I actually listened to this as an audio book, but I think reading it may have helped me soak up the experience more. As one of club culture's most notorious - and best loved - figures, Tony is a complete force of nature.

DJ Fat Tony has been described as ‘the closest thing that club culture has to a national treasure’ and the ‘unlikely cult hero of quarantine’. I’d give this book to every single one of my party people and dare them to not find themselves in these pages. I Don’t Take Requests, the memoir by Tony Marnoch – known as DJ Fat Tony – published by Coronet in May 2022 has won the inaugural Book Award at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards. Drawing a vivid portrait of Britain’s street culture from the 1980’s to the noughties, House music legend Fat Tony describes his childhood on a London estate where he honed his petty criminality, was abused by an older man, and became best friends with Boy George. Also the full turning of the circle with sobriety and Tony now sponsoring other addicts through their journey is a fitting end, as what appears to be a spiritual life now.Towards the end of the book, Tony talks about how he still likes to sometimes portray himself as an unlikeable person (not exactly the word he uses. I used to think, oh I’m not getting on with them because they’re not like me, but thank God there’s no more people like me! Up until that point, I was just listening to music, but when acid house came along I was actually feeling the music. His sense of humour which is laced throughout the book, really helps the reader navigate these difficult topics, whilst never cheapening any of the sensitive points he makes.

Bar his commitment to sponsor others as part of his own recovery, it doesn't sound like he has ever once done a good deed or a nice thing for another human being, there wasn't one example of empathy or kindness. Previously, he's also shared his story with SHOWstudio in a video interview, and joined poet Sonny Hall in a conversation on sobriety. My friend had a key to open the back door for VIPs, and we went in and we were like “wow”, it was this incredible space with fountains and we were blown away.It’s a dangerous game where you make people feel sorry for you instead of taking responsibility for yourself. magazine in 2021, he said: “It got to the stage where I’d pull my teeth out of my mouth with my bare fingers or pry them out with a screwdriver. Such was the chat over lunch with Fat Tony (aka Tony Marnach) three years ago that culminated with his memoir, I Don’t Take Requests, out this week. Everyone was there for the same music, everyone was there to dance, and they were there to take whatever it was that they wanted to take.

He now compartmentalises his career into 'before' and 'after' his recovery, saying he was only getting bookings at the height of his addiction 'out of loyalty'. So to arrive on the tail end of Studio 54 closing, but then Palladium opening and Area - and all of these incredible clubs. Here he tells the most extraordinary stories of depravity and hedonism, of week-long benders and extreme self-destruction—and of recovery, redemption, friendship and the joy of a good tune.They will be delving into the writing process, Tony’s life and no doubt, making hilarious anecdotes along the way. I picked this book up in Waterstones during a thunderstorm, and ended up reading it purely because I didn't have anything else to do except wait for the rain to stop.

Over the years Tony has worked weekly in the Trade lite lounge as well as The Voodoo Lounge and Twisted UK, and has held regard residencies at Crash and Heaven. Anyone can get a party started, but no one keeps it going like Fat Tony, the energy never dips and what a life he’s lived.I admire his bravery in writing such an unvarnished memoir and not hiding or minimizing events in which he was less than kind. Instead, we went about it in reverse: first writing the synopsis, then finding the agent, and finally the publisher. Deconstructing a life 'built around destruction' wasn't easy, he says because many of the friends in his life at that time facilitated his addiction continuing.