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My
DJ career started back in 1978 when my elder brother, who
was quite well known as a local DJ, asked me to cover a
children’s party. It turned out to be more of a mix
of adults than children and I had to adapt fast. As he was
helping someone else that night he lent me his entire record
collection. And so, at the tender age of 13 armed with a
comprehensive selection of music I made my first public
performance. It was a steep learning curve, with people
asking for records I had never heard of. But by doing a
frantic search was able to play much of the requested
music. By mistake I played a few b sides and at least
twice got the record speed wrong. That night was a baptism
of fire, but it gave me a confidence to develop an interest
in being a DJ. After this I was sometimes allowed to tag
along with my brother or his other DJ friends and I picked
up many tricks of the trade. In about November 1980 I had
the most toe cringing DJ experience ever, so embarrassing
I can only retell the moment on a separate webpage
(one of Jim’s embarrassing DJ moments).
It
wasn’t until 1981 and with the help of a friend, Shaun
James I set up my own Mobile disco. At this time I was still
at school and we had to rely on local taxi firms to get
all the equipment to gigs. Once when we couldn’t hire
a taxi we got the gear to the venue via tube train and a
shopping trolley. We called ourselves sound affex Mobile
discos, and we were rubbish. By 1984 Shaun and I had gone
our separate ways but I had passed my driving test, got
a big van and was able to seriously expand. At that time
disco equipment was generally less sophisticated than it
is now, but I wanted to create a wow factor on first sight.
I acquired a bigger light show; and re-branded sound affex
into special effects mobile disco. I acquired as much music
from every style I could, as I realised that this is the
real key to being a good DJ.
Me
and Shaun, doing an office party back in 1982 ( Shaun's
the one in the silly hat)
Towards
the end of the mid eighties I started organising river boat
parties. I never made any money but riverboat parties were
always a great laugh. We have some video of one of these
parties somewhere and we will add a clip to this site, the
hair styles were amazing. About then I met my wife Cathy,
normally for our clients Cathy is the first point of contact,
she makes sure everything goes to plan and that I don't
turn up on the wrong day or at the wrong venue (trust me,
djs giving the "sorry I got the dates wrong" excuse
is used more often than you might think.) Cathy makes sure
the whole thing runs like clockwork.
Me
and Cathy back in about 1988
(I've got a bit less hair and have a bit more skin filling
since then)
It
takes years to build up a good collection of music but in
1990 and after spending thousands of pounds and countless
hours in the record stores of north London I decided to
start all over again and switch to cds. This process took
some time to complete and for several years used both cds
and good old fashioned vinyl. I had custom built a record
deck using two Technics 1200 turntables. Now one Technics
1200 is a very heavy thing but two, built into a study flight
case with mixer, 32 band graphic equalizer, and power supply
unit weighed nearly 180 pounds. It was relief to decommission
that monster. The last time my Technics were used was on
December 31st 1999 by radio DJ and TV presenter Neil fox
live on GMTV. They were doing a piece on dads doing dodgy
disco dancing at millennium parties and wanted some retro
kit to go with it. Strange why they thought of me.
When
CD's took over it was time for another re brand. I switched
the name to Krunch (no mobile disco bit, just krunch)
I suppose it was trying to reflect a more modern approach
to mobile discos, a name that was minimalist but
delivered maximum impact, Seems a bit naff now. On reflection
perhaps this was a tad confusing so in about 1993 I added
the tag professional mobile disco. Later the fessional bit
was dropped I.e. Krunch Pro Mobile Disco and then the Krunch
bit was also dropped, well its one less thing to write.
Finally I acquired a new Pro Mobile Disco domain name, and
that leads us to these web pages today.
It’s
approaching 30 years since my first DJ experience and I’ve
learnt a lot and had more than my fair share of embarrassing
DJ moments since those early days. I have since performed
for thousands of people, at numerous weddings, birthdays,
engagements and on live TV, but one of my most fondly remembered
is that first party back when I was 13. Even if I won the
lottery Ill still be DJing when I’m in my 90’s,
so there plenty of time to book me for your next party.
Cheers.
Pro
Mobile Disco provides high quality Mobile
Discos in Enfield and DJs for Weddings,
Birthdays and Christmas
partys in Enfield. We supply cheap mobile discos in
Enfield for all kinds of special occasions inc retro
night discos with djs playing 70’s
disco and 80’s pop music
We also have Professional Party DJs for family
parties, black-tie functions and School Discos in Enfield.
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