Superstar DJs revealed for Skin Côntact post-gig dancefloor battle

By Mathew Lyons

Published: 12 February, 2016

Tickets for the eagerly anticipated return of Skin Côntact, unarguably the UK wine-trade's pre-eminent rock and pop band, are now on sale.

The band's début last year at London's Vinopolis raised over £10,000 for Wine Relief, the wine trade's fundraising initiative for Comic Relief.

New to the Côtes du Rhône-supported event this year is a post-gig DJ battle to keep the dancefloor busy until midnight.

Battling it out on the wheels of steel will be Neal Martin, wine writer for eRobertParker.com and Dan Keeling of the Noble Rot magazine and wine bar.

Keeling is a music industry veteran. Working in A&R at EMI he signed Coldplay to the label, and also DJ-ed at events ranging from Tribal Gathering to Rolling Stones concerts.

Keeling said: "Back in the day, DJs would fight to the death armed with nothing more than two turntables, a mixer and a bag of 12 inches. Now it's the turn of Leigh-On-Sea's finest vs The Dance Floor Destroyer."

Not to be cowed, Martin responded: "A DJ Battle is like Game of Thrones but with vinyl 12-inches instead of axes. Trust me, vinyl cuts deeper. There's gonna be blood.

"I'm serious," he added. "Keeling's going down."

The brainchild of wine writer Richard Hemming MW, Skin Côntact will be performing at Islington's 02 Academy on Thursday, May 12.

The opportunity to sing on stage with Skin Côntact is open to everyone in the wine trade.

To enter, all you need to do is submit a short recording of yourself singing one of three songs.

Skin Contact logo

More details are available on the Skin Côntact website.

The closing date for entries is February 26.

Côtes du Rhône wines are once again the official partners for the event, and the evening will begin with an exclusive Côtes du Rhône tasting.

Agnès Heller of Inter-Rhône, said: "Last year's concert was truly the wine trade event of the year, and we are so pleased to be part of it once again for Comic Relief.

"Everyone who went last year must be desperate to be part of Richard's line-up. In fact, as sponsor I think I should be given first consideration..."

Tickets for the evening cost £20 plus booking fee and 100% of the face value goes to Wine Relief.

To order your tickets, click here.

"Last year, we raised nearly £11,000 and we hope to beat that in 2016," Hemming said.

"It's the wine trade party of the year again, and everyone's invited. Again!"

Full interviews with the night's rival DJs can be accessed via the Skin Côntact website, including the inside story on how Keeling wrote the bassline to Billie Jean and the behind-the-scenes battle for the right to play The Frog Chorus by Paul McCartney on the night.

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