Welcome back to ‘Matchday DJ Of The Week’, where in each issue we put 10 serious and not so serious quick-fire questions to a matchday DJ from the world of sport! This week we sat down for a chat with Southend United’s Ben Duncan.
- Name: Ben Duncan
- Occupation: Stadium DJ @ Southend United F.C.
- Club Website: Southend United F.C.
- Stadium: Roots Hall Football Stadium
- Capacity: 12,392
- Twitter(s): Southend United F.C.
The Interview:
SM: When did you take over as Matchday DJ for Southend United?
BD: I have been the permanent Matchday DJ at Southend United since the 2006/07 season. We had just been promoted as Champions from League One to the Championship and it was an enjoyable time. We hosted Stoke City on that opening day and came out 1-0 winners. The stadium was rocking!
SM: How did you initially get into the role of Matchday DJ?
BD: My dad, Robin was a DJ by trade and should the normal Roots Hall Matchday DJ be unavailable, he would step in and help out. I was always at the club in another role, (without saying too much it may or may not have involved wearing a costume) but unfortunately my Dad suffered from a lot of ill health. As early as 2004 I was occasionally filling in for the Matchday DJ (and my Dad) and loved every second of it. The next few years saw me cover even more occasionally and it was decided that I should do it permanently.
SM: Can you remember your first football match/stadium experience?
BD: I can indeed remember it! I saw Sheffield Wednesday on television as a 9 year old and Chris Waddle took the ball around everyone. I became a Sheffield Wednesday fan…then Manchester United won the league so I became a fan of them not knowing that my own town had a football team. My Uncle, Mick, took me along to Roots Hall for the first ever time in July 1994. Southend United were playing Chelsea in a pre-season friendly and that was the start. I can still remember the sight of Roots Hall for the first ever time. The grass was carpet like and the greenest green that I had ever seen. My face was beaming. Southend were a Championship side back then and had some exciting players, we lost 2-1 but it didn’t matter, I was obsessed and have been ever since!
SM: Would you say your first experience of live football and the memories of that day were motivation for taking on the role of stadium DJ?
BD: I’ve got to be honest it wasn’t, however, with my Dad being a DJ I grew up listening to a lot of music and would always listen out for things at the various stadiums we attended whilst watching the Shrimpers. Back in the 90s, the PA system wasn’t really up to much at Roots Hall and it was hard to hear but in around 1996, my Dad and I would giggle as it was always Now 31 on repeat every game for months on end. It became a bit of a novelty!
SM: In your time at Roots Hall, who’s the best player you’ve seen wear the famous blue strip?
BD: That is such a hard question but my all time favourite Southend United player has to be Ricky Otto. In my first years as a fan, he used to dance down the wing and scored some cracking goals too. Top players that appeared for us in their latter years such as Rob Newman, Mike Marsh and Ronnie Whelan all hold memories for me, as does Shrimpers hero Chris Powell. Freddy Eastwood is one from more recent times, every time he got the ball you just knew that something could happen!
SM: Who is your favourite artist/band of all time?
BD: I have a really varied taste in music. My all time favourite band is Madness, I do try and sneak in a Madness track every now and then. I also love Ska, Reggae, Elvis, UB40, Motown, Disco, and even Rock… pretty much anything!
SM: Which piece of music do you think is the ultimate track for motivating a footballing side?
BD: I think it depends on the era and who is playing. During lockdown and with no crowds, our players came up with a list to boost the atmosphere in the stadium in the build up to the games. These were varied and had a mixture of garage, rap, grime, house and indie but Ricky Holmes who is a Southend fan wanted ‘Parklife’ by Blur as the teams came out. Many of our fans would sing some lyrics to ‘Parklife’ at Southend games in the 90s so it was nice to play this again.
Kasabian’s ‘Clubfoot’ was requested by former Blues captain Craig Easton and went down well with our squad from that era. At the moment, we have a real feel good vibe back at the club and fans are raising the roof, this, coupled with our match day announcer Micky G being vocal on the mic, loud and positive fans certainly helps motivates the players.
SM: Do you have an all-time favourite track that you play at Southend?
BD: The powers from above decided on goal music from around 2004/05, and when Freddy Eastwood scored, playing ‘Reach Up (Pigbag)‘ by Perfecto Allstarz was special. Fans would chant his name and nothing will ever beat hearing that ring around Roots Hall when he scored the winner vs Manchester United.
Alison Moyet is also a Southend United fan and recorded a song called ‘Blue’ which I try and play as often as possible. It is about following the club around the country and playing this brings back some good memories.
SM: What are the main songs you use week in, week out at the ground?
BD: I used to be quite regimental with the build up playlist. At 14 minutes to kick off I would put a set list of songs on regardless of who we were playing or how full the stadium was. I tend not to do this as much these days as I try and play to how I feel the stadium atmosphere is shaping. Songs that are played more frequently than others though would include ‘God is a DJ’ by Faithless, ‘Sandstorm’ by Darude and a classical piece called ‘Bollero’ from the film Moulin Rouge. To be honest, I try and play a little bit of everything and something different each week.
Our players have built a really good rapport with our fans in recent months and songs such as ‘Rocking all over the world’ by Status Quo and ‘Freed from desire’ by Gala are used frequently right now as our fans love singing about Super Steve Arnold in goal and (Matt) Dennis’ on fire, your defence is terrified!
SM: On a final note, are there any funny mishaps/cock-ups that have taken place that come to mind when you think about your career so far?
BD: I have been really lucky in fairness, although we do have the Bluebelles. They are a group of girls that prior to Covid, would dance each home game and put on a show for the spectators. In the days before phones we would be given a CD, however on one particular occasion, I didn’t get the CD until 30 seconds prior to the performance, it was scratched, would not load so instinctively I put on a song that they had danced to the week before. They stood there for 2 minutes gesturing to me to ‘cut’ the music but they were in the middle of the pitch and I couldn’t do a thing about it! Thankfully they pulled a few moves and the 7000 plus crowd found the episode both fun and entertaining!
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Ben for taking the time to talk to us. We wish him and all of The Shrimpers’ players, staff and supporters the very best for the rest of the 2021/22 season!
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