During my 20 years in this career Ive hardly taken any days off sick, and Ive been through some horrific things in the pastbeing hit by a speed boat being one of them! I often see my friends taking the odd sneaky sicky day off work, even when they only have a hint of a cold or simply cant be bothered to work that day. In my position its impossible to do this, not that I want to though! Something inside me fights through; flus, colds and other bugs that we all pick up. Somehow my body fights them off until I get home, then they hit me hard. I never want to let people down that come to see me at a club or festival, it eats me inside knowing that Im letting people down. Unfortunately I had one of those weekends just the other week.
I have a very high pain threshold, but the other day while in the studio I got hit by the most intense pain Ive ever had in my life, so much so I had to call an ambulance. Once in hospital it turns out that I have a problematic Kidney stone. Thats a typical scenario of my life, I cant have something simple! Immediate surgery was needed to protect my kidney from getting infected, worst case being possible losing my kidney.
This all happened on a Wednesday, and while lying in my hospital bed the following day I was planning how I could make it to my gig in Houston, Texas that weekend. I was even texting my agent in the USA, overruling my UK managements decision telling them that Im going to try and make it. Unfortunately that was the pain killers talking and the severe pain was hitting me hard, also they had just inserted a stem (tube) inside me that need time to settle and this was also causing discomfort and pain. Im afraid it was a no go and I was devastated that I couldnt make it the Houston. Im really sorry to everyone who was going to attend or made it to the club to see that I wasnt there. I promise that Ill be back there very soon to make up for it.
Eventually the following week I was allowed home, once they where happy that the stem was working OK. But it wasnt over yet, the dam Kidney stone is still stuck inside me. They called me back into hospital the following Thursday to laser blast the stone. I was now worried because I had two North American gigs lined up for this weekend. I was reading the pamphlet they gave me on this treatment: possible side effects; nausea, vomiting, intense pain and peeing blood.oh great!! So battling on I went ahead with the treatment and made sure I got back home the following night. Putting a brave face on things I nervously took the flight to Seattle the following morning, knowing any of the aforementioned symptoms could happenbut I didnt tell my family! I was in quite a lot of pain, my stone had been blasted but the kidney also gets very bruised in the process too, so you could imagine how uncomfortable that 12 hour flight was. I arrived at the hotel at 9:30pm and was being collected at 11:30pm to be taken to the Last Supper club, so no time to get some much needed sleep. I battled on through my set (full description of my gigs in my diary below) and arrived back to the hotel for 2:30am. No time for much sleep, 6am pick up for my flight to Toronto. Eventually I had my first long (6 hour) sleep and my body needed it. So much for the doctors rules of saying that I must rest after my laser treatment, try not to be too active.little did he know I was flying to North America for the weekend! I played my set at The Guvernment in Toronto, I LOVE this place and any opportunity to play and extended set I do. Mark Oliver, the resident DJ, asked me the question as I was playing. How long did I want to play? I was nearing the end of my 3-hour set and I was in agony, a hated to decline the offer of playing until the end of the night, but my body was at its limit. I needed to get back the hotel and rest as I had been jumping around like crazy during my set really enjoying myself. But I knew my limits and needed to stop.
Again another long flight home and here I am almost on the mend. One more visit to hospital to have this tube taken out of me, then its all over. So think of me next time you take a sicky!!
Diary
As you can see from above it has been a pretty eventful month! Returning from my Australia trip I took a few days to rest and try and get my head into studio mode. Im now on a serious deadline to put the final tweak to the 00.db album. I have this never ending cycle of getting over long haul flights, then trying to snap out of being tired from jetlag and no sleep over weekends. Just as my head starts to feel creative once again, the cycle of the weekend is back upon me. Its this reason Ive taken plenty of time off in August. My studio work is very important to me. As I work alone (or with Digital Blonde) I want to have some quality time in the studio to finish off the many unfinished projects that are sitting in my computer.how long have I been talking about my own artist album??!!
Back on the plane this time Im back in LA for the huge Awakening event. I wasnt expecting a show this size, it was packed! I was playing alongside my mates Infected Mushroom and the crowd where going crazyseriously crazy. LA is becoming one of the best places in the world for clubs and events. A last minute booking meant that I was hitting another event after this gig, heading for Vanguard. Now this is a club that I love. Last time I was here was with Christopher Lawrence and this night was amazing. I was a little worried because the gig was added last minute and they didnt have much time to advertise, but I was shocked to see a full house. The crowd here really know their music, so I can pretty much do what I want and they follow me. I can play pretty hard too!!
I also took a trip to Jersey, one of the British isles of the North coast of France. I havent been there for ages, so it was nice not only to be back on the island but to see all the big development changes. I played a Gatecrasher tour night alongside AJ Gibson to a very excited and vocal crowd. It felt like they needed to get this event out of their system and was fun watching them jumping around like mad on the dancefloor!
Then it was time for my hospital trip. So much for my studio time that I desperately needed. Youve seen the story above, so now you know how much pain I was in while playing at the Last supper club in Seattle. I put a brave face on and played to my regular crowd who passionately support me in this city. They where out in force again, and this is what got me through the night. I find I can play pretty dam hard in this small club, Im not sure if Im the only DJ who dare to play so hard, but I get the feeling I am so it encourages me to throw everything at them!
The next night I was at one of my favourite clubs in the World, Guverment in Toronto. Ive been playing at this club for almost 15 years nowWOW! They always give you long sets, and having one of the best resident DJs in the World (Mark Oliver) professionally opening up for me, makes my life much easier. Having 3 hours to play with, I can start of really dark, deep and the tempo is slow thanks to Mark. I love building my sets gradually. Everyone whos familiar with my sound, know it will get pretty hard near the end. So I feel them with me on my journey because they know whats eventually coming around the corner. The others who dont know me, get a surprise when I let out the onslaught of harder beats! Its this reason I love this club, because the punters give you the time and space allowing me to do my jobmeaning no impatient clubbers waiting for the candy. My 3-hour set flew by, but as I said above I was in a huge amount of pain and couldnt continue anymore, I knew my limit and asked mark to take over for the last few hours. Im really sorry to everyone who thought that I may be playing longer, also that I didnt say hi to you at the end of my set. I needed to get some fresh air and a sit down.
So that pretty much sums up my month. Luckily, I have plenty of time off this following month so Im looking forward to getting stuck into the studio and not forgetting having this surgery done.
One last thing, the DJ mag poll is upon us again. By now you all know my thoughts, so Im not sure what to do. On one hand I have many of you wanting me to push to get a really high place, then on the other I know whats involved getting the higher number, so I refuse to employ a team of people in order to play these games. At the end of the day I dont want to be a superstar DJ, I simply want to get respected for the music that I play, and I feel that I have achieved that. Im currently at a very happy place in my career and many doors continue to open. I dont need a number to sell me into clubs and festivals, so it doesnt make much difference to me. But if you really want to place a vote I wont stop you and thank you for your support
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