Dave Lloyd – My First Rally

I’ve known of Dave for a few years but only met him relatively recently.  I know him best as a scooter rally DJ, who has produced some amazing mixes which I play in my own sets.  He loves funky dance music and I can boogie to it all night,  even if I’m not familiar with the songs he’s playing – they are just all brilliant! He does play other genres, including Northern Soul and indie, and is sometimes part of the Darkside crew.

Like many of my first rally interviewees, he got into scooters in the early 80s and his first rally was the same as mine!  That’s not all we have in common, but you’ll have to read more below to find out what that is.

These days Dave DJs both in the UK and abroad, having played most recently at Meltdown (his favourite ever gig, in the Darkside room with Terry, Loz and Chevy) and in Germany at the disco rally there.

He ran a scooter workshop with a mate a few years ago and still restores scooters,  with some lovely examples below.

Anyway, enough of the intro.  Here’s the story of Dave’s first rally…

Dave Lloyd – My First Rally

How did you first get into scooters?

I was living in Cambridge around the summer of 79 and there were a couple of lads that lived up the road who were into the mod revival thing and had Lambrettas.

What was your first scooter rally?

Weymouth 83

What did you ride?

I borrowed my mate’s brother’s PX and rode down with him.  I was living just outside Swindon so it was about 85 miles.

What job did you have?  

I was still at school at the time, but I had a part time job which I’d saved some money for the rally. I think I took about £25.

Where did you stay when you were there?

My mate’s brother (the responsible adult..not) took a tent and we slept in there. I can’t remember where though.

Were you in a club at the time?

No, but later on we had a little club in Wootton Bassett where I used to live which ran for a couple of years from 84-86, the Lost Souls SC.  I used to hang around a lot with the Swindon Incrowd but never joined.  They fizzled away little by little so I used to travel a lot on my own to rallies, and still do, meeting up with people on the way.  There was a resurgence of the Incrowd around 1997 so I started hanging out with them again, and still do.

I’ve also been hanging around with the Speed Demons for the last couple of years – they are like-minded people.

Do you have any memories of the rally itself? 

I have great memories of that rally, and it was a real eye opener, that sense of freedom and belonging.  I remember walking into a packed do (not sure where) and hearing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell and thinking that this is so cool.  I still love that song today.  Getting drunk on cheap beer, first time I’d seen a cutdown….cool as.

Here is Dave on a later scoot, his Lammy chop Strip Naked, wearing a Colonel Kilgore’s Vietnamese Formation Surf Team t-shirt which he still has today.  I still have mine too, and their album!  They totally blew me away at Margate in 86 and if there was ever a band I’d love to see on a rally again then it’s them…  I think they split many years ago though.  Unless Andy SWS or Steve Foster can work their magic…?  If you’ve never heard of them then here’s their website for a brief intro, and they have a few videos on YouTube.

Was the journey home eventful?

No, apart from blagging fuel to get home!

What type of music were you into?

I don’t really have a favourite from that time, and was into allsorts, which I still am. I never liked to be labelled, but I guess one tune that sticks in my mind is Come On Eileen, standing in a field on the IOW and having a singalong with a few thousand other scooterists….happy days.

I guess my love of music was the driving force to getting into DJ’ing.  I must have been about 14 or 15 and used to go to the local youth club on a Friday night where the DJ would play the current chart music or some other stuff that none of the kids really wanted to listen to.  One Friday night I took my box of 7” singles down and asked him if I could play for an hour…. the rest as they say is history!

I was always quite a shy kid (hard to believe now) but getting behind those decks was a revelation, seeing people enjoying themselves was fantastic and still is today.

Here is Dave (bottom left) and his mates in a newspaper clipping from the Isle of Wight in the mid 80s.

What was your favourite custom scooter of that era?

I loved Wake, Little Rascal, Burning Rubber and Disco Connection.

Here is Little Rascal which features in my 80s scooters post, along with many other top custom scoots from that era…

Here’s another shot of Dave’s own custom scooter from the 1980s.

Do you still have a scooter now?  

I’ve got a few!  A Lambretta Series 2, a GP TS1, a Yamaha TMAX, GTS and a MK1 P200.

What do scooters mean to you now?

Scooters / rallies mean as much to me today as they did back then, there’s nothing better than finishing work on a Thursday, packing up the scoot Friday morning and setting off on another adventure whether it be in the UK or Europe. I’ve made so many good friends over the years and will always be grateful for that.

It’s always been fun and I don’t think that will ever change for me.  It still brings a smile to my face, and the day it doesn’t is the day I stop.

Thanks so much for the interview, Dave, and the brilliant 80s photos.  I will forever thank you for introducing me to this footstomping, disco-dazzling 7 minute stormer, which I just can’t sit still to!

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More My First Rally stories

Read more My First Rally stories using these links (in alphabetic order)
– Ali Richards
– Bill Mac
– Dave Lloyd
– Dean Percival
– Dizzy Holmes
– Iggy Grainger
– Jo Jackson
– Lee Parker
– Lee Richards
– Mike Oxley
– Niamh Pennington
– Nick Jolly
– Norrie Kerr
– Roger Williams
– Sandra Smith
– Sarah George
– Sean Robinson
– Stacey Gardner
– Steve Bone
– Sticky
– Stuart Owen
– Vince Wooloff