Steve Baker is a vicar's son and a DJ. Maybe, then, it was inevitable that he should be the driving force behind Abundant, the Christian-run nightclub currently packing 'em in under the arches near Waterloo. Maybe not. Karl Allison spoke to him to find out.

Steve Baker
Steve Baker

"My father died when I was 16 - so that was God out of the window for a while. I started deejaying with a mobile in Sussex. I taught myself 'cos the whole deejaying thing was practically non-existent then." We're talking 1986 here.

Steve moved to London in '89 and quickly worked his way up from small college gigs to the famous Options club in Kingston (home of many a Radio 1 DJ guest slot) and eventually to playing the Brixton Academy for 5000 people. Then came the rave scene and Steve toured the country doing raves both legal and otherwise.

Steve became a Christian in 1991. Some of the friends he'd somehow retained from his earlier days invited him to help at a CYFA camp and God didn't miss the chance! "Within two weeks, another old friend asked me to deejay these raves he was running in Bournemouth. I went there expecting it to be rubbish but loads of kids became Christians and I started to get a vision to see dance music used. We started doing experimental services and one of them really gave me inspiration because we were using dance music and the Holy Spirit was so powerfully there."

Abundant is the result of this vision. It's connecting Steve's new faith with Steve's old friends. "I think we're somewhere between the church and the world. I've got so many friends in clubland who are so lonely and disappointed. I just want people to come to our club and enjoy themselves."

Anyone going to Abundant for the first time might be surprised at the choice of music: disco/boogie/Latin in one room, gospel garage in the other. "We want to be upfront and on the forefront of the evolving culture. The whole job of the DJ is to meet people where they're at then try to further their understanding of the music. It's blending in the familiar with the unfamiliar. It's about progressing."  CR

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