Paul knew he wanted to be a DJ when he was 14, and that feeling has never left him.
Basic but smart
He started off by inviting school friends around to his parents house where he turned the front room into a disco. Using a radiogram, his brothers portable record player, and it has to be said, most of his brothers records. He wired small torch bulbs directly to the speakers (don’t try this at home) and placed coloured sweet wrappers over them to make a multi coloured light system that pulsed in time to the music. Thus in 1976 Paul Mallon’s Disco was born, and he used to sit behind it in the bay window of his parents house, DJ’ing to his friends.
As his eldest brother’s 21st Birthday party came along, Paul took the opportunity to talk to the mobile disco DJ (Dave Wild), and offered to be unpaid help at his disco’s by carrying equipment and playing records as a warm up before most people arrived and the parties got properly started.
When Dave secured a residency at Neros nightclub in Bath on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, Paul used to go in at 9pm, turn everything on and play records until 10:30 when the pubs closed and Dave turned up to start the disco properly. This was all while being still at school.
In the meantime, Paul also offered his carrying and warm up services to another prominent local DJ called “Spike” (Nigel Mortimer) who not only ran a fantastic mobile disco but also DJ’d at The Monaco Rooms nightclub which gave Paul another place to play and enabled him to learn from two mentors instead of one.
More Equipment 
A bigger van & a Roadie
Dave Wild was like his DJ name implied, more of a maverick, a ladies man, who let Paul play more and more or the evening in Neros, so he could spend the time drinking, socialising and most importantly, chatting up the girls. This didn’t go un-noticed by Mr Benny the owner who eventually sacked Dave and offered the job to Paul.
All parties catered for
So the late seventies passed in a blur of mobile wedding disco’s, Birthday party discos and nightclub DJing. Until by 1979 Paul was quite experienced having DJ’d everything from an 80 year olds party to the graveyard monday, tuesday wednesday nights in Charlie Browns club, which was mostly just a drinking club for off duty taxi drivers, with the odd student party now and again. However paul played in most of the local nightclubs, including the Beau Nash reaching the top 6 in the country. They staged a Farm Yard Fancy Dress evening on the night they were to be judged and Paul shared the DJ’ing with Gary Bowen, yet another well known and highly experienced DJ.
The next move saw Paul moving “oop north” to Halifax in West Yorkshire where he really hit the ground running DJ’ing in clubs and bars all over Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford and Leeds sometimes playing in two or three pubs and clubs a night, playing a pub in Halifax, driving to Huddersfield to do the middle section of a club before racing off to Bradford or Leeds to play the main midnight til closing, section in a club, and this was way before the days that DJs started performing one hour “Sets”.
After this came his first Summer Season in torquay at the Coral Island complex. DJ’ing to the young holidaymakers in the cavernous Spartacus Club, part of the Coral Island complex, while boosting his income by playing the Birdie Song and strict tempo music in the Ballroom to the older folk at the afternoon Tea dances.
The cavernous Spartacus Disco Coral Island
When the season came to it’s end, Paul took up residency in Crackers Weston S Mare
Until eventually signing with the International Discoteque Entertainment Agency, who secured contracts for him to tour Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Germany.
A second summer season in Torquay came along when Paul was invited to play the Famous 400 Club. An offer which caused Paul to choose that contract over another trip to European clubs
Over the years Paul has dropped in and out of night club DJing as well as continuing the mobile disco for every imaginable event or party, as well as taking a slightly more sedentary and relaxed role as a radio presenter.
His well known “Soulforce Show” is currently being broadcast by six radio stations across the South West as well as around the world on the internet and available for listen again on Mixcloud
As for live performing….. He still goes out with his mobile disco most weekends for weddings, birthdays, festivals and all manner of events.
While “The Soulforce Show Live” is also available for Bars, Restaurants, Terraces and Festivals.
