'I swapped engineering for DJing on yachts'

"I used to work as a full-time engineer, now I DJ boat parties and club nights in Greece," says Tom Hall, having swapped his nine-five job for the sunshine of Zante.

He has enjoyed a summer of music after a holiday to the Greek island led to a career offer he never imagined would be possible.

The DJ, from Newport, Shropshire, whose tracks have previously been played on Love Island and The Only Way is Essex, was offered the job after he took to the decks overseas and was scouted during a trip to the tourist hotspot.

Mr Hall says he has spent three months working four or five yacht parties a week, followed by three or four club nights - while his mornings have been spent by the pool, soaking up the sun.

Mr Hall used to work as an engineer but swapped his full-time job for a summer of music in Zante

He had worked as a telecoms engineer since 2020 but said it had not been a difficult decision to switch jobs.

Mr Hall explained he had always loved music and worked his way up from local bars to bigger clubs, with his music being played in the world-famous Ministry of Sound club.

The DJ recalled the desperation in the early days of his music career, when he looked up a record label's address on a CD box, burnt his own music on to another and sent it to the address with a note that read "play me".

"It's a dream of mine that has come true - I've always wanted to go overseas and be the resident DJ on the boats and in the club nights," he said.

"It was an opportunity that I had to take with both hands."

He was previously the resident DJ of Sin in Worcester and Marilyn's in Evesham and said the Zante music scene had helped him to develop his skills.

"It's allowing me to play different genres in different settings," Mr Hall said.

"Because people are on holiday, I feel they've got an added bit of energy that you wouldn't get in a local nightclub back at home."

Mr Hall said pursuing music as a job had always been his dream

After spending the summer months on the decks, Mr Hall is set to return to UK in October and will swap the sun for the student scene as he plans to DJ at university freshers' parties.

He said he will most likely have to return to his day job after the party season - but now has a new goal.

"In 10 years the dream is to be headlining my own show or playing at a major festival in the UK or abroad such as Creamfields or Tomorrowland," he smiled.