Bank Holiday....wow, only a few days till the next one!

As you've probably picked up from my previous blogs my experiences and findings as a DJ are changing with every weekend and weekday that I not only go out to work but go into a club or bar surroundings and discover new things about the industry.  This weekend has provided me with a lot of these new findings, with gigs every night from Thursday through to Sunday I was a busy boy but sitting here on Monday afternoon I truly wouldn't of changed anything I did this weekend.

The long weekend started with me playing for the Public Launch party of the fantastic new bar MACs in Preston, which is a beautifully laid out bar/club with state of the art sound and lighting and was always going to be fun.

My role was a little different to usual with me hosting up and coming DJs on the ground floor giving them someone to turn to and a bit of experience on their shoulder.  All of the DJs that played did fantastically well as I'm sure the crowd will vouch for.  Being in the position I was in I was stuck in two frames of mind, was I working or was I enjoying the music and it became a little bit bizzarre because I had two massive amounts of positive energy coming at me which I didn't know what to make of, it was only in the last 80 minutes of the night that the real type of energy I can deal with became usable to me and that was when I took over the decks from the last DJ (DJ EdWreck from Preston, who with major technical difficulties performed very well) the crowd's energy really became apparent with a high enery electro house/commercial electro set which left me on an absolute high meaning I could not go home from here;
Anyone that knows me well will know that certain places in my life mean a lot to me, be it Nana & Grandad's house, Anfield, my sofa in front of Sky Sports and then certain nightclubs.  The one club that I will always have an affection for is the first club I ever visited, the club that probably directed me to DJing, the club that I have the most memories of.  The Syndicate Blackpool,

People who follow nightlife or are local to the club will know that over the last 18 months it has been far from its famous best with struggling numbers, negative feedback and a lack of interest.  So as a lover of the place it has been fantastic to see over the last 3 or 4 months in paralell with a complete refurbishment which has introduced two new rooms and a complete sound system and cosmetic refit that numbers had started to increase, the locals who had deserted the club were starting to return and the famous buzz of the place was starting to be heard in the background.  With the refit complete it would only of been right for the club to have had a party to celebrate this and show people that this fantastic venue could go back to its best and easter Thursday would provide a perfect base for this;

After a long time working on it, Nick Coulson (a good friend of mine and new events manager for The Syndicate) had managed to put together a very strong line up of resident DJs and acts for the summer starting with the huge line up that included the ever rapidly growing brand that is 'Randy Ron' (work of the new Syndicate Resident Danny Howard and business partner Alex Huckerby) along with the very talented Example for the massive launch party.
All I will say because the picture I have included is proof is as with butter going with bread, pen going with paper; when it comes to Thursday nights in Blackpool, there is only ever going to be one real venue...

New Syndicate Resident Danny Howard testing the crowds reaction to the new look Syndicate

Having not 'worked' a bank holiday before I didn't really know what to expect from the two middle nights purely because in my eyes if anything they were like two normal days in a funny sort of way and people would be saving themselves for the Sunday after Thursday night's madness so with my destination being MACs Friday evening I didn't really have a great idea where things were going to go.
Before that I thought I would take the oppurtunity with them being off school and such like to spend some time with the siblings during Friday day which as anyone who knows us well will know this is never a good idea as it usually decends into chaos...the cleaning of the trampoline followed such a suit

Cleaning of Trampoline by Mark turned quickly into Mark soaking siblings with pressure washer

One thing that come 1am when we were closing up that became clear was the stir that the launch night the night previous had caused; because on a night which Preston's major players in the nightlife arena were reporting as nothing better than average.  MACs on the other hand had queue's down Friargate for the majority of the evening with myself, Anton Anderson & DJ Jammie in session the night's music had a real party and feel good vibe to it and the visitors seemed to love it...result!
Saturday's for me bring a nice relaxing day usually following a trend similar to the following;
Breakfast
Soccer AM
Shower & Out
Pick the Grandfather Up
Spend a few hours in the club, watching football, playing snooker etc.
Home to get changed and showered, watch a bit of Spanish football
Head off to Preston for the fun of Lava Ignite...

This Saturday was no different, well apart from the Spanish football was replaced by a pre lava session at MACs which warmed me up for my Lava set in the ideal way, as I was saying earlier I didn't know what to expect from Friday & Saturday so what was to come from Lava came again as a nice suprise the club was busy from the off and everyone in the club seemed to be in a real party mood which as a DJ makes life very easy.  As someone playing in a town that is not 'your own' it can be difficult sometimes not always seeing friendly faces you know very well but Saturday provided a change in that respect with the visit of one of the maddest groups of girls Blackpool knows and I'm sure was more than happy to hand on for a night....thanks to Sophie Murray for the uninvited lipstick;

Everyone loves an appearance from Camp8unny

With 75% of my first real DJing Bank Holiday complete it would of taken something drastic from MACs on Sunday night to upset my mood.
On Sunday I was playing for the first time in the upstairs of the venue which would of required a different tone than people can usually expect from me and this was entertaining the idea of including Hip Hop and R&B into my set which was something I'd done at parties and such like but in a club environment this would be different.  Playing in the upstairs room I had a little wait before the room was opened and once it did I think I have a lot to thank my downstairs support DJ (DJ EdWreck) for as the people that emerged from downstairs came so with a really will to party which helps any DJ along with any task.

I once read that you don't judge how well your night has gone by how quickly you can fill a dancefloor but how long they stay there for...
The two images above were taken at 2 minutes to 1.  The annoucements of last orders had been and gone.  The announcements of the bar being closed had been and gone but still they partied....Sunday night Success.
Bank Holiday Success

Inspiration....

As a kid your always told to get a job that involves doing something you enjoy, sometimes it's not always that easy but thankfully I've managed to get myself work in an interest I have always had and will always be a massive part of my life....Music.

Whilst growing up I've gone through severe changes in my music taste varying all the way from the Spice Girls to Foo Fighters with 2Pac in between but since my mid teens I have found what I would class as my 'spiritual home' which is dance music.

Anyone who knows me and it doesn't have to be that well knows that I wander round either singing the most annoying one line that is in my head or creating random riffs with very inaccurate sound effects and this prooves how much of an influence dance music and music in general is on me as a person.  However there are times as we are only human and no one is perfect that even though my work is concentrated around a great love of mine that you find yourself a little 'uninspired' by whats around you and it's these moments in life that make you realise how much you love something because for me, the one thing that can easily reinspire me when it comes to music and DJing its more music and more DJing and sometimes one or two pieces of music or videos or memories that I always end up using.

My favourite producer when it comes to dance music is Fedde Le Grand, he represents on a larger scale the type of music I would define as 'my taste' and it is one of his youtube videos that on one watch can easily fire me up for work even 5 days before my next gig.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FR4up7qK0wY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It's occasions and events like that which inspire you as a bedroom DJ before you ever walk into a club as a young fresh faced DJ with nothing but CDs and headphones, its occasions and events like that which you dream about filming for yourself...

Back to Basics

In the same way that he introduced me to Facebook and told me it was going to be massive, in the same way I introduced him to Twitter and told him it was very addictive, in the same way he first chucked me a pair of headphones and guided me to a mixer I have Matthew Atkinson to thank/blame for me starting this blog.  On Friday night I sort of dived into things and just went straight into my first post with what came to my head purely because that's what people say 'blogging' is all about.

So today being Monday, being very rainy outside, being a tired and a little less inspired than usual I just thought I'd stick a few more places you can catch stuff going on inside my little brain.

www.twitter.com/markluxton
www.facebook.com/markluxton
www.youtube.com/markluxton90

You get where I'm coming from, as you've probably figured by now I write as I speak, off the cuff, very raw in what I say and 50% of the time I usually look back and think why did I say that, why did I write that, why did I do that.  But I know thats what makes me the person I am, the reason the people that love me love me, the reason that people who hate me hate me...in the famous words of someone who's name I can't remember; Thats Life.

This is the view that occupies most of my days, out of the family office/study window.  The contents of the glass vary from day to day depending on my inspiration upon arriving at the fridge, some days it's even a mug! How about that.  Today's choice was a glass of ice cold milk that had been enhanced thanks to good old Nesquick Strawberry Milkshake powder.

One last thing from me, don't forget to check out Matt's blog, you can find it at http://www.twostudios2.blogspot.com/

Au Re Voir
(I am a fluent multi linguist....NAHTTTT!)

Pages and Pages of 12cm Plastic Pieces

Life is full of challenges, these challenges depending on your character, state of mind and overall persona can affect you in different ways.  People that know me would tell you that I usually don't let challenges affect me and I try my best to tackle them head on, sometimes this hasn't always been the best choice but hey.

On Monday I got presented with my newest challenge, this challenge being given my first official residency in a club - don't get me wrong this is an absolute honor and I am really looking forward to entertaining the masses of Lava Ignite Preston on a weekly basis but the challenge comes on a few fronts; 

Do I take this as an individual gig every week? 

Do I try and build a persona that visitors to the club will remember me by? 

Should I build my sets any differently to what I would if I wasn't returning the next week?

The thing is, having thought about it why should I change anything I have done over the last 18 months since first plugging in my headphones because at the end of the day thats why I am where I am, thats why I am being given a free lead to do whatever I please in my own room in Preston's largest nightclub and thats where I realised something further;

As a DJ whats the point in sitting infront of your CD books before a gig reading through your tunes, yea you can sit and picture which tunes drop well, what to use with what acapella but at the end of the day the one thing you can far from picture is the reaction to the reason we have this job...the people walking through the club doors looking to be entertained, thats why for that reason and that reason good DJs aren't always the one who has the best bag, the biggest ego, the most recent tunes.  A good DJ is so because on the atmosphere of a room when they plug in their headphones, the reaction to a drop; they can picture the rest of their set, the rest of their night and pull the CDs from the bag, select the tracks they want on their CDJ from not only what comes from their head but what comes from their heart.  If a club owner, promoter or anyone else has had the faith to give you the responsibility to entertain their customers, their clients, their friends....have some faith in yourself and rely on your heart, not hours spent looking at pages and pages of 12cm plastic pieces