DJ Hannah Laing organises, headlines and sells out debut Doof festival

Frankie AllanBBC Scotland NewsBBCHannah Laing is bringing her dream to life along with her first Doof competition in her house cityDJ and producer Hannah Laing is fulfilling a dream of bringing her personal competition to her house metropolis this weekend.Doof within the Park is her debut one-day occasion at Camperdown Park in Dundee on Saturday.All 15,000 tickets for the gig offered out inside per week, earlier than some other artists have been introduced, displaying simply how in style the 30-year-old has turn into.Hannah, who started DJing as a youngster in native bars and golf equipment, mentioned the occasion was the most important venture she had taken on so far.”I’ve put plenty of stress on myself and given myself much more work,” she informed BBC Scotland Information.”Nevertheless it simply issues to me a lot. I have been closely concerned in each side of the organisation and I simply need it to be an amazing expertise for folks.”Michael HunterHannah has grown her model, Doof, right into a label and music competition.Hannah gained widespread consideration after the Covid pandemic along with her edit of the early 2000s pop monitor Homicide on the Dancefloor, which went viral on social media.Her profile rapidly grew, and in 2023, her monitor Good Love, a collaboration with vocalist RoRo, reached the UK prime 10 and was licensed platinum.Since then, she has carried out at main festivals together with Glastonbury, Creamfields, TRNSMT and Parklife, and started a residency at Ibiza’s legendary HI membership earlier this 12 months.Regardless of her success, it was just a few years in the past she was nonetheless working full-time as a dental nurse, by no means imagining she’d someday be working a competition in her house metropolis.”I do not even suppose it has hit me but,” she mentioned forward of the gig.”After I was working as a dental nurse, it was at all times only a interest at weekends and, in fact, I might have beloved it to be my profession. “By no means did I feel it might go this far, however I am so joyful it has, and no extra tooth!”Hannah LaingHannah held an everyday residency within the in style Ibiza bar, The Highlander.Doof within the Park will function three levels, every reflecting Hannah’s fashion and the spirit of her model, Doof, named after the heavy beats of her musical sound.The principle stage will likely be headlined by Dutch trance legend Armin van Buuren, alongside former Radio 1 DJ, Choose Jules.”I am completely impressed by that 90s sound, and that actually displays my DJ units and my manufacturing,” she mentioned.”That is why I needed to place these artists on the principle stage, as a result of that is the sound I actually love.”The second stage will function newer artists comparable to Charlie Sparks and Jezza & Jod.Theirs is a method Hannah frequently performs, and he or she not too long ago collaborated with Sparks on a monitor from her upcoming Into The Bounce EP.Scottish expertise can also be entrance and centre, with the third stage spotlighting native names together with Billy Morris and Paul Findlay.”Stage three is The Highlander stage,” Hannah mentioned.”I did my residency in The Highlander in Ibiza and I simply needed to pay my respects to that as a result of that is the place my journey started.”I needed to place the native Dundee DJs on that stage and provides them that good expertise I used to have at The Highlander.”Hannah believes the vary of music throughout the three levels will appeal to a broad crowd.”I knew once I introduced a competition for Dundee there could be so many older individuals who would come, in addition to the youthful ones,” she mentioned.”So I actually needed to have one thing for everyone.”The final time a music competition was held in Camperdown Park was Radio 1’s Huge weekend in 2023, with a line-up together with Tom GrennanCamperdown Park has hosted main music occasions earlier than, together with Radio 1’s Huge Weekend in 2023 and Carnival 56 in 2017.Each attracted massive crowds and Hannah performed at each.Now, she returns because the organiser and headliner of her personal offered out competition and he or she mentioned it felt like a full circle second.”It is surreal,” she mentioned.”I do know it is such a great place for a competition, and it is ten minutes from my home.”For Hannah, holding the occasion in Dundee was by no means in query.”There is a main hole right here,” she mentioned. “We do not have something prefer it.”People who find themselves into dance music right here normally must journey, so I needed to deliver one thing new and recent to folks’s doorstep.”Hannah says supporting the native economic system has been central to her plans and has tried to maintain every little thing as native as doable – from the merchants to safety employees.She additionally hopes the occasion will assist influence native companies comparable to resorts, eating places and sweetness salons.”With every little thing that it brings, it is nice for our wee metropolis.”Though Doof within the Park is a debut occasion, Hannah is already pondering long run.”That is undoubtedly one thing I would love to do yearly,” she says, “I would love that.””It is so good for Dundee.”