What a year its been! Lots of changes at DJNI, most of them positive to be fair! Some sketchy moments…some sad moments…lets discuss.
January
Well, what can we say, the usual January blues were of the order, still in lockdown and a few gigs in the form of socially distanced activities and family gatherings but there’s always light at the end of the tunnel! One thing to relieve us from the doom and gloom was that I was a finalist for Wedding DJ of The Year at the Northern Ireland Wedding Awards. It was such a joy to get to this stage, to be able to attend the ceremony and it set me up for 2022! Aim high!
February
Back to the wedding banter and two Young Farmer events to kick off the year in the form of a disco to celebrate 90 years of Coleraine YFC and the end of the month, the Tyrone YFC efficiency dinner. On the way there, we had a bit of a dilemma where one of the wheel bearings on the trailer had a catastrophic failure where we lost a wheel. Fortunately, we were in the 30mph zone in Gortin and came to a stop fairly quickly.
We’d like to thank the guys from the Glenpark Estate who came out with their minibus to rescue us and the gear and we made it to the gig on time and partied the night away. Meanwhile, DJ Dave stayed with the stricken car and trailer only to be rescued by Dave’s friend Callum, who actually fixed the trailer temporarily, delivered it to us at the gig and we were able to go home as normal, DJ gear intact. A huge thanks for this and all of your assistance.
March
Just when you think things cant get any worse….we were on our way back from Kildare, a week after the above incident…
It’s 3am..we’re coming on to the Westlink Northbound…”Boom”. I thought to myself “there’s the other side away” looked in the mirror and the trailer is flopping about…now I thought to myself “this isn’t good” then ‘snap’ as the lighting cable broke away and the trailer veered towards the nearside crash barrier, flipped onto its side, and proceeded to slide along the road to a halt.
The drawbar had broke, the force of the flip opened the rear doors and by now, most of our wedding kit was strewn over the motorway. We weren’t in a good place for the immediate future of DJNI.
Again, DJ Dave was with me so we gathered up the various bits of kit from the road and loaded them into the trailer which we got back onto its wheels. A quick phone call to Daddy DJNI and sometime later he landed with a cattle trailer and we were able to get the gig trailer inside this and transported home.
Long story short, none of the gear was damaged, cases took the brunt but every item that was inside the trailer was operational and that came as such a relief.
By the end of the week we had a new trailer and we were able to carry on through march…business as usual!
March saw our first gig of the year with Holly Sax, and we’re big fans of DJ and Sax nights! They inject much energy into a dance floor and go down a treat wherever we pop up.
By now we’re back to two DJs for some nights covering gigs up and down the country. It’s great to see demand increasing after Covid and we’re really fortunate to have so many people placing their trust in DJNI.
March also saw us return to Country to Country in Dublin to DJ in the Green Room Bar for three back-to-back days of country music during the C2C festival, and this year it was filled to capacity all three days with queues around the block. Love it!
April
Continuing on with the country vibe, I was selected to host and DJ the Farmers Bash at the SSE Arena, which was a dream come true! Such a privilege to be able to do my thing and promote DJNI in front of almost 10,000 people at an arena show and it’s something I’ll never forget as long as I live!
April also saw us take up our first residency as a DJ setup with Belfast’s popular Haymarket Pub. Since then, we’ve been there enduring…sorry enjoying the karaoke and the wide and eclectic mix of song choices from the attendees! It’s something we enjoy profusely and we extend a huge thanks to the Haymarket for choosing us to run this night for them!
May
May…May is monumental for me! My birthday is in May…but more importantly I took the huge step to quit the day job and make DJNI my full time focus. It’s something I’ve toyed with for a long time but then Covid hit and I was fortunate I didn’t but sometimes you just gotta take that leap…and I did.
May saw us running weekly quizzes in Belfast’s Revolucion de Cuba covering for Darryn McGarry who also as a wedding DJ and runs Weddings NI, which is an online resource where you can get anything you need for the big day.
We’re indebted to Darryn for throwing so much work our way in 2022 and I consider him to be a good friend! DJ buddies! [Insert fist bump here]
May also saw us DJ’ing for Cool FM at the Belfast City Marathon finish line and as well for Downtown Radio at the Balmoral Show. Loved every minute of it
Finally May caught us by surprise! I’d been approached by the Buck n Bull in London to come and DJ one of their Country Party Nights. I was blown away and this was the start of something special!
June
June…after the mishaps of Feb and March we immediately ordered a brand new trailer, bigger and safer and in June we took delivery of this! We were chuffed! We were able to make use of the bigger space to organise the gear in a better transport layout as well as upgrade our cable storage and buy a fan, for those hot summer setups!
June also seen us travel to Rathlin Island for a wedding. It was our first ever gig over there and somewhere I’d never really explored but I fell in love with the place and the people! A great night and such a special thing to be a part of!
July
Festival vibes! We were invited along with Holly Sax to do a set at Northern Ireland’s biggest family festival, Camp Dalfest. We also teamed up with Don King on the second day to form Techno Tots where we DJ’d and Don led dance sets which was aimed at kids and families. Great banter was had!
Also in July I retuned to Buck n Bull in London to DJ a Country themed boat party on the River Thames. It was so surreal sailing past the Houses of Parliament and everyone Line dancing to American Country.
At this point I also decided to set up a DJ Chris Armstrong on socials as I didn’t want DJNI to go down a country music rabbit hole and I could use this as a platform to promote myself personally as a DJ and still keep the DJNI brand grounded in epic Corporate and Family Events.
August
August we covered a lot of miles on the Island of Ireland and done our thing in a lot of new venues. We travelled to the magnificent Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin, Tankardstown House in Meath and closer to home, the newly reopened Magheramorne Estate. All of which were truly splendid venues.
August was also our last Young Farmers BBQ for the year with Spa YFC. We had a blast over the summer with Gleno, Holestone, Ahoghill and Spa. Gleno was the first bbq since 2019 and we were honoured to be the first DJ to be back at them.
September
September we were back at Ballyscullion Park who this year have fired us into their recommended suppliers list. We’re their only recommended DJ and we pride ourselves in how we conduct ourselves with both clients and venues and have a great working relationship with venues across the country.
September also seen us kick off a new corporate relationship with Plannd who are event organisers based in Belfast. Our maiden voyage with them was over to Gilbert Ash HQ on the Boucher Road where they organised a festival in the carpark for the GA staff. It looked amazing, check out the highlights!
October
Wedding season quietening down, we were back with the YFC and Antrim’s County Dinner at Galgorm, as well as hosting and doing a brief DJ set for Ballymena’s Firework Display for a second year running.
Finally I was able to assist Buck n Bull and bring the Country Party night to Belfast. We launched in the Botanic Inn, and a huge thanks to Darryn at Botanic for all his assistance to help make this possible.
November
November was much the same, weddings, corporate gigs and Buck n Bull again in London. It was the calm before the storm…and things were about to get choppy…
Also Nov was a first for DJNI where we had three working DJ’s all out at once. It was a special moment for us and again reassuring to me that I took the right step back in May.
December
December…Christmas work parties, Christmas weddings, and actual Christmas! I love December and we had a jam-packed December at DJNI. We took delivery of some new speakers, lights, and a DJ booth to make sure all three kits were up to scratch and keeping things as slick as possible. Image speaks volumes and we try to keep everything fresh to ensure you get the night that looks and sounds right!
Finishing off the year on New Year’s Eve I was on the way to a wedding in Whitehead where I met a parked car on a dark country road, the car coming the other way blinded me and I didn’t see the parked car unfortunately. There was a fairly hefty smash. Fortunately nobody was hurt, the car took a lot of damage and the trailer took a bit of damage but it could of been so much worse.
December we also said goodbye to David Mooney who recently got married in the last few weeks relocated to Edinburgh. David helped me get DJNI off the ground back in the day. He gave me the getup and go to really establish DJNI and get a strong corporate brand on the go. He’s already missed.
In conclusion, the DJ life can be filled with long nights, we’re often the first to arrive to a party and the last to leave, but it’s the banter that takes place within that time which makes it count. Some nights I’m not home until near 5am but it’s worth it! There’s a lot of miles travelled, some plain sailing, some not so much as 2022 has taught me. But we got to keep going no matter what life throws at us.
2022 was 100% better than I could of ever anticipated and DJNI has come on leaps and bounds. I’m very excited to see what 2023 will bring!
A huge, huge thankyou to everyone who played a part in helping us get to where we are today, in January 2023 compared to that of just a year ago. A special thanks goes out to Sarah and Adrian at Buck n Bull for involving me in their thing, I love Country and every gig is just a dream come true! 2022…it’s been a blessing!
Thanks also to Dave Mooney, Dave Miller and Alex for all their help in roadie’ing over the years and their elected DJ levels in 2022! I fire a lot of trust into those guys and they have deserved and earned every bit of it!
Here’s to 2023!
DJ Chris Armstrong
