My Audio World
David Weir CBE
I am David Weir, a seventh-time Paralympian, and wheelchair racing is my sport. I've been doing it for too many years now; I started when I was about eight years old. A lot of people know me from 2012 and winning gold medals in London, and before that, probably from winning the London Marathon. I am the most successful endurance athlete across the board, not just among disabled athletes. I've won London eight times and have completed 25 London Marathons in consecutive years. So, that's me.
It started probably next to my racing career. I was brought up around house music. My brothers were heavily involved in the house scene and the illegal rave parties, and they knew a few big DJs like Jazzy M, the godfather of house music over here. They used to bring records back from his record shop, so they’d have to be white labels, and I’d hear this amazing electronic sound coming out of my brother's bedroom. So, that's my earliest memory of music.
I just remember as a kid that I didn't really like Top of the Pops; I didn't really like 80s music or 90s music, until now because I remember those songs playing and I actually enjoy them. The only songs I did like were a bit electronic, like Pet Shop Boys or Erasure. Pirate radio was the big thing for me. If it wasn't on in my bedroom, it would be in someone else's, and then when I started to drive, every decent radio station I found was a pirate station.
Yeah. If I liked their sound, I'd make sure I'd have a blank tape ready. Back then, they’d only be on over the weekend, so it was all that excitement waiting for a certain radio station, and sometimes it would be hit and miss on the signal. I'd always have some sort of aerial hanging out of my window to get the best signal for a pirate radio station.
I think it's just the bass, the sound, and because I couldn’t walk, you've got that rhythm and bass which makes you want to move. Even now, if you play house music loud, people who don't usually like it will still move in some way because of the rhythm and the sound. So, for me, it was just that I could feel the movement without having to do much myself.
In my early days, I didn't really like dancing because I thought everyone was staring at me, but as I got older, I didn't care. It was funny because I didn't feel uncomfortable in that situation; I felt like I belonged there. Back in the 90s, everyone was welcomed into the clubs, regardless of background. Everyone was just one family, and that's why I liked that environment. I didn’t feel different there, especially in the late 90s when I was clubbing for garage [music].
I’d go to clubs like Colosseum, Vauxhall, and Gas Club, and my biggest one was Camden Palace. Even though it wasn't great for wheelchairs, the doorman knew me and would let me in and help me out. I just felt part of the scene; I didn’t feel different.
It’s weird because I get asked this all the time - what music do I listen to? But I don’t really listen to it when I'm training because I'm on the road and need to listen for cars. I don’t listen in the gym either. But in the Olympic village, we have a lot of downtime, so I sit in my room and listen to all types of music, sometimes checking out tunes I want to download. That’s my zoning out. Once I'm in my race zone, I’m fully focused.
Recently, I’ve started using music as a warm-up tool. It distracts me from people coming up to talk to me while I’m warming up. I put my big headphones on and play something from SoundCloud or one of my mixes. People see the headphones and know I'm in the zone. I found it helpful to avoid being interrupted while preparing for races.
I also had really bad depression back in 2017 and 2018. To make myself feel happy, I used to reminisce about the good times when I was going out clubbing, remembering the tunes and DJs from then. I’d play YouTube videos or mixes to make myself feel good. Music became a tool to remember happier times and lift my mood when I was in a bad place.
Yeah, they [music and training] grew up with me, but they were like two separate lives. My career was separate from my DJing hobby. I loved the music, the DJs, and that environment. I still do. I remember going to Ministry and sitting right under the big bass box, just loving the feel of the sound. If my friends went for a drink, they’d find me by the speaker, soaking in the sound. The first time I went to Ibiza, I was blown away by the sound systems. It was just mind-blowing, like nothing I’d heard at home. Everywhere in the club sounded the same, which was incredible. I was around 25 then. The last time I went was after the 2012 Paralympics - madness, but great! I even met Pete Tong at Mambo and went to his night at Pacha. It was a crazy couple of weeks.
I went through different genres. For hardcore, it was Slipmatt and Billy "Daniel" Bunter. Then, in drum and bass and jungle, it was Hype, Grooverider, and Randall, who just passed away. In garage, Norris "Da Boss" Windross amazed me with his four-deck mixing. EZ also took it to another level. In house, I just liked the music, following DJs who played what I enjoyed, like Marco Carola and Jamie Jones.
I started making mixes long ago, teaching myself on sound labs and 1210s. I was terrible at first, but I kept at it. Digital came along, and I moved to CDJs. I’d love a club residency, and since there aren’t many wheelchair DJs, I think it’s something to explore. I’d love to have a night with a line-up of disabled DJs. I don’t think it’s been done before.
Glastonbury would be a dream, though I’d start small. I love intimate clubs and would love to play at Ministry of Sound, which remains iconic. I sent a recent mix to a radio DJ, Mark Love on Select Radio, and he said it was amazing, which really put a smile on my face.
I’d love to keep DJing, to build confidence. I get nervous about everything - racing, interviews, Q&As - so the more I do, the better I get. I’d also like to start live-streaming to get comfortable with an audience. I learnt with records and even feel weird about using USBs; I want that authentic feel. I’m so passionate about electronic music, just as I am with racing. It’s part of me, part of growing up on the estate, bonding with friends, going out - it’s in my DNA.
Seagulls. Living on the South Coast, they remind me of home, even if they’re annoying.
Sirens. They can be quite annoying, even though they’re necessary.
The first time I went to Ibiza, the sounds and tunes blew me away, especially at DC10.
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk about something else. To be honest, it's been my passion all my life, and it's mirrored my racing career. So, it's nice to actually talk about something different other than my racing career. Sport was my avenue, and I think music was as well, to be honest, because they’re the two skills that I felt I could be good at.
Racing pretty much took over my life. In 1996, when I went to Atlanta, I had just turned 17. I was one of the youngest members on the squad, and the games didn't blow me away. I thought, have I wasted all my teenage life just training and concentrating, and not doing things that my mates were doing - going out clubbing, doing other things. So, that's what I did for four years; I went and experimented and went out clubbing. It’s sort of weird because I don't put them together, but they are together in the journey of my life.
The music never disappeared; it was always there or thereabouts. I just love talking about music, like I love talking about my racing.
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