One of the first countries I ever played at outside of the UK was Estonia.
I contacted Dave Storm (who I had never met) after reading an interview with him in Mixmag (I think) and asked if I could play there, this was when I was relatively unknown of outside of Birmingham. I was super buzzing when he agreed and flew me over for a gig. What followed became a great friendship and has seen years of gigs in various clubs for Dave, later I started working with another good friend DJ Widenski.
I played mainly in Club Privé in Tallin, building up somewhat of a healthy fan base there and returning regularly for various events, mostly amazing, some not so good.
For one gig, I have hysterical memories of driving a few hours east to towards the Russian border to play in one of the weirdest venues ever, somewhat like a small sports hall. As I walked through the crowd I spotted a guy making his way determinedly towards me. His faced beamed as he put his hand up to high-five me and said “Oh man, I can’t believe it, we got the nigger in our town”. That was a good night. Chuckling just thinking about it.
I have also made many other good friends in Tallin, and so it is fitting that I get to return there for what I am sure is the final time as a DJ, seeing as I am pulling back on any gigs other than my own as of next year.
I have two gigs on Friday and Saturday next weekend, at the same time I will be recording vocals with Sofia Rubina for a follow up to our “Streets of the Sun” release. Again, this may be the last production I do for quite some time.
If you’ve never made it across to Tallin, I cannot recommend it enough !