dj seven

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The best place to find out about upcoming gigs, and see pictures and reels from previous gigs, is on my dj seven Facebook page.

I started playing in 2006, and quickly found myself playing in nightclubs, and bars all over Ayrshire, and in Glasgow. 

I soon went down the entertainments company route, co-owning a large entertainments company which supplied as many as 20 venues with most/all of their entertainments. 

I was very fortunate to play thousands of nights in more than 100 venues over the years. I also held personal residencies in bars/clubs for as long as 7 years.

We trained and supplied DJs/Karaoke Hosts/Quiz Masters, and were also out gigging ourselves 4-7 nights per week. After 7 years of this I decided to move into different businesses, and was glad not to be out every/nearly every night! 

After a break of almost 7 years, during which I played only a small number of gigs, I started playing regularly again in late 2023. In May 2024, I moved back to  Forfar, after almost 20 years away. I am quite happy playing as a solo-act and not having to manage lots of DJs, and equipment every weekend, or take phone-calls at 10am on holiday in Australia because someone can't get something working at a gig!

I'm very fortunate to be doing 6-8 gigs every week between Thursday & Sunday, working in venues in Forfar, Montrose, Brechin, Arbroath, Carnoustie, and Kirriemuir. My core nights are currently fully-booked for 2024, although I do have a few day spaces, and may open up some additional weeknights for December. 

Initially, I made a name for myself as a bar/club DJ. As I'm a keen singer, I also enjoy hosting karaoke. I also host Interactive Multimedia Quiz nights, which I find very good for helping to make  venues busy.  

I very much believe in playing to the crowd, and I think that this is the main reason I've done very well out of DJ'ing. I'm comfortable with any genre, and music from 1950s onwards. 

I genuinely like lots of different genres, if I had to pick a favourite, it would be Commercial Dance, particularly Trance, 90s/Old Skool. 

I've played in pretty much every venue you could imagine, and at all sorts of private events including weddings, in high-end venues.  

Other than having lots of experience in DJ'ing/Karaoke/Hosting Quizzes, I think one of the key reasons that I've managed to become very busy, very quickly, is because I also have a lot of experience in developing and implementing effective marketing strategies. I'm fortunate to have been able to start several companies from scratch, in various different sectors, and make successes of them. I've been used to working in markets in which there is a lot of competition, and so, I'm used to heavily marketing things. 

Gone are the days when pubs and clubs, can achieve maximum turnover without effective marketing. I design and supply posters for all gigs that I do, and for regular nights/big events, I also help publicise in the local area. I make effective use on my dj seven facebook page, putting up daily posts, weekly reels of all upcoming gigs, reels showing successful nights, and create events etc.

It is absolutely still possible to create busy nights in venues, as can be seen from my dj seven Facebook page. It certainly takes more effort that it ever has, but it's working! 

I'm happy to partner with venues which will match my effort and enthusiasm. I've helped to put a lot of money in a lot of tills over the years, but I am no a superstar DJ! Merely putting dj seven on  in a town I haven't played, and expecting a guaranteed busy night would be overly optimistic! Even big-name DJs are sometimes getting surprisingly disappointing turnouts at some events these days. 

The most important things I look for in a venue, are loyalty, and respect. I've played in some very upmarket venues, and I've had some great nights in "working mans," bars! I am more interested in who I'm dealing with, than what a venue looks like, or whether playing there would look good on my C.V!

In my experience, the best way to build busy nights is with consistency. It takes a lot of effort to get a new night off the ground, but once it's busy, it's very easy to keep it going.