WGR Community Forum

# DJ Selector C – Colosseum / After Dark / North East Rave When documenting the DJs who helped shape the **North East rave sound before the New Monkey era**, one name definitely belongs in the archive: # DJ Selector C Selector C was part of the generation associated with clubs including: **The Colosseum After Dark / After Dark 2** and the fast hardcore, bouncy techno and European rave sound that developed across the North East during the 1990s. His surviving tapes provide some brilliant evidence of what was happening before Makina became the dominant sound for a later generation. ## The Colosseum Selector C is particularly strongly connected with **The Colosseum in Stockton-on-Tees**. One complete surviving recording is: **The Colosseum – 17 February 1996 DJ Selector C** The recording lasts around **1 hour 25 minutes** and remains preserved online. Other surviving Colosseum material includes: **2 December 1995 – DJ Selector C** and: **4 May 1996 – DJ Selector C with MC Attack & MC Techno-T** Another recording from: **15 June 1996** features: **Selector C Full Effect Attack** with: **Techno-T Stompin G-Force Attack** That's an impressive collection of names from the original North East rave generation. ## Selector C & MC Techno-T Another important connection in the surviving archive is between: # DJ Selector C & MC Techno-T A preserved Colosseum recording from **22 March 1997** features: **DJ Selector C DJ Charlie MC Techno-T** This combination of fast rave music and North East MCing is an important part of the region's musical history. Long before the classic New Monkey tapes, DJs and MCs were already developing a distinctive local rave culture. ## After Dark 2 When the Colosseum era ended, many of the DJs and MCs remained active. A contemporary discussion of the scene remembers names including: **DJ NRG Full Effect Attack Stompin Techno-T Selector C G-Force DJ Charlie** moving into the **After Dark 2** period. The music was remembered as a mixture of: **UK Hardcore Scottish Bouncy Techno Dutch Bouncy Techno Italian Dance Spanish Rave European Trance** played at seriously fast tempos. ## Selector C, Excel & Demolition Man We can also document Selector C at After Dark 2 through surviving recordings. One from **26 December 1998** features: **DJ Excel DJ Selector C Demolition Man** with: **MC Jet MC Stompin MC Techno-T** Another surviving After Dark 2 recording from **20 September 1996** features: **DJ Excel DJ Trouble DJ Selector C** with: **MC G-Force MC Attack MC Sweat MC Stompin** These recordings help connect Selector C directly with many of the major names we've already been documenting for the WGR archive. ## Remembered by Richy Ahmed There's also an interesting first-hand memory from North East DJ and producer **Richy Ahmed**. Writing about his earliest club experiences, Ahmed remembered going to After Dark as a teenager. He specifically named: **MC Techno-T MC Stompin DJ Selector C** as performers they would queue up to see. That's a great little piece of evidence because it shows the reputation these DJs and MCs had among the young ravers attending the clubs at the time. ## Before the Makina Explosion Selector C's story is important because it helps explain what came before the New Monkey. The North East already had: **Fast rave music European imports Hardcore Bouncy Techno Trance DJs and MCs performing together Rave tapes circulating around the region** So when Spanish Makina became increasingly important later on, there was already an audience accustomed to fast European dance music. The New Monkey generation didn't appear in isolation. It followed years of North East rave culture. ## Still Representing the Sound Selector C hasn't simply disappeared into the old tape archive either. In **2024**, a surviving SoundScape recording featured: **DJ Scott & Selector C** with: **MC Techno-T & MC Jet** bringing together names from different parts of North East rave history. And in **August 2026**, Selector C appeared at the ECHOƎS charity rave at **Middlesbrough Empire**. The event featured: **Colosseum Classics Bounce & German Trance Makina** with DJs including: **DJ NRG DJ Selector C DJ Cheeze Makina Addicts UK** and MCs including: **Tazo Techno-T Jet Banks Tempo** More than thirty years after those original 1990s rave recordings, the Colosseum sound was still being represented in Teesside. ## Why DJ Selector C Matters Selector C represents an important bridge in North East rave history. His surviving recordings connect him with: **The Colosseum After Dark 2 Techno-T Stompin G-Force Attack Jet NRG Full Effect** and many more. These weren't reconstructed nostalgia sets. The original tapes survive. They allow us to hear what the clubs actually sounded like. And they help explain how the North East developed the distinctive DJ-and-MC culture that would later become such an important part of Makina. --- # Do You Remember DJ Selector C? Did you hear **Selector C at the Colosseum**? Were you at **After Dark 2**? Did you own any of his tapes? We're looking for: **DJ Selector C tapes Colosseum rave packs After Dark tapes Original flyers Tickets Photographs VHS recordings Posters Tracklists Old rave website pages** If you've still got anything, get it posted. We're particularly interested in original material from the **1995–1998 Colosseum and After Dark period**. Every tape, flyer and photograph helps us rebuild another part of the North East rave story. **Weedy Garage Radio – Keeping North East Rave History Alive.**