Dave Moran (Biomedical Sciences, 2011, Lonsdale) talks about his life at Lancaster and the opportunity it gave him to create a career from his love of music.

"Despite studying Biomedical Science at Lancaster, university was also the first time I got the confidence to perform and sing on a stage – regularly performing with an originals band and gigging throughout the campus around Lancaster and even managing to secure several slots at various Extravs through the years. My band back then won a “Battle of the Bands” which then led to us performing alongside The Noisettes at Grad Ball in 2011 – I remember from that point thinking, 'this is what I want to be doing with my life!'.

A big part of getting the courage to perform was the encouragement of fellow students and the amazing camaraderie of the students in Lonsdale College, and in fact, all of the students at Lancaster. There was always a welcoming atmosphere and all of the University’s musicians wanted to help each other out and watch each other succeed. Lancaster also saw an entrepreneurial spark develop and it was home to quite a number of side projects and businesses that were inspired during my time there – from manufacturing car parts to web design and coding, I tried to experience it all to widen my skill set and there was always help and knowledge on hand somewhere nearby. These skills have definitely come in handy now we have a string of websites to manage!

Moving on post-university, I had decided to pursue a more ‘traditional’ career due to my lack of technical qualifications in music. I joined a band called Wipeout at first as a bit of a side project. Moving on around 8 years and we’ve rebranded to Warning Tones (https://www.warningtones.co.uk) and developed from performing at small venues and pubs/clubs into the world of private functions, weddings and corporate events, performing over 90 gigs a year and effectively becoming full-time in the world of music. All of our web design, video, marketing, social media and sales for the band are done in-house, no doubt with skills contributed to by my support at Lancaster.

This year, we found out Warning Tones had won the National Wedding Industry Award for the Best Band in Yorkshire and the North East – which was the icing on the cake for us - and has taken things from strength to strength, cementing all the hard work which has been put into place over the last 8 years.

Due to its success, a new band was built from scratch based along the lines of the winning formula of the Warning Tones and things have snowballed to spawn the creation of live entertainment agency Band Factory (https://www.bandfactory.co.uk). We’re in the process of adding our fourth and fifth band to the line up and wish to differentiate ourselves in the live music booking world as the place to call on for only the most energetic, highly rated and accomplished performers in the industry.

Along with my business partner Dan, we are now looking to take on exciting new acts and build a comprehensive collection of acts to become a recognised brand in the corporate and wedding entertainment industry with a firm emphasis on the quality of our band’s performances. Keep a look out for us at an event near you!