Meet the Winchester mums finding success as part-time DJs

Shanaz Jones, 44, and Tabitha Burgess, 50, started their DJ double act Epoch after becoming friends when their daughters met on a playground in 2018.

The pair, both of whom previously lived in London, bonded over their love of electronic music and decided to set up Epoch and DJ together when they found little in the Winchester music scene that was targeted to their tastes.

Shanaz, who works for Hoxton Radio, told the Chronicle: “When my eldest started school, I met Tabitha on the school playground. Our daughters fast became friends, as did we, and we often talked about how there was very little in Winchester for people like ourselves.

@hampshire_chronicle How cool are Shanaz and Tabitha?! #Winchester #DJ #Music #electronicmusic #Boomtown ♬ original sound - Hampshire Chronicle

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“We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we put on a party and see if there is any kind of appetite for it’. Neither of us comes from a DJing background – I didn’t know how to DJ at all – but I’m one of those people who is up for anything. So, we cobbled some things together and put on our first night at the Railway Inn, and it went down a storm!”

Shanaz and Tabitha DJing (Image: Epoch)Since their first gig at the Railway Inn on St Paul’s Hill, Epoch has gone on to play at different music venues around the city and has even performed at festivals including Boomtown and Latitude. A lot of the gigs that Shanaz and Tabitha perform are for charitable fundraisers, with the pair “trying to give back”.

During the Covid pandemic, the pair even performed online sets and appeared on Lauren Laverne’s programme Desert Island Disco.

Shanaz said: “We’re following our passions and dreams, and we didn’t really think it would come to anything and now it’s possibly taking on a life of its own.

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“We have a number of fans and followers who follow us, we call them the ‘Epoch Army’, so there are a lot of familiar faces who come along to the nights which is lovely. It’s almost like a little community.”

Shanaz and Tabitha, under their DJ names DJ Shanazzle and DJ Tabbykat, will be returning to the Railway Inn on Saturday, October 14 with their latest party Rave On.

Tickets are currently available at the Railway Inn website.

For more information on Epoch, visit their Facebook page: facebook.com/EpochMusicEvents/.