There aren’t many big beasts from the early days of house music still left – many left the stage many years ago, for reasons as varied as the day is long. This probably shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point – let’s not forget that house music is nearing 40 years of age by now.

One of house music’s bigger beasts in terms of just how impact he had over the years was Simon Dunmore. Whilst many know him as the founder of Defected and its owner until last year, he has a longer history in dance music than that – beginning at the EMI-owned Cooltempo back in 1989.

Having sold Defected to Wez Saunders in a management buyout in the summer of 2022, Dunmore cut all associations with the company he founded back in March this year. But when someone like Dunmore did something, people in the business noticed – and rest assured many were taking notes in the process.

And with the latest news coming out of Nervous in recent days, Ears To The House can’t help but wonder if label boss Mike Weiss was amongst those making observations…

Andrew Salsano has been appointed to the grandly titled Vice President of the label – but from what we gather, it’s a pretty accurate description of his role. Mike Weiss has now been the founder and president of Nervous since 1991 – so does this appointment mean that there could soon be a vacancy at the top?

A New York source says we should exercise caution on this idea, saying “Firstly, congratulations to Andrew for his promotion. He’s a hard-working man, and he deserves this job. The idea that he’s somehow being lined up to replace Mike at some point is amusing, and it might even be true in the long term, but I don’t think it’s the case right now. I’ve known Mike since the 80s, and I don’t think he’s ready to go anywhere just yet.”

Whatever Weiss decides to do in the future, his legacy looks set to be solid – in comparison to Nervous, virtually none of the other house music labels founded back in 1991 are around today…