I was born in Ireland in 1971, my name is Shane. I came to England when I was only a few months old. I was brought up in Essex, where I formed the musical life I lead today. From the age of around 14 I was buying numerous Soulful Jazz Funk records, such as Luther Vandross, George Benson, Roy Ayers and Street sounds compilations – to name but a few. This is where my first DJing experiences were launched.

My best friend and I met somebody who could supply radio transmitters, which meant we could play our music to a massive audience and obviously let people know who we were. This was around 1991 when I was about 20/21. We started the station from my Mum’s garage and we couldn’t believe the response we had, after about 6 weeks of broadcasting our mobile phone and pager were constantly buzzing.

We were the only station on in the Basildon/Essex area so we had a lot of attention. My DJ name at that time was DJ Navigator and we were booked to play at numerous clubs and youth clubs in the local area. This didn’t last very long to be honest, after about 6 months of being on the air the garage door got kicked in and we were taken off air by the radio authority and a load of police. I still had my contacts and kept in touch with them and a few weeks later we were back on the air – broadcasting from a friend’s loft. By this time I had decided to change my DJ name, I really don’t know why but it seems to have worked out.

Due to my love of soul music and especially Roy Ayers my name, ‘DJ Vibes’ was born. This is because Roy Ayers plays the Xylophone and the nickname for this instrument is the Vibes – ‘thanks Roy!!’ I wonder what would have happened if I called myself DJ Xylo, oh well.

Anyway due to having a platform already I started sending tapes to every club and promoter that I could find. My name was already on a few flyers so that helped. At first there were absolutely no results, but I kept sending them and all of a sudden the work on the club scene started – like a domino effect – one thing led to another.

The first club I played at was Milwaukee’s in Bedford and the first large event was Fantasia in Shrewsbury. I didn’t have a car at the time so I got my friend to hire a van for me. As we swapped drivers at the next garage somebody who worked for the company saw us. When I got home (within ten minutes) somebody came round to take the van back, without returning any money to me, so I ended up getting the train. This is where I feel I started – on the road to where I am now (wherever that is).

The next step was to try to get my name on a record. I met somebody called Errol (DJ Remo) at a venue in Tottenham called Roast, for some crazy reason he organised a studio date for me and two other people – Wishdokta and a great musician called Andy. The first track was called ‘Sing It Loud’, and two days later Wishdokta and myself made, ‘Music’s So Wonderful’. Obviously I didn’t have a clue what to do, but I knew what I wanted – and this was the birth of the first 12-inch from Vibes. This track did really well; Wishdokta and I carried it on with numerous big hardcore tunes and remixes. All I can say is thanks to Remo, Andy and Wishdokta. So far there have been about 30 plus tracks – all good in their own way – something for everyone.

All these years later I can look back on some amazing times. I’ve been to loads of places that I’d never have been to unless it was for the music. Working on a building site for two years was my highlight of between 19 and 21 yrs old. Now I’ve been so lucky to have been to Australia, USA, Denmark, Ibiza, Greece, Skegness and even Scunthorpe. I’ve been given a few too many free drinks and had a few too many late nights, kept my radio roots and even had a show on Kiss FM.

All I can finish up with is that seeing the crazy crew in the crowd in front of me and having just enough money to see West Ham FC on Saturday will make me a happy man until the day I haven’t got the strength to pick up my battered old record box.

Here’s to Vinyl and me spinning it for many more mad nights.

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