My Way! 40 years of DJing by DJ Hammy May 1980 to May think I was always destined to be a DJ! My three older brothers said I could pull a 7” single I wanted played out of the wire rack before I could read. I grew up in a working-class home full of music.
My brothers playing rock & roll, ‘60s beat and soul etc. ensured I got to hear a wide range of music to complement my parents’ easy listening tastes. I was buying singles from age 12, especially glam rock and reggae, but nothing was off limits. I was into the youth cultures of the day as a dedicated Saints fan on the terraces at an early age. All through the earlyto-mid-‘70s I was soaking up everything on offer and always expanding my tastes as an avid reader of music magazines like the NME and Melody Maker.
1975 was the year I started tuning in to legendary DJ John Peel’s late-night show on Radio One and he, more than anyone, showed me the way forward with his hugely eclectic playlist and ability to play totally new and obscure artists and songs alongside the big tunes of the day. I would set the timer on my old radio cassette player to record it and then listen back in the morning; I couldn’t possible miss a thing or new essential song! By ‘76 it was time to leave school and move into the real world.
Times were changing fast and my tastes were as wide as my trousers. But not for long though, as the revolution was underway. I first read about punk rock just before the long hot summer started and this was to change my life forever and ultimately lead me to start DJing. Punk set me free.
It taught me everything about being myself and I found a whole new group of like-minded friends. We were a very close-knit community and were deemed the enemy by the mainstream and the stiffs who hated us, and we had to learn to fight back, which we did. It was thrilling being the outsiders and I loved every DAVID HAMILTON : DAVID HAMILTON minute of it. I felt king of the world walking round with my short hair and taken-in jeans when everyone else was still in flairs and long hair.
I recall my mum hiding my clothes once so I couldn’t go out dressed like a punk! Clubland was a whole different world back then. Dress policy was standard everywhere and punks were not welcome, so we stuck to live gigs and gate-crashing house parties. Then, in late 1979, we found that the only gay club in Southampton, The Magnum Club, would allow us in as long as we arrived in singles or pairs, not mob-handed.
Wow, clubland was so much fun and we all mixed brilliantly. I, amongst many others, constantly pestered the amazing in-house DJ, John Davis, for all our favourite songs, which didn’t at all fit the theme of the night. After a while John came up to a few of us and said he loved us being there but we were taking over and it was, after all, a gay club. Fair point John!
He asked if we would be interested in a night of our own at a club in St Mary’s, which was struggling. I instantly said “yes” and offered to DJ. The rest, as they say, is history. So, one Tuesday night in the spring of 1980, my friend Gary Jones and I trudged off to the bottom of St Mary Street with an Adidas bag full of singles to play to our mates at the (supposedly) country and western Rio Grande Club. (Now student halls of residence.) It was more like the Wild West in reality!
We were terrible as DJs, but got some good numbers along despite being open until 2am on a school night. (Some very sore heads at work the next day as I recall!) We soon took over the prime Saturday night slot and we were packed full of punks, mods, skinheads and football boys as well as street ragamuffins. It was always great fun, but violence was always in the air and I was the victim on a couple of occasions. I remember once telling my mum I’d walked into lamppost when not wanting to admit to being involved in a fight (though that probably happened as well!).
We could finally hear the music no one else dared to play in other clubs and I got a real buzz from that, not to mention the fact I was given £5 worth of Holsten Pills to drink as payment, which made it even sweeter. We played punk / post-punk, mod, ska, ‘60s and my favourite glam rock tunes. (Well, why not? We had all grown up on Bowie, T Rex and Sweet etc.) What a thrill when I put on ‘She Loves You’ by The Beatles and, for the very first time, experienced a crowd going absolutely wild on the dancefloor.
I was hooked after that. It all came to a chaotic end in the autumn and that was that. I never once thought I would get to DJ again as I had a fulltime job as an Assistant Manager so was working some very long hours but also learning social skills that would serve me well in my future DJ career. In the period after The Rio I started doing the odd party for friends at the Joiners Arms, for which I hired twin decks from a friend at the council for a fiver.
I can’t recall what I charged, probably a fiver, but I just wanted to DJ! In early 1981 rumours started to go around about a new club called Manhattans that was playing our music, so off we went to see what the fuss was all about. Within a few weeks I had blagged myself the Friday DJ slot and often ended up playing midweek as well. Wow!
That was a learning curve, as I was playing to a crowd totally out of my comfort zone. It was then I realised I’d need to play requests and tailor the music to fit the crowd in front of me to survive, not just pander to my own tastes and ego. I was getting good money, about £16 a night, but it came at a cost! I fell asleep at the decks one Thursday night as I was working 5-6 long days a week in the day job as well as 3 nights at the club.
Fridays were unreal. We were playing the new romantic / futurist / postpunk tunes at the right time and everyone was dressing up, myself included. We partied until we dropped and I’d go back to work on a Monday for a rest! I DJed there with Gary for about 5 months until the manager employed a dedicated fulltime DJ.
After that we still went to the club and brought our own records for him to play! I was working very hard in my day job but playing even harder at weekends, living the hedonistic “ WHAT A THRILL WHEN I PUT ON ‘SHE LOVES YOU’ , FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, EXPERIENCED A CROWD GOING ABSOLUTELY WILD ON THE DANCEFLOOR. I WAS HOOKED AFTER THAT ” good things must come to an end and in 1987 Riverside closed for redevelopment of the waterside area. I was totally devastated!
Neil worked in Virgin Records and had loads of contacts, so a short while later we were offered a Wednesday night in Swift’s wine bar above Barbarella’s nightclub. To my surprise, lots of the Friday crowd from Riverside still came along as we started at 8pm so they could get the last bus home if need be. A lot of college kids started coming as well and we soon outgrew Swift’s and were given Barbarella’s. I say given, we actually had to hire it for around £200 a week, but we took a punt and it paid off.
Barbarella’s changed names to Thursday’s nightclub and was the making of me. I gained a hardcore following, most of whom I am great friends with to this day and have done their weddings and birthday parties over the years. In fact, most of my private functions are still via my regulars old and new. Look after them and they look after you!
The music scene was exploding back in the late ‘80s to early ‘90s, which was a gift from the gods for me! Madchester, rave, Seattle grunge, shoegaze, you name it! We were there playing it before it all broke big! Within a year the queue for our Wednesday often went past the club, under the subway and right the way up the city centre precinct... club lifestyle especially at northern soul and funk nights.
I purchased my first decks from Sam Costa, the landlord of renowned live music venue The Joiners Arms. A twin deck console of unknown make, those decks were to serve me well despite only having a 50-watt amp! I started doing all sorts of functions and house parties. It horrifies me now that back then I turned up at a friend’s wedding with a box or two of singles, borrowed a table and asked the bride what song she would like for the first dance.
If I had it, she was in luck! During this period I really started to learn how to work a crowd. I honed the art of bringing a crowd up and down and how to keep everyone happy by playing three songs of one genre and then move to the next set with a transition song. It was all the chart hits of the day alongside classics from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
Slowies were also a big thing back then. People are surprised, but also thrilled, when I play them at functions to this day. In March ‘visited a club called Riverside that had developed something of a reputation. I wanted to see what the buzz was all about.
It was housed in one of the old floating bridges, which made for a unique venue. The instant I walked in, I was summoned to the office of Brian Brenan, the club’s manager. I’d DJed a couple of times for him to cover holidays at the amazing Upstairs At Eric’s venue in Bournemouth. The next Friday I was behind the decks alongside DJ Neil, who was a bit uncertain about having a sidekick, and I don’t blame him, we were certainly different characters!
Fortunately, we hit it off big time and soon worked out that three songs each was the way forward. It was advertised as an Alternative Night and back then it meant just that: alternative to the mainstream. Now alternative has become just another genre. I’d taken my eye off the scene for a few years and a whole new generation of teenagers had come along, so it wasn’t just my old crowd in attendance.
It was often mayhem on the dance floor as I mixed up this new-fangled goth music alongside alternative rock, psychobilly, ‘60s psychedelia and mod, swing, punk, ska and the crazy sound of the Pogues, which leads me to my next anecdote. The funniest and most bizarre thing I think has ever happened to me as a DJ was when playing ‘Sally MacLennane’ by the Pogues at Riverside. Seemingly from nowhere, a full pint landed on my record! I just stood there in amazement whilst the crowd jeered me for the silence.
I played it cool, picked the pint up, downed it and replayed the song. Cue mayhem on the dancefloor! Turn a negative into a positive, always. This was another learning experience, as I found silence is a powerful tool, especially when we had the odd fight breakout!
Unfortunately, all Manhattan's 1981 Riverside 1985-87 : DAVID HAMILTON Our strangest night by far was when the IRA sent a genuine coded message to say there was a bomb inside. (My music really wasn’t that bad, honest!) We all stood outside for several hours but by the time we were allowed back in most of the punters had gone home, but we still played a few tunes for those who had stuck it out! I was at Thursday’s for a whole decade – save for a short break in ’93 / ’94.
However, again, all good things must come to an end and the club closed in October 1997 for the new West Quay development and Waterstones now sits where we partied hard for ten years. We’ve had two reunions, and both were packed! Though the toilets blew up on the second one, so unfortunately the night had to end early. In the first year of my Thursday’s residency I walked out of my day job because I hated it so much.
It was wrecking my physical and mental health. I was also having a terrible time with walking and lifting (later diagnosed as a damaged disc and spinal cord). Despite having a large mortgage, I felt that I had no choice. So DJing became my career of choice.
To start with I struggled, but in June ‘applied for, and was accepted on, the government Enterprise Allowance scheme: £40 a week for two years. This helped me immensely and meant that I had to become professional very quickly, which was a good thing, as it was no longer just that fun sideline. I’ve had my ups and downs, nearly going under a few times, but here we are 32 years later and I’m still going strong! One of the low moments came in December ‘91 when my entire CD collection – worth around 12 grand – was stolen from my car.
I had just loaded the cases ready for work and the ‘phone rang. There was no one there, though! When I went back out they had all gone. I was devastated beyond words, it was an obvious set up and I was being watched.
I wasn’t insured, but my wonderful mum lent/gave me £2,000 to get back on my feet, while Caroline and Alan at Replay Records went beyond the call of duty by ordering up a basic stock of essential CDs for me at an amazing price. The brand name Supersonic, which has stuck ever since for all my ventures, was something I came up with prior to starting a short-lived residency at the Hothouse in Bournemouth. They wanted a name for the night, but up until then it had always just been DJ Hammy.
The venue is aptly named, as it was like an oven when we took a coach load down for our opening night in July 1994. In fact it was so hot I nearly fainted! It was an amazing place, with a great crowd, some of whom also started travelling up to Southampton for my other nights. However, it is also the only club I was ever sacked from! (For standing up for myself!) I had been doing student nights for around 10 years by the time I met Mrs Lennon, landlady of the Dorchester Arms, who also ran Lennon’s nightclub, along with her husband Terry.
I think her son Tom’s girlfriend Kate was a regular at Thursday’s, which is why I was asked if I would like a night at Lennon’s on a Thursday. This became very popular with students and the local creatures of the night and was very busy in term time and dead as a dodo in the summer! I DJed there for a fab five years and my chance meeting with Goretti Lennon had an added bonus. After a few months at Lennon’s I was asked if there was a possibility of a weekend night at The Dorchester Arms.
The next week I did a trial Saturday and we were packed with a mix of all my regular crowds up to that point. Being the only genuine Irish bar in town, there were more than a few characters in a attendance from the emerald isle as well! I played every possible genre, but alt country became very popular for a while. The Dorch’ was a true roundthe-clock drinking establishment.
It was the very first pub to be granted a 2am licence in town, way before the licensing laws were relaxed. And, when I used to collect my gear early on a Sunday morning it would already be full of old gentlemen drinking Guinness at 9am, years before Wetherspoons perfected that art! 17 Thursday's 1987-1997 The Rhino 1998-: DAVID HAMILTON I have to say, Terry and Goretti were the most generous employers. They introduced me to the joys of Bushmills whiskey, which is still my fave to this day.
I won’t lie, I drank on the job there. It was more or less compulsory! But, man, it was a joyous place to be and I’d say my all-time favourite venue to work. In April 2011 the Lennons decided to call it a day and retire, so we had one last big ceilidh before I moved down the hill to the Shooting Star.
Following the closure of Thursday’s, I moved my mid-week alternative night temporarily to The Academy Club. Then, in was called out of the blue by Matt Boyle from the Rhino Club asking if I would consider moving my night. It was a lot smaller than the Academy, but the deal was perfect for me plus cheap drinks galore for the punters. A more compact dancefloor and low ceiling also made it far easier to play lesser known songs.
Plus, we had the added bonus of the downstairs bar where I could have live bands and DJs doing guest slots every week. This continued for another decade – again, with one small break – taking me up to 2009. At this point I decided it was time for a change. I was increasingly being pressured about bar takings, despite attracting good crowds.
Students, especially, were drinking at home first. Vast amounts of pubs were also taking advantage of the relaxing of opening hours and overnight the need to go to a club to get late drink was gone. Clubs have been a dying breed ever since. So in August we had our final, and hugely emotional, last finale.
I played Sid Vicious’ ‘My Way’ at the end and everyone stamped and cheered, and I had more than a few tears in my eyes. I will never forget that moment - thank you folks! With midweek clubland struggling and with my main income stream gone, I decided to concentrate on the mobile disco side of my business. By chance I was contacted by DJ Jon Grant who asked if I would be interested in joining a group of like-minded mobile DJs called the Hampshire DJ Alliance.
This was to turn my world upside down! At the same time I was being contacted by an increasing amount of my old crowd, including exstudents from all over the country, who were getting married and wondered if I did weddings. Fate at work again, I feel! I thought the transition to wedding DJ would be straightforward, but just one meeting with the HDA made me realise I was years behind these guys and I had to shape up fast if I wanted to make private functions pay.
I was soon also introduced to the NADJ by Paul Taylor whose help I’ll always be thankful for. I signed up in an instant. It was no brainer, especially as I needed 10 millionpound PLI cover for a wedding I had coming up. The learning, networking and training began in earnest.
There was so much help available. I never knew DJs could work together like this! I’d had no blueprint, I’d simply done it my way for 33 years. Having said that, the early editions of Pro Mobile magazine did help!
New powered speakers, radio microphones, podiums and all sorts of other gear and accessories were purchased. So I looked the part, but I needed to adapt to the new MC style and change my way of working quickly. At first I tried the fashionable identikit American style but it made me ill with worry. It simply wasn’t me!
It was taking away the reason most clients booked me. So I had to adapt and learn and pick out the bits that worked for me but without destroying my own unique style. I’m thankful to many of my peers, the top guys, who said, “you have the personality and crowd, do it your way” . To have these DJs who I looked up to respecting me was unreal.
I have always felt I wasn’t in their league, but then I had somehow made a living out of DJing “ I WAS BEING CONTACTED ” : DAVID HAMILTON TRE-1501 •/uni00A0DSP PROCESSING 4 AUDIO MODES • .• 18KG TRE-1201 • DSP PROCESSING 4 AUDIO MODES • .• 14.4KG “My opinion of polypropylene cabs has completely changed. These are very versatile speakers and certainly great contenders in the market they occupy, not to mention great value for money.” - Andrew Dykes, Pro Mobile Magazine DESIGNED & ENGINEERED IN THE UK | SINCE 1967 for the previous 25 years, so I must have been doing something right!
By the end of 2013 the functions were flooding in without me even asking. I got the confidence from the association to finally know my worth and slowly risked putting my fees up. I am now no longer afraid to lose an enquiry! I am forever in the debt of the DJs at the HDA and South Central NADJ.
You are total legends! A special shout out also must go to Derek Pengelly. His online personal training, CDs, downloads and books have also been a huge influence and help. I’m still a huge bag of nerves before a big function and my preparation levels are off the scale.
I always visit the venue, however far away it may be, which often pays off. I’ve found locked gates and closed roads that could delay me, but I’ve also developed great rapport with venues and wedding coordinators who in turn have remembered me and passed on recommendations. I still have a residency, The Shooting Star, which I mentioned earlier. Landlord Colin approached me the minute he heard the Dorch’ was coming to an end.
A deal was struck and a trial night arranged which was a huge success and it was all very seamless. It was a stone’s throw away, so a big chunk of the crowd followed me to the Star but I also had to win over the existing regulars. Fortunately, they were an amazing bunch and within a year I’d already done a couple of their weddings! The staff were also wonderful, and I will never forget Gemma’s Christmas card to me that first year saying, “you have made this place better” . (It’s the little things like that make it all worthwhile!) Many of my older regulars were now married and had children so were unable to come out on a late night.
This led to a brainwave: “let’s do a family day for them!” And so bank holidays, Sundays or Mondays, became Hammy Families from 1pm until 6pm. The Star has an enclosed garden, so it was a safe environment, and Colin kindly supplied garden games and drawing books plus snacks and drinks suitable for kids whilst the parents had a beer/wine or five. If the weather was fine I’d set up outside and I absolutely loved it, it was really well received and lasted for a few years.
Jack and Dan took over in 2017 and, as always, I was very nervous of their plans with The Star being such a big part of not only my life but also my income. Although people said I had nothing to worry about, I knew I had to prove myself all over again. New plans, new broom, as they say! But three years on they have transformed The Star into a magical venue with an amazing garden and the future looks so bright.
I can’t wait to return once this virus is under control! My sets are as eclectic as ever and I post them all to my Facebook page. Some of my fellow mobile DJs are very complimentary and often amazed at what I get away with playing! That means a lot to me but it’s the regulars who give me the ammunition with their amazing offbeat requests.
Some people, especially my fellow DJs, say I’m mad doing this night when I could earn double doing a wedding. But this is my baby and I have the freedom to be who I am and it means that all my regulars old and new have a HQ still. It’s a friendship hub. Though I make sure I play for all the younger students and locals who come just for the pub vibe as well.
I also love the fact the sons and daughters of my regulars over the years are now starting to come along, often together with their parents as a family unit. “ I LOVE THE FACT THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF MY REGULARS ARE NOW STARTING TO COME ALONG
