Latest news with #JudgeJules
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘She's one of us!' The dizzying rise of Hannah Laing, Scottish dental nurse turned superstar doof-doof DJ
In the centre of a dancefloor in a Dundee park, a group of athleisure-clad teens are dancing to a Crazy Frog remix with a middle-aged couple wearing head-to-toe smiley face print. They're in a re-creation of the Highlander, a Scottish bar in Ibiza, complete with Saltire flags and Buckfast cocktails. Across the park, a crowd of thousands are hanging on for the drop in Ultrabeat's Pretty Green Eyes as played by trance icon Judge Jules. It may be late afternoon in Dundee, but the vibe is pure late-night riviera hedonism. This is last weekend's Doof in the Park festival, curated by Hannah Laing in her home town. From Manchester to Ibiza, Amsterdam to Tokyo, the Scottish DJ and producer has brought her sets of hard house, trance and techno to every big club scene in the world, but the festival 'had to be at home', she says two days before it begins, fresh off a plane from Ibiza. 'In Scotland, we're lucky to have crazy crowds. The atmosphere here always hits different.' While hard dance is often derided or ignored in the media and polite society, Laing's music – insistent, almost aggressively euphoric – has a large and committed following: 2.7 million people listen to her each month on Spotify and Doof in the Park sold out its 15,000 tickets within a week. Across the festival site there are hundreds of fans in merch from her Doof record label, as well as bootleg efforts including handmade Doof earrings and customised Uniqlo crossbody bags; one man has 'Doof' shaved into the side of his head. Laing wryly describes her rise as '10 years of overnight success'. Even after landing her first Ibiza residency in 2014, she was juggling DJing with her day job as a dental nurse. 'I was playing at the weekend then going straight to work on a Monday,' she remembers. 'There came a point when I was doing interviews with the BBC in my surgery. I was getting a lot of gigs but still doing lots for free, and I never thought I could make a living from it.' She eventually quit her job in 2022, after a breakthrough set at Creamfields. 'I was on first on Sunday at 2pm and didn't know if anyone would show up, but there were over 10,000 people there and tons of Scottish flags,' she says. 'I'd been building up this reputation in Scotland, and when I got that big opportunity, everyone came out to support me.' 'She's one of us,' says Lisa, who has travelled to the Doof in the Park from Aberdeen with her friend Shona. Like Laing, Lisa is in her early 30s and grew up going to raves. 'She's been brought up like us. She's a normal girl who's done well for herself.' In 2024, Laing launched her label, named after the 'doof doof' rhythm of her music. This summer, she's playing a residency at one of Ibiza's most sought-after clubs, Hï, and releasing her techno-influenced Into the Bounce EP. She credits her taste – 'hard house, trance, music that really makes me feel something' – to her parents, 90s ravers whose generation make up a significant part of her audience. 'It's a great feeling when people who properly know their stuff come and say: 'You got me out of retirement!'' she says. 'Also when my mum comes to see me, she doesn't feel old.' This is very much the case at Doof in the Park. 'I'm 53 and I thought I'd be the oldest here, but I'm not,' says Claire from Johnstone, accompanied by her 20-year-old daughter. 'I'm 51 and I've been doing this for years,' adds Natalie from Aberdeen. 'There's such a mix of ages and everyone's so friendly.' Natalie's niece Carla has been following Laing for years, and emphasises the inclusive community she is building, which extends to the access support at the festival. 'Sometimes, if you're sick like me, you can't go to stuff, but the accessibility team have been fantastic,' she says. 'They gave me a direct phone number if I needed anything on the day. It's all been thought out.' As well as hard dance legends such as Armin van Buuren and Lisa Lashes, Laing booked local DJs for the Highlander tent, styled after 'the bar in Ibiza where I had my first residency, which I wanted to pay homage to. For most of the DJs, it's their first ever festival.' Laing's support of the local scene will continue with the in-construction Doof Studios, a DJ workshop in Dundee that she recently crowdfunded with non-profit Turn the Tables. It's set to be a resource for up-and-coming DJs in the area, as well as people affected by homelessness, addiction and ill health. 'It's going to have loads of benefits,' she says, 'not just for people who want to DJ full-time, but for people who just need that focus.' Whether it's building a community studio or creating music for intergenerational revelling, all of Laing's work has genuine care for people at its heart: 'Being able to give back, there's no better feeling.' Into the Bounce is out now on WUGD/Polydor. Hannah Laing plays every Monday at Hï in Ibiza until 29 September, and tours Europe this summer, playing the Emerge festival, Belfast, on 23-24 August, and the Cause, London, on 19 September.
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘She's one of us!' The dizzying rise of Hannah Laing, Scottish dental nurse turned superstar doof-doof DJ
In the centre of a dancefloor in a Dundee park, a group of athleisure-clad teens are dancing to a Crazy Frog remix with a middle-aged couple wearing head-to-toe smiley face print. They're in a re-creation of the Highlander, a Scottish bar in Ibiza, complete with Saltire flags and Buckfast cocktails. Across the park, a crowd of thousands are hanging on for the drop in Ultrabeat's Pretty Green Eyes as played by trance icon Judge Jules. It may be late afternoon in Dundee, but the vibe is pure late-night riviera hedonism. This is last weekend's Doof in the Park festival, curated by Hannah Laing in her home town. From Manchester to Ibiza, Amsterdam to Tokyo, the Scottish DJ and producer has brought her sets of hard house, trance and techno to every big club scene in the world, but the festival 'had to be at home', she says two days before it begins, fresh off a plane from Ibiza. 'In Scotland, we're lucky to have crazy crowds. The atmosphere here always hits different.' While hard dance is often derided or ignored in the media and polite society, Laing's music – insistent, almost aggressively euphoric – has a large and committed following: 2.7 million people listen to her each month on Spotify and Doof in the Park sold out its 15,000 tickets within a week. Across the festival site there are hundreds of fans in merch from her Doof record label, as well as bootleg efforts including handmade Doof earrings and customised Uniqlo crossbody bags; one man has 'Doof' shaved into the side of his head. Laing wryly describes her rise as '10 years of overnight success'. Even after landing her first Ibiza residency in 2014, she was juggling DJing with her day job as a dental nurse. 'I was playing at the weekend then going straight to work on a Monday,' she remembers. 'There came a point when I was doing interviews with the BBC in my surgery. I was getting a lot of gigs but still doing lots for free, and I never thought I could make a living from it.' She eventually quit her job in 2022, after a breakthrough set at Creamfields. 'I was on first on Sunday at 2pm and didn't know if anyone would show up, but there were over 10,000 people there and tons of Scottish flags,' she says. 'I'd been building up this reputation in Scotland, and when I got that big opportunity, everyone came out to support me.' 'She's one of us,' says Lisa, who has travelled to the Doof in the Park from Aberdeen with her friend Shona. Like Laing, Lisa is in her early 30s and grew up going to raves. 'She's been brought up like us. She's a normal girl who's done well for herself.' In 2024, Laing launched her label, named after the 'doof doof' rhythm of her music. This summer, she's playing a residency at one of Ibiza's most sought-after clubs, Hï, and releasing her techno-influenced Into the Bounce EP. She credits her taste – 'hard house, trance, music that really makes me feel something' – to her parents, 90s ravers whose generation make up a significant part of her audience. 'It's a great feeling when people who properly know their stuff come and say: 'You got me out of retirement!'' she says. 'Also when my mum comes to see me, she doesn't feel old.' This is very much the case at Doof in the Park. 'I'm 53 and I thought I'd be the oldest here, but I'm not,' says Claire from Johnstone, accompanied by her 20-year-old daughter. 'I'm 51 and I've been doing this for years,' adds Natalie from Aberdeen. 'There's such a mix of ages and everyone's so friendly.' Natalie's niece Carla has been following Laing for years, and emphasises the inclusive community she is building, which extends to the access support at the festival. 'Sometimes, if you're sick like me, you can't go to stuff, but the accessibility team have been fantastic,' she says. 'They gave me a direct phone number if I needed anything on the day. It's all been thought out.' As well as hard dance legends such as Armin van Buuren and Lisa Lashes, Laing booked local DJs for the Highlander tent, styled after 'the bar in Ibiza where I had my first residency, which I wanted to pay homage to. For most of the DJs, it's their first ever festival.' Laing's support of the local scene will continue with the in-construction Doof Studios, a DJ workshop in Dundee that she recently crowdfunded with non-profit Turn the Tables. It's set to be a resource for up-and-coming DJs in the area, as well as people affected by homelessness, addiction and ill health. 'It's going to have loads of benefits,' she says, 'not just for people who want to DJ full-time, but for people who just need that focus.' Whether it's building a community studio or creating music for intergenerational revelling, all of Laing's work has genuine care for people at its heart: 'Being able to give back, there's no better feeling.' Into the Bounce is out now on WUGD/Polydor. Hannah Laing plays every Monday at Hï in Ibiza until 29 September, and tours Europe this summer, playing the Emerge festival, Belfast, on 23-24 August, and the Cause, London, on 19 September.
Daily Mirror
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I was on The Chase Celebrity Special - you're thrust into an alien environment'
EXCLUSIVE: Renowned DJ, Judge Jules, has opened up about his appearance on The Chase's Celebrity Specia,l which saw a historic victory for him and his co-stars Judge Jules has revealed that the pressure was eased slightly during his appearance on The Chase Celebrity special, thanks to his connection with the studio. The renowned DJ appeared on the ITV special last year alongside other famous faces, including Lesley Joseph, Jenni Falconer and Patrick Kielty. The group went up against Shaun 'The Dark Destroyer' Wallace in the tense rounds before eventually all four celebs were part of the final chase. It was during the final round that they managed to get one over on Wallace and walked away with a total of £200,000 to split between their chosen charities. But while some may crumble under the intense pressure of the ITV game show, lawyer and DJ Judge Jules, 58, admits that he didn't feel too pressured due to a connection with the studios where the show is filmed. "I'm not nervous in my normal activities, before I go on the decks or anything else related to the music business," he exclusively told the Mirror. The Londoner went on to add: "It was a little bit nervy because it's such an unfamiliar environment. The weird thing was, it's filmed in Elstree Studios where EastEnders is filmed, or it was when I did it anyway. My dad (Shaun O'Riordan) worked there his entire working life, so I'd been to those studios multiple times – my dad was a TV director so I think maybe that eased off the pressure a little bit." Jules, who will be DJ'ing across the UK and Balerics this summer, went on to add: "It's fast moving, you meet three others who you've never met before, all of you are there for a common purpose, it's quite comedial backstage but at the same time, it's more the alien environment. "When you're experienced in one area and suddenly you're thrust into this alien environment, it makes it more nervous. We earned a chunk of money for charity, which was great. It was £200,00, so it was quite a lot." This year, fans will see Judge Jules, the nephew of Rick Stein, at Tom Kerridge's Pub In The Park Festival, Foodies, as well as dates across Ibiza and Sheffield's 90s Fest at Don Valley Bowl. "I've done quite a few food-oriented festivals," he said. He went on to add: "I think the core element of the sound stage and DJ'ing is quite similar, it's more about what's going on around the edges. It's one of those that, as a DJ, I might under normal circumstances turn up an hour before, do my set and then probably go reasonably soon afterwards if I've got somewhere else to go, whereas I would make a day of it because there's so much more to do." Jules explained that he faced difficulties last year after taking part in a live cooking demonstration on the stage, which was "very comedic". Last summer, he and his wife were also judges on a cocktail-making stage just before he took to the stage himself. "It's a unique day out," he joked. He said: "It's the perfect thing for the more senior music business person to go and do. It's such a varied experience. There is more than just food stalls, there's comedy, there's music, it's an amazing experience." Reflecting on dance music taking centre stage at festivals this year, with Reading and Leeds Festivals bringing the Chevron Stage back, he said: "It's a different immersive action at a festival, dance, music. I'm the ultimate salesperson for it, and I don't really know any different. I'm truly institutionalised by the experience of sort of dance floors." Having been in the industry since the Eighties, it's fair to say that Jules has seen his fair share of odd moments. One memory that sticks out to him during the vinyl era was one clubber running up to the decks and stealing the record, before running back through the crowd, while the record was actually playing. His ultimate highlight, though, is doing a job he would pay others to do. "I will always be mindful of how lucky I am," he explained. He added: "Anybody who's had any degree of success in the arts will have had certain lucky breaks along the way – that's just facts, whether people choose to admit it or not. And I'm very humbled and just so grateful to do what I love doing. Sadly, there are plenty of people out there who don't enjoy what they do to make a living." Jules was just 16 when he started, though, explaining he had a "slow trajectory" towards his success. He does, however, know musicians who have been propelled to global fame at the start of their career and admits it can be a "difficult process." Away from his music career, Julius O'Riordan is also an active lawyer, mainly centred around electronic music, making him the only active artist and entertainment lawyer. "It's a very unique viewpoint," he said. Jules added: "To be a successful artist, you need to be a little bit selfish – hopefully not to a really intolerable extent. "I think when you become an entertainment lawyer, whilst my experience in the music industry has got me quite a lot of work as a lawyer, the tables are entirely turned. I have to be humble, they're not interested in my war stories, they're interested in how my experience can play out in the advice and guidance that I give to them, that's been really good for me as a person, I think."
BBC News
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Schoolboy DJ releases new single ahead of summer festival sets
For many aspiring music artists, a single of their own can take years to get over the line - but for one budding DJ, this goal has been reached at the age of 10. Efan, from Bethesda, Gwynedd, who uses the stage name Efan Electro, has released his first official single, "Dyheadau" which translates to Aspirations. He was only eight when he received a DJ deck for Christmas, and from there his ambitions have grown, as he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast performing at Glastonbury is his ultimate end goal. "That's definitely the dream. I feel like once I've reached that, I've reached a certain point where I've made it I think," said Efan. The process of crafting the track took about about six months, Efan said, and he is booked and busy debuting the release at several festival performances over the summer. His first show to launch the song will be at Roc Y Ddol in Bethesda, in Gwynedd. But the youngster is used to performing in front of a crowd, as just last year he supported rave legend and actual lawyer Judge Jules at the 600 capacity Neuadd Ogwen. The DJ put his love of dance music down to "lockdown discos" with his parents and his father, Rob, said he has been obsessed ever since. "Me and his mum are really into our dance music so he was forced into it by us really," Rob laughed. "This is the first 100% finished track that he's happy to be released to the public." One of Efan's first opportunities to perform was at his school concerts at Ysgol Llanllechid. Now, he is signed by record label Recording Braithu and has a few more songs in the pipeline. But while it may be a few more years until we see a full album, Efan is currently working to get the song mastered and distributed on streaming platforms.
