INTERVIEW: Radio 1′s Danny Howard

Originally published for Strathclyde Telegraph on 29/03/13

I caught up with DJ Danny Howard before his gig in Strathclyde Union this week. The Radio 1 DJ is currently touring the UK to promote his new Dance album ‘Clubbers Guide 2013’ which, since its release, has gone on to take the number one spot in the iTunes Dance Chart:

“We released the album in the middle of February and off the back of that we just do some club tours to promote it and raise the awareness.

“It’s been really valuable and lots of people have bought it which was good. It got to number one in the iTunes dance chart which was incredible. I couldn’t believe it actually happened so yeah it’s just nice to go around and promote it.”

The Blackpool born DJ has already made a name for himself in the clubbing world, both here and in the UK, after gaining residencies at Ministry Of Sound as well as the UKs biggest Super club ‘The Syndicate’. And earlier this month Danny travelled to America to play one of his all-time favourite venues:

“I was in Miami at the Miami Music Week where all the DJ’s from around the world go clubbing and it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I can remember, just as a clubber myself.”

“In America at the moment Dance music has really taken off and everyone is sort of embracing the dance music culture like we had back in the UK in the 90s.

“But they are ahead of the game as well, because everything is about EDM [Electric Dance Music], and to be over there and experience that boom that they’re going through is a real eye opener; it’s something that did remind me of Ibiza.”

For a DJ that has just started playing clubs in the past couple of years, Danny Howard’s success has come thick and fast. In 2011 he won the coveted ‘Superstar DJ’ Award and opened Radio 1’s Ibiza Weekend. But now the international star has swapped the strobe lights of Ibiza and Miami for glow sticks and neon face paint to play a number of student gigs across the country. He mentions the difference in playing students gigs to the big ‘super clubs’:

“Students are usually at the crazier end of the scale as far as clubbing goes, which is good. And whenever I have a student gig I always look forward to it because you know the atmosphere is going to be good and they’ll just get involved in whatever you throw at them."

Danny refuses to typecast himself into a specific style or genre but instead prefers to get his inspiration from the crowd there in the moment:

“I think that a DJ should give the crowd what they want. I’m not one that says ‘plan your set before’ or anything like that. I always try to feel the vibe and go off on what the crowd are giving back and just play what I think they want to hear next and that’s how I do it.”

“I literally just go on and play the music, it sounds boring but it is as simple as that. I do obviously get the butterflies before I go on but I think that’s normal because it means that I care about it.

“I want to make sure I always do a good job.”

Danny announced earlier this month that he will be playing Global Gathering, the world’s first ever global music festival, and the Telegraph tried to get some inside info on any more of his upcoming events. But the DJ refused to budge:

“In the next couple of weeks there will
be some announcements of my Ibiza dates and a couple of other festivals that I’m going to be playing, but they’re not announced yet.

“I just don’t want to get in trouble! Global Gathering is the one I’m looking forward to though because that was the very first festival that I ever went to when I was 18, so for me to actually go back and be on the DJ list, on the line up, was just an incredible moment for me and I can’t wait to go back and play.”

But before the summer madness begins, the Radio 1 star is looking to create new music in his time off from promoting the new album:

“I’m doing gigs in various places across the UK just now but I’ve got a bit of time during the week that I can spend in the studio just making tunes because once the summer comes I’m all over the place.

“I’m not going to get as much time to do that so I need to make sure I get as much production as possible and spend as much of it in the studio.”

It sounds like Danny has a busy schedule in the coming summer months so listen out in the next couple of weeks for his upcoming announcements on Ibiza dates and festivals. But for now we students get to experience some of the rising star’s new tunes before he goes off to play in front of thousands at huge festivals and packed nightclubs elsewhere in the UK and abroad.

SnowSports hit slopes at Val Thorens

Originally published for Strathclyde Telegraph on 10/03/13

Strathclyde University’s Snow Sports club travelled to Val Thorens in the French Alps for their annual skiing and snowboarding trip. The Telegraph caught up with President of the Snow Sports Club, Andrew Brown, to see how the trip went:

“Val Thorens was amazing!” commented the president.

“With 197 great people out in resort it’s hard not to have an amazing time. This has been one of my favourite trips to the Alps, the weather and conditions were fantastic and the nights out were even better. I definitely have a tonne of great memories from this trip!”

Continuing in great student style, the club travelled to France by bus and the Product Design Engineering student recollects how daunting the journey actually can be:

“The bus journey took around 30hrs but it’s not the journey out that feels long as everyone is getting to know each other and chatting away on the bus.
“It’s the bus back where everyone isn’t feeling their best, with everyone starting to get the holiday blues and a week of drinking and throwing themselves down a slope at up to 70mph starts to catch up with them that’s when you realise how long a journey it really is.
“But it’s definitely worth it!”

Not only does the club go skiing and snowboarding down the Alps throughout the day, but the club are not afraid of a crazy night out:

“Throughout the week every night was a great night, you can’t expect to come on a ‘StrathSnow’ holiday and spend a night in your room – some of the best nights were the themed nights.

“Our first themed night was a rubix cube themed night, you have to wear all 6 colours of a rubix cube and your aim is to come home at the end of the night wearing only one colour.

“It lead to some…..interesting combos of clothing when people switch clothes but it’s a great night to get to know everyone because it forces you to talk to new people just so you can swap your shoes for their t-shirt or whatever colour you’re aiming for.”

“Another theme we had which was hilarious was the 90s Rave theme.” Added the fourth year student.

“With nearly 200 people dressed like Kevin and Perry in full kappa tracksuits it doesn’t make the bar you’re filling look like the nicest of establishments and the majority of us would have been turned away from most nightclubs in Glasgow; but in the alps they understand fancy dress is a big part of a student holiday.

“Some even enhanced their characters image with the classic wet look gel five spiked fringe hair style, fantastically sported by a greasy Craig Wallace!”

“I am actually a product of the ‘StrathSnow’ beginner lessons. I had never skied or snowboarded my whole life until it came to 2nd year at university and since I’ve always been really sporty when the opportunity to learn how to snowboard was put forward to me took it!

“I had three 2hr lessons at the Glasgow Ski and Snowboard Centre out next to Bellahouston and after learning the very basics I booked onto the winter trip to Avoriaz only knowing about 3 people on the trip.

“I enjoyed myself so much and picked up so much on my first trip I fell in love with the sport and lifestyle!”

“That summer when it was time to elect a new committee I wanted to be part of it, so I ran for Lessons Captain and won the vote.” added the Masters student.

“I even applied to be a ski rep taking away other universities on their trips and helping them run their holidays and I’ve had a great time on all my weeks working in the Alps.

“This year as president has been a great responsibility and it’s great to see how the club has really thrived over the last couple years, especially when it comes to numbers on the holiday going from 107 people on my first trip to Avoriaz two years ago to 197 people in Val Thorens!

“The committee have really put in the effort this year as a team and it shows when we are doing so well, I can’t wait to see what is in store for the clubs future over the next few years!”

INTERVIEW: Laura Bathgate on winning trampolining Gold

Originally published for Strathclyde Telegraph on 05/03/13

February saw Strathclyde’s Trampolining club win a number of medals at the 28th annual Scottish Trampoline Open in Glasgow. The Strathclyde Telegraph caught up with Laura Bathgate who won the synchro Gold medal, and Iain Morrison who came second in Scotland for the Novice Men’s. The competition, held in Glasgow Caledonian University’s ARC gym, saw competitors from all over the UK compete for a medal.

Laura Bathgate began her time at the Trampolining club when she arrived at Strathclyde in 1st year, was the treasurer in her 3rd year and then the captained the squad in her final year. The Strathclyde veteran, who has been involved with the club for five years now, came first in the synchro alongside teammate Scarlett Gordon:

“The Scottish open was a fantastic weekend of competition for Strathclyde trampoline club! On home turf we had the largest number of competitors this year so far and having had numerous frustrating 4th and 5th place finishes in the previous two league competitions everyone had been training hard and was ready to put it into practice!”

She added: “Following a warm up session on the trampolines on Friday evening we dressed up as pacman for the Friday night retro video games night.

“With over 300 competitors over the weekend, some categories had 80 gymnasts in them, the competition was tough but Strathclyde came out firing.

“Everyone put on amazing performances in the individual events on Saturday and we were thrilled to find out Iain had come first in the Scottish competition.” Continued the graduate.

“Three others also had top five finishes. Saturday was also an exciting day as we debuted the new team leotards which we were able to purchase with money gifted to us by the alumni fund.”

Saturday saw competitions in individual trampolining in which competitor’s complete two routines of 10 skills. As with many weekend long competitions, the Saturday night is for letting off some steam:
“On Saturday night it was time for us to play host as a fantastic ceilidh was held in vertigo in the Strathclyde union.” Explained Laura.

“It was a great way to socialise with the other clubs, many of whom had come from England and Ireland for the weekend and had never ceilidh danced before.
“Trampolining is a very social sport as with only one person on a trampoline at once it gives you plenty of time to

socialise with the others who are also using that trampoline, we socialise after training sessions in the union and like most students we LOVE a good night out!”

As the team socialised with fellow competitors, the competition wasn’t over. The Sunday afternoon was dedicated to related disciplines of tumbling, DMT and synchronised trampolining. Laura explained how the squad got on in the last day:

“The weekend just kept getting better as on Sunday the mighty Strath got our hands on three more medals.
“One of our enthusiastic first years Amanda, who competes in the elite category was trying out DMT (double mini trampoline) for the first time and was outstanding in adapting her skills to win a silver medal – she was thrilled having been disappointed with her individual performance the day before.”

“I was competing in synchronised trampolining with my partner Scarlett Gordon. The competition was really close as there were over 20 pairs in our category and although we felt confident that we could do well we were also aware of some other very good fellow competitors who on an individual basis had ranked above both of us in the individual competition the day before.

“It all came down to our one routine, which we felt went well but we really had no idea how we would place.” Added the graduate.

“We had to wait all day till all the other trampolining related disciplines were over before they announced the medallists.

“When it came to the announcement for our category once they’d read out 3rd then 2nd Scarlett said to me
, and I agreed with her: ‘aw well never mind- looks like we’ve just been unlucky’.
“When we heard our names being read out for first place neither of us could believe it- we looked at each other in utter shock and in what can only be described as an excited daze collected our medals and posed for photos with the other medallists. It was a fantastic feeling and we are both extremely proud of our achievement!”

After participating in an exciting and successful weekend for the Strathclyde University Trampolining Club, Laura was delighted with the outcome:
“The Scottish open held in Glasgow was fantastic weekend of bouncing, socials and success for all involved. It definitely brought our team much closer together and we look forward to yet more fun and successes in the coming months, at the last Scottish league event, the Glasgow cup and as we travel to Cork to compete in the Irish open.”

Iain Morrison, who won silver for the Novice Men’s, also got in on the celebrations:
“It felt great [to win]! It’s always good to have success at something you enjoy doing.
“Dundee College are big contenders in the Novice Men’s category, David Carrol and Lewis Dewar especially, so the extra points help us draw level with St. Andrews University so the win helps.”
Let’s hope the Strathclyder’s can continue their success in the finals in Aberdeen this month!

INTERVIEW: Team GB Volleyball Captain and former Strathclyde student Lynne Beattie

Originally published for Strathclyde Telegraph on 20/10/12

Scotland wasn’t short of Olympians and this year’s Games, and neither was Strathclyde. Here, former Strathclyde student and Team GB Olympian Lynne Beattie reflects on her time at the London 2012 Olympics, in an exclusive interview with the Strathclyde Telegraph. The Volleyball captain, who is currently out in Switzerland competing, failed to qualify for the Final Round in London, but despite the loss, Beattie was overwhelmed by the support at the Games;

“The atmosphere at the Olympics was better than I had ever imagined. The volleyball venue was Earls Court and it was amazing. Every time you walked down the player’s tunnel and emerged into the cauldron of fans, the hairs on the back of my neck would stand on end”.

Playing with the support of your entire nation was a particularly great experience for Beattie. She explained;

“The crowd were fantastic and really got behind us, even when we were up against it. When we scored a point, the roar was so immense that you just wanted to do everything you could to get another point so they would roar for you again. The enormity of the chant “let’s go GB… let’s go!” is something I won’t forget in a hurry.”

Beattie continued: “The general atmosphere around the athlete’s village and around London itself was also great… everyone was so friendly and the warmth shown by the city of London towards the Games was brilliant.”

The Pharmacy graduate went on to explain what is was like to be part of the spectacular closing ceremony of the Olympics: “Unfortunately we didn’t get to attend the opening ceremony because we played on the first day of competition, but we did get to go to the closing ceremony which was absolutely amazing. Because of the sheer success of the Games, it really was a huge celebration of what we had achieved as a volleyball team, as Team GB and as a nation, so everyone was on good form that night.”

“The acts were fantastic, not to mention two personal favourites of mine: The Spice Girls and Take That! It was great to be able to enjoy the spectacle and the moment after all the hard work that we had put in over the last five years. Being in the Olympic Stadium with 17,000 other athletes and 80,000 spectators cheering you on was a dream come true.”

During the Games, the women’s GB Olympic volleyball team were up against the likes of Japan, Italy, Dominican Republic, Algeria and Russia in Group A of the Preliminary Round, but only managed to seal two points from five matches played. However the Strathclyde graduate remains positive about the team’s performance:

“Of course we were disappointed, but you have to consider where we have come from as a team since we formed in 2006. Yes, we believed we could make it to the final stages, but we are very proud of our performances. We challenged the best teams in the world and beat Algeria, a team who at the time were ranked 53 places above us,” said the 26 year old.

“We finished ninth place over all, ahead of three established volleyball nations, and have now been awarded with an increase in world ranking from 69th to 20th in the world. To achieve what we have in such a short space of time and with no government funding behind us is a remarkable achievement and we hope to have inspired the nation to take up volleyball and leave a lasting legacy for our sport in the UK.”

“We were up against the best teams in the world who were just able to display a little more experience than us at crucial times. We gave it everything we had and have no regrets,” added the Olympian.

Beattie, who has played volleyball since the age of 12, explained how she first got involved with volleyball:
“I started playing at my secondary School, Mearns Castle, and was instantly fascinated by the sport. When I started university, volleyball started to get serious for me so I had to manage my studies and volleyball very well and Strathclyde did an amazing job of helping me do this.”

Beattie provided some advice for others hoping to one day make it to the Olympics: “It may sound cliché, but I believe if you want something enough, you can achieve it. Success won’t just happen, you have to work very hard for it, but if you want it enough, you will get it. Being a full-time student and an elite athlete is definitely not easy, but if you expect the difficulties and prepare for them appropriately, with the biggest challenge being time management, then you will be successful.”

“Being an Olympian was always my dream, and I didn’t let anything stop me. Yes there were many hurdles in my path, but I found solutions to them. Ultimately volleyball is a sport I loved, so I worked very hard to become the best I could be and now I am very glad I did.”

Oscar Pistorius to be awarded honorary degree from Strathclyde

Originally published for Strathclyde Telegraph on 11/10/12

The University of Strathclyde will present Oscar Pistorius with an honorary degree in November after a year of sporting success. Pistorius, also known as the blade runner, won two Gold medals and a Silver at this year’s Paralympic games in London and also featured in the South African Olympic 400m and 4x400m relay team.

Oscar, who made history earlier this year by becoming the first Paralympic athlete to win a medal at the IAAF able-bodied World Championships, will be made a Doctor at Strathclyde this autumn after making history by competing in the Olympics and Paralympic games.He last visited Glasgow in November 2011 to give a keynote lecture at the University’s sporting prosthetics conference to encourage more people to become active in sports and physical activity.

The elite athlete commented: “I’d like to thank Strathclyde University for their support and for awarding me a honorary doctors degree.

“It really has been the most amazing, rewarding and humbling past few months and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support of the public.”

He added: “I’m now taking a little bit of time out to reflect on my time in London, to take it all in and to enjoy some well-earned rest.

“I’ve had an extremely long season so I won’t be competing now until the new year.”

“I’d like to wish all the students luck in their studies and again to thank them and the University for all their support.” The Olympian added.

Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal of the University of Strathclyde, said: “We were delighted to be welcoming Oscar back to the University following his keynote speech at our Sporting Prosthetics conference last year.

“His passion and commitment to sport, combined with his ability to encourage others to take part in physical activity, make him an excellent, international ambassador for the University.”
Oscar will be presented with his honorary degree at the Barony Hall alongside fellow honorary graduands Fran Healey, lead singer of Scottish pop band Travis; Sir Paul Nurse, the British geneticist, cell biologist and Nobel Prize winner; Professor Neil Gershenfeld, Director of the Centre for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Professor Anne Glover, EU Chief Scientific Advisor.

Champions tran at Strathclyde

Originally published for Strathclyde Telegraph on 14/09/12

STRATHCLYDE University‘s training facilities were being used by Olympic football teams during the summer in order to prepare for their games at Hampden Park.

European champions, Spain, and women’s Olympic gold medallists USA were two of the national sides that trained at the pitches in Stepps. Men’s teams from Japan and Morocco, and the women’s French side also prepared at the Uni grounds ahead of their matches at Scotland’s national stadium, which is one of six venues around the UK hosting football for the international sporting event.

The Games’ organisers, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), approved the grounds at Strathclyde as suitable to host an Olympic Training Venue, showing their recognition of the quality of the pitches and supporting facilities at Stepps. In recent years, a number of leading Scottish football clubs including Rangers, Celtic, St Mirren and Hamilton Academical have trained at the Uni grounds and it will be the only training venue available in Scotland for the international teams competing in this year’s Games.

Niall Sturrock, Head of Strathclyde’s Centre for Sport and Recreation, said: “We are looking forward to playing a role in London 2012 and to welcoming such a high calibre of sportsmen and women to our training ground at Stepps.

“As experienced and successful athletes, they will be expecting a high standard of training facility as they compete for some of the biggest prizes in sport. We will be able to offer this to them at Strathclyde, where our facilities are designed to offer sport not only for competition but also for health and wellbeing.”

Spain qualified for the Olympic Games after winning the 2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship, adding to the senior Spanish team’s European Championship and World Cup titles. The Olympic side, including players such as Chelsea’s Juan Mata, Ander Herrera of Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona’s Jordi Alba, never made it past the group stages of the Games after failing to score a single goal in the tournament.

Similarly, the USA women’s squad qualified as Olympic finalists after a 4-0 win over Canada in the CONCACAF championship earlier this year. Players in their qualifying campaign included Abby Wambach, who is now number two on the world’s all-time goal scoring list, and goalkeeper Hope Solo, who once played 1,054 minutes of international games without conceding a goal. The USA side finished with a Gold medal in London this summer.

The facilities at Stepps comprise of five football pitches, two rugby pitches and one synthetic turf hockey field, which are mainly used by the University’s teams. Three football and two rugby pitches will be configured to provide four pitches for training use by the Olympic squads. The pavilion will be adapted to provide the full range of facilities required to support the drug testing, medical and media activities related to an Olympic training venue.