DJ Rob Rocks The House

Posts Tagged ‘wedding’

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

“I decided to hire Rob as the DJ for my 30th birthday party, as he had DJ´d another party I went to a few years ago and was great! I am a huge lover of music in general, and think the importance of having the right sort of music, at the right time at a party is HUGE. Rob asked if I wanted to provide a list of the kind of songs I´d like him to play on the night, then I couldn´t be disappointed. Oh how much fun it was coming up with that list! Apparently I´d provided him with 8.5 hours worth of music (a record, I believe!) I can´t tell you how great it was being at a party, where EVERY song that came on I loved. The great think was, so did all the other guests. People were coming up to me throughout the night, saying how much they enjoyed the music and could Rob put together a CD! Rob has a real knack of knowing what songs to play and when, as well as when it´s appropriate to crank it up a bit to encourage people to get up and start dancing. You can´t teach that…he´s just a natural!I wouldn´t hesitate to recommend Rob for any party, wedding, office get together, and have already booked him in for my 40th!!! Thanks Rob, you made my night truly special.”

Thanks to Hannah for a great party.

Now I can put on my website, I’m currently taking bookings til 2020, please get in early because the most popular dates are booked a long way in advance!

www.robrocksthehouse.com

Just before Michele Obama put Villa Padierna on the world tourist map in the most spectacular fashion, I djed at another wonderful wedding there. My role that day was to play the music during the blessing, music during dinner and then ROCK THE HOUSE at the end.

Tony Manners and Jayne Cavers’ big day was always going to be memorable after Tony walked down the steps of the  Amphitheatre to AC DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’. Luckily Jayne had chosen more traditional, and more beautiful music, for her arrival. 

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The last two weekends I’ve djed at two different kinds of events.

Last Friday night I played at la Sala de exposiciones Mare Nostrum in La Cala del Moral, Malaga where Lilian Berg opened her Art exhibition. There was a good turnout of guests and plenty of tourists and locals came to have a look at her art as well. The exhibition is on til 23 8 09. You can see more of Lilian’s art at www.lilianberg.com. I played some  chilled out music in a range of different styles and with flamenco, arabic, asian and indian influences. Towards the end of the evening I played some more dancey stuff finishing off with Depeche Mode and Yazoo, ONCE A FAN OF THE EIGHTIES, ALWAYS A FAN OF THE EIGHTIES!

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Last Saturday I had loads of fun djing for Jason and Sarah at their wedding.

During the meal I played a really laid back mix of background music that included Anita Baker “Sweet Love”, some Take That, Michael Buble and some Stevie Wonder that the bride and groom said had become their favourite album of the last couple of weeks.

The dance music went across lots of styles but some of the most cheered were the classic 80s and 90s soul and hip hop and I reckon the Mary Jane Girls with “All night long” and Cameo’s “Candy” just about took top honours as the most popular.

Frankie B sang on the terrace and in the main room.

Thanks to everyone who made such a fantastic evening possible.

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My husband and I booked Rob for our wedding in May this year. He was a real pleasure to work with from beginning to end. Nothing was too much trouble. Me being the picky bride asked for our own playlist to be used, Rob had no qualms with this and followed it to a T on the night (unlike some of our friends who recently got married and spent a fair bit of time compiling a playlist only for it not to be used by their DJ on the night).

Rebecca & Rodney Andrews

Last weekend I was lucky enough to play at the Hotel Cortijo Bravo in Velez Malaga. Perched on top of a hill overlooking the sea, the countryside and the lights of the pueblo you could be forgiven for thinking you were on the top floor of a skyscraper.

Rebecca and Rodney chose this venue and brought their families and friends out to a stunning venue to share their big day with them.

Rebecca had clear ideas how she wanted the wedding to take place and she sent me a fantastic playlist with music in a wide range of styles to suit the people there. It was a real joy to sequence the music that she’d sent me because time after time when the next tune started different people cheered as another song that was important to them got played.

It was fantastic that as soon as the last notes of the first dance faded away, loads of the guests started dancing, and they stayed dancing throughout. The hotel staff brought the festivities to an end well into the early hours.

We had a great mix of pop from the 70s to now, some country music to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rebecca’s aunt and uncle, R & B and some poppier dance music. There was time for some rock music too then later the music went into funky house and a mix of old school and more recent house music.

The energy on the dance floor was amazing. The only complaints I got were from the bridesmaids when I played (as requested by the bride) a couple of slower songs and they wanted to get back to the dancey stuff. But they soon cheered up when the next song was Finally by Bart B Moore Vs Oliver Twist to wish bridesmaid Jennie a happy birthday.

Thanks to all those who made the evening such a great success. Joan Carabini-Parker at www.spanishweddingplanner.com ran a smooth and friendly ship on the day and the staff at the hotel went out of their way to help me throughout the event.

I look forward to playing here again. The lights of the city in the distance and my lights in the foreground created a dazzling backdrop to a great night.

http://www.hotelcortijobravo.com/en/

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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I’m having a ball.

Last night i djed for Olwyn and David at their wedding at Rio Real Golf. It’s a great venue, amazingly friendly staff. The event was calmly and smoothly organised by Heather at FiestaSol. As well as me, the guests were entertained by Arran and his stunning voice.  His version of Nessum Dorma surprised the guests and got spontaneous applause throught.

But it was such a great night because the bride and groom and their guests were absolutely charming and later threw themselves onto the dancefloor and tore up a storm to a mix of music that included some Irish classics, great rock music, tons of 80s classics, a little bit of r and b and a few country tunes too. And I got to play the Saw Doctors again and see everyone on the dancefloor singing along to ‘the glory of her ass’ again. Top, top, top tune. 

And now I can claim to have got a top Irish footballer dancing too, cos Niall Quinn was as powerful a force on the dancefloor as he used to be in the box and he said i was a “grand fella” cos near the end all our watches started going backwards and we finished a bit later than we were meant to!

A really great night and I look forward to many more.

Orla and Conor had organised a fantastic wedding yesterday at el Rancho del Ingles in Alhaurin and, with such a great venue, well out in the campo, we were able to party into the wee small hours and almost back out the other side again.

After a great meal accompanied by the beautiful Spanish guitar of Matt, and a series of heartfelt and hilarious speeches, people were ready for the first dance and once Damien Rice got going they were itching to join in.

I played song after song in different styles. Some of my favourite bits were the dancing to Riverdance and the Pogues(eat your heart out Stavros Flatley) and the whole crowd leaping around to the Saw Doctors I useta love her. Another great time was a sequence of singalongs that included the Green Fields of France and Brothers in Arms.

We had a good disco set, some classic dance with a highlight being Robert Miles Children and a load of great rock with highlights for me including The Killers Human and The Kings of Leon Use Somebody, some ska hits, soul, reggae, loads of party music and squeezed in two by Frank Sinatra and one by Andy Williams too.   A brief description does not do justice to how much energy the music put into the party and how the guests sent that energy back with their brilliant dancing and singing.  I reckon there will be a few sore heads this morning.

i hope i will get more opportunities to play at the venue. it was a great backdrop to a great, great night.  

All in all, a fantastic night. with a bit of luck photos to follow soon.

We had a great night at Villa Padierna last week for the wedding of Sam and Larry. Sam and Larry banned the Macarena, but danced and danced to a great mix of music. some of the highlights were YMCA, Jai Ho and you spin me right round. One of the guests sang a note perfect version of the Darkness I believe in a thing called love, and Josh and his friend scratching on my CD decks to some Flamenco chill music, possibly a musical first there!!!

The requests were for a huge range of music, R and B, pop music, plenty of disco, Abba, tons of great rock, Bon Jovi  and much much more.    

A great night with a brilliant friendly set of guests who made for a very special personable intimate wedding that Sam and Larry said they were delighted with and Villa Padierna said I had done another great job for them.

Wonderful pics by Phill Coe http://www.phillcoe.com/