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When you think of techno, you might think of sweaty clubs, crowded dance floors and 24-hour parties, but make no mistake: dance music isn’t just a young man’s game. Proving that point is Nick Hayes, a 67-year-old retiree that’s built an audience of more than 100,000 followers performing live industrial techno from his home in Wakefield.
In an interview with Cultur.Art, Hayes – AKA The Last DJ – tells the story of how he’s gone from obscurity to social media stardom, turning his post-retirement hobby into a runaway success that’s seen him build a colossal online following, perform his first gig in 40 years, and inspire more older people to get into music production.
“My journey started when I was 55 years old. Prior to that I was selling car brake pads up until my retirement,” he says. “I always had this dream to create music tutorials, because it took me such a long time to learn how to produce music.”
Hayes didn’t have much luck in trying to build an online following with his music production tutorials, so he decided to take a different tack: “Somebody said to me, ‘why don’t you film yourself actually playing music?’ That was when it all really took off”.
One of the first videos Hayes posted of himself performing electronic music live went viral, clocking up over 3 million views. “After that, I went from 500 followers on Instagram to 107,000 in four weeks,” he says.
Most of Hayes’ videos follow a similar formula: he sits at a desk (or out in the garden) with an Elektron Syntakt groovebox, performing relentless, pounding techno under the watchful eye of his teddy bear mascot Bert, often dancing to the music in his chair. Though his most popular videos are live performances, Hayes has also moved back into recording tutorials for his followers, covering everything from “bad arse” basslines to Serum sound design.
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While Hayes seems to favour Elektron gear, he can often be seen experimenting with other pieces of kit, including the Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field and Roland S-1 sampler.
“I really wanted to help people my own age group, or younger than me, to make music. It makes you happier, it changes your emotions. I love the feeling of listening to music,” Hayes says. “A lot of people from 40 upwards now, a lot of my followers, have said to me that I’ve inspired them. Last night I got an email from someone who said ‘I’m 46, is it okay to start producing music?’ I said ‘yes, start now!’ There’s no age limit to producing and creating music.”
“I’ve had quite a lot of approaches from famous people, asking me to write for them or do collaborations,” says Hayes, who admits he isn’t interested in working with others. “At first I was a bit shocked, because I thought: ‘why would Sid from Slipknot want me to write a track for him?’ I don’t particularly want to do collaborations, I want to do what I do, because it makes me happy.”
Hayes says he’s been offered four-figure sums to perform overseas, and that live performance is something he wants to explore further in future; he recently put on his first live show in 40 years at a local venue.
Follow The Last DJ on Instagram or subscribe to his YouTube channel.
