My uncle Paul took it one step further by co-founding Master Tracks Mobile Disco with a friend of his – followed by a personal venture, The Mad Hatter, where he would make his way through a selection of weird and wonderful hats as the night went on. I had a great relationship with my uncle Paul and really looked up to him as a teenager. He started to take me along to some of the nights he DJ’d and I got more involved with setting up, DJing and packing down. It was at this point I learned how much control you can have in a room simply by selecting music.

In the early years of high school, I spent a lot of time with a good friend of mine, Aaron. He worked with his dad on a market stall and bought himself a Technics Stack Home HiFi system with his hard-earned cash!

We spent evenings and weekends pretending to have our own radio show, running competitions that no one entered, playing music that we absolutely loved. One track I remember to this day was ‘Eve – Got What You Need’. Listening back to it now, I’d probably advise small ears aren’t nearby, should you decide to give it a listen. Showing an interest in music, Aaron’s parents bought him a Home Mix from Argos – I’d love to say I was mature enough to be over the moon for him but I was very jealous!

I begged my parents for the same unit! Using my computer with one set of speakers, and my CD Walkman with another pair of speakers (blending the music between the two) just wasn’t cutting it anymore, especially now I’d seen this groundbreaking piece of technology (as I thought at the time, anyway). My birthday came round and guess what I got? I know, spoilt little brat!

With the finest in DJ technology (don’t burst my bubble here) I was ready to get on the road and start DJing kids’ parties! Two hours for £35 but – before that – I needed more kit. I got a job working at Seawick holiday village in the amusement arcades, giving out change, and, slowly, I worked my way up to bingo calling – yes “two fat ladies 88” and all that (are you even allowed to say that anymore?)

At £2.75 an hour, I saved up for my first SkyTec speakers. They sounded terrible but looked great! They were nearly as tall as I was!

Knowing this was the direction I wanted to go in, I asked if I could do my work experience with Craig Wiggins, who ran Xtreme Audio Visual at the time (now MRL Productions in Clacton, Essex). I thought I was very helpful to his business but, looking back, I can imagine he was over the moon when the couple of weeks were up! He very kindly donated a Citronic PPX 900 amplifier – a great bit of kit that probably weighed the same as a Fiat 500, but – with my Argos Home Mix, the donated amplifier from Craig and my terrible new speakers – I felt that DJ EZ needed to watch his back!

My first gig was a birthday party for my younger cousin Amy (she was around six years old at the time). It was in the function room at the back of a St Osyth pub called the Kings Arms but I didn’t have any lights so my uncle Paul lent me some Martin lights – my first experience with a ‘luxury’ brand of lighting fixture!
My second gig was a house party for my auntie Sally (Amy’s mum). They loved a bit of karaoke so providing music and karaoke was a challenge on my second gig but we made it work. Later, I DJ’d for some friends of theirs and it snowballed from that point onwards.

As time went on, I decided I needed a mobile DJ business name. So, I went with Master Mix Discos (apologies to Richard Lee). Now, as a young lad at the time, I was going to go with Mini Mix Discos but I wanted to future proof it so I went with a hybrid of Master Tracks (from my uncle) and Mini Mix, which gave me Master Mix. Even with a collection of Pro Discs in my CD collection, I was sure no one else had been genius enough to think of such a name! The irony was I couldn’t even mix a cake let alone mix two tracks together.

Now it was time to try to stand out and grow my business. Next stop – custom t-shirts! I had my logo on the back and either ‘DJ@WORK’ or ‘Trust me, I’m a DJ’ on the front. My grandad upgraded his illuminated sign on the front of his business premises, so when the light box came down, I re-purposed it as a custom light box to hide the cables and advertise my business. Off to the sign writers it went. As far as my setup was concerned, I was ready. Now to work out my advertising strategy. . .

Business cards pinned to boards in social clubs, pubs and village halls was the way to go, then, as was advertising in a couple of local papers/magazines. I covered those bases but it wasn’t enough – I needed a way to get myself in front of as many people as possible!

BOOM – Clacton Carnival!

‘Cha Cha Slide’ was still pretty big at the time (2004). I was 16. I hired a car trailer, then stacked what I believe was an HK sound system (also hired) on the back to make as much of an impact as I could. It included sign written boards on the sides of the trailer to advertise as the float went past. My mum drove the van pulling the trailer, my grandad stayed on the trailer to restart the song each time, and I was ready to walk behind for the entire journey. I spoke to the people running the carnival and mentioned how much I wanted the float to be at the back of the carnival. They found this odd as most floats wanted to be as near to the front as possible, but I had a vision. The more people I could get joining the back of the float, the better!
And what a success that turned out to be! Crowds of people followed behind my float, dancing to ‘Cha Cha Slide’, while I promoted my business over the mic and handed out business cards. This kept my diary full for a very long time. Mobile DJ life was good – not so much for my parents who kindly dropped me off and picked me up from every gig, but we made it work till I passed my driving test.

But, after a couple of years, the mobile discos were getting a little repetitive – same old ABBA (urgh), Dexys Midnight Runners and Proclaimers playlists drained the passion out of it for me. My uncle Paul had been DJing in a 70s, 80s and 90s bar along Clacton Seafront known as The Geisha. It had a restaurant at the back, a bar at the front, a nightclub in the basement and a hotel upstairs.

Paul decided he’d had enough of the club life and asked if I could cover him one night – at 21, I was very excited! I covered the gig and the management were impressed. They asked if I’d like to take over the residency once my uncle Paul had finished the dates he wanted to do. It was great fun while it lasted but I had the hunger back for DJing and there were some awesome clubs just 30 minutes up the road in Colchester.

I took myself off to Colchester to visit the bar/club owners in the town. Qube was the place to be at the time, so – bold as brass – I thought I’d start there. I said to the owner, “I’d like to come and DJ a night completely free of charge but I’d still like you to pay the current DJ.” This way I got a trial, the DJ wouldn’t lose his income and then, if he ever needed some time off, the owner already knew he could reach out. He agreed! I was buzzing – it was the place that everyone talked about at the time! I DJ’d the night and he told me I was “the best and the worst DJ he’d ever come across”. Yes, I was confused too. He said he’d never seen people dancing on chairs and tables before, which was great to see, but he also didn’t take anywhere near as much money as usual. Luckily, he owned other bars in the town and he offered to put me in Bar Nineteen, a decent little RnB bar with a great vibe on the high street – my first Colchester residency landed.

I also DJ’d for a short time at Route Night Club which had a real big name at the time due to the quality of acts they had flown in from all over the world to perform. I knew I needed to up my game so I reached out to a couple of friends (Jackson James and Kristian Brown) who were house DJs. The phone call went something like this: “I’ve been asked to DJ a bit of house at Route next week, can I pop over one afternoon and learn how to mix on CDJs?” Even I laugh at this now – as if you can learn to mix on CDJs in one afternoon! But they said yes, I think I got by, and my passion for learning how to mix was born. Thank you, gents!
I went on to play at the majority of bars and clubs in Colchester but the place I made a name for myself was The Slug & Lettuce. I got given full control over the music for the venue during a five-year residency and I chose old school RnB, making it the perfect residency I could ever wish for. I was referred to as Mr Kisstory by many and the venue just got busier as time went on.

But then Andy, the Slug & Lettuce manager, went on paternity leave. The area manager took over and he told me that I was no longer needed on Thursdays (at 3pm on a Thursday). I was a little hot-headed back then so I decided to message him the following day at 6.30pm saying I was not coming in that night but I’d be back in the next day. And then, on the Saturday, I messaged him again at 6.30pm saying I wouldn’t be coming that night, either. Thankfully, I’m not so hot-headed these days!

I walked over to what would become my final club residency in Colchester before hitting the wedding industry – The Silk Road. It had its challenges over the years but the owner, Ozzie, was a great guy, who knew how to run a club. Just before Covid hit, I could see the nightlife industry slowly dying so I needed to refocus my attention somewhere else.

I set up a business with my better half’s dad, Lee, called Sweetness & Light. We built light-up letters and numbers for weddings and events. In the time we spent at wedding shows, promoting our new business, I met a true gentleman in our industry – Jimmy Lee of Devoted Events. We chatted all things DJ and he ended up taking me on as part of the Devoted Events team. Jimmy has an incredible business but, like every multi-op business will know, there’s a transition period where you need more people to be able to take on more work, but you also don’t have enough work to keep them busy. Sadly, I had to go solo. I’m pleased to have Jimmy as a friend in the industry and I’m pleased to see his business continuing to thrive!
The building of the ‘DJ Scott Dewing’ brand was ready and I was hungry to succeed in the industry. I reached out to other suppliers, venues and went hard on social media. I invested in a fully wrapped vehicle, plus a brand new starlit dancefloor and more. As time went on, I become the recommended supplier for a variety of beautiful wedding venues across Essex and Suffolk. I’m currently recommended by 17 wedding venues across East Anglia and have a reputation that I’m very proud of.

I have a real passion to help other DJs that want to turn a part-time hobby into a career and I hope to keep pushing the limits of this industry – shifting the mindset of what customers are willing to pay and trying to break the mould on what is and isn’t possible in this industry. I’ve picked up a huge amount of knowledge along the way and I owe a lot of that to the Pro Mobile Conference.

If I was asked to give any advice it would be that every day is a school day – you’ll stop growing when you stop learning. If you’re going to buy a new product for your setup then of course make sure it’s bought from your local retailer (or a shop front retailer, at least) but – more importantly – understand the new light you want isn’t going to earn you any more money per gig but education for your business will. Learn the knowledge to increase your price per gig and then use the difference you make per gig to save for the new light.

The knowledge from the others sat beside you at conferences is worth the ticket price alone, even without the line-up on stage. Be clever and network together.

PS: If Richard Lee asks – Master Mix Discos no longer exists and it made absolutely no money as a business.