44 years as a DJ and

[chrisj]

I do not get so excited about the gigs anymore. Ok they are all individual and special IMO but each one is another night, maybe allday wedding or a daytime children's party.
I remember the gigs I did in the late '60's through to mid '80's and every one was special but since the '90's they haven't been the same.
These days apart from the majority of weddings, many clients just want a disco and don't really care quite so much how the night goes as long as the music is ok. There is not the fun or excitement so often, as it used to be.
Maybe it is because after so many years I compare with the early days. Even charity gigs are not the fun they used to be. Nothing will ever compare with the night I worked with 'Jimmy'.
I have thought about doing one charity gig each month but having called many charities they never come back to me.

Having worked with the Tremeloes, Freddie + the Dreamers, Screaming Lord Sutch, The Moody Blues, Del Shannon, The Communards, Bay City Rollers, Slade ( great chatting with Noddy in the dressing room drinking coffee), Foundations, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cathy Dennis several times when she sang with her dad's band in the Norwood Rooms Ballroom, Norwich as well as Emperor Rosco 'you know you he had soul' with 2 girl roadies both over 6ft unloading and re-loading his LWB Transit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jANnU1nZ ... re=related and the fantastic night with the cool, so relaxed, late great Jimmy Saville, at a charity function in East Dereham Norfolk, both in 1969. Long time gone are those GREAT days of great music and fun. It's not like it used to be but so many of you will not know of those days and not know how it was in 'The good old days'.
Hey y'know, a couple of Garrard SP25 turntables and a basic transtor Eagle mixer with the leak valve amps and Goodmans speakers (18" with tweeters and horns) and 'WOW' what a sound we had to get those people movin' and a groovin' on the dancefloors.

Hey, I have had a few dark rum and cokes this evening, run out of blackcurrant, and I feel like doin' a 60's night for a charity 'cos I got the feelin' it'll be a good night. Seriously though, If I can do a charity gig for free each month I will be very pleased as I have had such a great time through the last 44 years.
Goodnight everyone.
Chris.
www.abracadabradisco.co.uk
www.abracadabramagic.co.uk

[marting]

I do not get so excited about the gigs anymore. Ok they are all individual and special IMO but each one is another night,

Sounds like a good time to hang up the headphones and remember the great nights rather than dwell on the negative.

[lazersounds]

Sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning, I sometimes feel the same after a boring night, but then you have a good night and it all seems worth it again :)

[Excalibur]

Sounds like a good time to hang up the headphones and remember the great nights rather than dwell on the negative.
Whaaaat?!!!!! Wash your mouth out with soap, sonny. :p Old DJs never retire, even if they try to.

Sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning, I sometimes feel the same after a boring night, but then you have a good night and it all seems worth it again :)

And that's one of the reasons why. I had some fairly grim ones lately, but the last wedding was a stormer. Keeps you going for a while longer, it was always thus.


Chris, I know whereof you speak, and I truly feel sorry for the young 'uns. They never experienced the times when discos were somewhat magical, partly due to the fact that they didn't have their own personal discos in their top pocket at all times. I think familiarity has bred contempt somewhat. :(

I think that if you cornered quite a few of the over forties in private, they'd share a lot of your views. Keep on keeping on Chris.

[paul1404]

CHin up Chris
People change - Music changes - Peoples views on having fun changes
I would love to go back in the day when it was 2 x 1210 technics and a mixer - when house and rave music ruled - But I guarentee in 20 years were gonna have people on here remember the good old days - when we used to use laptops - Dubstep and Urban was proper music you used to be able to dance to, Kasabian was a proper band not this stuff nowdays.
Quote
Having worked with the Tremeloes, Freddie + the Dreamers, Screaming Lord Sutch, The Moody Blues, Del Shannon, The Communards, Bay City Rollers, Slade ( great chatting with Noddy in the dressing room drinking coffee), Foundations, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cathy Dennis

THis is some serious CV action - there is not many poeple that can quote the above - I would be so proud of being able to say the above - Keep on rocking !

[funkymook]

With a bit of tweaking your post could be the welcome page of a new website.

I bet there are plenty of people who remember going to those gigs who'd love to book a proper roadshow disco for their events and relive their youth.

Done properly I reckon it'd be a great USP (and truly unique, no newbie can claim your experience).

Perhaps get on the books of an agency that has lots of tribute acts (or even the originals) - you'd be the perfect addition.

Get together with some like minded people and bring back the days (and nights) you remember!

[sweetie]

^ what he says! - great idea, use it to your advantage! People still like 50s and 60s music!

[Corabar Steve]

With a bit of tweaking your post could be the welcome page of a new website.

I bet there are plenty of people who remember going to those gigs who'd love to book a proper roadshow disco for their events and relive their youth.

Done properly I reckon it'd be a great USP (and truly unique, no newbie can claim your experience).

Perhaps get on the books of an agency that has lots of tribute acts (or even the originals) - you'd be the perfect addition.

Get together with some like minded people and bring back the days (and nights) you remember!
:like:

[Andy Collins]

I'm old enough to remember when the DJ used to be respected and looked up on. Everybody wanted to be around the DJ - especially the girls :D

You'd walk into a venue and people would make way for you to get in "make way for the DJ" "make sure the DJ's alright" etc etc....

I loved those days, but like anything and everything - you only miss it when its gone.

I can't remember a single time when someone came up and said "your music is c**p" or "play something decent" Nobody would dare too.

Of course now its almost guaranteed to get some kind of abuse or disgruntledness.

Happy Days! Even though I was carrying hugh boxes of vinyl, infinity screens and using rope lights. :)

[chrisj]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Good idea to do retro discos. In fact I was going to start a website but Mark is already www.retrodisco.co.uk. Hi is in Devon and as I am in Norfolk I may vary this somewhat.
Ha Ha, no more nights like this....

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I do not get so excited about the gigs anymore. Ok they are all individual and special IMO but each one is another night

Nor do I Chris, but that doesn't mean you can't do the job with as much professionalism that you've always had.

Ultimately, it is a job and one that is easier to do if you are passionate, but still achievable if you aren't.

[ukpartydj]

That pic is brilliant, love seeing all the old equipment. I'm 23 so have only seen the LED lighting and used laptops and CD's. how long would it take to set all that stuff up?

[Excalibur]

That pic is brilliant, love seeing all the old equipment. I'm 23 so have only seen the LED lighting and used laptops and CD's. how long would it take to set all that stuff up?

Not as long as you think. Lightboxes could be moved in groups on trolleys, and wiring them and the spotboxes up was just one long daisy chaion of bulgin cables. The only thing you had to beware was wiring them back into themselves, and missing the controller! :D

We were never cold in those days, cos the heatsinks on the amps were too hot to touch, and we'd have tens of RO80 colour spots flashing away round us. LED kit may be light, but it doesn't keep you warm in a cold shed or marquee like the old stuff did. :(

[katman]

and we'd have tens of RO80 colour spots flashing away round us.

Bloody cheapskate !!!!! :lol:

30 PAR 38's in 6 spotbanks and 5 lightboxes with a total of 100 60w coloured bulbs in them driven by 3 different controllers.

Set up time was less than 45 minutes and all the lightboxes were bolted together and formed part of my deck stand and record box stand.

The hard part was lugging in the records, 13 schweppes crates of 7" and three huge plastic bread crates that each held about 200 12" singles.

I just wish I could remember where the photos are :(

[DazzyD]

Sleep on it and see how you feel in the morning, I sometimes feel the same after a boring night, but then you have a good night and it all seems worth it again :)

I can relate to that. The number of times I've considered calling it a day because things weren't rocking my world (so to speak) especially with the karaoke side of things. I'd say "next month will be the end" and then, a week or two before, I'd get a stormer of gig where the crowd are well up for it, the adrenalin and excitement starts pumping through the veins again and I think "Maybe I could do this for a while longer!" ;) In fact, I'm going through the "down" phase with the karaoke at the moment because of a number of factors working together and against me (or so it would seem!). But I've some potentially good shows coming up over the next few weeks so I'm sure I'll change my mind - again!!


With a bit of tweaking your post could be the welcome page of a new website.

I bet there are plenty of people who remember going to those gigs who'd love to book a proper roadshow disco for their events and relive their youth.

Done properly I reckon it'd be a great USP (and truly unique, no newbie can claim your experience).

Perhaps get on the books of an agency that has lots of tribute acts (or even the originals) - you'd be the perfect addition.

Get together with some like minded people and bring back the days (and nights) you remember!


:like:

:like: also! :)

[chrisj]

That pic is brilliant, love seeing all the old equipment. I'm 23 so have only seen the LED lighting and used laptops and CD's. how long would it take to set all that stuff up?

That was on a trailer in a large barn. We, my roadie who was also my best man at my wedding, had not finished setting up but someone came by and I asked for the pic to be taken. We tidied cables after this.
And another pic that was Tigers disco Potter Heigham in Norfolk in the mid 80's. I had a client meet there earlier this years and when I ordered drinks I put an A4 pic of this on the bar. WOW the girl behind the bar said Weve still got that pic of the tiger on the back wall. Was that you?

[DJ Davy]

Brilliant! Those were the days.... dont miss lugging the vinyl though!

[musicologydisco]

Are they Optikinetics Solar 250's back left? I've still got 2 of those that I get out for 60's nights with oil wheels. Still a great effect!
Used to love the 2001 Space wheel with a panoramic rotator!

[chrisj]

Are they Optikinetics Solar 250's back left? I've still got 2 of those that I get out for 60's nights with oil wheels. Still a great effect!
Used to love the 2001 Space wheel with a panoramic rotator!

Hiya Mark, yes they were Optikinetics 250's, If I remember correctly one had a prizm and a rotator on it. Long gone though. I believe Peter of Pegasus Disco still uses some occasionally.

[djtrev]

I dont think Chris is contemplating hanging up his headphones just yet;blimey he has just bought himself a Bose system and is thinking of adding another one to it,hardly the actions of someone ready to pack it in.
He's just reminiscing about his 44 years of doing discos and being one of the 'old skool' he obviously preferred those times to the modern era.I know he is a bit jaded with the trend these days of price shoppers but I guess that is the way things are at the moment.
I am a few years older than Chris but cant remember when I actually started DJ'ing,I kind of drifted into it but it must have been in the 70's but unlike Chris I dont particularly hanker for the music or times gone by,I much prefer the modern dance music of today.
As for packing it all in,well,in effect I have been 'retired' for the last two years but I just cant bring myself to get rid of my gear.For the last two years I have PAT tested my stuff and paid my PLI premium and I shall renew both again for next year just in case someone is in bother and needs helping out.I dont know about you guys but when you have been doing it for such a long time it is very difficult just to finish and let it all go.

[Pe7e]

I am a few years older than Chris but cant remember when I actually started DJ'ing,I kind of drifted into it but it must have been in the 70's but unlike Chris I dont particularly hanker for the music or times gone by,I much prefer the modern dance music of today.


Like yourself I started in the DJ game a long time ago, around the mid 60s to be precise, and again like yourself I very rarely listen to 60s pop these days. I think I've heard it too many times already, and I'm sick of it. If I listen to anything these days it's more likley to be 90s dance/trance than anything else. I wonder if there's a lesson to be learned here for the young DJs performing at parties for the over 50s/60s? Just because you've grown older, doesn't mean your brain is stuck in a time warp.

[Excalibur]

As for packing it all in,well,in effect I have been 'retired' for the last two years but I just can't bring myself to get rid of my gear

.I dont know about you guys but when you have been doing it for such a long time it is very difficult just to finish and let it all go.

Trev, you're spot on there mate. Absolutely.

As for not liking the old music, well I like to think I like all eras. There was good and bad in all of them, as we have decided before. The thing that irks me slightly is that it's getting harder to fit the old stuff in nowadays ( well it is at most of the gigs I do :( :( ) and I seem to get a lot of functions where I have to play a lot of modern bilge. Ah well.

[Retrodisco]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Good idea to do retro discos. In fact I was going to start a website but Mark is already www.retrodisco.co.uk. Hi is in Devon and as I am in Norfolk I may vary this somewhat.
Ha Ha, no more nights like this....

Indeed I do Retrodiscos, glad I got the web address first :-)

Although I use all modern gear normally, the option is there for the old stuff too.

80s and 60s nights are the the popular two at the moment.

[HeartandSoul]

Thanks for sharing the pics and he stories. I think I would have loved to have been at a Few of your gigs then!:youdaman:

[Jem]

Brilliant thread :) Nice to see the true 'Disco' spirit is still shining through in us over 50's. I think it's great to remember these things, but it's also important to keep up with the times. I love some of the new music and am a real Trance fan, not too keen on Dubstep though...

Recalling stories from the early days... I remember building our first lighting control unit using a wooden box, an old windscreen wiper motor and a couple of relays. Basically we threaded copper wire in and out of the top of the box in a circle. Then used the motor to swing an arm round that made contact with the copper wire where it was poked though the box. This ran on 12 volts from an old car battery. The wires were connected to some relays which switched 240volts. The actual lights were made from baked bean tins into which we had placed a lamp holder and screwed in a coloured bulb. These tins were then screwed onto a broom handle that we stuck into buckets of sand. Folks who saw them thought they were brilliant, it was a 'real' disco, sequentially switching lights and all :)

Things really progressed when we bought our first Pulsar 2250 Lighting control unit and an Optikinetics Oil wheel projector.... Ahhh.... Happy days :D

I too remember the old Schweppes wooden bottle crates, rip out the insides and they made the perfect container for those 7" singles. Also remember the many cold evenings where we used to warm up pork pies on the valve amps, much better than an oven ;)

Jem

[James]

Great pics guys

[chrisj]

That pic is brilliant, love seeing all the old equipment. I'm 23 so have only seen the LED lighting and used laptops and CD's. how long would it take to set all that stuff up?

That took just over 2 hours but I was a lot younger in those days.

[ckpr2]

I found I used to get good and bad nights with the disco.

Sometimes I got a great crowd all up and dancing and singing along.
Then the next gig for no apparent reason was rubbish, everyone sat down and chatting/boozing instead of up on the floor.

It was the same when I worked for someone else's disco. Good nights and bad nights.
We did a disco at Gretna Green one night at the youth club and they just sat down what ever we played and whoever DJ was on.
We even turned the lights out in case they were very shy.

I have seen it all from great comments to hecklers shouting abuse all night.

Here is a picture from 2004 of the first disco I used to work for, they still have all their vinyl from the 1970's.

16479

[Excalibur]

Things really progressed when we bought our first Pulsar 2250 Lighting control unit and an Optikinetics Oil wheel projector.... Ahhh.... Happy days :D

Jem
Oh yes, the legendary 2250, what a piece of kit. Very complicated though. ;):D:D:D
For our younger readers, it was a small square box with a mains lead, a jack socket, and an output ( Bulgin ) socket. You plugged a cable from your speakers into the jack socket, and your lights flashed sound to light on three channels. The more perceptive among you will already have worked out what happened when the music stopped-

it all went pitch black!
Pulsar then followed up with the Zero 300 and 4000 variants, which were pretty much capable of doing everything powerbars do now nowadays, and if I'm honest, a bit more besides. My, but they were good.




Here is a picture from 2004 of the first disco I used to work for, they still have all their vinyl from the 1970's.

I remember when discos would have multiple staff, all of roughly equal standing. I can remember going to one venue, and the staff being amazed that there was only me.

[ckpr2]

I remember when discos would have multiple staff, all of roughly equal standing. I can remember going to one venue, and the staff being amazed that there was only me.

We often went out with 2 or 3 DJ's. It definitely made the lift in/out easier.
We did a lot of gigs at a hotel in Annan, Scotland.
There was a very long lift in from outside up a couple of flights of stairs and then along a corridor to the room.
Multiple DJ's meant you got a good rest between sessions to go and chat up and dance with some girls.
Quite a few times I pulled and left the other lads to pack up the disco.
We had a rule that if someone pulled the rest put the gear back in the van and waited for him.
More than once I had women dragging me into hotel bathrooms and molesting me !
Sadly I am old, fat and bald now so don't get to pick up so many women lol

[chrisj]

Oh yes, the legendary 2250, what a piece of kit. Very complicated though.

Well said Pete, I sold mine around 5 years ago with my Pulsar Cobalt Blue spot boxes as the 3 clipped together and still worked well. I still use a Zero 4000 for my centre screen at kids parties.

As a member of NADJA Norwich Area Disc Jockey Association in the 80's I remember a visit to the Pulsar factory in or near Cambridge.

[Excalibur]

Chris, despite what many on here feel, I love that piccy. I still have a deep affection for lightboxes, and those look fabulous.

[Shaun]

Chris, despite what many on here feel, I love that piccy. I still have a deep affection for lightboxes, and those look fabulous.

Having spent (over) half of my DJ career using them....I'm sooo glad those days are past. That said, the reoccurrence of white booths with effects projecting from behind.....it seems those days are being revisited. :zip:

[Excalibur]

Having spent (over) half of my DJ career using them....I'm sooo glad those days are past.
Shaun, I love my DSB to bits, but I still have a lot of affection for those boxes. Life was so simple then. :D



That said, the reoccurrence of white booths with effects projecting from behind.....it seems those days are being revisited. :zip:
Nothing new there then son. Apart from having the capability for four colours in one individual light, the Powerbars are only doing what we did with spotboxes and a Zero 4000 over 40 years ago.

[chrisj]

44 years as a DJ and................old thread as it is now 45 years and 8 months.

[East Anglian Discos]

44 years as a DJ and................old thread as it is now 45 years and 8 months.

Chris you make me feel like a youngster at a mere 31 Years!

I used light boxes until 2007. The modern versions whilst lighter and thinner weren't as good and seemed to be vulnerable to people pushing them over.

[Imagine]

Hey...what's wrong with lightboxes?

I've just re-started after 15 years out of the business (is it me, or are things quiet at the moment), and I've acquired a couple of old Showtec screens which I love to bits!
They're so solid that they can't be knocked over and they just look sooooo retro :) Mind you, they're a bugger to cart into a venue if I'm doing the gig alone :(

[Shaun]

Hey...what's wrong with lightboxes?



It's just a matter of personal taste for many of us. I'm not that keen on them as I feel they look dated. It's all just preference at the end of the day. :)

[musicology]

I remember owning a lovely pair of infinity screens. Very large. They had tiny bulbs, not the pygmys, and really did look good. Weighed a ton tho' and I was forever replacing the mirrors when I was clumsy with them!