DJ Rob Rocks The House

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

This year I’ve been really lucky to play for brides and grooms from many different countries.

Each couple has asked for the same things and for different things: they all want their  guests to enjoy themselves, to have a memorable night, to have a good party, to get people dancing and keep people dancing.

But they’ve all chosen different music. They’ve wanted the music to suit them and their guests.

And that’s why it’s been so great for me.  Some of them have asked me to play music in styles I’ve not played before. That’s great for me, because it’s a chance to find out more about great music.

As a DJ there’s nothing better than discovering good new music or being reminded of a forgotten gem.

 Among the couples I’ve djed for this year, the brides and grooms have been from

 England

Ireland

Wales

Belgium

Holland

Mexico

Venezuelan

Columbia

Spain

Switzerland

USA

I love my job…

The release of this year’s Brit nominations got me thinking.

When I was a teenager and just ever so slightly obsessed by music the local weekly newspaper ran a column featuring a mix of local and national music news and gig guide. Pre internet, this was a really valuable source of information for people like me. One quiet news week, round about end of year review time, the whole column was turned over to “1984: A Bad Year For Music”.

According to the article, musicians in 1984 hadn’t delivered the goods. Pop music had been weak, gigs had been disappointing and so on. AND some previous years had been better. The argument was music was now boring.

I didn’t agree with the writer. I wrote a reply in longhand then still wound up by him, rang him up and dictated it to him. I pointed out music from different genres from 1984 that I thought was good and told him why. I asked him to listen to music without preconceptions and to enjoy good music wherever it was found. I was a bit naïve…

The following week he printed my ‘article’ word for word. My career in music journalism was off and running.

The next week he replied. He took issue with most of what I said and repeated his belief that music now wasn’t what it used to be. Some time later I realised what he was doing. He was trying to generate some interest in what was a pretty sorry corner of the paper by having a row with me. But at the time I was upset, disappointed that he had a fixed opinion that wouldn’t change, even when I showed him the error of his ways! Told you I was naïve.

I never had a career in music journalism, but I still like listening to music from 1984 and from any other year, come to that. Good music is good music. Full stop.

My reaction to this year’s Brit nominations is not: “2011: A Bad Year For Music.”

Rob

I’m a producer and presenter at Spectrum Fm in Spain www.spectrumfm.net 

I dj at weddings and parties and at bars and restaurants on the Costa del Sol.

www.robrocksthehouse.com

“Thank you, the music was perfect.”

“Great night, great music.”

“Fantastic music, haven’t danced this much in ages.”

“I can’t thank you enough.”  Ben, Magna Cafe 

23:53 New Year’s Eve 2011, Magna Cafe

My second gig at one of Marbella’s best restaurants. 

The brief was to get the guests up and dancing to a mix of old and new music.

03:45 New Year’s Day 2012, Magna Cafe

Success. Non stop dancing by the guests.

Was it an easy gig? Yes and no!

Yes, as the guests were up for a party.

No, because the crowd ranged from kids to adults from many different countries and wanted lots of different music. I had to watch the dancefloor closely, listen carefully and decide when to stay with one style and when to change.

Requests flooded in for electro house music, closely followed by requests NOT to play ‘that music’, Spanish top 10 hits, flamenco, r & b, party songs, a couple of classic Irish pop songs, disco, 70s pop, a song by a Swedish band (go on, guess which one!) Coldplay and more Coldplay, German pop and more.

The oldest song i played was from 1930, from the film King of Jazz and that got a good reaction. Soul, rock, pop, some big band stuff, 60s, 70s, 80s, 2000s and some club music and a couple of slower ones.

It was a lot of fun watching what the guests would dance to next. Their Conga through the kitchen just before 3am was a highlight, even if the dancefloor was empty til they came back.

A great start to the year for me.

07:40 New Year’s Day, My sofa

Sat down to watch Match of the Day

07:41

Realised MOTD started at 07:40 in England so I needn’t have got up so early.

Happy New Year

An interesting weekend kicked off with my first ever Dogs Disco and Birthday Party.

It was Silvie’s second birthday, (14 in dog years?) and her mum and dad asked me to DJ for her at a fund raiser for ADANA.

We had a brilliant night. Bailey won the floppiest ears competition and i just about managed to get thru the evening playing songs on a dog and cat related playlist. and yes, the first song was Who Let The Dogs Out…

Thanks Ruth and Jordan for inviting me to DJ for them. They and their helpers raised about 500€ for ADANA which is fantastic.

Sunday evening was the latest of Caroline Randerson’s brilliant events to raise money. Held once again at Villa Tiberio, hosted by Steve Gilmour from TRE, auction by Nigel Goldman, great music from the Carpenters to kick the live music off, plus Nick and Tom from Tres Divos, Lynne, and others. The live music was rounded off by the brilliant ABBA band. they set things up perfectly for me to DJ til the end of the night. Sandro brought the house down with his joke at the end! 

Raised about 14 000€ for Cudeca and the foundation of friends.

Here’s to the next one.

Rob

It’s one of the biggest days in your life

And it’s one of those days where you have an almost unlimited degree of control over what happens

So what do you want?

What happens towards the end of your wedding reception is going to be key to your memories of the day, however befuddled they might be. So it’s a good idea to think through how you want the end to go, even when you’re first talking to your planner. 

Your choice of venue is going to be key to how the night unfolds.   

If you want to party all night at club level volume, pick a venue where you can do that. Some local beach clubs and villas are remote enought to let you party all night as loud as you want. Others are in built up areas and start looking at their watches nervously even before the first dance is over. Some of the local hotels have sound proofed rooms where you can carry on all night. Some don’t and will  insist you stop the ‘noise pollution’ at different times.

The best wedding receptions that I play at are the ones where your expectations are exactly met by what the venue can deliver. The most disappointing are the ones where brides and grooms have been badly advised, or worse, so that what they want is never going to be possible.  

Luckily, as the DJ my role is fairly clear. On the night, I’m responsible for playing the music you want, the way you want to help you create the atmosphere you want.

To give you the best chance of creating that near perfect special day, please make sure you choose a venue that is able to deliver exactly what you want.  

Thus endeth my sermon for today.

Rob DJ djs at hotels, beach clubs and villas along the Costa del Sol.

“We both wanted to say a massive thank you Rob for the brilliant job you did on our wedding day.

We were both delighted with all of it. You were so professional.

We would be happy to recommend you to anyone.”

Pilar and Sean May 2011

Another great reception with a lovely crowd who made it very easy for me to keep them dancing.

Played “Riverdance” twice in a row, which is a first for me. Played a lot of other music as well…

Thanks to Lisa, who did a great job and booked a brilliant Flamenco show and Heather and her team.

Details are starting to come out about the music played at the Royal Wedding Party.

One day we might get the full playlist. But I don’t think that that list would be the most useful thing to come out of the wedding.

Even in the two newspaper articles so far published, and both written by people who don’t seem to have been there, there are some good lessons to be learnt (and some good song choices to be filed away for future reference.)

Having a singer or band at your wedding is a good idea. You might not be able to afford Ellie Goulding singing a cover of Elton John’s Your Song, but it is a good idea to mix things up with live music and a disco.

Ellie Goulding then covered some classic songs that I’ve often been asked to play at weddings. These songs are popular because they are excellent songs that appeal to a wide audience. They included Blame It On The Boogie by the Jackson 5, Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams, Superstition by Stevie Wonder and Mr Brightside by The Killers. Songs by the Killers (and just a few others) are those rare things that get reluctant blokes onto the dance floor, the most difficult of audiences.

The rest of her setlist was chosen by the newlyweds. Brilliant. They know their guests best.

“According to one report, the Prince and Princess entertained their guests by performing a comic dance routine to You’re The One That I Want, from the soundtrack to Grease.” Great idea if that’s what you’d like to do.

“Kate continued dancing when Miss Goulding gave way at 1.30am to a DJ playing fast-paced rap and dance music. The DJ played music from rappers Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal.” There had been speculation before the event that they would dance to 90s music from their days together at St Andrews.

I wasn’t there but I think the lessons to be learnt for your wedding are:

Choose the music you want, bearing in mind the taste of your guests. Lots of brides and grooms plan more poppy music earlier and more clubby music later. It sounds like Wills and Kate did the same. It also sounds like they had music in lots of different styles.  

It seems like the couple got it right as “Guests were still on the dancefloor at 3am and the newlyweds danced together ‘non-stop’ until 3am along with other members of the Royal family. ‘Everyone joined in, including Charles and Camilla. Hardly anyone was sitting down,’ said one guest.” Sounds like the perfect night. One that’s going to stay in the guests’ minds for ever. You can’t ask for a better night.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8486810/Royal-wedding-party-Mojito-cocktails-Grease-on-the-dancefloor-and-Harry-the-joker-in-a-fez.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1382586/Royal-wedding-party-Slip-ups-downs-sambucca-slammers.html

‘We had such a blast, the music was great and you were the best DJ ever!  It was very important to us to have that club feel and you ensured it remained well into the early hours. It was fantastic, the guests loved you!’ Danny Ryan

Even on the Costa del Sol, gambling on good weather in March is a bit of a risk. But Danny and Fergal did get to have their ceremony outside so good fortune was smiling on them on their wedding day, even if there were big black clouds hovering around and plenty of umbrellas on standby.

I’ve rarely met a more friendly crowd for a wedding and loved playing the mix of music they’d asked for.

Danny and Fergal wanted a mix of 90s and early 00s music early on, getting a bit more bouncy towards midnight and more of a club feel later. On the night there were lots of requests that made the night even more personal for the guests.

The dancing went on into the wee small hours.   

The bar staff at Sunset Beach were great. Thanks to Sue at Spanish Dream Weddings for organising a great wedding and Danny and Fergal for booking me.

My first gig of the 2011 season was at Villa Tiberio, Marbella. Caroline Randerson and Sandro Morelli organised a fund raising dinner for Cudeca that raised €25, 274.

Among the highlights were the brilliant singing that went along with the dinner and a superb stand up routine from Stan Boardman. The auction, led by Nigel Goldman was a huge success. Lee Blackshaw ran a silent auction and Steve Gilmour did a great job hosting the evening.   

You can see more of Johnnie Gates’ photos from the event at http://i-marbella.com/News/news/over-24-000-e-raised-for-cudeca

Laura from Cudeca said ‘Guests were entertained throughout the evening with performances from the renowned group Tres Divos, A Touch of Class and Julie Anne Hunter and Rob DJ, who played disco classics into the early hours.’

Thanks to everyone who made the evening such a success.

Caroline’s next event will be her annual Children with Leukemia evening May 29^th 2011, back at Villa Tiberio. Hope to see you there!

Planning any event requires a lot of thought. If you’re going to be doing it in a country that you don’t live in then it’s going to need even more careful consideration. Your key decisions are things like when will it be, where will you hold it and who you’re going to invite.

If you were planning an event where you live, then you’d already know a lot about how these events would work and the rules and idiosyncrasies that you’d have to work with. If you’re doing it in a place that you’re less familiar with, then you’ll need to find out these things.

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