DJ Kenny Ken
Here we are in deepest Cambridgeshire at the home of Kenny Ken and his
manager/girlfriend Tracey. It’s Friday night and Kenny’s got a busy Easter
weekend in front of him. So in true original style we are spending the weekend
with Kenny to find out what being a DJ is about at the weekend.
Straight out of the shower and time to sort out the 90 records needed for the
first part of the weekend. It’s Friday night and we’re now ready to hit this
road. First venue tonight is an Under 18’s rave in Ilford, East London. The time
is 5pm and were off down the M11. There’s no traffic around, so foot down. We
arrive dead on time for Kenny’s 7pm – 8pm set and away the tunes spin again. The
kids are loving it they know how to rave, there all coming up and asking Kenny
for tapes. The set finishes and we’re off to Central London to pick up Food
Junkie. No problems there, so off to the next venue in Braintree, Kenny uses his
knowledge of the London roads to full advantage to make up for time. Before long
we’re no the open country lanes towards our destination. We arrive just in time
for the 12.30am – 2am set which is a little different, a house set. Everything
runs smoothly and the crowd take to Kenny’s different set. Time to go yet again
off to the Sanctuary now for World Dance. Another long drive ahead but Kenny
looks like his ready to drop. F**k how do we get to the Sanctuary? Then Food
Junkie comes to the rescue and offers to drive. Kenny jumps in the back and
falls straight asleep. What an easy life DJ’s have. We drive along the M25, then
up the M11 and over to Milton Keynes. We’re sure Food Junkie got lost on the way
as it took ages but he won’t admit it! World Dance is rocking but Kenny’s doing
another House set. He finishes at 5am. We hang around for a little while then
its off again dropping Food Junkie home on the way. Back to bed.
Saturday soon comes, first off tonight is Sterns. Down the M11, on to the M25
then, oh no, we’re lost, the roads changed f**k man, what now? It’s getting late
Kenny’s on 9.30pm to 10.30pm and we’re running out of time. Out comes the map,
we start digging through the pages. Hold up, there’s a sign, the M23 that way.
That’s the road we want. Sorted, we weren’t even lost, idiots!!! We arrive just
on time ready for Kenny’s set. But there’s a new problem. There’s no monitor in
the DJ box for Kenny to be able to hear his mixing. So, earphones off and keep
the mixing to a minimum. Excellent. Kenny handles the situation really well. Off
we go to our next destination, the Paradise Club in London for AWOL. We drive
back up to London really slowly as the roads are like total ponds. Eventually we
make it back to London and Kenny plays his set to a packed house from 2am –
4.30am. Kenny had to play an extra 30 minutes because Swan E got help up,
naughty man! One more event tonight, back up to the Sanctuary for Cryotonite to
play a 6am – 1am set. We finish here and it’s back home by 10.30am for a good
days sleep.
On Sunday and Monday, Kenny had two dates booked, one at the Ministry of Sound
for AWOL and the other at Limelight for some Egg rave thing. At both of these
there was no problem, it all went smoothly. Whilst out with Kenny, I asked him
what had been the biggest balls up he had made whilst out on the road? His reply
goes something like this, “One weekend I was playing at a rave in Dalston. I
finished my set and went out to the car with my records. I put the records down
just behind my car ready to put them in the boot. Suddenly, I was distracted by
someone for some reason. The minutes later I drove off to see my mum. After
about half an hour I came back to the rave in Dalston, I saw these two boxes in
the road and suddenly realised that they were my record boxes and I had forgot
to put them in the car. Shit. I nearly lost them. Lucky I came back otherwise I
would have never seen them again. Now I always put my records away before doing
anything”.
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