Issue 041
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Can we start with your first musical<br />
memories, have you always been<br />
into music?<br />
My first or should I say earliest musical memory has<br />
to be all the time I spent with my dad and his vinyl<br />
collection. I must have only been 10 years of age and my<br />
dad had what me and my sisters called the sacred middle<br />
cupboard in a large sideboard full of records. We would<br />
spend hours just talking and playing records from the likes<br />
of Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Eurhythmics, Diana Ross<br />
even Bruce Springsteen and ZZ Top.<br />
I guess you could say I’ve been surrounded by<br />
music from an early age and there was always music been<br />
played in the house whilst growing up at home. My older<br />
sister would play mix tapes and use to attend raves around<br />
the north east such as Galactica, Dreamscape, Lick and<br />
frequently went to Back2Basics and The Orbit in Leeds and<br />
Morley. She would always share details of her night out and<br />
stories over breakfast, it just mesmerised me at a young<br />
age.<br />
What first got you into dance music?<br />
What first got me into dance music was a friend DJing<br />
in front of me at his house, we’d spend many weekends<br />
hanging out and I was just fascinated with watching him DJ<br />
and mix records together. I asked him to teach me a few<br />
basics and actually didn’t own any records or turntables at<br />
the time, so it was always his music and his decks where I<br />
learnt how to DJ.<br />
I very quickly got the bug and jumped at the<br />
chance of buying his turntables when he offered to sell them<br />
to me. So I learn beat matching on a par of KAM belt drive<br />
turntables with a hand full of records. My go-to mix was Joe<br />
Inferno – Tribal Church and Pan Position – Elephant Paw, oh<br />
the memories.<br />
What was your first DJ gig?<br />
My first DJ gig was at the tender age of 17 and was<br />
in Scarborough North Yorkshire in a nightclub called Toffs.<br />
The club agreed to let me play as my sister’s boyfriend knew<br />
the owner and managed to secure me a performance. I was<br />
so nervous and made a few mistakes, but after playing<br />
maybe a short forty five minute set I couldn’t wait for<br />
another opportunity to play in front of a crowd and be back<br />
in a club. I’ll never forget getting changed in a car park as<br />
my sister was still at work, grabbed my records and headed<br />
to the club. My sister did eventually join us and didn’t miss<br />
my set. I have so much to thank her for.<br />
Soul, Funk and Hip-Hop. This was the start of collecting a<br />
vast array of music and opened my eyes to many different<br />
genres and artists. I was moved to Leeds after a few years<br />
to launch a brand new venue opening The Alchemist and<br />
have been with The Alchemist for several years now. Whilst<br />
being resident in Leeds I’ve had the pleasure of playing for<br />
Tattu and The Ivy, I’ve also played rooftop parties had many<br />
guest appearances and the opportunity to help with<br />
promotions for Verve Clique, Moet, Smirnoff, Absolute,<br />
Magners, Brew Dog.<br />
Manchester is such a great scene and I’m honored<br />
to have had five years down there playing across the city.<br />
My favourite place to play was on the quayside of The<br />
Alchemist Media City Salford Quays. It just such a musically<br />
educated city and the crowd is very much open to new music<br />
as well as the classics that came from the Hacienda days.<br />
My all-time musical highlight was playing for<br />
Defected in Croatia, such an amazing experience that I will<br />
never forget. I travelled out there in 2019 and was one of a<br />
select few who got given the opportunity to play the terrace.<br />
Very daunting playing whilst some of my musical heroes are<br />
listening. I vividly remember Masters At Work, Nightmares<br />
On Wax, Luke Solomon all eating whilst I was playing. But a<br />
firm handshake from Simon Dunmore at the end of my set is<br />
a moment that will stay with me forever.<br />
You have recently taken over as<br />
resident DJ at Sotano’s in York. How<br />
did that come about?<br />
One name needs to mentioned here and that’s Marc<br />
Harvey aka DJ Kodi Kooch, it was Marc that asked if myself<br />
and close friend Alex Malam if we could cover a night in<br />
Sotano’s. Obviously we agreed to help Marc out and went<br />
down to play the basement. This was short notice so the<br />
night didn’t even have a name and very little promotion had<br />
been done as we had about two days to prepare.<br />
After playing the night that was only meant to be a<br />
cover gig, we were invited to a meeting with owner Andy<br />
Kennedy who also owns the street level bar Kennedys where<br />
Marc is resident. It was during this meeting with Andy that<br />
he mentioned that the staff, and himself, had liked our style<br />
of music, alongside our professional approach and attitude.<br />
So this is where Juiced was born and a very quick decision<br />
between me and Alex to name the night and set it up as a<br />
brand. We did an official launch party back in December<br />
2023 and have been running the night together on the last<br />
Saturday of the month. Guest so far include, Atari Safari<br />
(Manchester), HLN (Manchester), Al Bradley - 3AM<br />
Recordings (Leeds), Darren Stewart – Soul Room Records<br />
(Stirling), Sam Pratt & Seth Chohan – ABB (Leeds).<br />
Any personal highlights?<br />
I’ve been fortunate enough to have very good<br />
residencies in Whitby, York, Leeds and Manchester. I started<br />
playing in a café bar called Java in Whitby, a very low-key<br />
intimate party just playing records to friends. This led to<br />
guest appearances at club nights in my home town Whitby.<br />
After moving to York to teach Music I was introduced to a<br />
music agency that was looking for DJ’s. I joined the roster of<br />
DJ’s in York and played regularly at the infamous The<br />
Livingroom, I also had a residency at Vudu playing RnB,<br />
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