One of the world’s top DJs took time out of his hectic club schedule to help four students from Merthyr Tydfil take their first steps towards a dream career in the music industry.
Sonny Wharton, who has performed all over the world in front of thousands of people, dropped in to Coleg Harlech to meet with students on the music technology course.
Among them were four friends, Josh Palmer, Jordan Williams, Josh Evans and Nathan Robertshaw.
They have gained vital Coleg Harlech and Welsh Government joint funding to enable them to come and live at the college for a year to attend the course.
Nathan, 21, who has been ‘obsessed’ with playing the decks since he was lent a pair as a young teenager, was bowled over meeting Sonny who is one of his DJ idols.
He said: “I was a bit overwhelmed to be honest. I couldn’t believe it. To think he has performed in front of so many people, all over the world, is such an inspiration. And he is such a down-to-earth person. It has been really interesting to find out how he has made it to such an amazing level.”
Sonny left his supermarket job in the summer of 2002 and went to Ibiza to follow his dreams of becoming a household name in the world of house music.
While he was there, he won a prestigious DJ competition which propelled him to the top of his game, producing his own music and performing to sell out crowds at clubs such as Space, Pacha and Ministry of Sound.
He played to more than one million people at The Berlin Love Parade and also does sets in other countries including China.
Originally from Welshpool and now living in Shrewsbury, he has visited students at Coleg Harlech for the last five years.
He said: “It’s really nice to be able to give information and a bit of advice to guys potentially doing what I do in a few year’s time and I wish I had the same opportunity.
“It is a difficult industry to get into and you are going to get knocked back and have people close doors in your face but I suppose I just want to tell them that they need to be persistent and have that drive to do it.”
Nathan, like his three friends, was struggling to find work and felt there was little in the way of life opportunities in Merthyr Tydfil. The South Wales town has some of the highest youth unemployment rates in Britain and is classed as one of the most deprived areas in Wales.
He said: “In the last few years, I have had about nine months worth of work and I was trying for around 20 odd jobs a week but nothing was coming back and if I am honest I was beginning to feel depressed.”
His friend Jordan, 20, agreed and said: “I just didn’t like the fact that there is just nothing in Merthyr and I didn’t want to turn out like a lot of people in the town who are just happy to sit around on benefits, doing nothing with their life, it’s not want I want.”
The four youngsters were helped by Linda Bevan, a Communities First Support Worker for Dowlais Community Development Forum, who specialises in helping with CVs and researches jobs and training courses for people.
She received an email from Coleg Harlech about the music technology course and spotted its potential for putting the spark back in the lives of the four music mad youngsters.
She said: “Within three weeks, I had seen the email, they had the applications forms, sent them off and they were accepted and it was wonderful.”
Seeing them at Coleg Harlech on the day of Sonny’s visit, she said: “The change in the four of them is just amazing. They look well, they look interested, their heads are higher and their body language says it all. They are excited about things again and it is terrific to see.”
All their accommodation and food at the college for the year they are on the course is paid for thanks to a joint pot of money stumped up by Coleg Harlech and the Welsh Government, making the chance to attend the course a realistic opportunity rather than a distant dream.
The Coleg Harlech course is designed to give those who pass, access to university because it is the equivalent of around 3 A-levels, regardless of what qualifications they have, if at all. It covers modules in radio journalism, recording studio techniques, language and theory of music but also business skills the students may need such as the marketing and promotion of music.
Witnessing the students’ new found enthusiasm first hand is Trevor Andrews, one of the main Coleg Harlech tutors running the course.
Trevor, who has worked at Coleg Harlech for more than 20 years, said: “The ‘Mini Merthyr’ lads have been so enthusiastic about the course and they seem to be really enjoying themselves and learning so much. They are inspiring to the other students around them.
“They are all so full of life and they have come a long way from home to be here but they don’t seem phased by that at all.
“For them it is a change in life well worth making because I think, from what I have seen, they are going to do extremely well.”
Nathan said: “There is no doubt that being on this course has completely changed my life for the better. It has been such a positive thing to happen to me.
Josh Palmer, 20, said: “If I had stayed in Merthyr this year, I would have either stayed on the dole or done a pointless college course just to fill the year because nothing like this was available to me there.
“My family are really proud of me and I think they are relieved because we all feel like I am doing something worthwhile with my life.”
All of the young men now have aspirations to move on to university and already have in mind which courses they would like to move on to.
Josh Evans, 21, said: “Up until now, I had resigned myself to going from one dead end job to another for the rest of my life but coming here has given me hope for the future. I plan to go from here to Plymouth University to carry on studying music technology and it is amazing to think what is out there for me now.”
