Radio DJ Clint Boon goes back to college

Clint Boon outside Rochdale campus

Former Inspiral Carpets keyboardist Clint Boon recently took a swagger down memory lane at Hopwood Hall College when filming part of a promotional tour of his past for his new drive show at XS Manchester.

As a former Fine Art student at Hopwood Hall’s Rochdale campus, the Oldham born musician and DJ revisited the college for a nostalgic look back at the rooms and hallways where his path to music success began.

“The college was a bit of a revelation for me.” explained Boon. “I didn’t really enjoy High School, I felt like new ideas and creativity were slightly stifled there.”

“When I came to the college in ‘75, they really embraced creativity and new thinking and I really feel like it expanded my mind. Careers advisers had a lot of unimaginative career choices for you, which I really wasn’t interested in. So moving to the college helped me express individuality and tap into the Punk Rock scene which was starting to impact young people then.”

Wandering down the corridors he and his friends used to roam 40 years ago brought back memories of listening to radical new music such as the Ramones, experimenting with new visual and audio technology and skidding into the car park on his moped as he ran late for lessons.

One of his highlights was revisiting a small, unassuming room (now a store cupboard for the Fine Art department’s equipment) where he first used a synthesizer for the first time in his life, kicking off a love affair that would eventually see him play keyboard in one of Manchester’s most famous bands.

"I had a tutor called Julian, and on the upper floor in this tiny room he had a synthesizer. We'd never seen one before and it was a machine that would let you create all sorts of sounds. That was the first time I ever gained experience using a synth, it's bit a big moment looking back."