Howard Donald has flourished from a budding music-lover willing to jump behind any decks for his songs to get heard, to becoming a tornado of electro-house talent blistering across Europe with his craft.
The Manchester born and bred superstar is once again returning to his roots as accomplished DJ HD after the successes of Take That have taken a backseat.
From legendary London’s Ministry of Sound to Pacha, and hundreds of the world’s highest profile club nights in a multitude of countries, Howard has conquered some of the biggest clubs with infinite energy.
MM spoke with the accomplished DJ as he prepares to take on Manchester’s Venus nightclub.
“I am immensely proud of my DJ work,” he said.
“To be able to play music that I enjoy to other people in a club is an incredible feeling and to pin point one specific moment as a highlight is impossible because there have been so many, with I hope more to come.”
Returning to Manchester will be a change from the extensive tours he is used to as part of the illustrious boy band Take That, so how will performing in intimate venues compare to hitting the road on sell-out stadium tours?
“You can’t compare the two because performing as part of a live band singing commercial pop is completely different to performing as a DJ,” he said.
Both are amazing in their own right but as a DJ, I prefer playing small clubs because I like to play good under ground music and being up close and personal with the crowd which is obviously the polar opposite to stadium tours with the band.”
Howard has risen above and beyond leaving his critics far behind and his fans have supported and followed him every step of the way… literally!
He said: “It’s mad because just when you think you have seen it all someone does something else that surprises you. No matter what flight you take, what hotel you are booked into they always manage to work it out.
“I regularly receive unique pieces of clothing that have been customised in some way or mixed CDs or in the early days they would camp outside your house.”
Howard Donald will be back on home turf to DJ at Manchester’s very own Venus from 11pm on October 11 2013.
After the first batch of tickets sold out rapidly a second have been issued through venusmanchester.co.uk and are available to purchase now.
Picture courtesy of Laura via Flickr, with thanks
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