The Coach* Banbridge
Residents
DJs
Barry McConkey
Barry McConkey
Barry is co-resident on Saturday nights, playing before Mark Wesley. He sets up the crowd with a laid back mix of vocal house & garage.
History
Barry McConkey started his career at the tender age of fourteen in 1991 realising that he wanted to be a DJ from a young age. The opportunity presented itself at the local youth centre in Newtownabbey. The youth club complex was fitted with a pub with no beer/disco. Seeing this as a perfect chance to kick-start his career he tormented the powers that be until they finally gave him his chance.
Being influenced by the likes of Glen Molloy and Gleave Dobbin back in the days of Harmony@Kellys (from tapes of course supplied by older friends!) Barry set his sights accordingly.
Having acquired his own set of technics a few years later and after many hours of bedroom bedlam and the usual holler of, "Change that damn record! You've been playing that same one for the last hour!!" Things began to fall into place.
The next chapter in his DJ'ing career happened on a Sunday night at The Network Club in Belfast (1996) were he earned a weekly residency. He played here for around nine months until the Sunday night had to be stopped because of licensing problems at the time.
With a years absence from the club scene and a lot of hard work developing his own sound Barry was off to the coach to meet the man who has been the biggest influence in his DJ'ing career. Armed with two tapes and a lot of determination he approached resident coach DJ Mark Wesley. Mark's response opened the door to his career. Soon after Barry was the first ever guest DJ to appear on the high profile dance show on CoolFM.