DJ Monarch


BIOGRAPHY

I've been most fortunate to get the opportunity to DJ not only in venues across my native North West England but also in other parts of the UK and continental Europe, meeting some wonderful people along the way!
I play an eclectic mix of music styles to suit the occasion be that a bar or club night, wedding, family get together or house party etc.

Formative Years

I can remember being very much into music from as far back as my toddler days, my parents ensuring me a broad and varied listening education via record and tape formats (who remembers those?)
When I reached the age for going out and getting up to no good it was the 1980s and Goth rock in particular had taken my fancy, you can actually still see me at events such as Whitby Goth Weekend etc, old habits die hard! In the years to follow I particularly developed a taste for the electronica side of things and it was really no surprise when the Chicago house and rave scenes came along that I embraced them with open arms. I have to thank Stu Allan and his fabulous radio shows on Piccadilly / Key 103 out of Manchester - the original format being 1st hour hip hop, 2nd hour soul and 3rd hour dance - for first introducing me to this music.

A Lucky Break


After several years partying I became curious as to what it might be like to be the one spinning the tunes and putting smiles on faces. There’s one person more than any other who was a positive influence, DJ Ricky D is a legend around the Northwich area and sadly passed away in 2013 way long before his time, RIP to one of the good guys who would always help others. I first got chatting to Ricky after seeing him play at local bars and clubs and we realised we had dance music in common. I still didn’t have my own decks and mixer at home and my first venture into DJing was at a now closed bar on Northwich railway station, using an ancient single turntable! Of course this was rather crude but did give me the buzz and Ricky very kindly offered me the warm up slot for his regular Friday night sets down at the Wine Bar in Northwich. That Friday night slot lasted almost 2 years, great times and some full dance floors!

Ineffect Radio

All good things come to an end and there was now no longer any live music in Northwich at all but in the mid 2000s the internet was in full swing and again I had a stroke of luck when a couple of friends decided to start up their own station called Ineffect Radio. I sent them a demo mix and they were happy with it and before long I had my own 2 hour Monday night show, eventually becoming the longest running show on that station starting in 2005 and finishing in 2011 when the station closed due to the owners not having time to run it anymore. Through Ineffect I got to play at The Venue in Long Eaton, one of my DJ friends couldn’t make it due to illness so she gave me her set time to give me 3 hours in total. What surprised me about that night is that DJ Hixxy was playing happy hardcore upstairs and lots of people appeared downstairs to listen to my oldskool hardcore set. In 2006 I got to play my first gig abroad when a former Ineffect DJ threw a party for his girlfriend in Zurich, a wonderful weekend and a chance to see a lovely part of the world.
I can remember being very much into music from as far back as my toddler days, my parents ensuring me a broad and varied listening education via record and tape formats (remember those?) either around the house or on numerous long car journeys at the start or end of holidays.

New Beginnings

After Ineffect Radio finished up in 2011 I played the occasional guest slot on other internet radio stations and turned my attentions towards some music production, something I had done briefly a few years back and really enjoyed but found on both occasions that it was rather time consuming and that more often than not I was finding I had to put it on the back burner although I do still have my MC-303, a drum machine and a midi keyboard at home.
Bringing things right up to date I still enjoy having a mix at home from time to time and am feeling the need for a complete career change from my usual office-based roles in financial accounting which has paid the bills over the years but doesn't really offer me job satisfaction anymore so once again I am returning to music as it is something I have always had a great passion for. I wanted a web presence as I feel that is essential for any venture nowadays so I thought I would build a site and attempt to combine my musical and financial experiences creating a DJ site that incorporates music and media retail.


Mixing & Production

Take a listen to some online mixes at the Monarch Music & Media page on Mixcloud.
You can find music production projects at the Monarch Music & Media page on Soundcloud.


Gallery

If truth be told I'm a bit of a chameleon when it comes to my image and identity! This is pretty much a mixture of simply feeling like a change of direction at the time or perhaps as a consequence of a life event, as I believe we are constantly reshaping ourselves, adapting and hopefully learning from our experiences both good and bad in this journey that we call life. Here are just a few of those various looks from over the years...


My first visit to the fabulous Whitby Goth Weekend, with the ancient abbey providing the perfect backdrop.
All Gothed up again for a Pagan festival at Thornborough Henges in North Yorkshire.
Would you trust this man to read your tarot?
My beloved Albiceleste football shirt, the two stars representing World Cup victories. Vamos carajooo!!!
Sometimes the hair is shore, or rather non-existent!
And sometimes I forget where I put my razor...
My 'calm down, calm down' Scouser impression was all part of the Christmas madness.
Off to battle trolls and griefers with my Celtic replica sword and studded wrist armour.
It would appear I like to role play at Christmas, this time I'm Chewbacca!
Celebrating my Scottish and Jamaican roots ;)
Another from Whitby Goth Weekend where my friend spotted this little church which provided the perfect photo opportunity.
I'm not the biggest fan of close ups as I ofen appear a little mean and moody on them as you can see here!
Possibly the longest my hair has ever been!
And the shortest! Not sure what I was pondering here...
The beautiful Derbyshire hills, I'm looking surprisingly fresh given my mountain hike followed an all night clubbing session!
More of that beautiful Derbyshire countryside around Edale.
And here's the England shirt, which has just the one star.
The night after a Halloween party where I had gone as something resembling Edward Scissorhands,
I went red for the World Cup thinking it was a semi-permanent dye, I thought wrong!
Two of my beloved football teams in this pic, West Ham in the claret & blue and Celtic in the green and white.
In Istanbul watching a Besiktas game at Inonu Stadyum.
Not a match ball I got to take home but my own one that I can practice with.
The original Madchester look here. Ian Brown of the Stone Roses eat your heart out!
Denver, Colorado. I was fortunate enough to see not one but two Knight Rider cars!
My beloved Adidas F-50 football boots have played a big part in helping me to 650 goals.
The ultimate comb over.
"I don't normally wear a moustache but when I do it's usually a Zapata!"
A souvenir can and chain from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.
The Sisters of Mercy, one of my favourite Goth rock bands.
Not the most flattering one of me but our first dog Candy was really cute.
Another scary close up!
The early days in Spain, I was about 2 years old here.
High school picture and yet another dodgy haircut!
Moody look.
Hiking on Mount Snowdon.
Nottingham Beer Festival, you can see that I drank a lot more back then and put a few pounds on!
Sometimes I get some interesting football injuries!
On a witchy tour of Pendle Hill in Lancashire.
My friends playing a prank and leaving their empty wrappers on the table just to make me look greedy!
DJing at a friend's birthday party in Zurich, Switzerland.
Off my head in Berlin's Tiergarten during Love Parade weekend.
A menacing-looking youth, but really I'm a big softie!



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