Have records will travel

How many DJs do you know who would travel to a music gig on their trusty 2-Tone Vespa PX with a huge box of rare vinyl records strapped on the back?

Step forward DJ and scooterist Mark Howard, who when he’s not spinning tunes at one of the many well-known south coast venues like the Brighton Ska Train, can be found in his garage tinkering with his scooters, or recording his internet radio show.

It would be fair to describe Mark as a little more than your average scooterist DJ, as he’s not only passionate about the music, but about the whole scooter lifestyle. But he didn’t get into music because of the scooter lifestyle – in fact it was the other way around.

Music was part of Mark’s life from a very early age. When he was only five years old he got drawn into the whole process of how the oldfashioned record player worked and the way it dropped down individual records and then played them; this and the telltale scratching sound of the needles on vinyl just fascinated him. In his mind, it was just such a wonderful sound and he listened to all the rock ‘n’ roll tunes of that time – Buddy Holly, The Shadows, and many more. He never lost those first memories and his love of vinyl continues to this day. “I always preferred vinyl and never really got into CDs,” said Mark. “I think it was 1995 before I bought my first CD player. I like the way the internet works and how you can download things – but CDs never really worked for me.”

Mark’s dad also had a great influence on him. He was a jazz musician and one day, he sat Mark down in front of the telly and showed him a Bob Marley video, telling him: “That’s how you play the bass guitar, sunshine!”