DJ inspired by glory days of The New Monkey launches House night at Sunderland's 7even

A Sunderland DJ inspired by the glory days of The New Monkey has launched a new resident night at Sunderland city centre bar 7even.

Former Sandhill View pupil Declan Howe, who performs as DKH, grew up listening to the rave music of the Pallion nightclub which was a famous part of city nightlife in the early 2000s.

Although he was too young to go clubbing at the time, Declan would listen to club tracks at his local youth club and it sparked a love of rave and mákina.

He went on to start mixing his own tracks 17 years ago after asking for decks for Christmas.

After taking a break for a few years, he's got back into his passion and it's led to a booking at the prestigious Creamfields festival, Lost Minds festival in Newcastle and a resident night at 7even in Derwent Street.

"I used to do quite a lot of DJ gigs on the local scene, and then joined an acoustic band." he said. "I always kept my hand in with DJing but really decided to go for it recently and to have a night at 7even, a bar I've been going to since I was 18, and a slot at Creamfields is amazing. It's going to be a great year."

Speaking about how the Creamfields slot came about for this summer's festival in Cheshire, Declan said: "I was at The Warehouse Project in Manchester and got speaking to a promoter.

"He asked for me to send him a demo. I didn't think anything of it, but then got the call to say I'd been booked."

Declan will be opening the Pepsi Max stage of the iconic electronic dance festival on Friday, August 23.

In the meantime, The DJ's house night has already started at 7even in the upstairs room and runs monthly on the last Saturday of the month from 12am to 5am.

Declan plays Lost Minds Festival, which is headlined by Ben Helmsley and Ben Nicky, on Saturday, May 4, Leazes Park, Newcastle.

• You can listen to Declan's soundcloud here