Modern WisdomDanny T | DJ Life, Building A Personal Brand & Mental Health | Modern Wisdom Podcast 147
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,046 words- 0:00 – 0:59
From club nights to a 5,500-person arena: what that walk-on feels like
- CWChris Williamson
What does it feel like watching your mate walk out in front of five and bit thousand people?
- CACasey
Yeah, I think it's, it's just there's a very sort of clear vision about, you know, how far we want to take this. Where it's not completely mapped out of how we're gonna do it, but I think Danny's willingness to try stuff and my sort of relentlessness in making it happen, that's kind of where it's been a real success.
- DTDanny T
I did, 'cause I did the O2 Academy the year before, and Church six months before that.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
So it was like, "O2 Academy's the biggest venue in Leeds. Where do we go next?" As if there's a video of me on my Snapchat heading to the O2 going, "One day, one day I'll play here." Nah, nah, I'm joking, but it's always nice to dream. Right, you imagine you're in Newcastle City Center, and one person screams as loud as they can. You hear that person over 2,000, 3,000 people around you. Imagine that times 5,000 all at the same time-
- CWChris Williamson
For you.
- DTDanny T
... as you stepped out and, um, you're like, "Oh my God. How's this even real?"
- 0:59 – 2:26
Meet the team: Danny’s manager Casey and the push-pull of a personal brand
- CWChris Williamson
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. It's Danny T! Hi Danny, how are you man?
- DTDanny T
I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.
- CWChris Williamson
What a pleasure.
- DTDanny T
I know.
- CWChris Williamson
It's been so long coming to get you on here.
- DTDanny T
I know. We've just been speaking for about 20 minutes before this, though.
- CWChris Williamson
I know, yeah, but that's what you... There's... You can't get straight into it.
- DTDanny T
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
There's gotta be a bit of foreplay. You get what I mean?
- DTDanny T
All right, okay.
- CWChris Williamson
That was the cunnilingus before we get into the-
- DTDanny T
Oh, so good to see you. It's been-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, "Hi Daniel, how are you?"
- DTDanny T
It's been, it's been, it's been, it's been a while.
- CWChris Williamson
But it's not just you.
- DTDanny T
It's not.
- CWChris Williamson
Who've you brought with you?
- DTDanny T
This is, this is my other half, my... (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Oh, stop.
- DTDanny T
This is my, my manager. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Introduce yourself.
- CACasey
Uh, I'm Casey, Danny's manager. And... I'll say friend.
- DTDanny T
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
What's it-
- DTDanny T
He re- he reels me in. He keeps me from getting myself in trouble.
- CWChris Williamson
What's it like being Danny's manager, Casey?
- CACasey
Uh... (laughs) Fun, alongside challenging.
- CWChris Williamson
What's the challenges you come up against?
- CACasey
Um, mostly toning down his wild ideas. Um-
- CWChris Williamson
Have you got any wild ideas that you've not let through recently that you can say on camera?
- 2:26 – 4:18
“Just some fella”: relatability as the secret to Danny’s popularity
- CWChris Williamson
I get it. So Danny, you're a DJ, I guess. That's, you, you play music, right?
- DTDanny T
I do.
- CWChris Williamson
You press play on a deck.
- DTDanny T
Once. Just press it and stand there and-
- CWChris Williamson
Leave it, leave it to go.
- DTDanny T
wave your hands a little bit.
- CWChris Williamson
But you've had s- like last few years, you know. For the people that don't know about Danny's kind of surge through popularity, especially recently, that you just sold out Leeds First Direct Arena.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah. Floor standing sold out.
- CWChris Williamson
How many w- so many people was that?
- DTDanny T
Five and a half thousand.
- CWChris Williamson
Five and a half thousand people. And you're just... I, I mean you're a very good DJ, but you're just some fella.
- DTDanny T
Yeah. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Like, do you know what I mean?
- DTDanny T
I think that's one thing that makes it more popular, is the fact that I am just-
- CWChris Williamson
Some fella.
- DTDanny T
... could be everyone's pal.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
Like, it's not like, "Oh my God, I've got to go see this superstar." It's like, (laughs) "I know what his dogs are called."
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
Which is part of the kind of how the following's come, 'cause people just wanted to be part of, like, the life that I was living at the time, which has got more sensible over the years. But the parties have got bigger and bigger, aren't they?
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm. So, you know, you're probably a pretty good role model for the local club DJ that is now taking it to the absolute nth degree, right?
- DTDanny T
Yeah, if they're really wanting to, to push themselves and go further, yeah. A lot say they want to, a lot don't really want to put in the work. They think it was easy. Think it was... They think what they've seen is the route rather than what I've actually done that they won't have ever seen. They just think that, like, they can, "Oh, we can do that now."
- CWChris Williamson
I mean, we-
- DTDanny T
"We can go there now." I'm not saying they shouldn't try, but they need to try harder. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
No, no, I get it, man. Like, 'cause it, it-
- DTDanny T
I'd love to see more people doing it. It is... There's, there's a, there's a massive gap for where I was two or three years ago.
- 4:18 – 8:54
Social media numbers vs. real-world demand: what actually matters to promoters
- CACasey
And just to sort of build on that, I think, you know, what people are sort of seeing the past maybe year or so is the combination of what I've worked with you four years now.
- DTDanny T
Mm-hmm.
- CACasey
But even prior to me coming on board that was... (laughs) You know, there's things that you did beforehand which are sort of coming to a head now, and that's... It's the culmination of all of those years of work.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
I think the quote that I love that kind of relates to what you were talking about there is, "People will grind away, and grind away, and grind away, and it takes them 10 years to become an overnight success."
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That, that's 100% true. But at the same time, I get so many messages like, "Oh, what's the easiest way?" Or, "What's the quickest way?"
- CWChris Williamson
I mean, what did you, what did you just get a message, a question for the podcast as we started? Like, "Hey man, what do I need to start DJing?"
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
And you were like, "Well, some DJ decks."
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
But there's part of me that thinks that's like asking Floyd Mayweather like, "What raps should I buy?"
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Like, you have someone who has moved themselves through this route, right?
- DTDanny T
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Like, ask them the, the questions that matter. So I, ladies and gentlemen, and p- fledgling DJs, I am gonna... I've strapped him down to a couch and I'm gonna ask all the questions that everybody wants to know.
- DTDanny T
Oh, okay.
- CACasey
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
So the first question I want to know, right? I'm a, I'm a, a young DJ. Maybe I've got a couple o' nights a week, local gigs. Maybe support slots, couple o' warmups, maybe just about getting my first, you know, main slot at an okay student night in a typical town in the UK. How do I get myself from there to getting booked in, uh, venues abroad, to having a genuine following on social media that care about me, to being able to release mixes that people listen to?
- DTDanny T
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
Like, what do I do? Where do I start?
- DTDanny T
One thing people get really, really mixed up is social media and real world. Social media followings can look massive and not be big in the real world.... whereas some people can have quite small social media followings but be- be touring the world as known acts. Like if you look at, (coughs) Craig David's got a massive social media presence now. But when he first came back, he had like 60,000 Instagram followers and was selling out a weekly pool party with 5,000 people in Ibiza. Like, that figure on Instagram is something that people focus far too much on instead of real live people. Like, you imagine they're- they're desperately trying to get more and more online followers to try and share their music online. Tut, the value of that compared to ... It might be different now, but when I first started handing someone a CD that they would listen to and stay in their car for five years-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
... even longer. Th- there was a- a guy stopped me in the middle of the street in Bristol that still had my CD in his car from 2014. Like, that's so much more valuable. Like, investing in yourself is so much more valuable than focusing on a figure of Instagram followers, 'cause I know people with a third of a million followers that are skint.
- CWChris Williamson
Man, so perfect example of that. I was talking about The Secret today, and The Secret is this book film where people, it's like think it, say it, achieve it. But it removes the hard work from it.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
It's like, get off your ass and actually do the thing you need to do. And I think a lot of the time people use that quantifiable metric of popularity which is, "How many followers do I have?" Or whatever, "How many replies did I get?"
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
It's like, bro, if you don't add 300 tickets when you get booked by a- a- an, uh, promoter-
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... like myself, it doesn't matter. I do not give a flying fuck about how many followers you've got on Instagram.
- 8:54 – 13:42
How to stand out in a club: intensity, fast mixing, mic work, and taking opportunities
- DTDanny T
Do different things in a club. If you get opportunities, take them and make sure people notice that something has changed, something's different, something's different about that platform. If they're watching a resident DJ and it's, it's a resident DJ's job to keep it like this all night rather than smash it for five hours, 'cause the crowd just wouldn't be able to hold it. But if you get an opportunity to step on, even if it's the last hour, if you make that last hour increasing just anything, just, like, the intensity, the music, the everything about the room just increases, people will want to know why is that different? And the more they're asking why is that different and they see somebody and they see the logo up on the screen, they'll be like, "Oh, the last hour at so-and-so club was so good. Last night it was so-and-so that were playing." They can tell- tell one person. That one person takes five of their friends to go. They go away tell 10 people. Straightaway that's 50 people that know that you're different to what they're used to. You're more exciting, so they wanna go and see you more.
- CWChris Williamson
Why are you more exciting? Because I- I think you are, but I want you to define why you think you're more exciting.
- DTDanny T
(laughs) I don't even know. I just-
- CWChris Williamson
Is it the turntablism? Is it the mixing in of tracks?
- DTDanny T
It's a bit, it's a bit of, like, the speed that I actually mix at. The fact ... Whether I do it live or not, the crowd don't care. The crowd care about what comes out the speakers.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
But the- the speed and the flow of which I mix at means that there's never a lull. That's just my style.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
(clears throat) There's never a point in my set where the crowd actually get time to breathe, come-
- CWChris Williamson
Have you ever been ... Sorry to interject there. Have you ever been a- a resi in clubs?
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Like a proper resident?
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah. I used to for years. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
How did you, how did you make that work? 'Cause y- you've just identified-
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... and, you know, for some of the people that are listening that maybe don't understand music that much-
- DTDanny T
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
... but have been out clubbing, anyone will know when they've gone in and the DJ's just smashing their tits off at, like-
- DTDanny T
Mm.
- CWChris Williamson
... house tunes are getting played, and you think, "This feels a bit fast." And you're like, yes, it feels a bit fast. It's 136 BPM.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Like-
- DTDanny T
And it's got to, it's got to build to that, and you've got to-
- CWChris Williamson
So how do you do that? How do you do that? Before we get back to why you're different. Like, how do you make Danny T a resident DJ in a club that plays a four-hour set?
- DTDanny T
Uh, just networking. I was partying. I was just going out all the time.
- CWChris Williamson
What was the music like?
- DTDanny T
Uh. Started off with house music, but my first proper residency was an R&B night.
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- DTDanny T
'Cause I just wanted to play music. I just really-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- 13:42 – 21:08
Leeds Arena milestone, nerves (or lack of), and the Avicii-shaped mental health reality
- CWChris Williamson
I, I wanna ask, and this, I wanna ask both of you guys separately this same question, right? Um, last long years playing gigs, doing all this sort of stuff, and then hometown, Leeds. You sell out Leeds First Direct Arena, five and a bit thousand people. Like, what... First off, Casey, what does it feel like watching your mate and client, whatever you wanna call it, walk out in front of five and a bit thousand people?
- CACasey
Um, (sighs) it's weird. We had a conversation at the start of the year, and it was very much like, okay, obviously off the back of Leeds Arena, like, "Where do we go from here?" Sort of like, "What's the next step?"
- DTDanny T
The O2, O2.
- CACasey
O2.
- DTDanny T
I did, 'cause I did the O2 Academy the year before-
- CWChris Williamson
Yes, yes.
- DTDanny T
... and Church six months before that.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
So it was like, "O2 Academy's the biggest venue in Leeds. Where do we go next?"
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- CACasey
Yeah.
- DTDanny T
Like, "Nah, I ca- I can't do a..." As if there's a video of me on my Snapchat after I'd had my hair cut heading to the O2 going, "One day, one day," going past Leeds Arena, and I was like, actually said this. I actually went-
- CWChris Williamson
365 days. (laughs)
- DTDanny T
I literally went, "One day, one day, one day I'll play here. Nah, nah, I'm joking, but it's always nice to dream." And that was just over a year before.
- CWChris Williamson
You did it. Okay, so he's walking out. What's it like?
- CACasey
I think at that time it was, (sighs) it was just a- an idea, but I think anything that we sort of set our stall out to do, uh, like, it has actually happened that way. And that's not through, like, you know, you can sit here and say, "Oh, it's law of attraction," or it's this, that, and the other, but, yeah, I think it's, it's just there's a very sort of clear vision about, you know, how far we wanna take this, where it's not completely mapped out of how we're gonna do it, but I think Danny's willingness to try stuff and my sort of relentlessness in, in making it happen, that's kind of where it's been a real success-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- CACasey
... in that he has very, very crazy ideas. I can kind of tone them down, or refine them, or shape them into something that's gonna elevate what we've already done. Um, and yeah, it's, it's just, it's nice to see, like, Danny doing something he loves, uh, and obviously there's other benefits that come from that. But yeah, I think to put someone in an environment where they get to do something that they love every single day, you know, earn a living off of it, like, that's, that's actually been the biggest reward of it.
- CWChris Williamson
That's awesome. Danny, walking out on stage, five and a bit thousand people?
- DTDanny T
(laughs) Uh, it was just like... There's no way to describe it. Right, you imagine you're in Newcastle city center or Leeds city center walking down, and one person screams as loud as they can.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
You hear that person over two, three thousand people around you.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
Imagine that times 5,000 all at the same time-
- CWChris Williamson
For you.
- DTDanny T
... as you stepped out. And, um, you're like, "Oh my God, how's this even, like, how's this even real? How's..." Even afterwards for four or five days afterwards, I was still like... I'd watched the, the wa- the video of me walking out, and I was like, "How have I, how have I even done that? Like, how, how is that even-"
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
... "achievable or a possibility," or, like, it did just seem like just, just not even real, not even real at all.
- CWChris Williamson
That's cool, man.
- DTDanny T
But, like-
- 21:08 – 25:44
Why doing seasons abroad builds superfans (and what Danny’s summer schedule looks like)
- CWChris Williamson
What, uh, what have you been doing then? Obviously, people that don't know, can you tell us first off about what happens every summer with regards to your lifestyle? And then, can you tell me about how you've coped with that, or what your coping mechanisms are, and whether there were any periods where you were kind of not doing the self-care and maybe there aren't-
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I'll go back a bit further first, 'cause if there's any like resident DJs that really wanna get themselves out there, going abroad's one of the best things that you'll do. Go do a season abroad. Go and do five seasons abroad. (laughs) Go ... Just go and enjoy yourself just like-
- CWChris Williamson
At Luton table.
- DTDanny T
Yeah. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- DTDanny T
Just, just go, just go and do it. Like I- I started to build a following in Malia by using what we've discussed before. That's where it all kinda started. Before the online stuff started, it started in, in real life, like I was a resident. Casey came out, this is before he'd started being my manager, he came out as a friend to Malia for four days. And we're like, "Why are you- why are you still a resident DJ?" And I was like, "Because it's ace, I love it, I get to play at these massive clubs on a weekend, it's brilliant." He was like, "There's 25 guys over there with Danny T T-shirts on that you don't even sell. They've had them made themselves. And there's four guys over there just got your name tattooed on them, like why are you still a resident? You could definitely get booked as an artist." And that's how it all started. That is literally how, that is literally how that side of things all started.
- CWChris Williamson
Why does abroad make a difference? Why does the season make a difference?
- DTDanny T
Everything's more heightened abroad. Everyone's more excited. Everyone's got to ... They hold onto those memories. They see someone seven nights in a row on holiday, they associate that with having a great time, being drunk, meeting new people. And if you've made their night seven nights in a row, they'll love you forever. There's people coming tonight that saw me in Malia in 2012, '13, '14, like they'll remember you forever. They're literally like ... People, people are trying to book me for like th- "Can you, oh, can you come and play at my wedding? I'm marrying a girl I met in Malia in 2014." People remember like-
- CWChris Williamson
I would love, absolutely love-
- DTDanny T
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
... to see a Danny T wedding set up.
- DTDanny T
I did, I did one in the Dominican-
- CWChris Williamson
Do, do you know anyone?
- DTDanny T
... with my friends, uh, uh, my friends. I went, I went over to the Dominican for that.
- CWChris Williamson
What was the first track?
- DTDanny T
Lion King. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- CACasey
(laughs)
- DTDanny T
Big wobbly Lion King- Lion King bootleg.
- CWChris Williamson
Geez. Okay, so go abroad and then tell me like w- what's a week? Give me a week, Monday to Sunday, what's a week look like?
- DTDanny T
Right, so that was when I used to actually go and just live over there for like 100 days or whatever.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
Now, the last two years have been, I've had like three or four weeklies in resorts. So, it'd be Friday night in the UK at a gig somewhere, (coughs) anywhere in the UK. Saturday, same again, a gig in the UK. Straight to the, straight to the airport Sunday, fly to a resort Sunday. Play in that resort, then the Monday, two flights to get from one Greek resort to another Greek resort. Last summer I managed to get two days in Zante where I was just working the Monday and then Tuesday I actually just got to chill. And then two flights to Napa on the Wednesday. Fly back Thursday, have a day with my missus on (laughs) Thursday, and then straight back to-UK Friday, times 15 weeks. So I think I did like 80-
- CWChris Williamson
So is that like sort of May until September or something, yeah?
- DTDanny T
Yeah, June, June till September, I did like 87 flights I think it were last summer. And I was petrified of flying. Like, I was like, I don't like, I hate the word anxious and anxiety, but that's-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
I was-
- CACasey
You were anxious.
- DTDanny T
... like sweaty palms, (gasps) "Oh my God, we're gonna die," if we turned right. Like, I was the worst flyer. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Were you?
- 25:44 – 36:51
Touring health, post-show comedowns, and treating DJing like a real job
- CWChris Williamson
Okay, so you, we've spoken about, about the flying. But, you know, that's a... Your sleep's being messed up, your diet, your training-
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... your nutrition. Like, uh, how are you... What's your head space like? Have you had periods where that's really damaged you? Or did you have periods where your head space went wayward in-
- DTDanny T
I've been more physically exhausted, mentally exhausted, than actually, like, felt low. Like, a lot of DJs, a lot of DJs will play a massive, a m- a massive gig. Play in front of loads of people, whether it's an artist or a resident, leave, and then they feel horrendous. They feel really low, upset. They don't like what's going on. They're like, they feel as if they've let everybody down. It's like... And I get where that would come from, but I love that time afterwards. Like, after, after the arena show, when five-and-a-half thousand people left, I went and had a wander and a smile, just wand- wandered round the arena, like, "Has he... All these people came and stood here." Like, that, to me, I, I loved that. I, I like a bit of, like, private time.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm.
- DTDanny T
Whereas for a lot of DJs, especially when, like, alcohol, um, amongst other things are involved, it's like, "Oh my God, this is amazing. The night's building, the..." Uh, where-
- CWChris Williamson
It's a big draw boy.
- DTDanny T
... where's all my friends?
- CWChris Williamson
That's, that's precisely what Christos brought up on our podcast.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
For him especially, because of how ruthless his tour is, he'll go three or four days without being in a bed sometimes.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Because of the, the length of the flights, the change of the time zones, the number of flights, and, and transfers and stuff.
- DTDanny T
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
And he said, um, "I wonder whether or not Casey is the s- part of the saving grace for this, and the fact that you've constructed a team that is around you." Because Kozzie doesn't have a tour manager.
- DTDanny T
Mm.
- CWChris Williamson
So, he plays this gig. He'll smash the, smash the arse off supporting Fairplay or Adam Beyer or whatever it might be, and then come back to a hotel room on your own surrounded by-
- DTDanny T
Yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
... a bit of room service.
- DTDanny T
Ask Dave o's, ask Dave o... Casey-
- CACasey
I (laughs)
- DTDanny T
... Casey doesn't tour with me. Casey's like, Casey lives his life how I live my life. And when I'm not DJing, like, I'm in bed by 10 o'clock.
- CWChris Williamson
Got you.
- CACasey
Yeah, but I think, like, sort of going on even sort of further to what you said, like, the fact that you kind of had your heyday and party day when you was a resident in Miami.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, it's-
- CACasey
You've kind of lived those experience. Now, because you are so motivated musically and with your career-
- DTDanny T
Mm-hmm.
- CACasey
... et cetera, there is, for some DJs, that, that drive and urgency to have that escapism, you know, with, like, drinking after their sets to avoid that sober comedown, if you like, of, "Oh, this is the reality that I'm faced with. I've just gone from being on stage and having this massive high..." And then, you know, sort of the realization that comes after that. Whereas some people will try and escape it with the alcohol, et cetera. I think for you, because you can kind of embrace it, and you actually like it-
- DTDanny T
Mm-hmm.
- CACasey
... and you want to be motivated the next day for work, like, that's where you get the-
- 36:51 – 41:20
Loving the grind: competitive advantage, purpose (“why”), and Casey’s role
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
That is the easiest way to find ... And for me, it's this, you know? Like, I've got work tonight till 3:00 in the morning, which is even later than you, depending on whether or not you're drinking. Um-
- DTDanny T
(laughs) You've got to go back to Leeds. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Um, so, you know, I've got that tonight, but I, I hassled you to come and do this podcast, because I'd have felt remiss, like I'd, "Oh, I, I want to know what it's like to walk out on stage in front of five."
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
So for me, I am at a competitive advantage. For other people, for whom this would be ... You're lovely, but this would be fucking torture.
- DTDanny T
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Right? I'm enjoying it and so is everyone that's listening, but some people wouldn't want to have this conversation.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Even some of the audience.
- DTDanny T
But that's just you taking ... Not taking advantage, but that's you, like, yeah, taking advantage of an opportunity that, that could arise for both of us. It's just you ...
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
It's the one. It's you've got to want something.
- CWChris Williamson
I, I would, I would do this. I would do this even if there was no opportunity coming off the back of it.
- DTDanny T
It's-
- CWChris Williamson
I would do this and not put it out.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- CACasey
It's them from you doing what you love. And I think literally, like, a big part of my job is, I said this to you at the start of the year, like, that feeling, that sensation that you got walking on stage at the first Direct Arena, my job through and through is to facilitate as many of those moments as possible this year.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CACasey
And beyond. Like, the fact that you get to do what you love, if I can make that happen time and time and time again, that's wholeheartedly why I exist. That is my job role in its entirety.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- CACasey
The same for you. The fact that you're able to do what you love, like, why wouldn't you do that over and over and over again?
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm. And the thing as well is, on top of that, you're ... This is this brilliant example I got from James Clear, guy that wrote Atomic Habits, and, um, he was talking about Steffi Graf. Remember Steffi Graf, the tennis player? So-
- DTDanny T
Uh, no, no. I'm, I'm only 19. (laughs)
- CACasey
(laughs)
- DTDanny T
Yeah, I re-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, yeah.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, I remember Steffi. (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
So Steffi Graf was part-
- DTDanny T
Did she get sta- No, that was ... Did she get shot?
- 41:20 – 53:54
Travel and touring hacks: sleeping on planes, airport shortcuts, and road routines
- CWChris Williamson
So, um, I'm gonna break the fourth wall a little bit. To the people that are listening, Danny's been teasing me with his travel hacks. Oh, mate, I need to go-
- DTDanny T
(laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
I, I've got the best life hacks in the world for travel.
- DTDanny T
Mate, there's, there's loads that I can't even share with you, 'cause if they start doing it, they'll cotton on to it and we won't be able-
- CACasey
Yeah, you'll ruin it for the rest of us.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay, so I n-
- DTDanny T
There's a, there's a few I'll tell you afterwards, but-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah. No, and, and I want you to be able to give us some that you're prepared to make.
- DTDanny T
Right. Sleeping on planes, bearing in mind I used to be so anxious on a flight that I just had to cling onto the seat in front and couldn't, couldn't let go until we'd stopped-
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
... for average of four hours, seven, eight flights a week. You can imagine how painful that was to start with. Now, the whole summer last summer, 87 flights, I was awake for no more than 15 minutes on each flight.
- CWChris Williamson
What do you do? What's your process? Talk me through it.
- DTDanny T
Good, good headphones that go over the ear.
- CWChris Williamson
What do you use?
- DTDanny T
I've just got Beats, like soft, soft, gray Beats that go over the top. So make sure they're soft, 'cause if they're in your ear, you could wake up 'cause it's hurting the inside of your ear. EarPods don't work. I, I love my EarPods, but they don't work for this. So over the top of the ear. Um, I u- just use the, the Headspace free trial.
- CWChris Williamson
Mm-hmm.
- DTDanny T
Just loop the ten, the ten meditation, ten-minute meditations on it.
- CWChris Williamson
You know they've got a, a s- the sleep noise, which is like white noise but for sleep.
- DTDanny T
Mm-hmm.
- CWChris Williamson
You heard that?... and it's, like, different-
- CACasey
Yeah, I love ... it.
- CWChris Williamson
... levels of hums and, and-
- DTDanny T
I have that to go to sleep.
- CWChris Williamson
... dreams.
- DTDanny T
It's an app called Sleep Aid.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay, similar stuff. Okay, so you've got some ...
- DTDanny T
That, and an, and an eye mask. An eye mask that doesn't touch the lids of your eyes, otherwise-
- CWChris Williamson
What eye mask do you use? Do you know where you got it from?
- DTDanny T
It's an Amazon one, but it's like a round pad.
- CWChris Williamson
Ah, yeah, okay.
- 53:54 – 1:15:40
Mental health tools: nostalgia, gratitude, perspective, and limiting comment exposure
- CWChris Williamson
It's so cheap, man. Yeah, you're right. Um, so we wanted to touch on some mental health stuff today as well.
- DTDanny T
Yeah, yeah.
- CWChris Williamson
Have you guys been having, sort of, many discussions about this recently? Has there been any-
- DTDanny T
We have a lot just in life anyway, just-
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, yeah.
- DTDanny T
We, we want to write a book called How- How To Be an Idiot. No, no. How To Survive In A World Full Of Idiots (laughs) .
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah. As an... uh, as an idiot?
- DTDanny T
No, no, no. Right, okay.
- CWChris Williamson
So how, how do I survive in a world full of idiots?
- DTDanny T
(sighs) How long have you got? (laughs)
- CWChris Williamson
Me? With, with the, the s-
- DTDanny T
Our, our most common thing that we say to each other is that common sense is the least common thing in the world. Like it's actually so ironic because common sense is not common at all.
- CWChris Williamson
Give me an example of some uncommon common sense.
- DTDanny T
Uh, uh, how to undo a light bulb.
- CWChris Williamson
(laughs)
- DTDanny T
80% of people don't know how to change a light bulb. They'd have to work it out.
- CWChris Williamson
Where have you got that stat from?
- DTDanny T
Oh, I can't remember. I've read it somewhere, but-
- CWChris Williamson
Is this the same place-
- DTDanny T
I-
- CWChris Williamson
... that you read being in the back of a plane if you're first turbulence?
- DTDanny T
(laughs) I've probably just made that up as well.
- CWChris Williamson
I- I can't remember. I mean, Baynet-... things are a little bit, like, non-logical, like the way that you put a bayonet light bulb in. What else? What else is uncommon in common sense?
- DTDanny T
Oh, I know loads of people that don't know there's two types of light bulb.
- CWChris Williamson
Okay, yeah.
- DTDanny T
Two types of fixing.
- CWChris Williamson
Yeah, yeah.
- DTDanny T
They didn't know, like, people that are buying houses, like, grown adults, 25, 30 year olds that, that don't know that there's two different types of light bulb.
- CWChris Williamson
There's people listening now that are going, "Fucking two types of-"
- DTDanny T
Two types. (laughs)
Episode duration: 1:23:24
Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript
Transcript of episode JwppUhx9-IQ
