Industry Guest Talks at Dv8 Sussex

 
On Monday 29th January we had the pleasure of welcoming Justin Welch, a Sessional Musician into the Dv8 Bexhill campus. Justin popped in for a morning session to share the story of his immense success within the music industry.

A little about Justin Welch…

Justin realised his passion for music and drums early on in life and found his musical flair when he was at primary school. His dad used to play the drums in a small band back in the 60’s and they had a small drum kit at the family home for him to practise on. This used to really annoy the neighbours though and so it had to be sold! Justin was part of the fastest selling UK British Album with Elastica, 100.000 copies sold within its first week in the UK! Justin moved to London when he was just 16 years of age and lived with four other people in a one bed flat – it’s safe to say the flat got pretty grotty! Justin’s also worked at the music box which showed music TV programmes such as “Raw Power” and “Transmission”, and has worked with other bands such as Suede, Spitfire and Blur playing all over the UK and internationally on tours and as supporting acts.

How to achieve success in the Music Industry?

 

• Try and learn more than one instrument at a time.
• Don’t worry about making mistakes, use them as a platform to learn from
• Make yourself available to all musicians even if their style isn’t what you are used to working with. Be flexible and versatile!
• Listen to yourself – listening is a big key to making music.
• Open yourself up to as many opportunities as you can and say “yes” to as much as possible.
• Network with other people and make as many contacts as you can, you never know where they may lead.
• Be a good team player.
• Go to as many music events as you can and make notes on how they do things. You can take this information home with you each time and work out which is the best way for you to progress.

Things you didn’t know about Justin Welch…

 

• Justin learnt all of his other non musical skills such as teching and crew jobs simply by watching other professionals and learning on the job.
• He built his own studio in the country and started to write music whilst learning new skills in the process.
• Often, Justin records his drumming online for other people to use on their tracks and sell.
• He is currently a drum tech for The Pretenders.
• Justin used to buy second hand drum sets, do them up and then sell them again.
• He has provided private drum tuition.
• Justin previously taught for Access to Music.

Student Question: How important do you think music technology is?

Answer: Really important. Logic is a great way of noting and jotting down new work and has opened up many new doors for me. If you have an insight into how a sequencer pattern works, this is really attractive to other artists. You can work on new ideas on Logic and learn by trial and error on what does and doesn’t work. Older musicians don’t know how to use Logic and the benefits that this software brings, so already this generation has a heads up and is ahead of the game with the new technology that is now at our disposal. With Logic, you can chop and change arrangements which is what makes a record work and be successful.

On behalf of all who attended Justin’s insightful, inspiring and engaging session, we would like to say a huge thank you for giving up your time to provide such a fantastic session that the students went on to say was “ helpful, informative and motivational”. We hope to see you again soon!

If you are interested in learning the skills that you need to acquire in order to become a world wide recognised musician like Justin Welch, apply to join us in September on our Music Production & Performance course!