'Handy' Portsmouth DJ set to mark stomping 30 year career with party featuring DJ Graham Gold

Now Portsmouth DJ Matt Handy is set to celebrate the significant milestone of 30 years of his record shop Hands On Records and his music career.

Matt, now aged 50 but who first started collecting records when he was just 12, will mark his anniversary on Saturday (May 24) at Southsea Beach Café with international top 100 worldwide DJ Graham Gold. The sold-out event, which will see people coming from all over, starts at 6pm and goes through to midnight in what promises to be a special occasion for one of the city’s music pioneers.

Matt specialises in electronic music and over the years Hands On Records has built up a catalogue of thousands of records which he sells and ships all over the world from his Portsmouth base. His love for the genre started in 1986 when aged 12 he bought his first record, and then grew when he started playing decks a year later.

His teenage hobby turned into a successful career, seeing him pick up awards from Mixmag and the International DJ Competition plus more, and it has seen him DJ at some of the biggest clubs on the planet, such as Ministry of Sound, Turnmills, Pacha and Es Paradis.

He also performed at unique parties on Spitbank Fort, South Parade Pier and in front of thousands of people during Love Albert Road Day - where his physical shop used to be until 2010. Since then, he has moved with the times as his business went completely online. “The new shop is a worldwide online business now but is busier than ever though,” Matt said. “This week I have record orders going all over the UK, USA, New Zealand, Italy and across Europe.

“The internet changed the whole way the music industry worked around this time. It turned it all around completely. I saw so many music businesses I worked with go out of business around this time sadly. You have to constantly adapt.”

That versatility has ensured his career has flourished and he can now look forward to Saturday’s party after three decades in the industry. “Where that time has gone, I do not know…so fast,” he said.

“What started as a hobby in the mid ‘80s collecting records when I was just 12 years old has become my whole life’s passion and work. It actually makes me a bit emotional talking about it all for the first time. It has certainly been a rollercoaster journey of emotions, ups and downs, successes and failures. So, this is for anyone that is interested in my music story.”

And Matt still remembers the first record he bought which sparked his obsession with electronic music. “It was 'Steve Silk Hurley - Jack Your Body' in 1986 on the way home from school in Woolworths,” he said. “I've always been surrounded by music since a young age but the passion for electronic music started there really, this was in the really early beginning of House music.

“I then started selling records out of the boot of my F reg Ford Fiesta with about £50 to my name and used to drive hundreds of miles a week to other DJs houses bringing the best underground music I was getting in from all around the world. The vinyl in my local record shops and HMV was just not cutting it for me so I started to hunt deeper into where I was hearing the music I wanted and where it was coming from.

“This is long before the days of the internet so I had to find out about these companies by looking at the records I liked and researching the information on them like the phone numbers and distributors. Slowly but surely I started to build up a little database of where to buy these records from in bigger quantities so I could sell them on to other DJs I was meeting from playing out in clubs. A lot of times while I was DJing other DJs would ask me where do you get your records from, so the idea kind of spawned from there really.

“Why not buy 10 of each record I was playing and sell nine to other DJs to fund my hobby and passion for the music? I built up a nice customer base over a few years all around the south coast and used to travel to people's houses in the evenings. It was a great way of meeting other likeminded DJs and people and I always got a buzz out of finding music for people that they hadn’t heard before and loved.”

As things began to take off Matt took the plunge and opened his first physical record shops before later closing these as the internet took off. “I opened my first proper shops first in Fareham and then in Albert Road in Southsea. This is when it really started to take off,” he said. “Slowly but surely more and more people were coming in week on week until sometimes maybe 200 DJs a week were buying their records from me.”

In the three decades of his career Matt has sold a lot of records - so much in fact he is not sure how many. “I’m not sure how many records I have sold in this time, but it must be into the 100,000s. And the amount I have listened to wow that could be quite mind-boggling amounts of electronic music releases,” he said.

“I’ve seen all the trends in genres over the years, most of the artists and labels and how they have come and gone and some stuck around. This is not me showing off. I have listened to electronic music almost daily for 35 years, this is my passion and I accidentally ended up doing it as a job. So, the many highs and lows of DJing for 30 years at 1,000s of different types of clubs, parties and events alongside my record business as well.

“From playing to 50,000 people at a Love Parade in Holland to having my record bags stolen from a gig in London just before I was about to play. Anyone that thinks it’s easy to make a career in music is very much mistaken. It takes a bit of luck but primarily very hard work countless hours constantly adapting over decades reinventing, changing with the times and technology.

“I’ve met thousands of really great people along the way from some of the nicest genuine ones you could ever meet to ones you would never want to meet. Some of my very first original customers are still DJing and some not, some have sadly passed away.”

When discussing his prime motivation that has underpinned his longevity, Matt said: “If I had been doing this for fame or fashion I would have never lasted this long doing it, but I do have a big story to tell about this industry and the music.

“I’ve been on front covers of magazines and all that rubbish but the reason I’ve lasted so long is because the music has always been my motivation. I have run and been involved with 1,000s of events along the way. I’ve played at all the top London clubs, spent six years living and working as a DJ in Ibiza and across Europe. Ran some of the most memorable events such as Overload The Fort on Spitbank Fort for four years and one of the south coasts top events CONTACT for 23 years at South Parade Pier, as well as playing up and down the UK over decades.”

And as he enters his fourth decade things are going from strength to strength. “This year has been another really busy year so far with DJ gigs every weekend. Coming up are some cool festivals and clubs I’m playing and I also do quite a lot of private events,” he said.

“The record shop is busy every week sending vinyl all around the world and my weekly online radio show is a lot of fun to do playing lots of lesser known music over the last decades. I’m still a huge vinyl collector myself so I’m always still hunting out those hidden gems that I’ve not and other people may not have heard that much before.

“There is literally ridiculous amounts of music out there that slips under the radar and it’s always exciting hunting it out. Also, running my record labels keeps me busy. There is some fantastic new music being made by a lot of lesser known artists. I’m still teaching as well for anyone interested in learning about DJing and the many different aspects of the music industry. Music is like life… a journey of discovery and joins you along the way and I just like connecting with other likeminded friendly people. I just love it and seeing that passion for it in others too.”

Speaking of the party, Matt added: “I have 1,000 funny and sad stories, but I won’t go on. So, anyway I’m having a party to celebrate 30 years and this milestone in my music career and I’ve invited some great old friends to join me and play plus a special guest Graham Gold who is flying in from Thailand. He is a true industry legend and all round genuine guy who is now in his 70s and still following his passion for music. I can honestly see myself being the same when I’m his age also.

“If you ever visited my shop back in the day you will know it was a cool place to hangout. If anyone had said to me I'd still be doing this 39 years after buying my first record I’d have said never.”

You can check out music and more information about Matt Handy and Hands On Records @ www.linktr.ee/djmatthandy