My choice of career still holds a certain amount of fascination with some people (and family members!) If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard the expressions, “It’s not a proper job” or “How can you call that work?” I would probably have a brand new van. And even more speakers.
I’m not sure anyone sets out to become a mobile DJ…you just kind of fall into it, and fall in love with it over time, and eventually you realise that it makes you way happier than the drudgery of your 9-5 office job. And people actually pay you a wage for doing it. So, where did it begin…?
For me, it probably started in a front room of an Edwardian terraced house in East Ham, circa 1982. It was my aunt’s place, and my cousin and I would make a beeline for his older brother’s 12″ record collection, which was pretty much all soul and jazz funk. Up went the lid of the Hitachi stack system and we’d spend hours listening to his latest purchases (often before he did!) Somehow, and definitely influenced by East London culture at the time, we progressed to buying hiphop singles and albums of our own, including the incredible StreetSounds series of ‘Electro’ tracks. My cousin was a pretty adept body-popper and breakdancer, whereas I was more of an enthusiastic spectator, although I did achieve a fairly good moonwalk. Well, I thought so…
Professional Music Equipment For DJ, Live Performance, Scratch and Playing Vinyl Records
My cousin managed to get hold of a couple of vari-speed hi-fi turntables and a little two channel DJ mixer and that pretty much sealed our fate. Whilst he was clearly the frontrunner in mixing and scratching (with a 2p piece on the stylus arm to stop the track skipping), I was interested in building a set using more than just hip-hop and electro tunes. I dug deeper into his brother’s collection, and that’s probably where my affection for all things Disco comes from. Earth Wind & Fire, Dan Hartman, Chic, Candi Staton…all dance floor fillers even to this day.
Fast-forward to 1988 and a chance meeting with a mobile DJ from Walthamstow gave me the leg-up and inspiration I needed to start my own journey in professional DJing. Within just 18 months, I’d managed to buy myself a pair of Technics 1210 Mk2 decks (thanks, credit card!), a decent mixer and some basic lighting. Every night after work, I’d be slaving over a pair of hot decks in my bedroom, practising my technique and taping the results for the car stereo the next day!
And that’s it, really. Totally hooked. And still loving it 44 years later.
