How did I end up sitting in a bar in Solihull until 6am with Toni Cavallo from Event Wizard? Well, like many DJs, it all started when I was young, surrounded by music from various members of my family. My Nana, for instance, had a deep love for Irish country singers like Daniel O’Donnell, a sound that filled her home with a gentle, melodic hum. My mum, on the other hand, was all about 80s music. From a young age, I was therefore brought up on an eclectic mix, from 60s classics to the modern-day hits of the time.

With both my parents working, I spent a lot of time at my Nana and Grandad’s house. This was a true musical education in itself. I heard a vast array of different artists, from the charismatic showmanship of Tom Jones to the rock ’n’ roll energy of Shakin’ Stevens. But I also discovered the intricate, instrumental sounds of bands like The Shadows. From the moment I was born until well into my teens, my Nana and Grandad were a constant presence, and their influence on my musical taste was profound.

My mum also fostered a great love for the 80s in me. She adored everything from the sophisticated sounds of Spandau Ballet to the iconic pop of Duran Duran. You name it, she had it – not just on CD, but often on vinyl singles too. It was through my mum that my passion for SAW (Stock Aitken Waterman) and, crucially, the 12-inch mix, began. I was fascinated by how different a track could sound when it was extended, layered with new beats, or stripped back to reveal new elements – that little bit longer than the radio edit, offering a whole new journey within a song. This early exposure to the extended mix clearly laid the groundwork for my future DJing sensibilities.

My dad was another significant musical influence. His taste was incredibly broad, spanning from the theatrical power of Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out of Hell’ to the soaring balladry of Celine Dion’s ‘Where Does My Heart Beat Now’. Being in the car with him was like spinning a musical roulette wheel – you never knew what would play next. And that sheer variety? It stuck with me. To this day, I’ve never been fixed on one genre or artist. I’m not an album guy – I’m a song guy. This openness to all styles has become a cornerstone of my DJing philosophy, allowing me to connect with diverse crowds and keep things fresh.

Spending so much time at my Nana and Grandad’s only deepened my musical education. Every visit was a constantly evolving playlist of legends. Then there was John Denver’s ‘Grandma’s Feather Bed’, which, to my young ears, was hilariously absurd and made me laugh every single time it played. Music was not just background noise in our family home – it was the very heartbeat of our daily lives. You could say my love for music, and therefore my entire DJ career, stemmed directly from my family and their constant soundtrack from when I was a young lad.

This is also where Stephen Fitton from Dreamlite Entertainments enters the story. He is my uncle, and my earliest memories of being involved in anything DJ-related revolve around watching Stephen provide entertainment at our family events. If anyone in the family had a birthday, poor Stephen was often “dragged in” to do the evening entertainment. I was always fascinated by how it all worked. I’d just sit there, captivated by the lights, listening intently to the music being played. As each birthday party went on, my curiosity grew.

I started getting closer and closer to the equipment, utterly mesmerised by how everything functioned – from the flashing lights to the powerful sound, and how it all plugged together to create a full night of entertainment. This hands-on, curious approach to technology, driven by the desire to create an atmosphere, is precisely where my fascination with IT and computers began.

Alongside Stephen’s influence on my love for music, he also sparked my passion for IT. I loved watching him tweak computers and build things, which ignited a genuine interest in technology. This interest isn’t just a casual hobby; it’s something I actively pursue today in my 9-to-5 IT job.

When I turned 13, I started going with Stephen to his professional events – weddings, parties, you name it. Helping him unload and set up the equipment was invaluable. It really helped me learn the different types of setups you can create, understanding the nuances of various venues and the specific challenges each one presented. More practically, it taught me all about the cables you needed to remember to get
everything working flawlessly at an event – XLRs, power, DMX, audio jacks – you name it, I learned its purpose and proper connection.

At the same time, I managed the school radio station during lunch breaks. This experience was incredibly formative. It taught me the essential skills of speaking on the microphone, not just talking, but effectively communicating. Crucially, it taught me how to time my music correctly – you know, learning the art of shutting up just before the singer starts, or ending a break perfectly on the beat. I was responsible for everything from organising the schedules of everyone’s shows to ensuring new music was properly loaded into the system, ready to be played out over the airwaves.

Alongside running the school radio station, I was fortunate enough to have one day out a week to pursue a radio qualification at a local charity. This course was fantastic. It taught me how to speak properly for broadcast, how to structure and organise a show, and how to use professional-grade radio equipment.
This experience was instrumental in honing my music timing skills, teaching me what was best to play and what to avoid depending on the type of radio show.

It also helped me build confidence when speaking on the microphone, which are skills I still use as a mobile DJ. As part of the course, I also got the chance to spend time at our local radio station, Bolton FM, gaining real-world experience and putting what I learned on the course into practice. After completing the course, I earned a Level 3 qualification in radio production, an achievement I am still immensely proud of today.

While at school, I also started attending a local youth club on a Friday evening. This was essentially a club night for 12- to 16-year-olds, and one of the youth workers, Craig, was DJing on CDJ 200 decks and CDs. Having gained my qualification in radio, I found this particularly interesting. As the weeks went on, I worked up the courage to ask if this was something I could learn myself.

For a good few weeks, a couple of hours before the youth club opened for the club night, I would go down and practise on the CDJ 200s. Craig was a great mentor, patiently showing me how the decks worked and the basics of using the mixer.

Before long, I was doing the first hour or so of the club nights, each week bringing in different CDs – mostly a lot of the Pop Party and Now compilation albums I’d collected. Back then, most of my “mixing” was more end-to-end fades than intricate blending from one track to another, but this is where I started to fall in love with DJing.

Shortly after, my good friend Neikhil, who had helped me run our school radio station, started to show interest in joining the Friday night club nights. He came along, started learning, and soon he was also doing an hour-long set. As the months passed, it became a thing where Neikhil and I started to run the nights in full.

It's truly great to see the days of the youth club come full circle. I recently provided the entertainment for my good friend Shelby, who used to attend those Friday nights, at her own event.
And, in October of this year, I will be making the journey down to Croydon to host and entertain my first same-sex wedding for two lovely people who met at the youth club and used to be two of the youth workers on a Friday evening.

It just goes to show how things can come full circle from where you started – a beautiful testament to the long-lasting impact of those early days.

Once you hit 16, you could no longer attend the club nights at the local youth club. So, once that chapter closed, Neikhil and I naturally transitioned into doing mobile work with Stephen. We mainly focused on 18th and 21st birthdays, mixed with a healthy dose of kids’ parties on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. This went on for a good few years, building our experience and confidence, until we slowly started to move into weddings.

Then, in 2017, Neikhil and I thought it would be a good idea to set up on our own. This is where Lazerbeam Entertainments was born. (Yes, I know what you’re thinking – what a spelling error with the ‘z’! Haha!) Looking back, it’s something we rushed into, setting up without truly knowing all the intricacies of running an entertainment business. But I’m also a big believer that you have to make mistakes to learn from them. Once we had our “essential” equipment bought, along with a basic website and social media presence, we set to work on getting the calendar full.

To start with, we were getting birthday parties filling the calendar nicely, with the odd evening wedding reception mainly from friends who trusted us. I was really enjoying doing both the parties and weddings, but I could see that Neikhil was starting to not enjoy the mobile work as much. He was also establishing himself in the local nightclubs around Bolton, and you could clearly see he was more in his element there and enjoying it more than the mobile work.

Around 2019, Neikhil started to take a back step away from the business, only coming to events he found more appealing, like the 21st and 18th birthday parties. Meanwhile, I found my niche and thoroughly enjoyed doing the 40th, 50th and 60th birthdays, along with the increasing number of weddings we were starting to book.
And then, in 2019, something pivotal happened: I attended my first Pro Mobile Conference. I took away tons of valuable insights, not just from the engaging seminars by industry experts but from networking with other professionals.

I still attend the event, consistently learning and growing with every session, every new connection, and every late-night drinking session! It was at Pro Mobile Conference that I truly felt the potential of growing my business, gaining those little nuggets of knowledge and inspiration that I continue to apply to this day. And, of course, what happens at Pro Mobile stays at Pro Mobile – has anyone checked if Toni Cavallo is out of bed yet?

The calendar was filling up really nicely for what promised to be a busy 2020 and 2021. Then Covid came along and wiped our calendar red. We were gutted. The only saving grace was that our overheads for our little business were minimal, as we were able to store the equipment at home, and any money made simply went back into the business for upgrades.

So, during Covid, I was lucky that in my 9-to-5 IT job, I wasn’t furloughed, but my hours were cut down dramatically. A lot of friends were not able to work, and many who had their own businesses were using the downtime to see where they could improve their online presence. A lot of them started asking if I could build them a website. This is where Lazerbeam Media came in, named to keep it in line with Lazerbeam Entertainments. This started mostly as a portfolio site to showcase the websites I had made for others,
and it quickly became a good little sideline, keeping me busy during a challenging time.

As Covid was finally coming to an end, Neikhil made the decision that mobile DJ work was no longer for him.
He decided the clubs were where he truly wanted to be, which then left Lazerbeam Entertainments entirely to me. Going through 2021 and 2022 after Covid was incredibly hard. Trying to get the calendar full again, and trying to re-establish the business, was a real struggle. We found that people were hesitant to book just in case Covid kicked back off again, forcing them to cancel or change plans. But by the end of 2022, I could see bookings picking up.

Throughout 2023 and 2024, the business still felt like a little sideline to my 9-to-5 in IT. My love for the Lazerbeam brand was starting to wane. I think it was mainly due to the spelling, but I felt that a complete rebrand was needed to bring the spark back.

Towards the end of 2024, I came up with the idea of Discobooth Events. It felt fresh, modern, and aligned with the multifaceted entertainment offering I envisioned.
The dream for my events business is to be a one-stop shop for events:
from core DJ entertainment to providing live singers, sax players and bands, to offering magic mirrors, photo booths, venue dressing, and more. I want to be the comprehensive solution for clients’ event needs.

On February 14th (my birthday), I officially rebranded and launched Discobooth Events. This wasn’t just a name change; it was a full overhaul. I unveiled a brand-new logo, fresh social media branding, and a sleek new website. Since rebranding, the bookings have been non-stop, and the support from fellow DJ colleagues has not gone unnoticed.

I then turned my attention to Lazerbeam Media, rebranding to WebConnect Media. In this new venture, I’m also incorporating my 10 years of IT knowledge, offering comprehensive IT support services alongside web design and support. It’s exciting to bring all my passions and expertise together under one cohesive banner, ready for the next chapter.