Mark Davis has made a huge contribution to Bristol club culture over 30 years as a DJ, promoter and now the owner of Basement 45, Bristol’s longest running, and perhaps the oldest club in the UK.

From Lakota in the early 1990's until today, Mark has worked with some of the biggest names in house music including Carl Cox, Danny Rampling and John 00 Fleming and is now bringing on a new breed of creators and promotors through Basement 45 and his DJ training courses. Mark joins David to discuss his journey to where he is now and how through passion, persistence and resilience he has succeeded in turning his passion into a profession in one of the toughest trades there is.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Running a nightclub has always been a tough business and longevity is a very rare thing due to the nature of the ever-changing trends. Over recent years with the advent of a pandemic, learning how to adapt in order to survive has never been as important as it is now. 
• Persistence and passion – Mark turned hassling people for gigs into a profession! Time has a habit of creeping up on you and you can suddenly find yourself many years into a career or a profession you may not have chosen for yourself.

• It’s always a lonely place at the top. Surrounding yourself with people that are engaged in your business will also keep you in touch with what your business needs to thrive. 

• Having the manager that’s right for your business can have a huge impact not only on how successful it is, but also the standards of the team in the rest of the organization.
• Fear of a Black Planet by Public Enemy - what an album
• Mark and David have almost committed to returning to Ibiza!

BEST MOMENTS

‘Life happens and families happen and what you want when you’re going out changes.”

‘It became about the promoting and organizing the events and less and less about the DJ-ing.” 

‘I was just so passionate about it I never really thought oh, maybe initially this is what I’ll do for a living.'

'The more successful you are, the more success you get'

'Enjoy what you do Create opportunity and things will happen'

'How you get on with people is the most important thing.’

ABOUT THE SHOW

People with purpose make a difference. Imagine a world where more people can just get their purpose out of them, into a plan and then actually make it happen. What a world that would be - People everywhere finding meaning and harnessing that to bring inspiration and energy to each and every day, changing lives for the better. But no-one ever achieved anything on their own - we all have something unique to bring and that means we all have to play our part - if we want to go far we have to go together and lead or serve towards a vision of the world we want to see. Everyone has a story to tell and this show is where these stories come to life.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Mark’s DJ career spans 29 years. originally starting out as a Hip Hop, acid Jazz, disco and Commercial DJ, he fell in love with house music following a trip to the legendary “cultural Vibes” in Plymouth, were he was training to be a PE teacher. Following qualifying as a teacher in 1996 he moved back to Bristol to become one of the Saturday night Lakota residents and run the Lakota club tours, providing him the opportunity to play all over the UK and abroad. Mark now owns and runs Basement 45 and passes on his knowledge to the next generation through his DJ academy which started in 1999, and through Basement 45 provides opportunities to new promoters and DJ's 

https://www.facebook.com/djmarkdavis

https://www.basement45.co.uk/

https://www.bristolpartyexperiences.co.uk/

ABOUT THE HOST

David Roberts is a highly regarded CEO, mentor and investor with 30 years experience across multiple sectors. As an intrapreneur and entrepreneur David has bought, grown, started and sold several businesses, working with values driven start ups, award winning SME’s and multinational corporations on strategies for service excellence, leadership and profitable growth. David’s passion is for purpose and creating an environment where everyone can succeed, through building teams that get things done, execute on their mission with passion, deliver exceptional service and really make a difference.

ARTWORK CREDIT

Penny Roberts - instagram penpennypencils_

CONTACT METHODS

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-roberts-nu-heat/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DavidRobertsPeopleWithPurpose

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/davidcroberts_/

Clubhouse - https://www.clubhouse.com/@davidcroberts?utm_medium=ch_profile&utm_campaign=MBv1ubya1-oOBXc_uQKFHw-46334