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Music throughout the late 80’s/early ’90s shaped everything for me. It was on hearing Marshall Jefferson’s ‘Open our eyes’ on a pirate radio station around 88, that mine were truly opened. That tune and others of the time from the likes of Inner City, Frankie Knuckles, Tony Humphries, The Beloved and Kevin Saunderson all had me hooked to these early forms of House Music.
However, growing up in the Home Counties meant I felt a million miles away from the scene that was gathering serious momentum in the UK.
Like thousands of others, I was reliant on tuning into pirate London-based radio stations such as GLR and Kiss FM to hear the beats I craved and spent countless nights recording shows via the tapedeck of my Hi-Fi becoming highly skilled at stopping tracks when the DJ spoke, rewinding and recording the next track over the top of the existing one. This turned out to be my earliest attempt at mixing.
Unfortunately, when the Acid House scene hit the UK, I was just a bit too young to really fully embrace it but was captivated by the sounds of legends such as 808 State and A Guy Called Gerald. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long to get a piece of the party action, as when the rave scene hit the UK in the 90s, I was ready for it. Attending Telepathy, Dreamscape, Fantazia, Raindance and Spiral Tribe and Exodus free raves took their toll but cemented a lifelong love for electronic music and the scene around it.
My best mate and I dabbled with organising parties during these heady days and made enough money at our first attempt to jointly invest in a set of Technics 1200 decks and full equipment set up, to start our journey as DJs.
Well despite many years of buying vinyl and mixing it – badly, we
never made it beyond our bedrooms.
A year’s travelling trip to Thailand and Australia turned into around eight years away from the UK with me also spending time in NZ, Ireland and Spain. Throughout this time I continued to party and also buy vinyl and have amassed a collection of close to 3000 records. I still own a trusty set of Technics 1200s and love playing vinyl, mainly for old times’ sake but am now converted to the digital age following a lockdown purchase of a Numark controller.
It was during lockdown I discovered the online Club Ready DJ School and the legend that is Andrew Duffield. I enrolled on the course and have never looked back. It systematically taught me the basics and more complex aspects of DJ mixing and inspired me to continually seek ways to hone my skills.
In December 2021, Club Ready Radio founder Dave Townsend posted his ambitions to set up a radio station and I knew I had to be involved.
The Club Ready DJ course and radio station have reignited my passion for music and DJ’ing and you can find me playing old and new house music interspersed with old-school vibes live every Wednesday from 18.00-20.00 www.clubreadyradio.com
For anyone considering the course or the radio station, I’ll refer to the words of a famous shoe brand, Just Do It.
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