When the 60-year-old occasional DJ Derrick May faced multiple allegations three years ago of sexual abuse, he had three options available in response. He could have admitted to the allegations, denied them and come out fighting – or he could have said nothing at all.
Bizarrely, May chose option three – only issuing a meek denial via his solicitor of choice Kyle J Dupuy. The result? May was effectively ostracised from large swathes of the dance music world – but there are an increasing number of forces who seem more determined than ever to bring him back into the scene.
Anyone reading Ears To The House will be totally unsurprised by this – his manager Hagi Craig is known in the industry as a tough boss who demands results from the DJs she represents. New Zealand based Mike Weston is also no doubt looking for a return on the sizeable investment that he’s made into Project Derrick May – which is understood to be well into five figures.
Earlier this year, the mischievous Michael James broke the news that Derrick May was desperately trying to put together what was dubbed the “European Coming Back Tour”. Our sources in Detroit recently told us the man himself was “disappointed” with the way it had panned out – witheringly compared Juan Atkins bringing him to a local gig as the equivalent of “a sympathy s**g”.
However, May’s flagging tour has received something of a boost with the news he’ll be appearing alongside the likes of Deborah De Luca, the cup-chucking Maceo Plex, and maker of weeks-long remixes Ricardo Villalobos at Sonus in August…
Quite what the DJs in question think of appearing alongside May remains to be seen – and rest assured we will be making enquiries – but at least this is a step up from his even more dubious Uzbekistan appearance in the same month. To the best of our knowledge, Croatia doesn’t boil prisoners to death or subject them to sexual torture.
Tellingly, May’s name was only released in the third – and what we believe to be the final wave of the line-up’s release. Not exactly the most ringing endorsement by the Croatian festival…
The Saturday Recap returns next week.
