Life’s priorities change, so I’m now married and we have a little lad, born on 1st Feb’ 2004.. I still have most of my records from that era (andl loads of newer stuff of course) and still have the skills to do a good set!!

A little bit about how I actually got into DJ’ing:

My first night at a “rave” was at a club called Phillmores in Saltburn-By-Sea. My best mate had convinced me to go to “Big Beat” (the name of the night) and I was a convert to the scene and the music from that night on!!

After Phillmores was closed down, our group started going to The Eclipse in Stockton.....rough, but we still enjoyed it (as did most people). A few of my mates went somewhere else one night in 1992....The Blue Monkey in Sunderland. They convinced me to go to this “superb” club one night....WOW!!!!! I was blown away by the atmosphere....it truly was EXCELLENT!!!

I became a regular at The Blue Monkey and got to know the main DJ, Adrian Street pretty well. I thought to myself “I fancy getting some decks to have a mess around with tunes”, so I got myself a pair of KAM Audio belt drive decks and a KAM GM25 mixer......basic, but functional. From this point on, I was hooked!!! I spent most of my spare cash on records, most of them from Austins in Middlesbrough.

Time rolled on and the police, being the police managed to get The Blue Monkey closed down in 1993.........oh yeah.......and someone set fire to it too didn’t they!!!!!!

The other DJ (and MC) in The Blue Monkey was Dave (MC DC) and he moved on to The Venue in Spennymoor to do the warm-up set from 10pm to Midnight. I used to go down with Dave and, as I had so many tunes, I used to let him use them. The owners of The Venue decided that they would put DJ’s in the chill out room upstairs and they asked me if I would be interested in the “position”.....Took me about 3 milliseconds to decide!!! YES PLEASE!!!!!

I became one of the chill out DJ’s in about August 1993 and loved every minute of it. I generally played slower stuff, lots of which I’d now say was “progressive” trance type stuff (god knows!!). As the popularity of The Venue grew, the chill-out room became more of a second room for the club and as such, the music played in there had to change. It became more like what was being played in the main room.

As I already had most of the tunes that were being played in the main room, I spoke to the head DJ and managed to get the Midnight set downstairs on the 24th April 1994. (a Birthday treat for me). From that night on, I became a main room “resident” and .....sorry Dave.....got the warm-up (10-midnight) set as my own!! As time went by,  I “graduated” to play sets at various times during the night.

Towards the back end of 1994, The Venue had developed a massive following and you could guarantee being very busy every week. When we had bands on.......MY GOD!!! You couldn’t move sometimes!!!!!! I managed to get a couple of very good friends of mine (Lee Foster and Charlie) DJ slots in the chil-out room......sorry.....second room of The Venue and, just as I had, they progressed on to the main room.

In 1995 tThe Venue was rammed almost every week and we, the DJ’s, had developed quite a following. To name some: Morris, Lee Foster, Charlie, Roppa, Lixs, Richie P, Selector C...oh yeah....and me!!! There were others along the way, but they were the main residents.

We became good friends with the lads from Club Lucy’s in Darlington and their club almost became like a warm-up for a night out at The Venue. Dave Bell and Carl Harker got to play in The Venue second room and me, Morris, Lee and Charlie got to play Club Lucys....another really good little club!!

We all played at The Powerhouse at Manhattans in Redcar.....a top night, which saw the return (not that he’s ever been away) of DJ Adrian Street.

1993, 1994 and 1995....blinding years!!!!!!!!

More to follow.......”Adventures in house and trance land!!” I played various clubs in the North East and West Yorkshire, etc, etc.

Lee Foster and I had a few mad nights out with promoter and DJ Kenny Sharp, and Pete Gawtry and his little gang. Kenny put on some good little trance nights and I was fortunate enough to play at a couple.