I vaguely remember DJing with my friend Gordon as the “Hiroshima Roadshow” in Dysart in Fife at a party while in high school. He played rock while I played punk and new wave with bit of soul too. However, it wasn’t until 1984 at the age of 19 when I reluctantly agreed to DJ at The Garage club in Nottingham that I realised that DJing was what I wanted to do. Although I was part of a band that was doing pretty well, I soon realised that DJing was more fun, less hassle and paid better. I remember playing tunes that I loved to people who loved the tunes I played and thinking that this was something I definitely wanted to pursue and left the band I was part of.

I’m a part-time Senior Lecturer in Creative Media at Wrexham University and have been teaching there since 2008. It’s something I started doing by accident but ended up enjoying it so much that I’m still here after 16 years. Compared to DJing, it’s very disciplined and way more personal than performing in a club or festival. However, delivering a lecture can be similar to performing in that you have to keep the students’ attention while educating them. I do believe that there is an element of entertainment too but in a totally different way to DJing. You have to engage the students to get positive results.

So many! Most nights at The Haçienda were incredible. Warming up stadium crowds for New Order in North America in 1989. DJing at Space in Punte del Este in Uruguay in the early 1990s. My last night at The Garage in Nottingham. Closing the Rock Ness Festival. DJing regularly at Mars in New York from 1989 to 1992. Recent Haçienda parties at the Warehouse Project in Manchester. Then again, maybe my most memorable moment has yet to happen.

I’ve been DJing since 1984 and it gets extremely tedious when older clubbers request certain obvious classic tracks from the ‘80s and ‘90s every time I DJ. I get it, but imagine how depressing it would be for me to play the same records every week? That’s how the idea of Haçienda Classical came about. We reimagine and reinterpret classic club tracks with a full orchestra, choir and guest vocalists to amazing response. The majority of the songs we cover were huge back in the day but were never, ever performed live. Without exception, they all sound incredible which is testament to how amazing the original producers and writers were when creating the tracks. The show was supposed to be a one-off in 2016 but has grown and developed over the years and continues to fill out venues and festivals in 2024. It’s such a thrill and honour to be part of the show and to share the stage with such talented musicians and singers. Bizarrely, this means I’m back in a band again, albeit in a much grander scale. It also means I can continue to enjoy DJing and play the less obvious classics alongside the best contemporary tunes too. 

I love the amazing audio quality and depth of sound from the amazing E-Prototypes. The bottom-end and clarity are both incredible and the fit in my ears is superb. I travel a lot and they are brilliant for listening to music or watching films on the go. I often use these on the radio as they sound better than the over-ear headphones in the studio and they’re extremely comfortable too. Flare offers a variety of beautifully made, well thought out products that are a joy to use and their attention to detail is incredible.