My Uncle Phil ran (and still runs) The Radioactive Roadshow (the name came from the fact that he worked at the local power station). I just loved the idea that you can play music and make people dance. That was it: career decided at the age of eight! My other ambitions were in radio, after listening to Ken’s Den on Severn Sound with my brother.
We used to ring in for the competitions and several times were lucky enough to be selected to go on air. We figured out that if they put us on first, we had probably got it wrong. So we changed our answer and ruined the section that they had lined up with several wrong answers before the winner was revealed! Dad changed jobs, so we moved South.
First to Devon and then Cornwall. I clearly remember the DJ booth in the basement of my school in Plymouth. I was fascinated by it because it looked like the Tardis, but I didn’t get to spin any tunes there. My first opportunity to DJ was at a school disco at my primary school in Cornwall.
I used my home hi-fi and had to switch between playing records and tapes to keep the music flowing. I also learned at this point that long intros to songs were difficult to dance to; ‘Money For Nothing’ by Dire Straits has a big intro that builds and builds, but the dance floor just wanted the hook. Soon after, we moved again, this time to Cambridge where I met Gerry, the leader of the local youth club. My friend Simon and I wandered in and showed interest in their Citronic Thames console.
Coincidentally, they were looking for a new DJ, so Gerry offered me an audition there and then. For the next two years or so, my mum took me and my extensive music collection to play a two hour set every Thursday evening. MARK PARKER that didn’t quite fit. I was very nervous because I was singing the lead vocal on this song.
I started singing… and everyone joined in. Phew! The song was ‘Love Is All Around’ by The Troggs and later made famous again by Wet Wet Wet. It goes to show that you can’t always predict how an audience will react!
We do this as DJs too, so be brave and play that unexpected song that might just work... My next move was to Weymouth, where I took my Engineering foundation year to improve my maths skills, before going to Southampton University. I loved going to The Malibu nightclub in Weymouth and was in awe of the DJs playing what are now classic ‘90s dance tunes. At Southampton Uni, as well as studying Acoustical Engineering, I was heavily involved in Radio Glen, the student radio station.
The studios were directly outside my front door, so it was very convenient and lots of fun! I later found out that Scott Mills had also been involved with the station and recorded the jingles package which was used on all of the shows. After graduating, I had two job offers, which provided a ‘crossroads’ moment in my life. One job was designing hifi loudspeakers for a company based in Kent; the other was for a Southampton-based start-up.
I chose to stay in Southampton and lived with three musicians from Southampton University Symphony Orchestra. I worked nearby as an Applications Engineer for the start-up business who sold noise and vibration measuring instrumentation. I enjoyed the job and had lots of opportunities, “ I TUNED MY AMSTRAD STUDIO 100 (REMEMBER THOSE?!) INTO A VERY WEAK LONDON STATION CALLED KISS. I COULD ONLY JUST PICK UP THE SIGNAL, BUT KISS WIDENED MY MUSICAL TASTES INTO HIP HOP, REGGAE, HOUSE AND ACID HOUSE ” Even back then, my musical tastes were broad, encompassing ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, pop and the blues.
My other passion as a teenager was playing the guitar. My mum and dad told me they would buy me a guitar if I could learn to play the lead riff from ‘Johnny B Goode’ by Chuck Berry. It took me about three weeks' practice, and then we were off to the guitar shop! I think I learned it more quickly than they expected...
In fact my guitar teacher had privately told them that he didn’t expect me to persevere. My next teacher was a brilliant musician called Calum. He taught me so much about music and music theory, but I also picked up on his style of teaching. Calum is a very patient teacher who helps you to figure things out yourself.
To this day, when I am explaining something I try to adopt Calum’s style of teaching. Whilst living near Cambridge, I tuned my Amstrad Studio 100 (remember those?!) into a very weak London station called KISS. I could only just pick up the signal, but KISS widened my musical tastes into hip hop, reggae, house and acid house. The one song I remember being played over and over was ‘Tease Me’ by Chaka Demus and Pliers.
I just loved the variety of music and absorbed as much as possible. The next milestone in my fledgling DJ career was when my mum saw an advert in The Beehive Centre from a local DJ called Tim, who was looking for a roadie. I jumped at the opportunity, and started to help him move and set up all of his equipment. I would then watch and listen to Tim in action, which helped me work on my song selections but also made me very jealous of his impressive mixing skills!
And after a while, he trusted me enough to play a few songs. Tim was very much focused on the music, which gave me the opportunity to develop my microphone technique. Both my mum and dad are very musical. Mum sang in choirs in her younger years and Dad was in a band in his early twenties.
Unsurprisingly, I followed in their footsteps and at Sixth Form played in a couple of bands – The Superunknown (named after the album by Soundgarden) and The Haven. The Superunknown only played three gigs, but I remember our first like it was yesterday. It was at an alternative band showcase in Bar Hill, near Cambridge. Our set was mainly based on covers of songs by bands including Rage Against The Machine, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
We also played my third favourite song of all time, ‘Hey Joe’ by Jimi Hendrix. But there was one song : MARK PARKER including involvement in measuring the noise levels when Wembley Stadium was demolished. In fact, I was one of the last people to go into the old stadium and have a private tour! My orchestra friends liked to socialise and soon I was DJing at their house parties.
I bought some CD players, a pair of speakers, an amp and lights, which then led to playing at local venues including The Mitre, The Nuffield Theatre Bar and The Hobbit. Whilst working in Southampton, my friend Zoe showed me an advert from the Students’ Union which was looking for DJs. I quickly wrote my letter of application and Dawn, the Events Manager, offered me a regular slot on a Thursday night in the Students’ Union bar. This was extremely exciting, because it meant that I finally had a residency!
My friends from the orchestra brought their friends along and we were ‘one out, one in’ at the 500+ capacity venue every week. The event started with karaoke, which gave me the opportunity to hone my hosting skills, and ended with a 90-minute DJ set to a packed dancefloor. At this time, the one event that I really wanted to play was the Graduation Ball at Southampton Guildhall. This was the biggest event of the year, with 1200 students celebrating the end of university life.
It ran for two nights, because of the number of students, and – understandably – the Union’s Friday night resident DJ got the gig. So I booked tickets to see The Eagles at Earls Court with my dad on the same evening as the second grad ball. But, a little closer to the big event, you’ve guessed it... A call came in from Dawn saying that the Friday DJ couldn’t play the second date and would I like to do it?
This happens in DJ life and it was a tricky decision to make. I spoke to my dad and he knew it was an opportunity not to be missed. Mum and Dad had a great night at Earl’s Court and I played my first event at Southampton Guildhall. I just loved the buzz of it and had an amazing time!
The next year, we received the exciting news that a new multipurpose venue was being built at the Students’ Union. The plans included two large bars and The Cube nightclub (which would double as a cinema) with a capacity of 1700. I pushed and pushed to get a job DJing at the new venue and was offered the Friday night warm-up slot. The headline slot was offered to another, much more experienced, DJ called Chris Haslam.
Chris taught me so much about DJing; everything from tune selection and programming to microphone technique. He also runs a mobile DJ business in Surrey and explained that the mobile DJ side of his business was much more profitable than playing in nightclubs and bars. Over time, the trust built up and Chris offered me events playing at lovely venues in the Surrey countryside. I’m still good friends with Chris and we work together to this day.
My friend Louisa worked in Winchester for a recruitment company and showed my CV to the boss. I was originally registered for engineering jobs, but John, the owner, could see that I had transferrable skills that would work 17 "A NEW MULTIPURPOSE VENUE WAS BEING BUILT AT THE STUDENTS’ UNION. THE PLANS INCLUDED THE CUBE NIGHTCLUB WITH A CAPACITY OF 1700. I PUSHED AND PUSHED TO GET A JOB DJING AND WAS OFFERED THE FRIDAY NIGHT WARM-UP SLOT." PROFILE: MARK PARKER in recruitment.
At this time I also had three interviews at a company in West Sussex that manufactured large-scale touring and installation loudspeaker systems (my other passion!). Things didn’t work out with the audio company, but looking back this was my second crossroads. My life would be very different now if I had moved away from Southampton to work in the audio industry. Instead, I had three enjoyable years working in recruitment.
I developed the company’s aerospace division, recruiting engineers for companies including Airbus and Westland Helicopters. Then came the crunch time... I knew my passion was in music and that I wanted to do this full-time. I also knew that if I didn’t make the break and give it a try that I would live to regret it.
In the preceding months I had taken on a Monday night residency at The Hobbit Pub (yes, the one that was in the news when they were sued by the film company). This proved to be a brilliant learning experience. The manager, Colin, was keen for me to play what I wanted, with no restrictions. The tastes of the audience were diverse and I was open to asking customers for their recommendations about different styles of music.
I played a lot of classic rock, metal and indie, but fused this with a variety of other musical styles including drum & bass, hip hop and reggae. In fact, a conversation with Dan, the barman, introduced me to my favourite song ever: ‘54-46 Was My Number’ by Toots & The Maytals. The management changed at The Cube, so my bosses were now Bruce, Brian and Melissa. Bruce was now the Venue Manager and he had worked closely with another DJ called Andy at a popular local venue.
I found out that things can change quickly when a new manager takes charge. Andy took over from Chris Haslam as the main Friday night DJ. At the same time they offered me a slot working with another DJ called Kev as the warm up DJ every Wednesday for the Athletic Union night. This was a commercial night at The Cube, playing anything from funky house to RnB to DnB and a small sprinkling of cheese...
Kev taught me a huge amount about mixing and reading an audience. At this time I had four regular nights a week earning money from DJing. With the extra money coming in from DJing for Chris on mobile events at weekends, it was enough to become a full-time DJ. I resigned from the recruitment company and the rest, as they say, is history.
From working with Chris Haslam, I realised that having a mobile DJ business is a good way to have an enjoyable job that is well paid. I registered the domain name and had a website built using a system that allowed me to update the content. It was a steep learning curve, but I taught myself basic SEO so clients could find my site. After four years working at the Students’ Union I finally got offered the main slot on Friday nights.
I’m sure that Ben, the Union President, had a lot of influence in this decision. I was over the moon because I’d been working so hard to get this opportunity! Then there was another change in management. This was a concern for me because I knew that Daz, the new manager, would want to make some changes and I desperately wanted to be involved in the new plans.
The previous Friday night branding was based on a very cheesy musical style. Daz wanted to make it more ‘cool’ , which worked for me. The rebrand was called ‘Kinki’ and attracted 1600 students for its launch night. The music was very commercial and similar to the Wednesday Athletic Union night, with the addition of lots of current indie bands.
I used this event to hone my mixing skills on an enormous d&b audiotechnik system, playing on the original Pioneer CDJ1000s. Even though I already had lots of experience playing to larger audiences, there was still a lot to learn. I quickly found out that you can work out how your set is being received by the amount of energy in the room. Long intros work really well for more underground audiences, but this was a student night, so I could keep the energy levels up by playing the best three minutes of each song.
One of the pitfalls of being a resident DJ is that the music might not change much from week to week. “ THEN CAME THE CRUNCH TIME... I KNEW MY PASSION WAS IN MUSIC AND THAT I WANTED TO DO THIS FULL-TIME. I ALSO KNEW THAT IF I DIDN’T MAKE THE BREAK AND GIVE IT A TRY THAT I WOULD LIVE TO REGRET IT. ” : MARK PARKER Daz told me one Friday that they had received complaints about the music and suggesting that a good method to resolve this would be to take away the reason for the complaint.
That week I changed the music and didn’t repeat any songs from the previous week. This helped me to keep doing the job I loved and taught me the power of change. I began to take more time to prepare my set every week, even if I didn’t use all of the ideas on the night. The music industry has changed beyond recognition since my time playing in nightclubs.
I used to go to record fairs and local record shops to build my music collection. And I also received promo CDs in the post from promotion companies, which was a real privilege. Nowadays every song I could possibly ever need is available at the click of a button. Around this time, I was approached by another local DJ, Guy, about playing at corporate Christmas parties, initially in East Hampstead Park.
The scale of these events was huge! There were anywhere between 1000 and 2000 guests all up for a Christmas party. I went on to play for these parties at several different venues including industrial marquees at Willows Farm in St Albans and Milton Keynes Bowl. Previously, we were used to the numbers falling off on a Friday night throughout the course of a year, but Kinki seemed to be invincible.
The venue was at capacity most Friday nights, with a slight drop in numbers around the time of exams. Daz was very strategic about when he booked additional guest acts, to boost the numbers. I had the privilege of meeting lots of DJs and acts of the time, including Pendulum, The Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Edith Bowman, Colin Murray, Scott Mills, Vernon Kay, Holly Willoughby, The Cut Up Boys and the legend that is Pat Sharp. One thing that struck me while working at The Cube was that it was very much a team effort.
I looked out for the crew and security staff and they looked after me. I was the person playing the music, which put me at the centre of attention, but there was a great deal of work going on behind the scenes to support me. Initially, Charlie was the Friday night warm up DJ and really supported me in my role. However, after a couple of years he moved on and we needed a new support DJ.
I spoke to Alex, who was manager at SURGE (the new name for Radio Glen) and he recommended I call a chap called Starkie. I called him and arranged a meeting before one of my Monday night events in the bar at The Hobbit. Starkie really stood out in terms of his attitude and how he presented himself. So that was sorted then, Starkie was the new Friday night support DJ.
He played the first hour and I took over at 10pm to play the main set. Starkie and I worked together for two years, up to the time of the financial crisis. By this time the numbers for Kinki had been falling and I decided that it was time to move on and let him take over the reins, because I knew he had the attitude and willpower to take on the challenge. Starkie also had aspirations in radio and mentioned that he knew Scott Mills at Radio 1.
Starkie (who’s real name is Chris Stark) and Scott met at Southampton Guildhall. Scott must have seen the same drive and ambition that I noticed. Fast forward to today and they are co-presenters on Radio 1. I’m still friends with Chris and he booked me to play at his wedding in Barcelona, which was an absolute honour.
That summer I heard about a live band karaoke event called Karaoke Rockstar at a club on Brighton seafront. I plucked up the courage “ I WAS APPROACHED . THE SCALE OF THESE EVENTS WAS HUGE! THERE WERE ANYWHERE BETWEEN ALL UP FOR A CHRISTMAS PARTY to sing my second favourite song of all time ‘All Right Now’ by Free.
There is something very special about singing with a band and you can really feel the energy. Daz had been talking about arranging karaoke with a live band on a Thursday night for some time. This band was perfect, so I contacted Rhys, the band leader, and soon I was hosting with the band (and singing!) at a monthly event. One week I received a call from Rhys to tell me that Sandy, the guitarist, was going to be late and we would have to delay the start of the event.
Feeling ever so slightly brave, I told Rhys that I played guitar and frantically learned some of the songs to play that evening! It was a real pleasure to play with the band. They are all very talented musicians, much better than me, but they were prepared to let me have a go. By this time, my mobile DJ business was attracting lots of clients, but I wanted to improve the way they found us on the internet.
So I started to write blog posts targeted at phrases that clients might use in search engines. The traffic to my site increased steadily and in the process I developed lots of content. I read an article in one of the Sunday papers about writing an eBook. This idea really captured my imagination because I already had the content from the blog posts as a basis to create a book.
It took a few weeks, but I launched ‘Your Wedding Music, Getting It Right’ in the Amazon Kindle store. The book received a positive response, so I decided to publish a paperback too, which I sell on Amazon marketplace. By this time I was a regular at Pro Mobile Conference and approached Eddie to see if he would like to stock the book. Thankfully Eddie said “yes” and the Pro Mobile Book Store now stocks the revised and renamed ‘Wedding Music, Getting It Right’ .
I had already sent a preview of the book to Derek Pengelly, who was very encouraging and offered me a slot to present the book at his Wedding DJ Think Tank event in Milton Keynes. Then Tony Winyard kindly asked me to present the book at an NADJ meeting in London. Both were great opportunities to work on my presentation skills. Being a DJ has given me lots of opportunities to learn about music and business.
I’ve always been keen to attend training to develop my skills, but not always directly linked to DJing. One thing I would recommend is looking up the Institute of Advanced Motorists. They offer free advanced driver training for their members. I remember Paul, my instructor, telling me how important it was for me to develop my driving skills because I’m regularly on the road overnight, which is true of all mobile DJs.
Over recent years I have made many DJ friends through NADJ, SEDA and The Hampshire DJ Alliance (set up by Toby Oakley). In an industry where we work alone most of the time, it’s important to develop a network of friends to call on. It could be that you need an event covering, but it could be simply to ask for some advice or another perspective. I’m very grateful to all three organisations for everything I have learned and the friends that I have made.
I’m also very thankful for the assistance and opportunities that I have been given on the way. In this article I’ve included as many names as possible, however, please don’t be offended if I have missed yours out. I used to think that shifting DJ gear around every weekend was plenty of exercise, but a few years ago I changed my mind. Since my change in attitude, I have learned to swim and now exercise regularly.
I’m proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks... My latest escapade is ‘Couch to 5k’ with a local running group. At the time of writing I have just completed my first run and I will be attending regular sessions for the next eight weeks. What about the future?
I really enjoy my ‘job’ and play at a variety of events in Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire. I’d like to work at more lovely weddings, but also concentrate on finding corporate clients so I can play to bigger audiences. I also still feel a calling to work in professional audio, so who knows! I’m grateful to have such a supportive family and I certainly feel very lucky to have had all these experiences.
And I know that there will be more exciting times to come! “ I REALLY ENJOY MY ‘JOB’ AND PLAY AT A VARIETY OF EVENTS IN SUSSEX, SURREY AND HAMPSHIRE ” : MARK PARKER
