I have finally got around to writing my DJ profile! So when and where did my DJ career begin? I must have been around 15/16 years of age when Billericay Rugby Club bought their own DJ equipment and four of the team were chosen to play music at their functions. I played a few records at four or five parties but then left the club to play for another side, so that was the end of my blossoming DJ career!
Now that would be a very short DJ profile, but fortunately a couple years later, when I was studying at college, another opportunity came my way. I was a part of the Student’s Union at Basildon College and we regularly held parties at Raquel’s in Basildon. We’d organised an afternoon Christmas party on the last day of term, but the DJ we had booked was unable to attend. I stepped in and said that I would play, so my first solo gig was to 1,000 drunk students!
I must have done ok, as at the end of the party Kevin Greenham the club manager offered me a job as the warm-up DJ every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night! This started off as an unpaid job, then after a couple of months I started getting £10 per night to cover my travel expenses. Despite the lack of pay, I have to say this was an amazing opportunity and I learnt a huge amount warming up for three different DJs each with very different styles. Within 12 months I had left Raquel’s and was working almost every night of the week at various clubs and bars in the south-east Essex area.
EUAN BASS AKA IAN STEWART 17PROFILE: EUAN BASS These venues included The New Yorker and Libert’s in Basildon, Palms and The Pink Toothbrush in Rayleigh and, the main venue to employ me, The Dickens in my home town of Wickford. At one point I was working there five nights a week, but over time that was reduced to four and then three. This was because Tuesdays and Thursdays were the quietest nights with only 100 people turning up! Not bad for a pub I thought!!
But they decided to go with live music instead. I could have seen this as a negative, but I saw it as an opportunity to branch out to other venues. I managed to land a regular slot at one of the best soul music venues in Essex, The Old Windmill in Hanningfield, which was a large country pub that would attract over 600 soul music fans on Mondays and Thursdays. This gig led to me being asked to DJ at many other venues and specialist music events, giving me the opportunity to DJ alongside some of county’s best DJs, many of whom I still class as friends.
Probably my greatest achievement was holding a residency at one of the best Jazz Funk & Soul clubs in the world, the famous Gold Mine in Canvey Island. It was during my early years working in pubs and clubs that I assumed the identity of my ‘DJ brand’ – Ian Stewart – and it has stayed with me ever since. So who or what is Ian Stewart? Well, in the ‘80s many club DJs took on ‘stage names’ although at first I didn’t think I needed one.
However, when I was asked for the name I use to go on a flyer early in my career and I told the club manager to use my real name, Euan Bass, he didn’t like it! He thought that Euan sounded too posh, and people wouldn’t know how to pronounce it!! Euan is a Gaelic name and its English equivalent is Ian, so we decided on that. Next I needed a surname, as they didn’t like Bass either because it sounded too specialist, but my middle name is Stewart so that’s how Ian Stewart was born!
As the years progressed I took the step into nightclub management. My first job was at a small capacity venue in Pitsea, Basildon called The Workshop. One of the first things I did was demote myself from being the main DJ on a Saturday night and employ Colin Hudd. He had been one of the top soul DJs, but in recent years had begun to pioneer House music in the UK.
The club was a huge success and I was soon headhunted to become the manager at Mr B’s in Southend as they wanted this club to follow more of a Dance approach too. Once again I seemed to have the magic touch and took the club from trading one night a week to six! Unfortunately things soon turned sour and after a heated discussion with the company chairman it was decided that we should part ways. I thought offers from other clubs would soon come my way, but they didn’t materialise.
This was very humbling, but fortunately another door of opportunity was about to open. A local entertainment agent called Colin Dench offered me some mobile DJ work! At first I was apprehensive, as after 10 years as a DJ I hadn’t ever done a mobile gig, but needs must and I reluctantly accepted the booking. The rest, as they say, is history.
As I had never DJed any kind of private party, I had no preconceptions, so just did what I thought was obvious and it seemed to work! Colin Dench was also a supplier to Grosvenor and Hilton Productions and they seemed to like me, and I was soon working every weekend and plenty of mid-week events too. Because I had dabbled with some stand-up comedy, these skills helped me host some of their big corporate productions, “I INTRODUCED MOST OF THE COUNTRY’S TOP CELEBRITIES.
THE BEST AND MOST ENTERTAINING WAS PROBABLY LIONEL BLAIR, HE WAS A TRUE TROOPER!.” : EUAN BASS including a national tour with Noel Edmonds’ charity. He roped in his celebrity friends and rich helicopter owners to provide a free day of entertainment and helicopter flights for disabled children and their families. I was employed as the host for the stage area and throughout the tour I introduced most of the country’s top celebrities. The best and most entertaining was probably Lionel Blair, he was a true trooper!
It was also at this time that I DJed my first wedding. In fact I didn’t only DJ the evening reception, I also MCed the day. I was an all-day wedding host way back in 1995! I just thought it was obvious that the DJ would make the introductions for the Bride and Groom.
I thought this would make the biggest impact from a showbusiness perspective. I wanted the couple to enter the room to the loudest cheers possible, as I saw them as the stars, the top of the bill! I then moved into becoming an agent myself, starting with DJs, then variety acts and eventually booking many comedy clubs in the south of England. With hindsight, this grew way too fast.
The business ran into serious issues, so I had to close it down and focus on my core skills, those of being a DJ and host. This happened around the time that the online DJ forums began to take off, which really was a game-changer for the DJ business. All of a sudden it was possible to chat with like-minded DJs from all across the country, rather than just locally. This meant that those of us with a similar mindset were able to share ideas and together up our game.
A few of us started chatting regularly, and some great friendships developed from those days, Tony Winyard, Ian Forest and Jeff Wood to name just three. Back then many DJs were still using lightscreens when I bought something that changed things considerably for me as a DJ. Tony Winyard and I saw the S+H starcloth booth and had to get one each. DJs today would not believe the amount of criticism Tony and I received about this booth, but the venues loved it.
One night I was booked for a wedding at Stock Brook Manor and the wedding coordinator saw the booth and really really liked it. A few days later I received a call from her and was invited in for a chat. I was then offered the position of resident DJ, which I held for the next ten years! I had a great time, and made good money, but even good things must eventually come to an end.
In December decided that it was time to take control of my life and return to working freelance. While this was a big decision at the time, looking back it was best one I’ve ever made. It was very tough at first, as it took me a while to re-establish myself. However, with hard work and focusing on what makes me different from other DJs, I have turned my business around.
So much so that I am the current wedding DJ of the year for the East of England in the “I AM THE CURRENT WEDDING DJ OF THE YEAR FOR THE EAST OF ENGLAND IN THE WEDDING INDUSTRY AWARDS, WHICH IS A GREAT SELLING TOOL AS IT GIVES PROSPECTIVE COUPLES REASSURANCE THAT I CAN DELIVER ON THEIR WEDDING DAY” 19PROFILE: EUAN BASS Wedding Industry Awards, which is a great selling tool as it gives prospective couples reassurance that I can deliver on their wedding day.
My career has not just been as a club and mobile DJ, I have dabbled with both radio and comedy. In radio this started when I was part of the production team on Dave Pearce’s Fresh Start To The Week on BBC Radio London back in the ‘80s. I then got involved with pirate radio and in later years legal commercial FM stations such Active FM and Time FM as well as online specialist stations Zero Radio and JFSR. I also worked on the country’s first legal soul music station, Soul City 107.5FM, broadcasting to west Essex and east London.
To be honest, I’m not really a big fan of radio work so don’t regret not getting more involved, but the comedy is something I would have liked to pursue. However, as my income came from DJing, it was very difficult to balance the two and work/money had to come first. But the experience I gained from the comedy gigs I did has definitely helped in my DJ career, and now as I’m looking to move into keynote speaking. In recent years I have DJed far more weddings than any other type of event and a high percentage of those bookings were all day weddings, where I provide the ceremony music, act as the master of ceremonies as well as DJing the evening.
I love this as I get to develop a real relationship with the couples. I get to know them and ask many questions during meetings and in the emails I send them, all the time harvesting information that I can use on their wedding day, which allows me to deliver a celebrity wedding day service. I believe it was this approach that was key to me winning The Wedding Industry Award. As one of the older DJs in the mobile world, what does my future hold?
Well, I will continue to DJ for the foreseeable future. However, this will be in tandem with, after being the closing keynote speaker at last year's Pro Mobile Conference, pursuing a new speaking career. I am currently working on a book as well as training workshops and a possible mentoring program. It’s normal for DJs to include pictures of their setups with these biographies, but as many of you know I am not a gear junkie!
I hardly ever take pics of my rig, as I do not believe it is important, as long as it's tidy and sounds good my clients will be happy! If I could offer one piece of advice to aspiring DJs, it would be not to be the same as everyone else, be individual. You don’t always need to be the best to be successful, if you are different from your competitors then you will stand out. My business is based on creating a celebrity service and experience for my clients.
So I concentrate on service rather than items, which means I have now stopped supplying any form of ‘add-ons’ , so no dancefloors, photobooths light up letters etc. I simply offer smiles on guests’ faces and their feet on the dancefloor! “MY BUSINESS IS BASED ON CREATING A CELEBRITY SERVICE AND EXPERIENCE FOR MY CLIENTS” : EUAN BASS
