Whether it’s the Pav Marquee, the clubs of Dublin, or Slane Castle, members of Dublin University DJ Society can be found behind the booth playing a set. DUDJ is Trinity’s main society for enthusiasts of Techno, House, and all EDM: for aspiring DJs, this is the place to go. I had the opportunity to sit down with Daniel Bradley and Daniel Roddy, the secretary and chairperson of DUDJ, respectively, and discuss their experiences in DUDJ and what members have to look forward to in the future.
“What is DUDJ?” I asked to begin the discussion. “I guess it’s a college DJ society where we promote electronic dance music”, answered Bradley. “We give DJ tutorials, so we teach members how to DJ. We try out club nights, we have coffee mornings so people can talk about tunes, and we have a room where people can practice and learn how to be a DJ using top-end equipment as well.”
“Yeah, the society continues to be one on the rise: “origin year? I couldn’t tell you,” Roddy continued after I asked him how the society began, “[but] there’s so many more people now, even in the last few years, getting increasingly more into it”.
I asked each of them about their own journeys within the society. For both members, joining DUDJ was a no-brainer as they both expressed having an enthusiasm for EDM and DJing at a young age: “At Trinity I found other people that were into the same thing as me,” said Bradley “so naturally I kind of became drawn to the society in that way and then became active in it from first and second year and then just kind of worked my way up, I guess.”
This should not deter anyone with no prior experience in the scene, however: “we have complete beginner tutorials” explained Roddy “[we] talk you through the absolute basics of what the society is about, how to play your first song and then try to work [new members] through a pipeline into playing club nights around Trinity and playing at the pub and recording mixes and things.” That pipeline makes DUDJ one of the best opportunities to get a foot through the door in DJing in the city: “getting people in and trying to make society comfortable for absolute beginners is something we’ve really been pushing this year” added Bradley. “You go to the tutorials if you’re a beginner, you can get a pub gig, you can be given some society gigs and you can work your way up through that way, because it’s quite difficult to get gigs in Dublin as a complete beginner now.”
They explained to me that gigs at the Pav are some of the early opportunities that the society offers to aspiring DJs to perform for a public audience, so I asked them what their first experiences were like: “I guess I first played at the Pav in my second year, maybe in October,” explained Bradley. “I was playing with a friend, so if I did something wrong, he could cover me or vice versa! But it was good fun.”
Roddy noted how nerves can play a major factor in early gigs: “I was definitely super nervous because I hadn’t done something like that before, but then halfway through, I got into the flow of it. I was like, ‘this is something I really enjoyed. I would love to do this again’!”
“Yeah, playing at college bars is really important for people moving into bigger gigs,” added Bradley. “It really breaks that barrier of nerves. So having the Pav at our disposal is really, really great.”
“What do you think is the biggest venue or biggest stage that either of you has performed at?” I asked out of curiosity. For Bradley, it was playing at Slane Castle for New Year’s Eve: “The nerves for that were outrageous at the time! So that’s probably the biggest stage I’ll ever play at. I’m super grateful for everything that’s led me to that moment because without the tutorials, without this kind of pathway, I wouldn’t have been able to play at a gig like this.” For Roddy, “a real full circle moment was playing at the T-Ball just gone.” For him, playing in clubs around Dublin and then being able to come back to Trinity to perform at its biggest stage was an amazing experience.
I concluded by asking them if there was anything else they wanted to mention: “It’s a lovely society and it’s a really, really nice vibe and very welcoming, always looking for new members”, said Roddy. “If you have any questions whatsoever about music, electronic music, different genres of music, how to get into stuff, what clubs to go to. If your friends want to start DJing but you don’t know where to go, or you want to get advice on something, just always DM the Instagram.” Besides their tutorials, DUDJ hosts many events, including collaborations with other music societies, as well as visits from prominent DJS, so be on the lookout for more in the future. Both Daniels were very kind and welcoming, so for any aspiring DJs or just enthusiasts of EDM in general, DUDJ is the perfect spot for you.
