For someone who’s spent 10 years as a club DJ, broadcasting LIVE from 3.00 – 6.00 in the morning is no problem for Stevie Sole in fact, it makes a bit of a change for the man for whom music really is round-the-clock…

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Of course, ALL the Xfm Scotland DJs are busy, all the time. But Stevie Sole, it seems, is just that wee bit busier than the rest. Well, there is his 9-5 music business job coupled with club DJing at the weekends, and of course his Xfm Scotland show, bridging Friday night with the Saturday morning comedown in the 3-6am slot.

The show, split as it is into 3 hour-long parts, nicely mirrors Stevie’s musical tastes.
Kicking off roughly when clubbers (well, the less committed ones!) will be making their way home, it’s Stevie’s spiritual home in a way – an hour of cutting edge house, especially for the dance purists. As we all know Xfm Scotland has broadened its output, but the station has retained a raft of specialist presenters from a couple of years ago. “The first hour reflects the club scene, so it’s what I’ve done for 15 years.” So are rumours of the death of dance exaggerated? “It’s like all genres, they never all go away… it’s all hype – ‘dance is dead, blah blah blah – it’s just something to write or talk about,’” he states firmly.

Stevie’s love of dance and indeed music in general, stems, perhaps, from his childhood.
“I grew up around music,” he recalls, “my mum was into Bob Dylan and The Beatles and early soul like Sam Cooke…” So her tastes had the more obvious influence on him. “I had a right mix because Dad was into opera and classical stuff, so I went to concerts and operas and experienced quite a lot – I wasn’t exactly mad for it but was good in retrospect.”

But he was eventually to latch onto something he really liked. “When I was 13 or 14, I heard James Brown and I was ‘my god, I’ve never heard anything like this in my life’ – so that was me tuned into black music.” For a teenager living in Ayrshire it was a move to study in Glasgow which kickstarted his interest big time. “I started buying records, and got decks in 2nd year, and started doing student parties – I did a couple of brilliant big parties which got me a couple of DJ gigs and that set me on the road for a few Glasgow residencies – those initial gigs lasted for 5 years; in fact it paid my way through Uni.”

As is often the case Stevie was unsure what to do at the end of his course. “I was getting a lot of gigs, so I did a postgrad to kind of keep moving forward.” Around this time a couple of Glasgow labels were experiencing some success. “Soma and Glasgow Underground were slightly before me, but I knew these guys and thought ‘I do could do that’ – don’t get me wrong, it’s been a rocky road, but 10 years later it’s still going.”

Yes, Solemusic has lasted a decade, but he found time to take his DJing skills to a new audience.

“3, or maybe 4 years ago, we (Stevie along with cohort Geoff M) did a couple of gigs for Beat, and Claire (Pattenden) had become programme director, so we put in a proposal – she took a liking to us, and that’s how we got involved.”

And from purely playing records Stevie’s gone to a relaxed and confident on-air voice too – timely, as Xfm Scotland came along. “The radio’s become a bigger thing for me,” he says.”

Stick with Stevie’s show and in the second hour you’ll notice a subtle change. Hot Chip will sit alongside Edwin Starr, Beck rubs shoulders with Popup, and DJ Shadow and The Beatles will be in the mix with Gnarls Barkley and St Etienne. “It’s more about what I’m doing now,” he agrees. “It’s more of an eclectic set, simply because I love music – ok, I’m fundamentally a black music lover, but I love all kinds.”

And the interest in more indie sounds even extends to his working life with the establishment of a label, Console Sounds which as well as encompassing his his own label Solemusic, also includes Glasgow act Palomino, Milton Jackson’s project The Rainbow Family, and X-posure’s favourite goth-punks, Julia Thirteen, on their roster. “We’ve done a couple of videos for them, and sorted out distribution, so we’re just about gearing up for their big push.”

Stevie’s quite honest about the reasons for this diversification. “My music business experience is broadening out – it’s a different side of the business,” he agrees. “I suppose it’s me getting older; as I’ve been working so long and hard at music, I’m wanting to find ways of earning a living.” However, he’s excited by the bands he’s working with. “Your taste matures as you’re exposed to so much music, so this a reflection of that.”

It’s fortunate that he hasn’t become over-exposed to music, as he’s surrounded by it pretty much 24-7.”Weekends are all about DJing – I don’t really DJ during the week, which is actually better – it’s more lucrative to do less,” he confides. “I could go out and DJ every night but you get tired from not having your weekends – and your girlfriend will moan if you’re out all week too!”

Stevie rolls home at sunrise on Saturday, after completing his final hour. With dawn comes daytime, a shift back from the specialist programming to the Xfm playlist. Which sees him get the chance to diversify further, playing the presenter. “Yes, the music is out of my hands!” he jokes. “The station has got better as a whole, but I think it’s wise to keep the specialist stuff.” Given that his day job is involved with the marketing of music, he is better placed than anyone to see how the music machine works. “From the point of view that I know what people want, yes – they don’t want just one thing… I think daytime has benefited from having the new playlist.
“I personally think we could do with some more specialist stuff,“ he adds, “but they (Xfm) had to make a big seachange without confusing anyone.”

And that should be that, but he’s back to club DJing all weekend. On weekday evenings he somehow manages to play football 3 times a week too, and he takes Mondays off, catching up with some relaxation, and a backlog of telly, particularly US dramas such as ‘The West Wing’. “Sky Plus is a wonderful invention!” he gleams.

Even his holidays are working holidays – but a glance at look at his tour diary doesn’t generate too much sympathy.

From the Sub Club in Glasgow and Ministry of Sound in London, Stevie’s shows have taken in clubs on both sides of the Atlantic. Oh, and Australia. “I’m going back in December or January,” he enthuses. “I’ve been every year for last 6 or 7, sometimes twice.” There have also been 4 visits to Japan, with sets at Tokyo’s famous Loop Club. And despite playing Chicago’s Material, he’s keen to go back to the US as most of his trips across the pond have been, unusually, under his own steam.

But perhaps the most interesting, if least ‘exotic’, have been his tours of Eastern Europe, particularly Russia. “Each time you go back it’s more westernised – which is no bad thing, but quite a culture shock.” And the locals are also developing, in a way. “The thing about DJing is how hard you have to work to entertain, but at the start in Russia the whole idea of a nightclub was a a novelty – which was brilliant for DJs, you’d just drop your records and they’d dance.” So it’s harder work now? He laughs. “As time goes on they’re getting more educated and exposed to it, it’s more like DJing in… well, here! But they’re still really nice people, the women are beautiful, the clubs are good.”

Of course, nipping in and out of Moscow for one gig wouldn’t be particularly efficient, so instead the trip becomes a mini-tour. “We’d do Russia in 10 days, with 4 or 5 shows – we’d be playing towns the size of Glasgow you’ve never heard of!”

And when he’s not doing that, Stevie will, like his show, continue to blur the boundaries between old-school dance, eclectic mixes and Xfm’s indie fare. As he says, “It’s about striking a nice balance – and it’s like anything else – you can have too much of one thing!”

Stevie Sole can be heard on Xfm Scotland on Friday evenings / Saturday mornings, from 3.00-6.00am.