As a second-year student, I stepped into The Crafty Scholar’s purple-tinged, ornately-decorated rooms with only stories about the legendary DJ Wez. Known as a student favourite – and his branded condoms – DJ Wez has been a Lancaster icon since the early 2010s.
However, 2021 marked the end of an era; DJ Wez has officially retired as House DJ at The Crafty Scholar, leaving DJ partner of six years, Graham Burton aka ‘The Hitman’, without a sidekick. Thankfully, we have an apprentice in our midst. Please give a warm welcome to the latest arrival, Raul Perez.
SCAN were lucky enough to have both Raul Perez and DJ Wez for interview, uniting the old and the new to give you the former glory meets modern twist. Beginning with DJ Wez on why he’d step down as House DJ and what the future looked like. Wez simply replied, “I have left the Crafty Scholar because I am moving to Whitchurch. I have a new DJ residency which I will be starting soon.” However, despite no longer being based in Lancaster, the DJ Wez experience will still be possible through Lancaster Live – a free online show Wez had organised over Lockdown. Wez explained that he’ll be, “relaunching the free online show on Facebook in November” and also plans to do some surprise shows in Lancaster throughout the year.
DJ Wez went onto mention other standouts such as, “DJing for Freshers…every college was so much fun.” He loved, “creating a friendly, fun atmosphere” and was chuffed Lancaster University appreciated what he did! Other highlights included: DJing for the Student Nights at Hustle and The Crafty Scholar, “playing party games and just creating crazy, memorable nights.”
Before switching from retro to techno, DJ Wez left us with some parting advice for the latest House DJ: “just enjoy every DJ set and have fun. I was blessed to DJ for some great Lancaster Uni students and I’m sure the new Freshers are amazing too! Shabba!”
Now, it’s time to meet the new kid on the block, enter Raul Perez. Perez will be performing alongside ‘The Hitman’, as one of the House DJs at The Crafty Scholar. It’s only been four weeks since Perez started DJing, his setup is actually his gaming PC, but he “fell in love with it straight away” and has made a great impression on Lancaster Uni students already.
Of course, the first question we asked Perez was how he was planning on filling the shoes of the legendary DJ Wez, to which we were pleasantly surprised to hear Perez had no intention of mimicking.
“DJ Wez was brilliant, but he was his person. I want to do something different, so I don’t just try and fail to imitate him.”
RAUL PEREZ
It’s clear to see from Perez’s recent sets that he’s already begun making his own wave with all genres of music, from Drum and Bass to ABB’s Greatest Hits. However, despite his beginners luck, Pervez has started to face some challenges especially when, “trying to read people, and seeing what music they like…it varies every night.”
As a general rule, Perez plans to set genres to certain days, Mondays it’s dance music to, “get everyone out their seats,” Tuesdays it’s all genres,and Saturdays it’s usually another “dance party.” Alongside other events such as: Student Socials and Lancaster’s Big Karaoke Night, the future of The Crafty Scholar is looking very bright indeed.
If you’re planning on visiting The Crafty Scholar, Perez recommends going on a Monday night: “it’s the perfect place to start a good night with so much dance and house music.”
