WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO

LIKE most people, I fell in love with music as a teenager. I was into prog rock – leftfield stuff like Frank Zappa and Soft Machine rather than Yes or Genesis. Then snooker came into my life and completely took over.

My life as a DJ is a hobby that has spiralled out of control. In some ways I seem to have lived my life in reverse – I’m probably perceived as more cool now I’m a 59-year-old DJ than I ever was a snooker player in the 1980s.

About 10 years ago I started doing a music show on our local community radio station in Essex, with a musician friend called Kavus Torabi. I called it the Interesting Alternative Show, playing on my 1980s nickname. We were happily bumbling along when someone asked us to do a set at the electronic music festival Bloc Weekend, which went down well. The BBC made a documentary about it and the phone never stopped ringing.

I’ve DJed at Glastonbury for the last two years. It’s such a buzz. Initially, there is a novelty aspect to me DJing. You’ll hear lots of people say, “Is it really THAT Steve Davis?” But to keep it going for two hours you’ve got to know your stuff.

Every gig is different. I’m not a real DJ, in that I don’t mix the records. I’m more what the old reggae crowd would call a selector. My skill is in picking the records, that’s my passion. At home I have around 5000 vinyl LPs and thousands of CDs.

I don’t do sets where people come along to stroke their beards. I want to get them dancing and having a laugh.

There is really no comparison between DJing and playing competitive snooker, but you could perhaps compare it to playing an exhibition match, where you turn up, play some great shots and do what you can to entertain the crowd. Playing competitively is different; the players enjoy it and the audience gets entertainment from it, but it’s not the role of the players to entertain – they’re there to win.

Early on I played a couple of turkeys. At one gig someone came up and asked me to play Nickelback. I knew then it was the wrong crowd and it was time to do a runner.

Another time I did a gig on the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam. Most of the punters were hen and stag parties and soon they were so drunk they couldn’t stand up. By the time I got on at 11pm the place was empty because everyone had gone to bed.

I’m really looking forward to

playing Doune the Rabbit Hole. People can expect everything from the Beatles to Captain Beefheart to System 7 and a load of French prog stuff they’ve probably never heard of.

I love hanging out at the festivals because they’re so chilled out and you meet like-minded people who are really into music. And hopefully people enjoy what you do. That said, anybody asking me for Nickelback can do one. Doune the Rabbit Hole takes place at the Cardross Estate, Port of Menteith, Stirlingshire, August 18-20