Alternative Ulster: David Holmes

As part of our contemporary history initiative, Alternative Ulster, we have been interviewing some of the movers and shakers in music, style and the social scene in Ulster from the early 1970s to 2000.

David Holmes is a Belfast-born DJ and producer. In his varied professional life, he has produced numerous albums and film soundtracks. He began DJing at the age of 15 and was one of the first DJs to play techno and house music. David was responsible for a number of era-defining clubs in Northern Ireland, his club Sugar Sweet being the first venue in the region for serious dance music.

Growing up on the Ormeau Road, the youngest of a family of ten, he was exposed to, and absorbed, the Punk musical influences of his older siblings. A viewing of the film 'Quadrophenia' was to change his life and he has never lost his love of Mod culture. His first acid house party in September 1989 was another seminal moment, of which he says: "I've DJed around the world and nothing has ever touched the nights we've had in Belfast".