001 - Music, Motivation, & Mental Health with Ben Pearce

Feb 17, 2021 4:12pm

Inside this episode of The DJ Growth Lab podcast series we hear from electronic innovator Ben Pearce who speaks candidly about what motivates him and has also influenced him on his own personal journey on the way to the top.

You’ll receive some hot music industry navigation tips related back to Ben’s own timeline servicing the scene and also learn what has impacted him professionally. Ben Pearce shares some very personal moments from the rollercoaster ride spanning his illustrious career with many highs and lows relating to pressure, touring and mental health.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:56 — 30.7MB)

In the episode:

02:06 Supper Club, can you talk about that?

02:38 - So you say food is one of your main passions and music obviously. So have you ever thought about combining them two together?

03:02 - What is the first track you ever bought?

04:25 - What got you into clubbing?

05:27 - How did you start promoting your own events?

06:13 - Did you get into DJ before promoting or did you get into promoting to promote yourself as a DJ?

09:30 - What job did you have before this?

10:18 - Do you want to describe the conversation you had with your parents when you told them you are sucking your job off and pursuing a career as a full time DJ?

11:33 - How did you break into touring?

12:26 - How do you get an agent, how do agents pick you up? What did you do to get in front of them?

14:21 - So for a bedroom DJ for example, who hasn't got a clue how to get in front of these sort of people, what advice would you give to them?

16:14 - Would you class yourself as a DJ first or a producer first?

17:17 - Would you class productions now as a sort of like your business card as a DJ?

20:39 - So say for example, someone who, just bedroom DJ wanting to get more gigs and he wants to start producing, what tools would you suggest and what's a good way to get into producing?

23:41 - Is there any sort of like go to places for training you'd recommend? Is there any sort of channels you recommend or any online courses?

25:52 - So do you have a lack of motivation finishing tracks yourself?

34:33 - So you said things are pretty crazy. Do you wanna explain? How they change your life in a touring aspects..

36:16 - Can you pinpoint the actual problems? What you encountered from the touring side of it?

37:36 - You posted on Facebook and social media that you're suffering from depression, which you're very brave of you by the way. Do you wanna explain what led up to your post out to the world?

41:05 - On a positive note, what advice can you give just as a blanket coverage, sort of one bit, advice you could give to DJ suffering with health problems?

44:02 - Do you think there's anything like the dance music community together can do to help? Sort of like FIFA, the football association.

46:57 - So although you added you had a dreadful time of it, treating depression. Do you think that the break, did you good in your career and in life?

51:19 - So your come back was in March this year. Is that right?

51:46 - What's the story behind that with the astronauts? Do you want to go into that?

53:17 - So you're recently featured on the radio on essential mix as well. You want to describe the feelings you got when you were asked to do it?

57:07 - Do you ever play a set and think, shit, what should I play next if the crowd maybe isn't feeling the vibe from your prepared playlist?

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Podcast Summary

Danny Savage and Ben connect on a mix of subjects including cooking after Ben hosted his own ‘supper club’ sharing he classes cooking as his meditation and informs also his second passion. Ben then provides further thoughts into combining cooking with his music so stayed tuned for what the future holds in this combination.

Danny: (00:02)
Hello. Welcome to the first episode of that Danny Salvage show. For our first ever guest. We welcome Manchester Bond, DJ and producer Ben Pearce. Ben here's the big time back in 2013 when his track "What I might do" went into the UK national charts in number seven. I was also featured on a nationwide TV company by Tesco. Then in 2016, Ben famously came out on social media and canceled all his upcoming gigs due to depression. Ben then took a short break to recover from his hectic worldwide schedule and has since come back in 2017 featuring his first ever radio, One Essential Mix. Ladies and gentlemen, Ben Pearce.

Danny: (00:48)
Hi Ben. Welcome to the show. So when I first asked you to come on the show, you sent me a photo of some food. So what's all that about?

Ben: (00:57)
I can't remember what I sent you.

Danny: (00:59)
I think you were doing a dinner party and you'd sent me this photo of an elaborate dish. And I think I remember speaking to you early in the year when I first thought about this podcast and you mentioned food then as well about some sort of a proper cafe summit.

Supper Club/Cooking

Ben: (01:18)
Yeah. Well, I did the supper club last night actually. I've been cooking quite a bit and just for a couple of friends and friends of friends really. Just as it's always been a passion of mine. So it's something I've taken a bit more seriously recently. Got Some training, passed the cookery course like a chef's course and just doing it for fun and I think also it helps kind of distract you. I feel incredibly calm when I'm cooking most of the time. I can just, it's kind of an eight hour cup sort of meditation because I'm just focused on one thing. And it's also like delivering, making other people happy, which is again, same level of music, but it's more direct than some forms of that making music. So it's been good.

Danny: (02:06)
Yeah. So what were the plans? You were talking about maybe doing some also, is that the thing you, the Supper Club, can you talk about that?

Ben: (02:15)
It's mostly just friends. That friends of friends who come around to my house. The most I've done is seven people, but I did six last night, five courses. Just cook for people really, have a good laugh with them. But plans in the future would be to take it and do some kind of more formal events with strangers.

Danny: (02:38)
So you say food is one of your main passions and music obviously. So have you ever thought about combining them two together?

Ben: (02:45)
Well, yeah. I'm thinking of certain ways where I can do it. They're very similar in terms of creativity, balance and kind of flow and stuff. So it's very interesting to see the balance of the nuances between them.

Danny: (03:02)
Yeah, man. Cool. Okay. So when it comes to music, so that's your other passion. Tell us a little bit about your music background. What were the first track you bought?

Ben: (03:14)
I think the first track I bought was the first CD I bought because obviously back then, that was kind of the only way, but it was quite late. I think it was a Limp Bizkit album. Just to crack an album, the hot dog flavored water one and Blink 182 CD.

I think I remember that being the first two CDs that I bought. But I got brought up with classical music from my dad and then got into bands like rock metal from friends that I've met through school and stuff. Then from there kind of like that kind of ballooned out into hip hop from the kind of skater kind of side of things and then electronic music only came around when I started going out in different clubs. When I got to about 18 - 19. I mean like someone gives you some narcotics and you think, oh, this music sounds really good and then you kind of fall into it that way. I guess that's my kind of musical progression. Since then, obviously I'm listening to everything from jazz to ambient stuff and then having metal still on the regular. It's very varied.

Danny: (04:25)
Cool. Where do you start going out? What got you into clubbing? What clubs did you go to?

Ben: (04:33)
I think it was a new group of friends that I've met. Then obviously it was Sankeys and Area 51 at the time was the club in Manchester that was open really late and it's shut now, I think, but I remember that one. Yeah.

Danny: (04:49)
I used to run nights there, funnily enough. That’s where I think we know each other from,

Ben: (04:52)
Oh yeah, elf on it. Yeah. There we go. Now we commemorate that. Aged me good. Yeah. So I started going like those places and kind of got into promoting a couple of nights and then borrowed some decks of someone, learned how to DJ and then kind of went from there really
It was kind of a quite, spirit of the moment thing. I never planned on doing it as a job. It was kind of just enjoying it and it was kind of paying for the weekend life really. Outside of working nine to five.

Danny: (05:27)
Can definitely relate to that. So you you start promoting your own events. So do you want to tell me about that a bit?

Ben: (05:32)
Yeah, Me and a few people started doing events. We did a few and then, I mean it's kind of the classic tale of falling out with them. I think that was basically it. We basically had a fallout and stop doing it. Then someone carried, I think they carried on after I kind of left. But it was a kind of good timing for me because it's like this thing, six months later I released or I made the track that everyone knows me for. So it was kind of good timing I guess. But at the time it was a bit shitty.

Danny: (06:10)
Yeah. What was the name of the part again?

Ben: (06:12)
It was tree house.

Danny: (06:13)
Cool. Okay. So, did you get into DJ before promoting or did you get into promoting to promote yourself as a DJ? How did that...

Ben: (06:22)
No, I just started promoting first because I met some people that, at night, at Joshua Brooks I think it was. So they asked me to help out. I was like, yes, I'll do it. I went off flyering for them and stuff. Which is kind of basic, kind of young entry into the music industry I guess. I think pretty much standing out in the freezing cold rain like ice and just like trying to hand flyers to people who need to sit in the truck, it had been like 20 minutes, 20 seconds later. It's classic. Yeah, so they started doing that and then as I said, somebody lend me, Mike McGinnis or somebody lend me some decks and some vinyl. So I just kind of learned at home. I think it was, do you remember a track called Miss you more or Space. It was it Space?

Dany: (07:13)
Can't remember.

Ben: (07:15)
I'm fairly sure that was the name. Made sure more, but I can't remember what it was called, space on up. But it was like a hard at the kind of electro sort of track. I think I had two copies of that. So I learned mixing, just the Intros and trying to beat match them on vinyl for ages. So that's how I kind of got into it. Obviously I think after that I didn't start thinking of myself. It was more, the party was, the event was the brand like we would appear as tree house djs. So I never thought of myself as a brand until much later on. Kind of still.

Danny: (07:56)
At what point did you break away and decide to DJs bet under the band Piers Monica then?

Ben: (08:01)
Well, yeah, as I said, it was kind of when we all fell out. I wasn't part of the night anymore. I had to kind of come up with, I'm trying to think of the timeline, but I think I'd released like two tracks before, like a remix on a small label and then potentially like another track under my name. Then the third one that got released was "What I might do". I think that's the timeline. But...

Danny: (08:29)
Did you feel any sort of bitterness when you threw the brick open? Did that give you any sort of enthusiasm to go improve yourself as an individual?

Ben: (08:38)
Maybe. Yeah, I think that probably was a bit of that. I mean, as I said, it's really hard to recall my emotions. I think, especially thinking back on these situations, everyone's got their own opinion on how it went down, like the past doesn't exist really. Because it's just your memory of it gets kind of clouded by you forgetting certain aspects on you. You just remembering it from your side. I kind of remember being quite upset and annoyed about it at the time. I guess that may be galvanized me getting a [inaudible] and mobile. I think I was just doing it mostly just for fun. I was just messing about there. I never really thought, oh, I'm going to do this as a job, ever. I didn't think that right up until I left my job. So it was definitely, just doing it for fun things. So, which I think is a more organic way of making music. Yeah.

Danny: (09:30)
What job did you have?

Ben: (09:33)
I was a manager in a call center, which was obvious, right. Complaints, sense of which was very fun but I was very good. But I was going away and Djing in the weekends, like in Belgium or something. Then coming back on Monday and having to give a team talk to like 15 people that are all older than me. Most of them are all like, you can just see them just like looking at me thinking you're tired or hung over or whatever. So it was pretty fun. So yeah. I did that for like three months, kind of doing both. Then I think it was like New Year's Eve 2012, I kind of just said, I'm going to leave on New Year's leave. I'm trying to do this as a job.

Danny: (10:18)
Cool. Do you want to describe the conversation you had with your parents when you told them you are sucking your job off and pursuing a career as a full time DJ?

Ben: (10:26)
Yeah. Well it was hard to begin with, but they always supportive. I think they just appreciated the fact that I did three months of doing both and I just said, I can't do this anymore because I'm earning enough than what I'm getting paid for my job, by DJing. So that isn't questionable. I think they appreciated that. But I guess maybe until the recognition kind of got a bit further as in like all your tracks on the TV. That might've been kind of solidifying reasoning to trust me. Then father asked, what's Beatport? They don't know. They have no idea. So it was, and it's always difficult. I think anyone that doesn't work in the music industry doesn't fully understand that because it's one of those things, it's like anyone was going to go and be an artist or working in fashion. It's one of those issues. One of those industries if you don't know it, it might seem very different from the reality of it. But I mean, the truth is, it's still a massively difficult industry. But no, they were always supportive. So it was fine.

Danny: (11:33)
Cool. So when you left your house and you started gigging, how did you get the gigs? How did you actually break into touring?

Ben: (11:40)
I got picked up quite early by, wait. Yeah, it was Coda. I think I just can't remember the guy's name. Yeah, so I got picked up quite early by an agency and a management company at the time, a great management. So they kind of sorted that out. I didn't have a first clue, but it was a lot of UK gigs and some European ones for about a year. Then once, the track got resigned to Mercury, virgin or whatever, everything thing is Mercury at the time. Then obviously it kind of ballooned out from that. But both, the early pository was basically just kind of a couple of weekends shows.

Danny: (12:26)
Yeah. How did they pick you up like that? My audience, I've got a big subscription list of DJs who read my blogs. So it'd be really good for them to know. How do you get an agent, how do agents pick you up? What did you do to get in front of them?

Ben: (12:42)
I'm trying to think of the timeline again. I probably should have like, sorry, I'm not prepared for this in the slightest. Just trusting my very fragmented memories. But I believe, so there's a guy that was interning or he was just applying for a job at Great management. He's left now but he was running at night in London. He booked me to come and play and Rag from Great was there. I think we had a chat then and I've met him like later on. I'm pretty sure that's what happened. Then they potentially would have gone to Coda unless I was with Coda first. In which case I imagined, I don't think I would have been though, but I'm not 100% sure.

But I think when it comes to two agencies, I think most of the agents that I know personally and professionally are quite proactive in seeking out, especially these days. It's all about trying to find the next kind of big hit, isn't it? So I think agents are proactive. I think if you're out there and putting out music and doing well, you will get picked up. It's more about maybe getting a bit of advice off of anyone as to which agents to go with. Because sometimes you get signed to a big agency as a small artist and you don't get many shows because they're not prioritizing you. So it's that balance between having someone that's going to put the time in before you. But if you're not doing it full time, I suppose kind of just take a chance and go with anyone but maybe not sign a contract.

Advice on getting signed

Danny: (14:21)
How so for a bedroom DJ for example, who hasn't got a clue how to get in front of these sort of people, what advice would you give to them?

Ben: (14:30)
I wouldn't push it to be honest because I imagine they get like thousands of emails maybe. I mean if you really do, whether you want it, whether you see yourself as this marketable products, I guess. I think it's more about where you want to be. If you're a bedroom DJ, the sad reality these days as you probably going to have to produce, but if you're a DJ, I'd say try and get residency cause that was a good way of building. At least getting your name on flyers and also getting to DJ in front of Djs who had touring. They might pick up on that. If I see a DJ that has warmed up for me, I [inaudible], I'd always remember their name.

So I think that's important. Then so the sad thing is you really have to produce and then you're going into the world of production and getting your music out there. Blog, soundcloud, I mean there was definitely not one tip that works. I think it's basically having belief in yourself, trying to angle and not getting too down on yourself when it doesn't work. So if you send something to a label and they'd have no reply, don't get annoyed about it. Like it happens to everybody. It happens, like rejection is all over the music industry. I get Remix knocked back that I've done and put a lot of effort into. Then sometimes it's very hard to kind of accept that someone doesn't like it and that pay, so I don't get paid. So it's like shit. So it happens to everyone I think. Like failure is, you need to be okay with it, I guess, from a starting point. Sorry, that went massively off topic.

Productions vs DJ Mixes

Danny: (16:14)
No, that's really good advice. Really good advice. Would you class yourself as a DJ first or a producer first? Would you say you're a DJ who produced to make it as a DJ or a producer that's DJing off the back of your productions?

Ben: (16:30)
Most people would think I'm a DJ. A producer DJing off the back of my production, singular. No, I definitely DJ first. I feel more comfortable DJing. I do enjoy the studio and I don't think of myself as a good producer. I don't think I'm good. I think I can wangle together a few tracks occasionally, but I look at producers who I admire and I think I'm not editing in the same spectrum which is fine. I'm fine with that. But I think the perception out there in this world, online is probably I'm djing off the back of the production. There's something that you can't change, like people's minds.

Danny: (17:17)
Yeah. So you hit the nail on the head with the production side. A lot of the guys who read my blogs constantly ask this question, should I produce? Would you class productions now as a sort of like your business card as a DJ?

Ben: (17:30)
Yeah, I think it's incredibly difficult. I mean, you look at the people that have potentially got a DJ career without djing, without producing, that's very small and they're very talented. You have to have this marketable thing to put out. It's a very difficult one. And again, I think also depends on genre a little bit. So it's slightly different for different genres but I think you have to produce. I'm trying to think of an analogy with another industry. I can't think of one really but I think you have to. I think it's just one of these things that has probably been stimulated by the absolute saturation of it.

There's just so many artists out there and it's a lot easier to get a track heard because it's three minutes long than a whole mix. People don't really pay attention to, I don't listen to DJ mixes ever. I used to a little bit, but I never do now because I want to be original. People don't concentrate for 60 minutes anymore because they're glued to the smart phone. They look at Instagram and they to not concentrate on the mix. So djs only really get to express themselves in clubs and then everyone's off the face. So maybe they don't notice. So I think getting a track heard is so easy because it's three minutes out of someone's day and social media generation. I mean, even like labels ask you to cut your remixes down now to three minutes so they can get it on Spotify. Spotify won't feature otherwise because people got short attention spans.

Pretty bleak. But yeah, I definitely think you do have to produce. Whether that's like you do the bare bones of it and then go to someone, an engineer to kind of touch it up, which is probably a pretty popular way to go because you don't have to learn everything about mix downs. I've got my stuff mixed down by Joe Ashworth a few times. He does an amazing job. It was just kind of sparkling up like little, just like back end production on it. So there's options out there. I wouldn't go the full ghost producer route because as soon as you get found out, no one really likes you anymore unless you're already established. So yeah, I think there's definitely options but I also think that creatively you can be a lot more yourself in a production than a DJ.

Like you have to do something really out there to stand out as a DJ these days. As much as like the music knows, always love the icons, the gods, but the general consumer, I can't think of like a DJ that would stand out for his technical ability to the average person in a club. I think that's the kind of, because most people don't really care how the music is being played. They don't care if it's on vinyl. They care about getting a Jaeger bomb and just dancing and having fun with their friends. So who are you playing to there? Who you playing to? If you're trying to be original as a DJ and try, do something different? So that's maybe why the production things become so important.

Getting into producing

Danny: (20:39)
So say for example, someone who, just bedroom DJ wanting to get more gigs and he wants to start producing, what tools would you suggest and what's a good way to get into producing?

Ben: (20:56)
I use Ableton, so I'm obviously gonna say but you can start so simple. I started making a lot of edits so I'd get a disco track and just practice filtering it, arranging it, chopping it up and get sample things. If until you learn these techniques of making things sound "good", to keep it very layman's terms, until you develop those skills, you're going to struggle. Like the first hundred songs you write are going to sound like shit. The next a hundred songs, you write, you'll think are good until you write the next hundred and then you'll look back and go, no, that's terrible. I look back at the songs I made last year and hate them, but the ideas are there sometimes.

So I go and revisit them, change them and then develop them all. But no, it's just sample things. Like kind of remix things. You can get remix stems online for like different genres I guess now. Just get the stems, just mess about with them and see what you can come up with. I think it's more about the creative side and enjoying it. If you hit the ground running and do some edits and really in draft edits and remixes, ask people if you can get stems, if you've got mates that have released tracks, just say, can I have the stems, just mess around with, I'm not gonna play, I'm not gonna release it. I think that's a good way because you hit the ground running in a kind of, as soon as you make something that sounds good, that feel better than struggling for ages on a loop and you can't get the sounds to work if you know what I mean.

I think that probably be my advice to someone like hitting the ground and don't worry about hardware. If you can play an instrument, great. If you can't, you can still get by. Don't worry about hardware really. There is some fun stuff you can do. If you've got the kind of money to get the roll and like IRS stuff or the core kind of the mini little things to have a play around with. But I wouldn't worry too much about it. I think there's a kind of obsession with the hardware, but software has got so good, you can get really good free plugins. So yeah, I guess that's probably what it takes someone like starting just make sure that what you do, you enjoy it. If you get bogged down thinking, oh my God, I can't get this kit to sound like Robert Hoods. Well guess what, you're not, unless you put the time in and learn how to kind of make these things sound correct. There's a lot of and I know everyone is still learning. Pretty much every producer's still learning. I'm still learning new things, testing them out and some of them don't work. So yeah, I think I hit the ground running and be positive is probably a good place to be.

Production Training

Danny: (23:41)
Is there any sort of like go to places for training you'd recommend? Is there any sort of channels you recommend or any online courses?

Ben: (23:50)
I can't think of any. I know that there is online courses available from reputable music colleges. Youtube was always bloody great. There's like the point blank stuffs they help master classes with producers, which is always really interesting. You get really good tips from those. I'm trying to think. There's not really any channels, when I was watching youtube is a long time ago. So there's probably a hell of a lot more now. There's even just bedroom producers who pretty much, their only thing is they released music and they put tutorials online and how to make a kick drum or whatever. Just watch those. Some of them, incredibly boring. You can think if you're a bedroom producer, you don't really have charisma.

So some of them can be a bit just, especially if you're coming in on it and you don't know the terms, you just like, what this is like. So I don't know, just experiment, just Google stuff and find out what you want. There's load. I imagine there's so much more now than there was when I started. I haven't really looked but the Internet's amazing for that. I think that's one good thing we can say about it. Then another thing that helped me is I had people around me. I would say old friends around me who knew more than I did about production, taught me a lot of stuff. Just going in and jamming with someone. I imagine if you're a bedroom DJ, you played a few gigs, you probably know someone that produces, just ask him if he can come in and just sit in with them or just have a jam. You just learn. So I learned so much when I went in the studio with Shadow Shells for example. You go in the studio with anyone that's better than you, you learn. You always learn stuff. So just, just try it. Then again, if they're too busy, don't get bummed out about it. Just go, cool. Well maybe next time. I think that's probably better.

Danny: (25:37)
Yeah. That's one of my motto, is I'd surround myself with people I want to be. People that know more than me. People I can learn off constantly. So it's really good advice .

Ben: (25:47)
Important all over your life. People are good for you. I think that makes much more sense.

Motivation

Danny: (25:52)

Yeah. So do you have a lack of motivation finishing tracks yourself?

Ben: (25:56)
Pretty much 90% of the time.

Danny: (25:58)
Yeah. How'd you get through that?

Ben: (26:00)
It's a struggle. My lack of motivation kind of, I seemingly, something I'm working through with therapists occasionally. Seemingly comes from a lot of self doubt. I think I got chucked into an industry by making a track that went really popular and then didn't feel like I was worth it. So I kind of struggled to release anything after that. I did a couple of really crappy remixes and then struggled to like release anything after that original because I was just constantly in my head telling myself I'm not good enough. That still happens now but I'm a bit more conscious of it rather than just getting upset and annoyed. I have to go in with a clear head and I haven't been in the studio this week because my head has not been clear.

I'm trying to just [inaudible]. I'm trying to write, is an uplifting one, it's an uplifting part of the little storyline that I've got going on this. I have to kind of be in the right state of mind to go in. So I think understanding that the motivation comes and goes. Sometimes you'll go in a studio, you'll sit down or I'll even just go to your bedroom, you'll sit down and it just wouldn't be working. So my advice would just be just take yourself away and think, right, I'll come back in a few hours or I'll come back in 24 hours. You don't have to make music good every time you sit down. Sometimes making a really bad bit of like, I've made some weird stuff, like just the loops and I kind of just look at it and just go, what have I done and what is this? It's terrible.

So I just delete it and leave the studio and come home, play on playstation or watch TV or whatever. And then go back in the next day then something really good happens. Like you have to understand that motivation, I think that's another thing that people kind of perceive about producers. They think they're just going to go like anyone's going to go in the studio if they admire them and they're going to go, well, they obviously go in every day because they see people's Instagram or Facebook videos or youtube videos and they're always putting out their best stuff. But producers only ever put out about 1% of what they release. Is what Moodymann's quote well was it or something. So you never get to hear all the shit that they've made. So I think it's that kind of myth that really gets to young producers when they think when they're not making anything good or they get maybe bad feedback. I think you've got to understand that your new next good track's just around the corner. You just got to keep fucking going because otherwise you're never going to get there if you get upset and annoyed that you're not getting out there already, if you know what I mean.

What I Might Do

Ben:
So yeah, I just made it in my bedroom, made the bad bones of it anyway, between a bedroom and a studio that I was kind of using in Beehive mill in Manchester. It was so simple and I was so bad at production at that point. I think that the idea was there obviously and the acapella fit really well. So basically what happened was, I put it in a mix and David from under the shade email pretty much like the same day, I think very quickly messaged me on soundcloud, he said who lost that track and I say, Oh, it's mine. He said, is it signed? I said, no. He said, can I sign it? And I said, yeah, cause I was fine with it. Then we kind of went, had a few months of back and forth kind of saying that it needs tidying up.

I got some help of a friend in Manchester just kind of making the base sound a bit better because I didn't know what to do with it. Just advice really. I'm [inaudible] about it because I had a sample here, a small label, he didn't think that he could clear it or get it cleared. So we talked about maybe putting out on white label vinyl. I know at the time, obviously I was open to anything. I didn't really have any plans, I didn't even think, I didn't know it was good. I knew that people liked it. Then my friend struck the dogs club. He's Aussie's DJ name by the way, it's not his name.

So he had Solomon on one of these events in Manchester, like an all night set and he was, happened to have it on, my track on his car, on a CD and Solomon, that's what it was. And that's...

Danny: (30:35)
Were it staged? So we heard.

Ben: (30:36)
No. He literally said it was random. We forgot it was there or didn't know what CD it was and I wished to drive him back from the airport and Solomon grabbed it off him and started playing it. Then as soon as he started playing it, kind of things started escalating a bit more. On MTA, which is Jason State is. So yeah, a bit of further backstory. Obviously from being in rock and metal, dubstep, drum and bass kind of creep into that scene. We always had like an hour of drum and bass in a metal night, which was kind of worked I guess.

So obviously I knew who Jason state as well. I got an email one day saying hi I supposed from Jason State is, I want to talk to you about your track. I heard it in Panorama Bar, Solomon played it. My first instinct was just bullshit. I thought spaces to be someone was trying to like rumble me and get a copy or something. So I literally thought it three days and then I thought back and I went on the website, MTA records and I didn't know they had a record label at that point. So I looked at it and I saw that it was their record label and I was like, okay, this might be real. So I emailed him back and then we got talking.

I came down to London, I think I was djing in London. Anyway I went to meet him and Sophie, his wife and then Label manager and yeah, so we kind of just chatted and it was surreal because you meeting someone that you've looked up to for ages and like massive drum and bass act. Then MTA kind of reached an agreement with Under the shade to sign it. So me and Under the shade kind of split my 50%, and we still are. So it was kind of like an agreement and Under the shade released 300 copies of the vinyl but MTA handled the digital release. Then when it came out, I think it was in November. So this has happened probably over the summer. I think it got signed to under the shade in July.

And then this is probably November where it comes out. It was Beatport number one within a week and then pretty much a year, exactly a year, it got on the Florence in front of the Tesco. It was then merged to soundtrack in the UK. I think it held that record for like three years or four years. Then obviously got it got re-released by, I think it was Virgin at the time. I get so confused like major labels always taken over each other. Virgin EMI maybe, but anyway, it got re-released and then it went to number seven in the chart, in the top 10. Then it went number one selling platinum and number one in Belgium or number two in Belgium. Kind of just went worldwide I guess. Then things started to get really crazy, so I was probably the timeline.

Danny: (33:32)
People are still buying.

Ben: (33:34)
I'm still getting paid which is good.

Danny: (33:37)
Are you a DJ looking to kickstart your career in 2018? So as we all know, not only now do you need to have a mixing skills starting but you also need to have a strong online profile to stand out from the crowd. This is why I've compiled a three simple ebook to help you on your way. The 12 steps to kickstart your DJ career ebook is now available to download for free @dannysavage.com/12steps. We will go through your mindset, your press kit, your website, how to create more content, how to design custom artwork to be omnipresent, posting daily on social media and what tools to use. Launching your own radio show or podcast, building your tribe of fans out to network, set smart goals and invest in yourself. You can download this 12 steps to kickstart your DJ career ebook now @dannysavage.com/12steps.

Touring

Danny: (34:33)

So you said things are pretty crazy. Do you wanna explain? How they change your life in a touring aspects..

Ben: (34:52)
I mean that first year was just fun. Like you're having so much fun. It's a dream come true, really. Wasn't a dream come true, I never dreamt of it in the first place. It was kind of surreal. I kind of thought it wasn't going to last forever. I thought I'll have a year and it'll just go back to my job, but I'll enjoy it while the last. So made the most of that and everything. When it did go top 10, it was kind of a bit more serious because it was all of a sudden. I was doing interviews with Belgium TV channels and I was still young. Like I think if it had happened now, I'll handle it a lot better. But being young I kind of just enjoyed it a lot and kind of just went head on into these crazy schedules, playing like three or four gigs a week.

With no regard for like being healthy at all, like kind of just doing all the parties, staying up like I'm not doing anything. Coming home and trying to get back into the studio and being under a certain amount of pressure to release more music at some point. It was just like a whirlwind. I think it was only when it finally hit me that it had taken an effect on my mental health. I can reassess it now looking back and thinking, fuck, I was stupid. But I think pretty much anyone in the same situation would do it. If you get this life and lifestyle presented to you on a plate, you're going to go for it.

Danny: (36:16)
Yeah. Can you pinpoint the actual problems? What you encountered from the touring side of it?

Ben: (36:23)
Well, it's all reflective really. I didn't pinpoint anything. It's not pinpointable but it's more, I think now I understand that the lack of sleep, the heavy touring, traveling, stressful. The isolation, being on your own for like pretty much half the year. I was always on my own in airports and hotels. Then going from like loud clubs to the like lights, loud music, lots of social interaction to a completely dark hotel room on your own, silent, is massively detrimental. I think all those things kind of added up and I was basically putting it off. I knew I was unhappy, but I didn't know why. So I was drinking a lot when even when I was at home and then I stopped, like stopped wanting to leave the house, didn't want to go anywhere. Then when it was when I moved down to London, because for the first while, I didn't have a studio. So it was difficult. Then I realized from that the shit was a bit more serious and then I had to take some time off after a while.

Danny: (37:36)
So I think it was July last year when you posted on Facebook and social media that you're suffering from depression, which you're very brave of you by the way. Do you wanna explain what led up to your post out to the world?

Ben: (37:55)
I don't want to bum anyone out. I'm like, fuck these guys. I don't really like doing the whole substory thing. I should have said before but I think that being constructive and positive about it is more helpful. I mean to the point of the reason why I have to take the time off is because if I didn't, I wouldn't be here anymore. Basically. That was the reason. I was a serious risk, it had been previously, like in the November, previous to that I got very close to doing something very stupid. And then, just didn't get better

It kept going down. I knew it was coming back up again. I just need to take time off. The idea of going away and playing gigs and being on my own, like scared the living shit out of me. I'd split up with someone at that point, just before. It was a good thing because it wasn't working. My best friend moved in luckily and I think that saved me a little bit, even if it was very slowly. We still live together now. I needed the time off. The Facebook post was literally only just to say, here's why I'm not turning up. I just didn't want to just cancel the shows and put out.

I needed to be honest. I felt I owed it to the people who had bought tickets. If there were any people that bought tickets because they were quite foreign events, some of them. It was like six months worth the show. There wasn't loads but there was quite a lot. So I didn't expect it to blow up the way it did and it got coverage in all bloody newspapers and everything. People said "brave" but I wasn't doing it for any noble calls. I wasn't doing it to become a martyr or like a spokesperson, I didn't classify. Basically it was just saying I wrote it, type it out, I didn't edit anything. I was just trying to convey the reason why I'm cancelling the shows. I was sincere and I'm very sorry to everyone that bought tickets.

That was basically what it was. Then obviously since I kind of getting a bit better in dealing with my, learning how to deal with these demons is the counterbalances that now I'm can actually help people and play this role of advocate for good mental health. So that's been an unexpected development. I actually said when I came back off the break that I didn't want to talk about it in any interviews. I didn't want to, I might do one interview about it because it needs to be addressed, I just didn't want to mention anymore. I don't want people to ask me about it when I did interviews about my music because I don't want it to be seen as I'm using that to promote myself. There was a joke recently that on the pioneer video that I was in, I think mixed mag posted in the way without any apostrophe on DJ. It's just a DJ mental health, which again made me laugh because I might change my name to that.

Mental Health

Danny: (41:05)

So I have a big following in my blog and I sent an email out to the subscribers and the amount of people that replied to ask you a question, I'd say about 80% of them were about mental health and that their suffering or their friends are suffering. It seems to be an ongoing problem within the music industry due to the stress in the touring and the self doubt and all these things together. On a positive note, what advice can you give just as a blanket coverage, sort of one bit, advice you could give to DJ suffering with health problems?

Ben: (41:40)
Talk about it. Admitted to yourself, I guess. Know that you're all going to have like, it's very up and down. If it feels like it's going down, there is a point where it will go up again. You just need to get a therapist, go and speak to someone. There's amazing charities. Obviously the calm zone helpline, which is open in the evenings. I've never used myself, but I know it's good. I'm helping musicians, which is a charity I'm going to be hopefully working with. I know them quite well now and we've done a few panels with Christine from there. I've done a few panels and they did a study into people that work in the music industry, basically. Three times more likely to suffer from mental health conditions.

And that's not just DJs, performers that's all over the industry, which is absolutely staggering. So there's something that they're launching a service in December I think, should really get these dates right but it's launching. If you check out their website, Help Musicians, UK. I think the thing, the advice would be, there is help out there, that there are people that want to help you. Even if it doesn't seem like it. When I'm feeling bad, I don't want to talk about it to anyone, especially to my friends. I literally just don't want to bomb them out. I don't want to worry them. Everyone's got their own shit. So if you feel like that, then try and get a therapist. You can go for the NHS occasionally wait on this because the Tories have fucked it for everybody.

When I went to the NHS, it was a six month waiting list to see a therapist and they just tried to put me on antidepressants, which I didn't want to do because I didn't think it was going to be, I've heard bad stories from people saying it's made them worse. So giving them other problems. I think it's very different. It's a case by case kind of thing. Reaching out and asking for advice is good but I think there's amazing therapists out there. Just try and find the one that works for you, go and talk about it. Be open to talking about it. Be okay to say to yourself, I think there's a Hashtag recently to the kind of aftermath of Chester Bennington's suicide, that it's okay not to be okay. I think that's probably the most succinct mental health tip that I've heard from.

Danny: (44:02)
Do you think there's anything like the dance music community together can do to help? Sort of like FIFA, the football association. You've got your PFA and you've got all these industry sort of...

Ben: (44:12)
yeah. What's the thing, the association for electronic music. AFEM. That's the thing, right? Yeah. They're working with health musicians. They're helping their service to reach people in the electronic music scene. But this is kind of like they just do it if anyone who works in music, but they're pushing it within the electronic industry. There are things that people, the industry can do, but again, it's such a personal thing. I think it's more about the personal relationships. So agents and managers need to be aware. Promoters need to be aware that sometimes a guy's going to turn up at a gig and he might not be feeling too great. So don't be offended when he doesn't want to go to the after party, hanging out with your crew for a few beers.

That's not rude. That's just them not feeling it. And they might have come off a few and it's very hard. I know, I understand that because when I was at [inaudible], someone came over and they were rude straight away, I was like, well no, but eventually you learn that maybe he's had like six gigs in the last like week or 10 days or something and he's just come off a seven hour flight and he was delayed for eight hours. I mean, so like there's always different circumstances.

Danny: (45:31)
Yeah. Actually reminds me of a time when I booked someone, they were quite a big DJ, and he was leveled and cracked on with those who are well known for it, at Mint club. It was literally just in and out. I always thought I'm not going to book him again. He would have been...

Ben: (45:48)
Yeah, that's such an inherent in electronic music anyway. I guess also because I said this recently with somebody, I can't remember what we were talking about but I said the electronic music and house music in general has been built on party culture. It's been built and born out of raves so it's kind of found rooted in it, whereas it's not the same for any of the music really. It was out of, a kind of drug revolution. There kind of the resurgence of it, the kind of massive appeal. So it's very difficult. It's actually from that and obviously it's linked. I also think the drugs and mental health talks should be held separately because there is absolutely no correlation between drug use and mental health conditions in electronic music. Obviously there is a reason why maybe people take drugs to escape those but the same with alcohol and that's far more dangerous because it's legal and destructive. So I always think that those two things should not be talked about in the same conversation, linked to each other because I think it doesn't help anyone. Yeah, it's true.

Danny (46:57)
So although you added you had a dreadful time of it, treating depression. Do you think that the break, did you good in your career and in life?

Ben: (47:09)
It's been difficult. I mean, I've struggled to get back, release music. It's not reaching anywhere near the numbers that it kind of maybe should be. It's very difficult. Another thing, I think there's also probably still a stigma that people don't really want to book me in case I cancel, which is fine. I admit that and to think that, it doesn't offend me in any way. I think the thing is that people step on eggshells with you a little bit and they think that I'm like just one bad sentence away from a total breakdown. I can still take a bad review. If someone said I'm shit, I'm like, it doesn't bother me. I just wanted the whole thing of the industry at the moment is very saturated and difficult.

I think a lot of people are struggling, it should not be like a main headliner. Struggling to get shows at the moment. I think it's quite difficult. Just one of those periods, I guess that happened. It happens. I'm still kind of grinding out, trying to be in the studio and trying to release music. Depeche mode remix was good recently, that's been being played out by a lot of people. So it's going in the right direction. It's just difficult maybe to get back to a structured month. So not having to struggle for cash really because the time off depleted my savings, which was fine but it was definitely needed, obviously. It's not just like I'm better, it's just like I'm more aware of my down days and understand that I'll have to take one or two occasionally and just reset.

So it's just the dips on it wasn't low anymore. So that's the kind of thing.

Danny: (48:55)
So become more aware of your, this issue.

Ben: (48:58)
Like before, it would hide in the back of your mind and you wouldn't know what it was and then, but now I can wake up, if I don't feel good, I'm like, well, I know why. So it's not as scary because I know what it is so you can deal with it a bit better. But I still occasionally struggle. Yeah. But I think it definitely had an effect on my diary. I find it hard and it contributes to it because you feel alone because if you put a track out and not many people listen to it. You'd try and post on Facebook and if you don't spend like 400 quid on a boost, you can't reach your fans.

Like you do feel alone and you feel isolated. How do I talk to the people that apparently liked my music? So it's very strange. It's a very strange industry because it's all based online. Unless you're like constantly touring, you're basically detached from all your fans like all the time. So I think maybe as an industry, we need to move maybe towards, I don't know if this is something that people can do or artists can do, move towards more of a fan mail base. Direct contact system and stop spamming people. I get EDM Djs and emailing me. I don't know how they got my email. Email saying, please reference in south orange. I think we should just have fun like fan mail once a month. Just say that this is what I'm up to and just don't spam people and then people will be more likely to receive this direct contact.

But I mean obviously never gonna work and happen, it's just too much. People just posting everything, just spamming everyone all the time and if you don't post, you're never going to get into that kind of cloud of stuff that everyone else was putting out. So you don't get heard. It's also linked to that maybe is the most of the silicon valley guys that the engineers that develop the Facebook, they don't use social media at all. I think it's really bad for you. There's been loads of studies to say that it's very bad for your health. It's just, it's not good because it breeds very toxic kind of mental thoughts. We have industry, it pretty much relies on it currently. It's maybe a reason or one of the contributing factors why it's more prevalent that people are suffering.

The Come Back

Danny: (51:19)
So your come back was in March this year. Is that right?

Ben: (51:25)
Well no, not really. So it was basically like, hang on. Yeah. So I did one gig in November last year. So that's what I mean, it's been kind of slow. Put the first bit of music back out and launch this kind of ascension. EP run out in January. So that was kind of the...

Danny: (51:46)
What's the story behind that with the astronauts? Do you want to go into that?

Ben: (51:49)
Yeah. So it's slightly myself article, but it's not a direct link. It's more of a story. So it's this astronaut, it goes up and then gets lost. And then he finds his way again from getting support from like messages of support from his radio and that gets guided towards this place. Then he reaches this, which I've not really decided what the final bit will be but he's given me a bit of direction. So I've gone in with every EP and been able to think right. I know what I'm writing about and it's giving me a real direction to write from like good music that feels more connected to me than just going in and going around in Banga and then they're not as popular at the moment in the bigger club like bankers and tech house stuff and fair enough.

But I'm actually writing music that connects to me and mean something. I wrote all the lyrics to the last single. So it was, it's good. It feels more natural to me and it's much more inspiring to go in the studio with those and then so after this I've got two more reviews left to do and after this, I don't know, am I doing another similar thing or I might just go back to releasing more clubby stuff. I'm not really sure. But it's been fun little concepts to do this. There's going to be a whole album sort of thing at the end of it with artwork and there's a lot of visuals and stuff that are being developed around it, so it's really good.

Essential Mix

Danny: (53:17)
Cool. So you're recently featured on the radio on essential mix as well, I think. I think is, most DJs would class that as of like the holy grail. You've absolutely made it, once you're featured on Pete, I'm sure, the essential mix. You want to describe the feelings you got when you were asked to do it?

Ben: (53:35)
Yeah, I mean to be honest again, because I've grown up with rock and metal, I didn't really know what the Essential Mix was until I was about to, I mean I know this is not a bad thing because I now know how important it is to people and it's amazing. But for me it wasn't triggering any sort of like childhood like other people have said that they would listen to it when they were a kid and listened to Sasha and degrade and everyone retrospectively. It's amazing. But for me, I put so much effort into any podcasts that I do. I didn't want to overthink this one too much. I didn't want to make it like anything more than just because I try and do the best I can every time I DJ.

Sometimes it doesn't work so I kind of just approached it like I'm just gonna put in some of my favorite records that I like playing out, like probably play out more than any others and some stuff that I just really love. Like listening to them playing. So I kind of just treated it like a normal mix, which I say that to people and people are like, well then that made them not get offended by all things. I don't care. It's not the same. It's more I put an equal amount of effort into everything I do when it comes to DJ. So I think it might've been a better thing because I think I probably would have felt a lot more pressure if I'd grown up listening to it.

Okay. So I think what we're going to do now, I've got, like I say, I've had hundreds of emails from DJs asking questions. So if we could look through a few of these. Adrianne Costa from Bucharest asks what promoters are looking for when booking djs or live acts.

I can only speak as my personal promoter experience. I booked people that were good, I liked their music. And I think again, that was the only way that you found these people, but we booked some, we've got Death in the balcony, Malki, OT department, clockwork at the time. I guess there's definitely the flavor of the month kind of Djs. So the people that are really in demand at the moment, I think that's always something. So I'm guessing you're talking maybe in terms of you're not on an agency that are pushing you out and you've not had a, I'm trying to, is he thinking maybe more in terms of like residents? It's quite a broad question but I think just be positive, stick to a style.

Unless you're being kind of like a utility where you can play everything and just be willing to like to go and take a first slot or whatever. Just being really dedicated and involved with your craft I guess. I think putting a lot of mixes online, sending mixes out and being positive. It doesn't always work. The thing is, it's a very difficult industry to break into and to even stay in. You have to have positivity and you have to realize that occasionally it's not going to go so well, so you have to just be able to bounce back from that and carry on. I always want to ask more questions to people who ask questions like that. I want to say, where are you? Have you released music? Have you got an agent, what's your style? You know what I mean? I'll try and answer them as best I can without being too bloody anal.

Danny: (57:07)
Cool. Okay. So the next one is from anonymous. Do you ever play a set and think, shit, what should I play next if the crowd maybe isn't feeling the vibe from your prepared playlist?

Ben: (57:20)
First of all, I never prepare a playlist. I basically always just wing it. I've got tracks that I know that I'm going to play like I know that I'll probably play this at one point, but I'll figure out when it is. I always make up my sets on the fly based on what he was playing before. What the crowd was like before, how the crowd reacts to certain songs as they react really well to one, I'm like, right, okay. I know which one's going to go with that, but yeah. I basically, I haven't had it for ages, thank fuck. But I had this recurring dream where I couldn't think. I was djing big room or a club. I couldn't think of what song to play next.

I was sort of trying to look for it and I knew the name of it, but I couldn't find it. Then the music dies and everyone starts laughing and then I woke up. I had that pretty much every night for ages when I was touring. It was horrifying. So as soon as you start thinking, oh shit, I don't know what to play, then that kind of creeps up on you. So that happens all at the time, dude. You just anonymous. That's gonna happen. But I think especially with technology these days, you can just loop it and just take your time, play with the effects of that. You can do so much. I mean obviously if you're not a vinyl DJ, but yeah, I think that happens. And again, this myth that these big Djs like they get it right all the time. I think Tega's post recently was saying he didn't play a good set and sometimes it doesn't work. It's going to happen. So again, learn to say, okay, they didn't like that song. For me, if a gigs always going really bad, I usually just play, what am I doing? That kind of, that's my go-to. Everyone likes this. I think just having a few sure-fire crowd pleasers in a folder on their own sometimes helps.

Danny: (59:11)
Brilliant. Uh, I think the last one is quite a lot of questions we've already covered. So, uh, the last one I think from Paul Gallagher, um, Paul used to DJ back in the day, settled at a family. Now he's eyeing, wanting to get back into the circuit. He used to play vinyl. So these are just into cds and mp3s. So do you think it's too old for someone to get back into the scene? Do you think it's more of a young cool scene these days? What advice would you give to him if he's wanting to start playing out again?

Ben: (59:38)
Well, it depends on what scene wants to get back into. If he wants to go and play [inaudible], I would say he's probably not got much chance. But I've got a few friends. I was actually recently just chatting with someone in Manchester who's in a similar position maybe a few years behind where Webb Hall is. I think there's, I mean, if you are good at it, then if you like it. I think it's more about maybe if you've got a family, you're thinking how much time you want to stay away. My friends thing was he can go out and have a big night and DJ with his mates in a club in Manchester or whatever, but then the next Sunday morning, he's got his kids jumping on his bed

So he's prepared for that. You can't just like saying no. No I don't. I definitely don't think he's like young. I think it's only as old as like, there's not been DJs that you think about the first big Djs that were touring house music. They're still going pretty much so. It's a very new industry. We don't know much about it. We don't know much about the longevity of it. I think it's more about what you want to do. If you want to go and play and like big clubs where it was kind of raves again, but I don't know. If he just wanted to get a little bar gig or a warm up slot at the clubs, that's more suited for the family life I guess. Not being away too much. It depends I guess where you want to go. But I think anyone with experience is usually valued by promoters. If they're good promoters, if they're not just like one a hundred tickets sold off each of each little ad that comes in place. That's not good. I definitely don't think it is. You're never really too old as long as you enjoy something.

Danny: (01:01:22)
Good advice. These questions are from my blog subscribers. If anyone out there is listening and they want to ask questions to future guests, you can email me by signing up at the blog, dannysavage.com. So finally, what have you got coming up over the next few months, releases, gigs and where can we find you online, Ben?

Ben: (01:01:45)
I mean, all the usual social media is a stuff. Um, I've got a guest. Yeah, it'll be announced by them. So I've got a residency in Manchester starting, it's going to be every month with some guests that says me and guests. Little guest every month. I've got a few gigs kind of dotted around. You're probably just failed to find them on my Facebook page instead of just going through them. I'm trying to now finish my EP, the next one in the ascension series. You're just going to be golden vision, which is a bit more of a hopeful uplifting affair. So we'll figure out how that goes, which I've got a few ideas now for already, which sounds pretty good. Then, yeah. So I think that's about it. Just grinding away.

Danny: (01:02:35)
Yeah. What are your social media handles, if anyone wants to find you out?

Ben: (01:02:38)
Yeah. So I'm fairly sure. Yeah. So Facebook is Ben Pearce's music and Twitter is Ben Pearce's DJ. Instagram is the same as the Twitter but they're all linked. So I'm guessing you can find them.

Danny: (01:02:55)
Brilliant. So I think that's everything, is there anything else you'd like to share with the listeners before I go?

Ben: (01:03:03)
I don't know. That's like saying, it's like when someone says, say any word. I'm like, oh there's so much. The thing for me is if you are like potentially suffering every now and again, just surround yourself with people that make you happy. Don't spend time with people that don't like to sit with you. Just find the people that makes you happy. Just make the time to spend with them because you're value every second then that'll help and just to do things that make you happy. If you like stamp collecting, go and collect stamps. Then you like cooking, cook. Just go in and do things that make you happy and focus on that and try not to hide away but definitely just speak up and ask for help when you need it.

Danny: (01:03:50)
Yeah. Well that's really good advice. I've had a bit of a realization over the last weekend as well. I did an Ayahuaska ceremony and it made me realize I'm constantly chasing success and I'm constantly trying to do this and that. I've been surrounded by success. I've got an amazing family, I've got amazing friends and I've just tend to let this whirlwind of trying to better yourself and work in this industry in particular without realizing what you've got around you. Just appreciate who you've gotten to spend more time and talk to them.

Ben: (01:04:24)
Oh yeah, massively. I think that's something that is easily taken for granted. So I think it's maybe realizing that occasionally and just making the most of it.

Danny: (01:04:38)
Excellent. Well, I very much appreciate your coming on board for my first ever interview. Yeah. It sort of seems to get into a flow and it all comes together pretty naturally. Really is.

Ben: (01:04:52)
It was easy. I mean we're all cut from the same cloth in the music industry. We can find common ground in pretty much anywhere.

Danny: (01:04:58)
So you say you've got your own podcast coming out as well? You told me earlier.

Ben: (01:05:02)
Yeah. I just started to record it. It's a bit more of a lighthearted affair, maybe talking about pretty much anything I'm starting within the industry and then I'm going to move out to this food and e-sports on the agenda but I want to talk about some serious issues, but I'll make it kind of fun and lighthearted. So it's easier to digest I think. Honestly that's the aim and we'll see how it goes.

Danny: (01:05:27)
So where can we find that one, if you've got a date when it's going to be released?

Ben: (01:05:32)
No, I'm talking to a few producers and syndicators at the moment, so I'm recording them and getting them stacked up and then hopefully I'd love for them to be out by next month, but we'll figure it out and see.

Danny: (01:05:43)
Brilliant. Okay. We'll yeah. Again, thank you very much.

Danny: (01:05:48)
Are you a DJ looking to kickstart your career in 2018? So as we all know, not only now do you need to have a mixing skills starting but you also need to have a strong online profile to stand out from the crowd. This is why I've compiled a three simple ebook to help you on your way. The 12 steps to kickstart your DJ career ebook is now available to download for free @dannysavage.com/12steps. We will go through your mindset, your press kit, your website, how to create more content, how to design custom artwork to be omnipresent, posting daily on social media and what tools to use. Launching your own radio show or podcast, building your tribe of fans out to network, set smart goals and invest in yourself. You can download this 12 steps to kickstart your DJ career ebook now @dannysavage.com/12steps.