Nope.  I definitely did not see that one coming.  Sat minding my own business in DJ retirement without a care in the world and the world knocks on the door.

I should explain.  In 2012 I had been DJing for 15 years straight with a lot of long nights.  I had always said it is a young man’s game and I can confirm that those 5am finishes don’t get any easier as the years drift on.  I had also lost some of the passion for the job.  It really was a job after all.  When a taxi driver asks you what you do for a living and you say DJ they always ask what is your other, proper job.  People just don’t believe that you can DJ professionally.  But I did.  For fifteen years.  I had to find a longer-term career as my 30th birthday came and went and thankfully flying had started to, erm, take-off.  When I took that final bow at the last VIBE it felt right to retire and leave on a relative high.

People often ask whether I missed DJing.  The honest answer is no.  I had really done it, got the t-shirt and a few scars to prove it.  I haven’t yearned a night in a club since 2012.  I have maintained a love of music, of course, and sometimes think ‘yeh that’s great VIBE track’ but otherwise DJ retirement has been bliss.

So it was a little unexpected that I find myself sorting playlists and preparing for my come-back.  What actually happened was I was preparing to buy myself a new laptop and realised that 90% of the space on my hard-drive is of photos of drunk people in my various club nights taken by professional photographers over the years.  They are of little interest to me so I uploaded them all onto a Facebook page for the rest of the world to share amongst each other.

There was a real stirring of emotions as people saw these photos for the first time in years and the comments were so touching.  When was I going to do a VIBE?  Really?  It’s been years though?!  Well, I suppose I could.  And now I am.  Club booked, tickets delivered and on sale (and selling… phew!).  This is really happening.

And it feels good.  Really good.  It also feels right.  I am not planning on giving up my day job as an airline captain but I’ve some ideas of afternoon, more age-appropriate, gigs that I can do and get back in the game a bit.  Having VIBE 2016 to prepare for is actually an easy way in.  I don’t have to update musically too much as people will be expecting the tracks from that era.  Now I just have to buy the equipment.  It’s been five years since I last spun and I suspect times are a changing.  Watch this space.