“I WAS playing in Perth last weekend and a girl just swung her forearm at me as I walked in the club.

"She had a Spotify code tattooed on her arm and then she got me to scan it with my phone and Tell Me Something Good popped up on my phone, and I was like, ‘right, this is a bit mental, what is going on here?’.” 

It’s fair to say 2021 has been “absolutely mental” for DJ Ewan McVicar.  

If you’ve been to a festival, been in a night club or even just listened to the radio over the past few months, you’ve more than likely heard the 27-year-old’s single Tell Me Something Good, which is currently number 15 in the UK’s Top 40 singles chart and has been the most played song on Radio 1 and Kiss. 

Ewan started DJing nine years ago in his hometown of Ayr when he was at university studying to become a primary teacher, but upon graduating decided to take it up full-time.  

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Now, he will have his first night DJing at Sub Club this week, where he’s become one of the resident DJs for XL Thursdays, a club he describes as his “favourite place on this planet”. 

“I charted at 15 with Tell Me Something Good and I’ve got a residency in the Subby, so it feels kind of weird being in that kind of mainstream line but then close to my heart is the underground as well,” Ewan says.  

“I’ve spent most of my nightlife going to Sub Club and La Cheetah in Glasgow, so to be asked to do the residency at such an iconic venue in Scotland is probably, it was one of my biggest goals when I was starting all this and now I’ve achieved it, it’s just the best feeling ever, it’s probably been the highlight of the year for me to be honest.” 

Ewan has described the support this year as “phenomenal” after selling out tickets for both his first night at Sub Club and at Glasgow’s SWG3 when he played there on November 13. 

“The fact it was one of my dreams anyway, I never dreamt of selling it out. 

“It’s something I was kind of nervous about because you can have all this fame and the stats of like social media and Spotify and streaming, but I think the ticket sales, that’s where the proof is in the pudding and folk are actually paying to come and see me play which is such a good feeling man, I can’t believe it.” 

Ewan used to PR for Sub Club himself for I AM on Tuesdays where he would watch the DJs he aspired to be like at the end of his shift.  

He says: “I would drive up from Ayr about half 10, meet the I AM guys and then I would take flyers and go flyer out in the street, or I would go stand and do cash desk, or I would ticket scan if there was a busy event until about midnight and then I would just go and grab a water from the bar and stand up the back.  

“I would go myself most of the time and listen to so many amazing DJs, a highlight was probably George Fitzgerald at Sub Club and even the residents Beta & Kappa were unbelievable as well, so that’s some of my fondest memories of clubbing is from that time.”  

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As Ewan gets ready for his ‘dream come true’ on Thursday night, is he nervous?  

“I don’t really get nervous, I’ve been DJing for nine years.  

“Like right now, I want to be in the Subby with the decks in front of me and I’m playing, that’s just what I get like.  

“The night of the event or whatever I’m playing at, I’m just choking to get on the decks so yeah, it’s all excitement.  

“It’s happened at the right time for me personally as well so I can’t wait.”