Last night was looking all set to be one of the trickiest wedding parties I have ever had to DJ in my entire career! I was told that the wedding party were 'Goths' but really nice people if a little bizarre-looking. I was also promised a song-list PRIOR to last night ... which never materialised so i was in a bit of a panic yesterday morning as I'd also been told the WiFi there was 'a bit dodgy' so access to YouTube was possibly a problem - as it turned out it was fine (Phew!). Now I don't think I've ever spoken to a Goth before - I mean I've seen one or two knocking about and being a biker myself there's a link ... somewhat ... but I decided to take no chances. I not only read up yesterday all about how Goths are an off-shoot from the punk/metal culture of the '80s but how they are also kinda into medieval culture and music. I spent the afternoon downloading as many Goth tunes as I could find (from 11am to 5pm - lol) so as I wasn't sat there saying "I'm sorry - I haven't got that one ... or that one either" all night long. I racked my brains eventually coming up with Siouxie & The Banshees, Bauhaus, Clannad, Enya, Enigma, Rock, Celtic, The Levellers, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Moods, Alice Cooper, Amy Winehouse, Lady Ga Ga etc. etc. I even downloaded Goth 'medleys' and CyberGoth material - mixes of top Goth tracks that last for up to an hour or more! Anyway I got to Billy's Bar in Longtown, Cumbria and met the happy couple and their crew. Hit it off straight away with groom Ian Sawyer and Papa Smurf who had around half a dozen motorbikes between them ... had a good ol' crac and both gave me the biker handshake straight away!! What a fantastic night we all had ... Time Warp, Status Quo, Rainbow, Pink Floyd re-mixes, Dire Straits re-mixes ... whatever I seemed to play went down amazingly well. 80s wedding dress
*THE MOST IMAGINATIVE spur-of-the-moment bit of DJ wizardry came after the first and second dance when I took the bull by the balls and said "Don't go anywhere guys ... this is a special 'extra' song I've picked myself from Ian to his beautiful bride with her stunning & unusual wedding dress. It's a song called 'Bird Of Paradise' by Snowy White ... a big hit in the '80s. Straight away Ian (groom) says "Oh my God that's perfect ... I haven't heard this in ages!!" Obviously I was referring to the bride's gorgeous & unique corsetted black wedding dress (see pics). Anyway - that went down as a totally unexpected treat they will never ever forget & they both had a third dance to a lovely & spot-on song ;)
The only time I didn't see much reaction was right at the start of the night when I started playing the Goth music I'd downloaded all afternoon - typical pmsl. Lovely people with a spot on attitude ... who've promised to get DJ Micky Diamond booked for an away-game gig in the near future in their home of Wilmslow, Cheshire. Book me in for that one guys!! Til next time x