Bruce Castle

Bruce Castle started in 1980 in the youth club behind the park they're named after, where Wesley Pryce ran the Tuesday band night like a football training session: be on time, learn your part, no solos until you've earned one. Wesley plays a sunburst bass with his thumb like he's knocking on a door; Glenroy Mattis works the front of the stage like a boxer; Neil Ferreira chops his guitar chords so short they're barely there. Kwame Asante plays congas barefoot, Rhona Kelly's Prophet does the brass stabs the horn section can't reach, and Gary Stannard keeps his Spurs scarf tied to the hi-hat stand.

Then there's the horns. Paul Nwosu on trumpet and Colin Beadle on sax were the tightest two-man section in North London, and everyone knew it — they played Bruce Castle's gigs and half the funk sessions in town, including Honor Oak's records in 1985. Bruce Castle Park is the one they open with; Saturday At The Royalty is the all-dayer in Southgate; Caister Bound is the coach to the soul weekender on the Norfolk coast. Glenroy's little half-brother Dwayne used to sit on the amp at rehearsals; he grew up to be a drummer too.