About 45 Day 2021 – What a difference a year makes!
A lot has happened for 45 Day since last year’s inaugural event.
It is now an official day being featured in Days of the year just under Star Wars Day which being a big Star Wars fan I am really pleased about. It also means that now its official I need to keep doing it! This is not a problem as I have loved every minute I have spent running the event.
Just after 45 Day last year I started the 45 Day Radio Show on Mixcloud and with yesterdays show featuring Sam Tweaks’s exclusive Cosmic Disco mix for 45 Day it has hit 20 episodes. Each one features a very special guest mix from some hugely talented DJs, radio show hosts and record label owners. In addition I also have a monthly show on Barrelhouse Radio.
The biggest change since last year has been the jump by DJ’s to live streaming and in particular on Twitch.
On 45 Day 2020 I did a 45 minute Twitch live stream on my channel which was watched by a handful of viewers as Twitch was not really a big thing for DJ’s then. Fast Forward a year and Twitch has become the go to place to watch DJs from around the world from High Profile DJs, to bedroom DJ’s, to collectors, and everything in between.
Around July 2020 I became head of the live streams for the Forty Five Kings Collective. With the assistance and backing of DJ Mr Lob (co-founder of the Forty Five King) I have run a worldwide 24 Hour live stream, many country and city based live streams including Germany, Australia, Glasgow, Norwich, Romania, Canada, Netherlands, Italy and Russia.
In addition we have a weekly Saturday morning show – Coffee and Donuts – and alongside my co-hosts Mr Lob and Fatwax45 we have special guest DJ’s each week. With Fatwax I also run a follow on event Ace of Raids each Saturday.
I also ran the 45 Queens event in September 2020 featuring 12 hours of 12 female 45s DJs. Last year there were no female DJ’s involved in 45 Day and I received a little bit of criticism about this. I am pleased to say that I have had a number of female DJ’s as guest on my radio show and there is 20 mixes from Female DJ’s featured as part of 45 Day 2021 and also 5 taking part in the live stream event. I am hopeful that next year even more female DJ’s will take part.
I have also encouraged my daughter who is now 7 to get involved in DJ’ing and she came up with the 45 Kids concept. Kids spinning 45s with a little help from a parent. This has been an amazing way to spend quality time together and it has encouraged other kids to take part and get into DJ’ing. So far there have been two 45 kids events on the Forty Five Kings Twitch channel with the third event taking place on 08 May 2021. Again it has been amazing to see the kids flourish in a new hobby and it means that hopefully our records will be in good hands when we are too old to even carry a small 45s record bag.
The sense of community that I have witnessed this year around 45 Day, the Forty Five Kings and Twitch has been mind blowing. Everyone wants to help each other and encourages every one to succeed. I have been helped with advice and tips along the way and nothing is too much trouble for anyone to explain. Equally I have been able to share this knowledge to help others and encourage them to do a mix or take part in a live stream for the first time. To see people sharing each others mixes and helping them hit the Mixcloud charts (often for the first time), or encouraging twitch viewers to go and follow other DJ’s is amazing. It shows that we are all in this together and working together we can build something really special. This is in stark contrast to the usual perception of the music industry being very cut throat with everyone racing to climb to the top of their particular genre, and get the best gigs or exposure. I think that this reflects that we are all playing our 45s because we are passionate about music, the artists and labels that put out 45s, and that ultimately we want to share good music with others and don’t expect anything in return.
Around September 2020 WeeG approached Mr Lob and myself to put together a monthly Twitch live stream event on the last Sunday of each month to raise awareness of Mens Mental Health. We were keen to be part of this in conjunction with our monthly Reggae Fire show and so Sunday 7’s was born. We expanded the event to include Sideshow Maule and more recently Jody Vandenburg and the events now incorporate raising funds for 3 charities – Movember, CALM and Chriss House. You can follow the facebook page for details of forthcoming events. For the next event on 28, 29 and 30 May 2021 we are joining forces with Double P for a 52 hour/3 day live stream in aid of CALM.
The thing that I am most proud of this year, and which was totally unexpected, was the launch of my talk show called Part Of My Journey. On the back of talking to a lot of DJs over the last year I realised that a lot of us are suffering or have suffered from mental health issues now and in the past. I discussed the idea with Double P who offered to be my first guest on the show and we decided that it would be good to talk about these issues away from the decks. So far I have discussed with my guests mental health, disabilities, hidden disabilities, 45s that lift our spirits, DJ’ing, twitch, lockdown, online communities and on a lighter note different types of confectionary! The next show is on 10 May 2021 at 20:00 BST and I have a ton of great guests lined up for future shows.
Back on the decks I have set up a number of 45s twitch raid events.
45 Raiders which I run with Sam Tweaks – who has just become a Twitch Partner – Big Up – happens on the last Monday of each month. It features 6 DJ’s playing 15 minute sets of 45s before raiding to the next DJ and then going round again. It is fast furious forty fives. We have had some great sets including Tommy T who played 44 x 45s in one of his 15 minute sets; My Therapist who seamlessly played 45s alongside their corresponding music videos; and Matt Baila also just did an amazing all Flexi disk set!
45 Funksters is a monthly event which I run with Sideshow Maule and features DJs playing 45 minute 45s funk sets.
45 Beats and Breaks is another monthly event which features DJs playing hip hop, instrumentals, sampled tracks and beats.
I have thanked a number of people in the thanks section below but I would like to give a big shout out to everyone I have connected with along this journey so far. DJs, producers, record label owners, music lovers, who have supported 45 Day, the Forty Five Kings, and myself. Without all of you none of this would have happened so a massive thanks and I appreciate each and every one of you. I look forward to meeting some of you in real life in the not too distant future and getting to spin some 45s on a big sound system and having a proper dance to this amazing music that we all love playing so much.
Criztoz – 04 May 2021
Creator of 45 Day
DJ – Original 45ers
Head of Live Streams – Forty Five Kings Collective
About 45 Day 2020
What is 45 Day? Well in brief it is 52 Mixes, a special 2 hour radio show, and a live 45 minute stream. Of course it is much more than that.
Towards the end of 2019, back before the world had really heard of Coronavirus, I came up with the idea of 45 Day. A day where DJ’s around the world would celebrate, in my opinion anyway, the greatest musical format out there – the 7″ 45rpm vinyl record. The initial plan was for a series of live gigs across the globe. Well it didn’t quite work out that way…
Instead people entered lockdown. DJ’s gigs and income disappeared overnight and they had to adapt to the live streaming world that was thrust upon them.
I sent out invites to vinyl DJ’s I knew, DJ’s I didn’t know but highly respected and in groups like 45 Live and The Forty Five Kings. The response I got totally blew me away. What I have seen is a great sense of community, friendship and wanting to get involved. This is coupled with a total lack of ego and just a pure love of music and the format.
When I first came up with the idea I set the aim of getting 45 DJ’s involved. I thought that if I could get 20 or so involved that would be a good effort for the first year and it could grow from there. It has exceeded my expectations with so many great people getting involved and a wide range of mixes. At the time of writing there is 48mixes (plus a 2 hour radio show) submitted. The mixes range from bedroom DJs, gigging DJ’s, high profile DJs, producers and label owners.
The icing on the cake is the 45 Live radio show recorded specially for 45 Day. Presented by the legendary Greg Belson it features an exclusive mix of the 45 Live catalogue by Moneyshot from the Allergies.
It may sound like a cliche but the mixes really are all killer and no filler. The format lends itself to quick mixing and having to be very selective about which tracks to include in your set. Especially when you only have 45 minutes to showcase your musical tastes and style. This makes DJing with 45s so much fun and this definitely comes across in all of the mixes.
We have some crazy scratching (much harder to do on 45s than 12″s), doubles being rocked, genre hopping, DJs representing their own 45s releases and some amazing selectors. I have yet to hear the same track twice in the mixes which shows the breadth of music and genres being represented. Well that was true until my good friend and amazing turntablisit The Hip Assasin dropped in late with his mix. It features a short section of Silver Bullet’s “20 Seconds to Comply” which also features on my mix.
I hope you get the time to check out all the mixes from around the world. There is more than 38 hours of music for you to enjoy. The mixes encompass 80’s soul, afrobeat, big band, boogie, boom bap, brass band, Brazilian/bossa nova, breakbeats, cinematic, covers, dance, downtempo, dub, electro, funk, hip hop, house, Irish, italo disco, jazz, jump blues, latin, mod, nu wave, punk rock, rare groove, rave, re-edits, reggae, rock and roll, samba, soul and much more.
One final point to make. This is a man’s world as James Brown sings on one of the tracks in my mix. All the submissions in 2020 have been from men. I guess this may have something to do with the subject matter but where’s the ladies at? It would be great to get some female DJ’s involved next year.
Heres to 45 Day 2021 when hopefully we can once again party and dance next to each other to a soundtrack of great music on 45s. Thanks for tuning in.
Criztoz – OG45ers – 04 May 2020
Thanks
45 Day would not have been possible without the help of the following:
Graeme Willis – For encouraging me to think bigger than just a straightforward Mixcloud page, for building me a website, teaching me how to use wordpress, and constantly feeding me ideas to make the event bigger and better. I definitely owe you a few beers when we can get to the pub again.
Adrian Bradbury (Big 404) – My Co-DJ in the Original Forty Fivers. We had been DJ’ing for a couple of years together with my main man Toby Kenobi as the Jellyfunk Allstars when Adrian suggested doing a night playing just 45s. He re-invigorated my love of the format and set me down this path from which I haven’t looked back. Im really looking forward to getting back behind the decks soon at a real life event.
Andrew Hamilton – a great long term friend who designed the awesome 45 Day Logo.
45 Live– for their special edition radio show recorded specially for the event in 2020 and 2021.
Rob Steer (Mr Lob) – He runs the brilliant Forty Five Kings Facebook group into which I was immediately welcomed into and made to feel part of the scene. I originally ran the idea of 45 Day past him to see what he thought. With his advice and input I decided to go for it and launch the event. He has helped share the event far and wide and a large number of the members of his group got involved and submitted mixes. He has also let me run the live streams for the group on Twitch which has helped expand the reach and awareness of the Forty Five Kings. Check out his mix for 45 day 2020 and 2021 and more on his mixcloud page.
ScottieboyUK – For the use of his picture of his music room I’ve used on the front page of the site in 2020 and 2021. It is such an amazing picture and sums up the love and addiction for 45s that we all have. We probably all have similar stacks of wax in our rooms. Check out his mix for 45 day and more on his mixcloud page.
A big thank you to all of the DJ’s for their mixes. It is totally down to you and your love of 45s that has made this event happen.
Thank you to all the bars, clubs, restaurants, galleries, festivals and other venues across the world that let DJ’s like myself play our prized 45s and spread our total passion for music to others.
Last and by no means least thanks to my amazing wife Claire and daughter Zizi45 for their total love and continued support. Zizi45 has become a DJJ herself and came up with the 45 Kids concept and will be playing a set alongside me on 45 Day 2021. You both allow me to indulge my love of 45s, share my passion for music, listen to my crazy ideas, and let me disappear into my man cave to get lost in music for hours at a time. I love you both more than you will ever know.