Tales From A Disappearing City

About Tales From A Disappearing City

Hosted from a South London tower block by Neil Keating aka Controlled Weirdness. Tales from a Disappearing City is a chance for Neil to tell some untold subcultural stories from past and present, joined by friends from his lifelong journey through subterranean London. Neil is a veteran producer and DJ and has been at the front line of all aspects of club and sound system culture since the early 80’s. His musical CV includes playing everywhere from plush clubs to dirty warehouses as well as mixing tunes on a variety of iconic London pirate radio stations. He has released music on numerous underground record labels and was responsible for promoting and playing at a series of legendary early raves in the USA at the start of the 90’s. He still DJ's in the UK and throughout Europe and beyond and has an eclectic and seriously deep collection of music built up over time that reflects an appreciation of all elements of the London groove. Neil currently runs Presence Unknown, a vinyl and digital label dedicated to releasing music influenced by his love of Electro, Acid House and Rave. He also does a fortnightly radio show live from Planet Wax record store in New Cross where his aim as always is to play you some amazing music that you have never heard before.

Publisher

Controlled Weirdness

Category

music · music · music

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Mar 2023

Latest episode

6 May 2026

Latest episodes

33 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   6 May 2026

   Episode 33 - Philip Sallon Analyses Everything - special guest - Philip Sallon

   Send us Fan Mail Welcome to the mind of Philip Sallon, legendary club impresario, the original bin-liner wearer, and the man Johnny Rotten called a friend. In this unflinching, hilarious, and brutally honest conversation, Philip isn't here to mourn the "good old days." He's here to diagnose exactly why London is disappearing and why your favourite club probably deserved to close. From the dance floors of the Sombrero and early punk hangout Club Louise to the birth of the Mud Club, Philip reca...

2. 

   1 Dec 2025

   Episode 32 - Dirty Punk to Holy Joy: 80s and 90s London Stories - special guest - Johny Brown

   Send us a text From a "dirty punk" being shamed in his Newcastle school assembly to sharing a beer with the Sex Pistols, Johny Brown lived the explosive birth of UK punk. But that was only the beginning. In this episode of Tales of a Disappearing City, Johny takes us on a wild journey through underground culture. He recounts jumping out of his window to escape being grounded for a TV appearance, only to be handed a ticket to a Sex Pistols gig in Middlesborough by Steve Jones himself. We follo...

3. 

   23 Jul 2025

   Episode 31 - Strictly Kev & DJ Food - special guest - Kevin Foakes

   Send us a text In this episode, Neil sits down with Kevin Foakes (aka Strictly Kev and DJ Food) - legendary DJ, graphic artist, and archivist of UK counterculture - for a deep dive into four decades of music, raves, graffiti, and psychedelic experimentation. Kevin's journey is a masterclass in underground creativity, spanning from Adam and the Ants fandom to hip-hop graffiti, from acid house squats to Ninja Tune's golden era. After discovering hip-hop through the legendary Subway Art book, h...

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

84,631

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

35

Social presence

94

YouTube

85

Engagement

68

Contact Tales From A Disappearing City

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.