A chronological brief of my djing life so far

1970. My nan lived in Alum Rock and in her house I remember there being a record player and a toast rack type record rack full of seven inch vinyl.I can recall a few of the titles, there was Bobby Darin multiplication (a disc my mom bought dad in there courting days), Little Eva the locomotion, the Everly brothers cathy's clown and Elvis king creole amongst many other gems....  

 

1978.Music continues to be ever present during my formative years.My big sister Denny had a binatone record player and collection of her own. It was a girls collection, Andrew Gold Lonely boy, George Benson stuff, 10 cc the things we do for love.My favourite from my sisters collection was E.L.O "Sweet talkin woman" a track thats still played to this day....

 

1979. 2 TONE explodes into the hit parade.The specials release their album and a little rude boy is born.Every saturday i visit Tradeindisc records on the Alum Rock RD.( just down from the capital picture house) I'm buying anything ska, early ub40 (one in ten, the earth dies screaming).All punctuated by hours on the space invaders machine that stood and acted like a lighthouse for lost teenagers throughout our district.  

1981.Mom and dad are periodically having little parties in our house.I find that its me thats choosing the records to keep their parties rocking...

1982 I buy my fisrt bit of dj kit.Its a Dave double decks type all in one affair.£350 out of Kays catalogue.All rotary controls without any pitch control....

 

1983I'm lined up to play my first party for friends of my mom and dad.The lighting is legendary.Its a box i have hand built, there are flashing fairy lights behind a frosted perspex screen at the top where my phone number is displayed and at the bottom are some flashing road work beacons borrowed from a skip of the waswood heath rd.My dad drives me to the gig in his Morris Marina coupe....The gig is a disaster, loads of feedback that couldn't be corrected  due to my inexperience..The couple of beers that were supposed to give me some dutch courage soon lost effect.By the end of the night i was sat in the corner of the room with tears in my eyes and my dreams shatered...

 

1984. I FInd myself getting vital experience in local youth clubs.Pj's on hodge hill common was the big one.Electro music was the flavour of the day, all of us were heavily into breakdancing and popping.It was the time of our lives and I was the dj. Everything was starting to fall into place.....

 

 

1985.I start djing at a local social club.Its every sunday evening, its real "dave double decks" stuff. It was my job to to keep the family audience entertained after the bingo finished.It was where I learned my trade.I'm so grateful to Denise Willis who got me the gig and to the club who kept me there for 3 years....

1986.I get the gig of a lifetime at our local pub, the Fox and Goose in Washwood heath.Its the pub my mates and I frequent on a regular basis.When your 19 its like a dream to get paid for playing music to your mates whilst drinking free beer...The sytem we used there was so naf.It consisted of the old faithful twin decks  I got from the catalogue and a guitar combo amp I had aquired from my sisters boyfriend.It all sounded reasonable to be fair but was a nightmare to mix or scratch on...It was around 1988 /1989 when I was introduced to Peter Smallwood, a young kid from down the round who happened to be dating one of  the girls from our crowd.He was into djing so I got him to cover for me when I was on holiday.He had better decks than me(soundlab belt drives) so it made sense to form some kind of partnership.Club 6 The Entertainment Factor was born.Peter would play more house music and generally the more credable side of things, that left classics and commercial stuff for me, it worked a treat and we had the time of our lives.We were there when music was at its finest for dj's, acid house, stone roses,De la soul, tribe called quest, young mc etc etc.Between 86 and 92 we thrived playing to our mates and selling our mix tapes until finally we moved aside to let the next man and his cd's take over....

1990.Between 88 and 94 club 6 sqeezed in as many dodgy mobile jobs as we could.It seemed that we had played every pub and soial club in Birmingham.During this time we were always trying to get that elusive break through gig in a more credable city center venue.In those days we were naive and didn't realize that the djing community was so tightly sewn up with close networks.We chipped away playing at Sarah Moons, Metropolis,Cuddles to name but a few.Reluctantly in 95 I hung up my headphones to get married and settle down in my three bedroom semi....

2000.I' m settling into my new job at Hard To Find Records and finding it difficult to resist the temptation to spend my wages on records.

2001.Kate Hutton(a mate from work) ropes me into playing at a broad street venue.Kate seems to think that my dodgy record collection and ability to use a mic would compliment the theme of their 80's soul revival night.

2002.My djing mate Peter Smallwood formed a dj collective called bleu light special. The outfit had been playing at various places and was just about to embark on a new project at CHI, Newhall street in town.Old funk the finest beats and seven inch treats(thats what the flyers read).For a couple of months it was a great gig, the venue full to capacity, a great vibe with the coolest of cats and foxiest chicks in attendance.As that night faded with the arrival of the almost inevitable "wrong crowd" my focus shifted.....