John Stapleton

Field Trip
Monthly, Wednesday 1-3pm
World, World Music, Afrobeat, Funk, Psychedelic

Field Trip explores the storage room of a vinyl obsessive – from West African funk to South African jazz to U.S. funk, with occasional diversions to the cupboards of psychedelia, soul, and rocksteady. Always vinyl, always original, often crackly. Each show will also feature a guest mix from a different collector every time.

John Stapleton has been DJing and promoting gigs and clubnights in his home town of Bristol for over three decades – from mod nights in the 1980s to hip hop and rare groove, acid house, acid jazz, breakbeat, funk, and Northern Soul.

He has shared a stage with artists as diverse as Roy Ayers, GOAT, Charles Bradley, and Femi Kuti; He’s DJed around the world from Iceland to Australia, and played regularly at festivals: Glastonbury, WOMAD and Shambala amongst others.

He compiled the groundbreaking ‘Dope on Plastic’ LPs for React Music (selling over 250,000 copies), and also 8 LPs for the Harmless label.

For the last few years, he’s concentrated more and more on collecting and playing the heaviest Afrobeat and Afrofunk records in their original releases – strictly vinyl, no reissues or bootlegs… Since 2009, he’s also co-run Bristol’s finest vintage record shop – Wanted Records.