Your life could change massively just by entering a competition. Look at Leeds based duo Rory Lyons and Will Graney, who went from being your average bedroom DJs to professional players after taking part in last year’s Babycream DJ competition.

Since being crowned winners they have toured the world, held down regular residencies at Babycream (Liverpool) and Dirty Disco (Leeds) and dropped sets at some of the world's biggest clubs from Liverpool's Cream to Ibiza's Amnesia. Having just been taken on by Paul Van Dyk's agent, the boys are in huge demand. 

They took time out of their busy schedule to chat exclusively to Planet Notion... 

Words: Natasha Siggers

What have you been up to since you were crowned competition champions?
Rory: Basically we won the competition and got a residency at Dirty Disco at the same time. Dirty Disco is this massive club in Leeds, they get massive guests on there and basically they both went hand in hand. Then we got asked to do the Lake of Stars festival in Africa which was amazing, then lots and lots of gigs. We've had some amazing gigs like at The Arches in Glasgow; we'll be going back up there again soon. We've got an agent now, who's got Paul Van Dyk too.

Did you do a lot of training or preparation in the run up to the competition?
Will: Yes and no. We weren't gonna even enter the competition but our housemate entered a CD for us just before the closing date. We played off two mixes that was quite hard to do to make sound anywhere near good… the first round of the competition was the first time we’d actually played out together properly!
Rory: We'd been doing it for years individually but that was the first time we had played out together.

So what made you want to be a duo then?
Rory: We just got really pissed on a few nights and just started messing about because we’ve both got quite random tastes in music. My old man owns a record shop and Will's old man was a DJ as well so we just had this amazing record collection - like Prince and James Brown - things that no-one really plays much now.

What do you think set you apart from the other competitors?

Will: We just did our thing in the finals and we played something like 27 tracks in like half an hour.

Rory: We always try to do something different... and we didn't really look like we were taking it too seriously.

How important is interacting with the crowd in the competition?

Rory: You have more interaction with the crowd as a duo. You get some DJs that always have their head down concentrating. We just got really hammered and danced around!
Will: When we were at Lake of Stars festival, Mikey from Bugz In The Attic said 'what you play isn't what I'd usually listen to, but it’s just amazing watching you two, you're having such a good time and it’s really infectious!' Fair enough!

What was the first thing you did when you won the competition?
Will: I fell over immediately. We got a bottle of champagne each and we were spraying it at each other and I was wearing a pair of really stupid cowboy boots, fell straight over on my back!

Did you feel much pressure being touted as competition winners on line ups?

Will: Not so much now
Rory: We don’t get the chance anymore!
Will: We had last Saturday off - it was our first Saturday off in ages - and loads of our mates were going to Technique or Asylum in Leeds, but we were like 'no, we're going for a meal!' (laughs)

Rory: It’s like a novelty to stay in and watch 'Match of the Day'.

How would you describe your musical style?

Rory: I don't think we're housey at all

Will: Nah, we got marked down in the first round for not being housey enough

Rory: We're more kind of like electro, tech, indie sort of stuff.

Which DJs do you admire?

Will: Erol Alkan. He's just got that interaction with people.

Rory: I like 2ManyDJs... They have an amazing sound.

Do you still use vinyl or have you converted to laptops? 
Will: We don't use any vinyl anymore. I used to use more vinyl but it's such a pain in the arse to carry round. With laptops you've got to plan everything meticulously. We like CD's because you can just go through them and randomly pick them out, it's much better and easier.

Do you get many freebies now you're 'proper DJs'?

Rory: Yeah it's getting that way now, like promos. It's pretty nice to wake up in the morning and you've got new stuff to listen to.

What are your plans for the summer?

Will: We've got a few gigs at Cream in Amnesia. We're just gonna see what happens really and just fit things round Cream.

Think you could be the next big thing behind the decks? You could be in Rory and Will's place by entering this year's Babycream DJ competition! There is a weekly residency at Babycream, a gig at Liverpool superclub Cream, a set at Northern Lights in Leeds and many more goodies up for grabs, so hand a 60 minute CD into the venue or send it to:

Babycream DJ competition,
Room 202,
The Vanilla Factory,
39 Fleet street,
Liverpool
L1 4AR

Closing Date: Friday 20 April 2007 (First heats: Sunday 22 April 2007)

Click here for more details.