Moving to Leeds in the late eighties, Ralph Lawson must have had second thoughts about the place with its gothic buildings and beer n brawling attitude alongside its dormant club culture. The fact that his favourite bands came from the city may just have tipped the balance, and a generation of clubbers can be thankful of that fact.

Ralph holds the honour of playing the first ever record at Back to Basics, and there is a very good chance that he will play the last if that fateful day ever rears up its ugly head. Preferring to play one set per night in a club in order to give that club his all, Ralph was never going to get the same national exposure as those other DJs. But Ralph is no other DJ. Don’t ask us, ask Bill Brewster who recently described Lawson as Britain’s best kept secret.

Never one for resting on his laurels, Ralph has always kept a healthy interest in making music and, as an ex-drummer, was always destined to progress onto studio work. With Carl Finlow, and occasionally Huggy, Ralph has been responsible for a number of highly rated productions. Most notably, Ralph collaborated with Chez Damier and Stacey Pullen early in his career, which must have had a profound effect on the way he approached production. With Carl, Ralph has recorded as Wolf n Flow and Urban Farmers.

On 2020 Vision, Ralph’s record label, to quote Carl Finlow, “2020 has grown up and is no longer a baby. It has just started school, and has made some great new friends. Each day it learns more and more and always tries to do its homework. If it continues as it is doing, it will mature into one of the schools very brightest pupils.” With an ever increasing roster of artists from as far a field as Montreal and Helsinki, Avignon to Manchester, what started out for Ralph as a hobby is fast becoming an international enterprise of some repute.

Don’t miss Ralph Lawson this weekend. He’s playing TFU in Melbourne on Friday March 7th and entry is free! He’ll also appear at the Playground Weekender in NSW, which takes place at Weisman’s Ferry, Friday March 7th to Sunday March 9th.