DJ Life

I played my first gig in the late 70's, when I was just 12, which I have recorded onto cassette – before my voice broke! In my early twenties I played at pubs across London as well as numerous wedding receptions and parties, with my buddy Patrick. We were the resident DJs at the John Bull pub in Chiswick, and we also hosted radio shows at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Roehampton for several years, for the patients and staff.

Fast-forward to now, in my fifties and living in Loveland, Colorado, USA, broadcasting a weekly live radio show "England's Funky Fridays" on Street Sounds Radio and Mixcloud, from 7-9 pm GMT (12-2 pm here in Colorado), from my home studio. I’ve been with Street Sounds since the start of 2023, prior to that my shows aired on stations including DiscoSender, Novum FM and DanceGroove Radio for a total of over ten years.

England's Funky Fridays features a non-stop mix of 80's soul, funk, disco, electro, reggae and rare grooves. You can find every one of my past shows, along with a few fun mixes that I've created over the years at Mixcloud.

I’ve always worked with vinyl. A few years ago I incorporated Serato software/hardware, to hook my laptop up to my turntables and play MP3s using “timecode” records. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities of mixing and scratching.

It’s been great watching the comeback of vinyl. Record pressing facilities are having a tough time keeping up with demand. The most popular record deck series used by DJs over the years, the Technics SL1200, was discontinued in 2010, but due to popular demand the company starting production again in 2016 and is still going strong.

Some like records for nostalgia, some because it offers a deeper bass, others just to have something tangible in their hands as opposed to a download. All I know is, for me, there’s nothing better than spinning records and the smell of album covers from “yester-year”!