With the end of 2020 insight, Frequent Players brings you a special New Years mix to welcome in 2021.
Music has played a massive part to people’s lives within 2020, whether you’ve found yourself working from home and taking the time to listen to more music throughout the day or you’ve been tuning into the mass amounts of live events happening online, considering we haven’t been able to get out to live events, it’s kept us all going. Another thing it’s done for us at Frequent Players is, it’s allowed us to discover a host of new artists one of which we’re excited to bring today.
Born and raised in Liverpool, we first came across Macca… aka Adam earlier in the year when he was covering for the Charlie Bones, Do!! You!! show. Now residing in London, after a few years of hard work, 2020 has finally gifted him with his very own, very much deserved NTS show ‘One Glove’. The show brings a perfect blend of, well, any genre so whether its George Michael, Moodyman, Prince or Thundercat… expect anything and everything from Macca.
Footpatrol: Macca! Thanks for joining us here at Frequent Players, how have you been?
Macca: Cheers FP crew, thanks for having me, I’m honoured to be here. Haha how have I been? A loaded question at the end of 2020. I’m surviving, my friends and family are well – I’ll take that for now.
FP: Before we discuss ‘One Glove’ and NTS, could you give our readers an insight into your background?
Macca: I was born and raised in Liverpool and moved to London four years ago. Back home people will know me for putting on gigs and club nights for 7 or 8 years with the guy that was my music equivalent of Mr Miyagi / Obi-Wan Kenobi / insert seminal teacher figure, Paddy Quinn. Over the years we booked everyone from Roy Ayers to Thundercat to Mr Scruff to Fatima to Yussef Kamaal to Peanut Butter Wolf – it was kinda mad, lost a load of money but got stories and memories for life.
Fast forward to today and across the country some people will know me for jumping on NTS Radio; selecting a wide array of sounds, speaking my mind on the mic, telling stories and just generally having a good time.
Everyone knows me as Macca, it’s not like a DJ name or something. Some lad on the back of the bus called me it in Year 7 and now I reckon 95% people know me only as Macca. Mundial Magazine referred to me as the 3rd most infamous Macca to come out of Liverpool (after McCartney and McManaman) – I’ll take that.
FP: We wanted to touch on what must be a highlight of your year and no we’re not referring to telling the world to live their lives and be free, to then kicking people out the parks for not exercising (Let’s not get into that! Haha), it’s of course ‘One Glove’… We’d love to know how getting your own slot on NTS came about?
Macca: Hahaha nah respect to you guys, you’ve been listening in properly this year I can tell (but yeah, let’s not get into my on air telephone outbursts during lockdown one).
Damn, getting my own slot was about 5 years in the making y’know. Basically, I owe A LOT to Charlie Bones for being able to do my thing today. Way back in 2015 my pal Bolts booked Charlie to play Liverpool and I was left to take care of him. The morning after the gig, I get a call from Bones and he’s like ‘where’s good for breakfast & digging?’ so we spent the day putting the world to rights and record shopping. In the end he said to get my arse down to London and jump on the Do!! You!!! Breakfast Show with him. We just clicked and he really fosters an environment to play and say what you feel – he’s created a beautiful thing – bit mad really, just getting some random scouse lad on the radio haha!
Anyway, yeah since then I jumped on as a guest with him sporadically over the years, then eventually NTS started asking me to cover for Charlie whenever he was off which was and is always a big honour as it’s by far the most listened to show. Eventually, I landed my own slot for 2020, One Glove was born and it’s been an absolute blast.
FP: One thing that drew us to ‘One Glove’ was the wide range of music that you play, it’s refreshing to have that sense of knowing what you’re about to tune into whilst also knowing that you’re probably about to hear something new… If that makes sense? What is it that you want ‘One Glove’ to be? We think you need a second show for story telling, the one about you meeting Paddy Doherty is amazing! Have you still got his number?
Macca: That actually means a lot you saying that, because that’s basically what I always wanted the show to be. I remember my first One Glove show and the producer asked me “so what is the general vibe of One Glove going to be?” and I just kinda said “I don’t really want to restrict myself to genres, it depends what mood I’m in that week or day”.
It absolutely is an outlet for me to play whatever I’m feeling in that moment but I also want it to be something that anyone and everyone can listen to. It’s not on some music snobbery tip y’know? I want to engage with the listeners, talk about good music in a casual way and also just chat about the mad trials and tribulations of life. In that sense, I think that’s the most obvious nod to me being from the school of Charlie Bones, right?
And yeah, I’d love an extra slot to allow for more time for telling stories! Everyone has got stories to tell, it’s just how you tell them and also being up for putting yourself in slight daft situations – oh and chatting to random strangers… who just might end up being Paddy Doherty on a train, going to London, showing you videos of horses kicking out people’s teeth. Yes, I still have his number. No, I’ve not yet called in the favour he promised me.
FP: This year has been a challenge for everyone and its proof that hard work pays off, so being asked to do that monthly slot, was that something you had always dreamt of having one day or something that came about that you couldn’t say no too?
Macca: I can’t lie, when I left Liverpool for London, landing my own slot on NTS Radio and setting up my own label was exactly the type of thing I was moving down for. I went to Tokyo in 2019 and brought a Daruma doll back with me – a symbol of perseverance and good luck in Japan. Essentially what you do is fill in one of the doll’s eyes and set yourself a goal or a task. Once you achieve that goal you can fill in the doll’s other eye. Anyway, let’s just say I got to fill in both the eyes of my Daruma doll by the end of 2019
FP: Does playing a regular feature as opposed to covering a Charlie Bones show for example alter the way you choose what you play?
Macca: Not really. The difference is the breakfast show is 3 whole hours so I’m able to throw more curve balls, engage with the chatroom more and have fun with it – just how I like it. One Glove is currently only one hour a month on a Sunday so is a little more considered. If i can get back to Japan and grab another Daruma doll I guess my next goal would be to get more One Glove air time.
FP: Back to NTS, it was here that we first came across you… One of the highlights for us this year has been discovering new artists and it was on one of Charlie Bone’s Do!! You!! Shows that we first came across yourself. I remember my ears perked up when I heard you mention your ‘De La Soul’ Nike Dunks, can you remember when/how it was you got into trainers?
Macca: I was always into having fresh clothes (tracksuits mostly) and kicks as a kid. I remember when we could roll up to school in our own clothes for non-uniform day and I was known as the Nike kid. Always Nike. Never adidas.
The love-affair really kicked off in 2007 when I started working for Size? on Bold Street, Liverpool. The manager (out to Big G) gave me the job off the back of me wearing an N.E.R.D. tee (ha!) and then I basically got schooled in trainees in a big way – I remember those days very fondly, buying a pair of trabs using my discount nearly every week (living the dream at 18).
Bold Street was like the go-to street for independent clothing stores back then. After Size? I ended up at Drome and then Paddy rescued me from there and got me a job in Ran which was a super dope independent boutique. We sold some bangers in there. Patta Air Max 1s, New Balance 1300JPs, the type of tackle that wasn’t readily available up north. It was a different time, no raffles or any of that nonsense.
I also have to shout out Lost Art which was also located on Bold Street at the time. Those guys looked after me from day one, which is kind of incredible considering I was probably the most annoying scally/non-scally kid showing up trying to buy pink box Nike SBs and that.
FP: Got anything stashed away that may grab our readers attention?
Macca: I actually had a massive clearout this past 12 months. Got rid of those 2005 ‘De La Soul’ Dunk Lo’s, 2007 Atmos ‘Elephant’ Air Max 1s, Ben Drury Air Max 1s and some Bodega Nike Air Footscape Woven Chukka Mids. By ‘got rid’ I mean sold them obviously.
FP: Someone told me you’ve even done the odd New York city trip for campouts, that’s quite the commitment, can you remember what that was for? Most importantly, did you manage to get a pair?
Macca: Hahaha we were total idiots. In fairness it was totally impromptu and I never did it again. Basically, it was 2008 and my boy Jack Morgan was working in NYC for adidas and a crew of us decided to go over there to see him and hit the stores. You could actually buy stuff that wasn’t available in the UK back then and I blew a ridiculous amount of money (student loan). One night we went to see Pineapple Express (seriously) in the cinema near Times Square and as we were walking back to our hotel there was three guys in camp chairs outside a store. Turns out it was a 1 month pop-up for Colette and this guy called ‘Silver’ (yep) convinced us to join them. Next thing you know we’ve gone from watching Pineapple Express to camping outside the Colette store which opened the next day. It was torture. But there was a fat queue once it opened and I grabbed some Colette x Oakley Frogskins (2008 hype lol) so it was worth it (sort of). Hahahah I’ve just checked and there’s still photos of us at the front of the queue looking like divvies on Freshness Mag. Like I said, never again.
FP: One of the reasons we started Frequent Players was because of the obvious connection between sneakers and music which is becoming even more prominent with the amount of brands working with musicians on collaborations. Can you remember what your first love was? Music or sneakers?
Macca: My first love was music. Then it was sneakers. Now it’s music again. Truth is, they’ve always ran parallel with one another in my life, just depends on which one I want to spend more of my hard-earned money on.
I remember working in Size?, those guys were the first to ever play me DJ Shadow’s ‘Endtroducing’ album – blew my head off! Then, working in Ran was basically equivalent to working in a record store, Paddy schooled me on so much music it’s kinda mad and I’m forever indebted.
FP: I think it’s fair we put you on the spot with a top three, you can listen to three tracks for the rest of your life and wear three sneakers for the rest of your life… what you picking?
1 – Nas – The World Is Yours (Tip Mix)
2 – Wham! – Blue
3 – Marvin Gaye – Is That Enough
1 – Nike SB Bruin x Lost Art
2 – Vans Era x DQM x Blue Note Records
3 – Asics Gel-Mai Knit x Patta
FP: I feel like we need to discuss The Gun pub. We hear you’re part of their Football Team? How did that come about? By the looks of things, their trophy cabinet is bigger than your beloved Evertons…
Macca: Hahaha shots fired! The Gun FC was something I was aware of before I moved down here. A fellow Evertonian, Alan Bond, was running the team and I hit him up to see if there was a game for a left footer. There’s a great bunch of lads there, all into good creative stuff and some tidy footballers too. In 2019 we won the Division 4 league going the whole season unbeaten, plus winning a couple of cup competitions as well. If we ever return to some form of normality I have high hopes of us winning something again this year.
Football has been a great outlet for me in London. There’s often a bad rep that comes with the game but in terms of helping with mental health, I can’t think of anything better than playing a sport or doing physical exercise. It’s a great chance to switch off, nothing else matters for 90 minutes and then you can all go back to the pub and catch up.
FP: We’ll have to set up a small match with you for a 5 aside game between The Gun vs TEAM FP if you’ll be up for it? We’re used to playing on a cold, wet windy night in Brixton.
Macca: Challenge accepted. I’m warning you, I’m horrible once it gets going but we’ll kiss and make up after the final whistle.
FP: What can we expect from the mix you’ve put together for us?
Macca: Well, since it’s New Year’s Eve I’ve tried to remember what it was like to play a warm-up slot on that build up to midnight… but with a touch of ‘you’re probably sat in your living room right now in Tier 4 making dinner or getting pissed’. Nothing too serious, here’s to 2021!
FP: Lastly, apart from having our fingers crossed for some normality in 2021, whats in the pipeline for Macca/One Glove over the next 365 days?
Macca: Other than cracking on with my radio shows and trying to get back on the football pitch, I’m buzzing to get the first release out on my newly launched One Glove label on the 5th February 2021. I’ve been working throughout 2020 with a guy called ‘moon’ who is a super raw, genuinely talented producer who has put together an incredible 5 track EP called Southside Park. It’s got elements of brokenbeat, house, hip-hop, garage and jungle, with a healthy dose of Liverpudlian adlibs and vocals. I’m expecting the test presses back any week now and super looking forward to getting ONEGLOVE001 out into the world. You can check it via the One Glove’s Bandcamp page – much love to those who’ve already copped a preorder of the vinyl.
