Who is DJ Joelus?

In our last post we talked about the importance of music in the bar and waxed lyrical about our DJs.

Last Saturday DJ Joelus stepped into our Secret Bookshelf so we took the opportunity to ask him a few questions to give you a little insight into the man behind the music.

How would you describe the music you play?

Balearic - A little bit of everything good.

Give me 5 – name five tracks that you recommend we should listen to…

1.  Never Gonna Reach Me (Hot Toddy Mix) - Crazy P
2.  Baltimore - Nina Simone
3.  You Stepped Into My Life - The Bee Gees
4.  Reckless With Your Love (Tensnake Remix) - Azari & III
5.  Knee Deepen (Salt City Orchestra Mix) - Moloko

What inspired you to DJ?

Year 2000, Ministry of Sound, Jazzy M playing “Salsoul Nugget” by M&S (the original non-vocal version) - THAT’s what made me wanna be a DJ!

Most memorable DJing memory?

Too many amazing memories to select a single one.

What do you like about DJing here at Clayton’s Marlow?

Playing a mixed bag of music to suit all kinds of people.

What’s your Vinyl Confession? (a track that you shouldn’t really like but secretly love)

Diana Ross “My Old Piano”

Anything else we should know about you???

I love miniature things….yeh yeh i know what everyones gonna say!

If you’d like to hear DJ Joelus play, he’ll be back in our Secret Bookshelf on Saturday 23rd June but if you can’t wait until then, have a listen to the tracks he’s recommended, there are some real gems there.

Last night a DJ saved my life

Really? Probably not.  (Well maybe if they were a moonlighting Fireman and the bar you were in was on fire.) However… a DJ can definitely make or break your night. I may be particularly hard to please but I’ve actually dragged my friends out of a bar before when the DJ played Rock DJ by Robbie Williams.

Music in general gives a place identity, personality and most importantly, atmosphere. The wrong music for the venue can completely alter your perceptions of a place and your experience there.

One experience in particular springs to mind when I went to what was supposedly a ‘high-end’ Thai restaurant In Manchester. As I walked in, they were playing the Titanic theme tune ‘My Heart Will Go On’ by Celine Dion. My immediate thought was if their taste in music is this bad, what’s the food going to taste like?

We definitely appreciate the importance of music within a bar. There are plenty of venues that can give you a round up of the top 40 both in Marlow but also in any local town and beyond, but here at Clayton’s Marlow, we’re trying to be a little different, playing a mix of funk, soul, disco, jazz, grooves as well as other bits and pieces. Music you’d struggle to find anywhere nearby. We spend a lot of time putting the playlists together for the bar and we are fortunate to know some fantastic DJs that play here on a regular basis in our Secret Bookshelf. In fact, we would like you to get to know them too so over the next few months we’re going to be profiling all of our DJs, giving you an insight into who they are, what influences them and most importantly, what music they’re likely to play when you next visit. 

But if you can’t wait until then, we recently recorded one of DJ Jim Sharp’s sets here and had a few CDs made up so if you’d like to be reminded how good he is or are just curious, just ask us for one next time you’re at the bar.

Dates for the diary

Sunday 3rd June – Clayton’s Undercover Party

Saturday 9th June – DJ Jim Sharp