Disko Kids MIXTAPE - En Brogue
Fashion journalist Hannah Rochell's En Brogue blog and IG feed has been one of our favourites since we found her earlier this year. She features all sorts of footwear from Trainers to Boots covering both style & comfort. Being a massive lover of trainers since my teenage years & the person who would arrive to DJ in a pair of heels - then change into trainers as soon as I got behind the decks - I absolutely love her blog and feed & choices of footwear.
Hannah is also a beautiful illustrator & has a number of books under her belt.
Love Fashion // Love Shoes // Hate Heels and The Trainers Guide All available from Amazon
We can't go without mentioning her ace dog 'Grenson' who regularly features on her feed ❤️
AND we are also a little bit excited to be collaborating with her in the coming months on a T-shirt - watch this space ...
You can follow Hannah // En Brogue here
Facebook // Instagram // En Brogue Website
Here's Hannah's 10 tracks that she would add to her 'Mixtape'. You can listen to all her chosen tracks over on our YouTube channel here.
What was the first record / CD you ever bought?
The first album that was all mine, not a hand-me-down or recording from my older brother, was True Blue by Madonna. My mum had taken my brother and I to Woolworths to buy a cassette each to play in our Walkmans on our summer camping holiday in France. I remember trying to decide for AGES whether to get True Blue, or Michael Jackson’s Bad, and regretting my choice almost immediately. About a week later I developed an obsession with Michael Jackson that would lead to him making up most of my record collection; there was a brilliant second-hand record store in my home town where I would spend all my pocket money on anything with a Jackson name on it. I still have all of it, as well as a life-size cardboard cut-out of Michael. We brought that down from my parents’ attic and displayed it in the window when he died!
What was the first gig you went to?
This is niche. I went to see Roachford (remember him?) at Portsmouth Guildhall when I was 12. It was such a big deal because I lived on the Isle of Wight and had to get the ferry there and back. I remember what I wore too - a red T-shirt, black trousers with black braces (probably from Tammy Girl) and my school shoes, which were black Dr Martens. I’d still wear that now!
Party out or Kitchen Disco?
100% Kitchen Disco. I’m very good at getting people dancing at a house party! You can be way more silly with your moves...
Talk us through your mixtape - What’s each track / artist and why its on your Mixtape?
Track 1 High Heeled Sneakers - Tommy Tucker
I stopped wearing heels completely about 7 years ago and write a blog about flat shoes, so it always makes me giggle that this is one of my favourite songs! I always loved the cover of it that the band plays in the film Quadrophenia, but the old Tommy Tucker version is my favourite.
Track 2 Get On The Floor - Michael Jackson
I had to include something from Michael, but it was a tough decision! As I’ve got older my favourite songs by him have changed, and I fell back in love with this particular song about 5 years ago when I started taking bass lessons. I’d played for years, but was completely self-taught and had decided to get some real knowledge! My teacher, Dave, used this track as one for me to try some new skills and I realised just how brilliant it is. The bass player was an absolute legend called Louis Johnson, who was also responsible for the amazing riff on Michael McDonald’s I Keep Forgettin’, later sampled on Warren G’s regulate. I also LOVE that Michael laughs half way through the recording.
Track 3 Groove Is In The Heart - Deee Lite
Because a playlist isn’t a playlist if you don’t include the song most likely to get you up on a dance floor, right?!
Track 4 Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Before I became a Britpop stereotype in 1994, I really loved American alternative music, and in particular Red Hot Chili Peppers because I fancied myself as a surfer. In fact, I had all the gear and no idea, but it was a nice idea. Give It Away reminds me of when some friends and I formed a girl band and asked a band if we could play something in their break at a party. It turned out their guitarist was left handed and our drummer was too drunk to play, the singer and I played this. It then transpired once we’d started that she didn’t know any of the words!
Track 5 The Only One I Know - The Charlatans
My brother used to give me his old cassettes to record his albums on to. One time, I actually bothered to listen to what he had already recorded before I taped over it, and the first song on the cassette was this. I LOVED IT. So I started my recording after this song and it always played before Pearl Jam started. It was my first insight into a British music scene that eventually completely usurped the American bands I liked.
Track 6 Kinky Afro - The Happy Mondays
The first festival I went to was Reading ’94. I didn’t really know anything about festivals, other than the original Isle of Wight festivals which hadn’t been resurrected at that point, but I was hanging out with a new set of friends who already had tickets, and there was one going spare. It was such a great experience, and something that stands out is us dancing outside a clothes shop at 4am which was playing Kinky Afro. I think it was the first time I felt really independent - like I could cope with being an adult!
Track 7 I Am The Resurrection - The Stone Roses
I met my husband at university and we really bonded over our love of two things: dogs and music. We hasn’t been going out for very long and were in a pub that was playing I Am The Resurrection on the jukebox. There is a radio edit of the song, but the longer album version is better because the bass player Mani really wigs out at the end. There’s always a moment when you don’t know if it’s going to just end and be the radio edit, or if the wig out is going to happen. We didn’t discuss it but at that point just looked at each other with anticipation both thinking the same thing - and then both broke into huge smiles when we realised it was the long version. I knew he was a keeper at that moment!
Track 8 For Tomorrow - Blur
Blur are my favourite band. I got really, properly into them when I was 17 and they introduced me to a whole scene of Fred Perry tops, vintage cords and adidas sneakers that is still present in my wardrobe today. It’s no exaggeration to say that Blur shaped my personal style, and still do. I’ve chosen For Tomorrow because much of it is about London, and I love the black and white video (also filmed in London) with Damon in his turned up jeans and Dr Martens cherry reds. Whenever I hear this song I’m reminded of the girl in the sixth form who dreamed of living in London one day. I didn’t get here until four years later, but I’ve been here for nearly twenty years now, and in that time I’ve managed to interview Damon Albarn (randomly about honey, not music!) and meet Alex James so many times that he actually says hello to me!
Track 9 20/20 - Gaz Coombes
I recently had the opportunity to tell Gaz that this is in my top 5 songs of all time when I met him after a gig. Unfortunately, I may have had a few glasses of wine and called it 50/50 by accident. Either way, he was an absolute gent. His voice is sublime and this is one of those songs that always gives me goose bumps.
Track 10 Blackbird - The Beatles
My dad is a musician and I spent much of my childhood watching him play gigs in pubs (this might explain why I am so good at sleeping in noisy environments!). I have memories of my dad playing Blackbird on his acoustic guitar in the garden. Actually, he still does!
You can follow Hannah here
