Fresh Decks: How I Became A DJ

Hi. Name’s Alex. The latest writer for Musically Fresh.

I’ve been working as a DJ full time for about three years now, using the name DJ AwesomeWells. It was when I was in university that I first started DJ-ing. My course was a joint honours in Creative Writing and Drama and it was great, but whenever there was a party going on I always picked the music because I was the guy with the biggest sound system.

When I was younger I had been in a bunch of different rock and metal bands, so I still had these huge speakers to blast my music through. Once I finished university I got a bunch of different jobs that I mostly hated and that also had very little to do with my degree. At this point I was going to lots of house parties, and after buying a cheap little mixer I started to really get into DJ-ing at them. Once I had decided that DJing for a living might be a possibility, I went to a few of the clubs and bars that I knew and offered my services. To my delight, everyone I spoke to said they’d be up for giving me a try. I quit my job and started trying to find as much work as I could.

Since then I’ve played at some of the most awesome UK festivals, including Sunrise and Boomtown Fair. I’ve also been lucky enough to play alongside artists like Ed Solo, Dizraeli, Professor Elemental, Benji Webbe (from Skindred) Largo Embargo, The Electric Swing Circus, Slamboree and many more.

In the early days I relied heavily on the support of my friends who came to a lot of my first gigs and helped spread the word about where I was playing. There have been times where I have played empty venues, or to crowds who are completely indifferent to what I’m doing and that’s always depressing. However, there have been times when I’ve played to huge groups of people, all dancing and going crazy. In my experience, DJ-ing to a group of people who are enjoying themselves, whether that’s five people or five hundred people, is always an incredible rush.

I’ve been thinking about this recently and I think the fact that I have managed to make this a full time career is largely down to a few key factors. Firstly being, punctual, sober and friendly at every single gig has really helped. I can’t overstate the importance of this, if you’re an unfriendly, drunken idiot it does not matter how well you DJ, you are not going to get booked again. Venues will not want the hassle of an egomaniac or someone who might verbally abuse their customers.

Also, since I started DJ-ing I’ve diversified a lot. When I started I only really knew the music I liked, which only covered a handful of genres. Now I’m comfortable DJ-ing any style of music, which means I get a lot more gigs.

In addition to that, I also think it’s important to have a decent understanding of the equipment involved in DJ-ing. For example, if you turn up at a venue and fail to get your equipment working in conjunction with their equipment you are going to look pretty foolish. It was a steep learning curve for me, but I feel a lot more confident when I am performing knowing that if something stops working I might have at least some idea of how to fix it.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, I’ve managed to succeed as a DJ because I love what I do and because my main motivation when I’m performing is to make sure everyone there has a good time. There are DJs who play because they want attention from the opposite sex, there are also DJs who play music so that they’ll get free drugs or get to live a VIP lifestyle. It’s never been about that for me, I do it for the love. It sounds like hippy BS but it’s true. When I see a group of lads jumping around hugging each other to Blur’s ‘Song 2’, or a gaggle of Hens singing along to Whitney Houston, or just some dude hanging off the front of the DJ booth going mental, it makes me happy in a way that nothing else in life can.

I’m DJ Awesome Wells. Check me out at the following;

Twitter – @DJAwesomeWells

Facebook – DJ AwesomeWells

Spreaker – Check out my live weekly shows at www.spreaker.com/djawesomewells

 

Photos by Discord.