Derby, now lives in France but he’ll be coming back home to play at The Merchant with fellow former resident Robin.

He says they’re hoping to recreate some of the atmosphere and the music that made MelloMello special.

“MelloMello was very much a pre-bar for Cream, it was owned by James and Darren and James’ dad Dave ran the bar. Initially it was only open until 11pm or 12 and the queues for Cream used to go past the door of Mello, they were insane. 

“We’d get the pre-club crowd and it would go off in there because people were dancing from 8pm or 9pm.”

Les was brought in to play the opening night of MelloMello in 1994 after giving a demo tape to Cream owner James Barton.

“I was 24 at the time and I’d been DJing for a few years, working at various clubs and bars and acid house parties, but I was always the one that ended up in the chill-out rooms so I was playing disco, funk and hip hop, a real mix of music.

“For about the first year, I did every Friday and Saturday night, before Robin joined me. I was playing four to five hours, records I’d bought from the age of 11 or 12, not knowing if people would like them.

“I didn’t want to be strictly a house DJ, so it was really interesting to get to play what the hell I wanted and sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. 

“I was playing things like Japan and Elvis Costello next to house music, disco, 60s soul and reggae, anything at all. Even though I’d been DJing since I was 21, I didn’t really know how to DJ to a crowd so it was very experimental and I think that was what people liked about it and remember about it. 

“When I left Mello I did a residency in The Magnet, playing the same kind of thing, but Mello was just brilliant and it felt like it was ahead of its time.”

Les went on to travel the world as a DJ before all-but retiring in 2007, taking just a handful of gigs each year and starting a festival in France.

It was when he was chatting to Lewis Boardman, who co-owns The Merchant, that the idea of a MelloMello night came up.

“I spoke to Lewis who I’ve known since Chibuku and one of us said ‘should we do a Mello thing?’ That was a few years ago and I’d forgotten about it but then my wife and kids were going over to the UK in October so I thought I’d contact him again and see if he was up for it.

“He said let’s give it a go, so I spoke to Robin first time in about two decades and asked if he fancied doing it and he said absolutely.”

Les says the MelloMello night, on October 19, won’t be a 90s night, more like a taste of the eclectic sets they used to play.

“I’ve never been one for retro nights but this isn’t that, it’s a MelloMello night, trying to do what we used to do 30 years ago. 

“It’ll obviously include some stuff we used to play but it’ll just be a good night playing records like we would be if we were still there. 

“I’ve been digging through records that I haven’t pulled off the shelves in 20 years and going ‘I remember that.’

“A lot of what we played then was timeless anyway, so it’s not necessarily records that people will know from that era because that wasn’t what we were doing.”

There’s already been a buzz around the night on social, but Les says he isn’t tempted to make it more than strictly a one-off.

“I’m only doing it for fun, and hopefully we can get a load of people who used to go in the 90s and the clientele who go to The Merchant will enjoy it as well, so it should be brilliant.”

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