Music is the answer
Congratulations, or commiserations (you can decide that a bit later)… this is officially the first ever blog entry I’ve written. I’m not entirely sure what will fall out my fingers on to the keyboard, so bear with!
Okay first things first. A brief intro, I’m Luis. I’m not totally new to this writing lark, as I’ve been working with words for almost two decades now (rounded up), so have always been able to throw sentences together in some sort of order. But am I new to the world of blogs? Absolutely!
I used to keep diaries as a kid, so guess that was kinda the old school version of this (just more paper-based, and no save button), so I reckon I can probably work this out.
So what do I write about in this maiden voyage? I’m not really sure. Any suggestions? You there, at the back… “Why the website name?” Okay, that’s probably a good starting point. Roll the flashback / dream effect you see in movies…
The year is 1998
Titanic would have been on at the cinema, and The X-Files was all over TV. I must have been 17 at the time (think Clearasil and Wet look gel - Phwoar) and on the final straight to adulthood. I didn’t really have a passion for anything at the time; just for my wobbly voice to choose an octave and stick with it.
I was at my friends house (shout out to Loz) where in amongst the FHM posters and Palace shirts, sat a pair of decks and mixer. Music had never really been on my radar; it was an infinitesimal bleep! So when he pulled this vinyl out its sleeve, placing it on the turntable… who knew the magnitude this moment was about to have.
The record was Da Hool’s ‘Meet her at the love parade’. As he hit the start button, I’d never heard anything like it; shaking my world like a Richter scale 10! A house track all the way from Germany, it was a long way off The Gypsy Kings usually heard in my mum’s clacked out old Capri (see below).
As the riff hypnotised, headphones on he carefully adjusted the tempo of the records, so their beats were in rhythm. As he moved the crossfader from left to right, the two tracks danced together through the speakers, before gracefully separating - I was fascinated. Mind blown; a seed had been planted.
If Mixmag was my bible, then god was a DJ! As I read up on tunes, club nights and equipment - within a few months, I’d saved up enough cash to buy my first pair of decks; a pair of Soundlab belt-drives and something that resembled a mixer. It wasn’t the best set-up, but meant that seed could at least start growing.
My love affair with house music had become. Most school breaks were spent in HMV, with every spare hour spent mixing - I was the greatest (and only) DJ my mum had ever heard!
A new decade
Skip a few years, and we’re now in the new millennium. I’m splitting my time at uni between studying, crate digging (‘food money’ equalled white labels), DJ’ing locally (in an Irish pub, obvs) and recording mixtapes (on actual tapes, yeah the ones you fix with pencils) to hand to promoters and send to clubs. Ah, good times!
Fast forward again, and that seed has now grown into a half decent sized bush! Gone are the Friday and Saturday 100 mile round drives for my first residency in Luton. Now the fruits are flourishing in the shape of more local gigs.
For mains, I was now playing most weekends in Brighton. I had a residency at my place of worship - The Honeyclub, and playing regularly at The Zap, and Audio. Sides were the occasional gigs in London (Turnmills was my fave), and desserts were overseas adventures (Creamfields Europe and eventually Ibiza - hurrah).
And so the name?
Well, somewhere in this journey I met my better half before my first gig on on Brighton seafront. The stars aligned and we bumped into each other on the heaving, sticky dance floor. Her handbag went everywhere, one apology and several peace-making drinks later… the rest as they say is history!
I ended up moving to Brighton, where I’ve been ever since. One mortgage and two cats later, it was the best decision I ever made. Different is the normal here, which I love. The city is thriving with creativity, and loves its music. One of its most famous residents is a certain Mr Norman Cook, better known to the masses as ‘Fatboy Slim’. If ever there was a superstar DJ: he is it.
A local legend and personal hero, he was the guy that threw a free party on Brighton beach… and 250,000 people turned up! Also an accomplished producer, the first track of his I ever bought was called ‘Right Here, Right Now’ (I can hear them pennies beginning to drop).
As I was concocting a name for this new adventure, I wanted something that could somehow commingle:
The city I love
My good times with music, and
The connection with writing.
It turns out music was the answer to my problems (and the question earlier), and one domain purchase later: WriteHereWriteNow was born!
WriteHereWriteNow is my new adventure, diving into the world of freelance writing. Personal (random) blog aside, I’m available for all types of copy requirements (Articles, Emails, Socials etc). Feel free to get in touch by clicking the ‘Contact’ button below!