Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Steve Davis.. the Snookerstar DJ
Mr Boring turning the tables with his wild second career
SNOOKER’S Mr Dull has reinvented himself as a superstar DJ – and says he is “living life in reverse” like Benjamin Button.
Former champ Steve Davis is cueing up records after four decades on the baize. Now aged 60, hes up all night playing “banging” tunes across the UK, even at Glastonbury.
He said: “I’m a bit of a vampire. I come alive at night and I sleep in the mornings. I’m not a morning person.
“I definitely like a few beers. But when you are DJing, you are buzzing on the adrenalin.
“It’s funny the way I started my life, being in a dart room on my own and going to bed with a glass of hot milk and now I’m partying into the early hours.
“I’m going to end up in a pub in Glastonbury with a bottle of beer round my head.
PSYCHEDELIC
“I feel like I’m living my life in reverse, a bit like Benjamin Button. It’s hilarious.”
Like Brad Pitt’s character in the film, he says he is feeling younger by the day.
The curious case of Steve’s DJing began with a weekly show on Essex community radio station Phoenix FM.
He continues to explore his interest in “electronic stuff, and psychedelic music. Everything that is different but unusual”.
Steve and his partner in musical crime, Kavus Torabi, have already played Glastonbury and they will be back on the festival circuit this summer, including Festival No6 in Portmeirion.
The ex-sports legend – nicknamed ‘Interesting’ by the writers of Spitting Image because they found him so dull – admits he fell into DJing by accident.
He said: “It’s quite strange. There was no real plan.
“I did a radio show for 10 years, a community show in Brentwood, then live things in a bar in Bethnal Green. Then the guys from Bloc, a successful electronic festival, invited us to do that. The BBC did an iPlayer documentary and then we got invited to do Glastonbury. There wasn’t a plan but it did coincide with my retirement.”
Steve was at a Bowers & Wilkins event to celebrate Record Store Day, picking his favourite tracks to celebrate high definition sound.
Talking about his musical tastes, he said: “When we DJ live it is more banging.
“When we play radio, it’s different and unusual. The plan is to not have a plan. It’s been so much fun.”
Steve chalked up more than £5.5million in his snooker career. He dominated the sport in the 1980s, winning the World Championship six times and was ranked world number one for seven consecutive seasons.
And he admits people still get a shock when they realise he has become a DJ.
“There has been an element of the novelty factor. And it is funny how my hobbies became my professions.”