“We are incredibly honoured to be working with Ace Records to bring out this compilation to celebrate our first 10 years. Right from the start, Ace and its subsidiary label Kent were a huge inspiration for us. We finished our first set in The Bunker with a Kent record, ‘You Hit Me (Right Where It Hurt Me)’ by Alice Clark, one of the finest pieces of music ever produced. Listening to it now, it brings back all of the memories of the past 10 years. Long live northern soul. Long live DNSC. Long live Ace Records. KTF.” – Deptford Northern Soul Club
2026 marks 10 years of London-based club night Deptford Northern Soul Club. Childhood friends Will Foot and Lewis Henderson, whose early love of soul developed after discovering Lewis’ Dad’s record collection, started DNSC a decade ago at Deptford’s Bunker Club in South East London. Since then, they have taken the hugely popular club-night all over the UK, performing at festivals such as Glastonbury, Green Man and End of the Road, and in iconic public arts institutions like Tate Modern, Southbank Centre and Manchester International Festival.
Whether behind the decks, dancing out front, or in discussion, their sheer love and passion for soul is infectious, as is the spark of friendship and mutual musical appreciation between the two of them. Thirty-two years old but with old heads on their sharply dressed young shoulders, they have emerged as the new face of Northern Soul, bringing the movement back into the conversation of modern dance music.
Over the past 6 years, DNSC has held residencies at London’s infamous Moth Club and at The Pink Room at YES in Manchester. They have also built up followings outside of London and Manchester, taking their party to some of the UK’s most well-known clubs and venues, such as, Sneaky Pete’s (Edinburgh), Concord 2 (Brighton), The Menagerie (Belfast), Belgrave Music Hall (Leeds), Zerox (Newcastle), Hare & Hounds (Birmingham), Lost Horizon (Bristol) and Faith in Strangers (Margate), to name a few.
Will and Lewis pride themselves on having cultivated a community and culture to their club-nights, where people forge their own experience with the genre and fall in love with some of the best music ever cut to wax, over a sound system that leaves noting to be desired – so, it might not be quite what you’d expect from a typical Northern Soul night, it isn’t like stepping back into the past, it’s like the music stepping forward into 21st century, with all the benefits of modern audio fidelity, bringing it back to where it deserves to be heard, in a very moving and dance-oriented way.
