Early days

The gift of a set of turntables when Allan was just 9 years old. Sparked his lifetime love of DJ’ing and music.

Allan grew up listening to Stu Allan on Key 103, The Paradox and also Lee Butler on Radio City.  In his early clubbing days, Allan would look over to the DJ box in venues such as the Pleasure Rooms and would dream thinking one day that will be me up there playing to the crowd.

In 2010, Allan got his first chance to perform in Pleasure Rooms, but unfortunately, the club closed down and he had other life commitments at the time.

Overcoming addiction

Overcoming addiction in 2019, Allan knew the time had come for him to rekindle his love for music.  Allan had been drug-free for more than 9 months. When his good friend Rob Cain Tutor at Mode suggested he should enrol on the Music Technology course. 

In late 2019 he enrolled on the course, with zero knowledge of music production.  Allan put his heart and soul into the course and was soon producing his own tracks. 

Lockdown motivation  

By March 2020 the country was in lockdown. The music production course had moved quickly online. Each morning Allan would attend a zoom session with the tutors and the rest of the class. After his sessions  he would spend hours in front of Ableton producing his own tracks.

Those countless hours sat on Ableton, hard work and support from his tutors has led to Allan completing more than 600 tracks. All this for a man who had never seen a DAW before arriving at Mode.

Gaining full time employment

As part of his recovery Allan trained as a volunteer support worker. Once again, his hard work has paid off, with Allan gaining full time employment as a group leader. Fully utilising his skills to support others with addiction.

His music has really taken off too. He is receiving bookings on various line ups across the UK and also co-organising an event of his own. Allan is taking his ADF Alberts Donk Factory to the masses.

100 of his tracks so far have been released on record labels within the genre, including 3 collaborations with tutors Les Calvert, Rob Cain and Mike Chatterton.

What’s next?

Future plans are to continue making music to the best of his ability and gain more production knowledge. He also continues to pursue more DJ bookings as he progresses forward with his DJing too.

Allan really is one to watch, make sure you give him a follow on Instagram and Soundcloud

Allan says “It wasn’t just music knowledge that I got from the tutors and the team at Mode. It was a sense of belonging and feeling welcome somewhere. The team helped me to realise my potential and always pushed me to do stuff outside my comfort zone. Seriously the best decision I made since becoming drug free was to attend Mode. ”

Wesley Tagoe Music Curriculum Lead says “Allan is a great personality to have around. His work ethic is outstanding, and we all wish him all the success coming his way. Allan has shown what you really can achieve when you put your mind to it.”

If you would like more information on how you can enrol at Mode give our team a call on 0151 709 4640 or e mail recruitment@modetraining.co.uk