Meet John Sidler of Pun the DJ in DFW Metroplex

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Sidler.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was in my ripe age of merely fifteen years old when it all began…I started going to rave parties where I had an adventure from start to finish. After attending a dozen or so I started noticing a pattern. I saw the people in the crowd and the person making them dance. I quickly learned that I didn’t want to be like the wild, free-spirits wearing glow in the dark bracelets and sucking passifiers while having pupils the size of a buffalo nickel…I wanted to be the master of the show on stage, behind the turntables, making thousands of people dripping with sweat, not caring a bit, just leaving it all on the floor!

Soon after I turned fifteen I’d got my hardship and purchased my first pair of turntables from an older kid in school who was a Dj himself. I brought the turntables back home and set them up on my parent’s dining room table where I’d spend hours upon hours transitioning from one turntable to the next in my headphones because I didn’t have speakers yet.

It was four in the morning on a school night when my Pops came in there demanding that I go to bed. We argued a tad with me proclaiming that I was doing what I loved and I was going to be a DJ one day. He came back with “that’s only a hobby John, turn it into a career, then you’ve got something!” That instantly became my life’s mission. After high school I went to the Mediatech Institute in Lac Colinas. The MI is where I became a certified audio engineer. Upon completion of this certification, I began attending Tarrant County College with hopes of combining my new certification with a degree, along with my DJ business and have something to strive towards in a market I live for. Little did I know, shortly after I’d began college my world would stop dead in its tracks.

I have had the same girlfriend since six months after I’d bought my first pair of turntables. Amanda played volleyball for DBU as the starting setter. She’d gotten a full-ride and was having the time of her life living in the dorms. One night during a volleyball game she’d torn her ACL while making a quick attempt to save the ball. The plan was that she was going to get surgery at a sports medicine doctor specialist by Baylor the next morning. I decided to sleep on the floor in her parent’s living room while she slept on the couch in constant pain. I was close by in case she needed anything that night. The following morning they woke up and headed out at the crack of dawn. My parent’s house was five minutes away so I decided to go over there for a little more shut-eye until I had to go open at Chili’s in Cedar Hill.

On my way to work it had been sprinkling. Wet roads combined with a sleep deprived teen and a two-wheel drive truck don’t mix! As Amanda’s leaving Baylor around 10:30a Saturday October 8, 2005, she received a phone call from my mother. “John’s been in a wreck Amanda, they had to CareFlight him to Baylor…” Crazy enough, as Amanda was leaving to go home, she saw the chopper I was in as it landed on the roof above them. The fate of our destiny and dreams we had always aspired, seemed to be in God’s hands. After my selfish 17-day coma that I was put into from hitting my head against a huge steel electrical pole in the car wreck. I’d made it my life’s purpose to love like crazy and live my life as if I was dying in a day. I was released seven weeks after my car wreck with another six months of day neuro rehabilitation ahead of me. With the unparalleled treatment that I’d received at Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation combined with my age, I’d come back better than before! I’ve made it to 32 with a family consisting of two young daughters that I had with my high school sweetheart. The DJ business is going swimmingly with hundreds of shows under my belt since starting in the parent’s dining room table. My wife is a hair dresser with an insanely packed book of business. Thriving with happiness on our journey they call life-is what you can expect to see every time you’d come in contact with any of us. We’re no stranger to counting our blessings. I’ll leave you with what my father used to write on the mirror while I was living back with them after the coma and I was going to day neuro.

W.I.T. Whatever it takes.

This is what I did to get back to those high school goals that I was thinking went down the drain.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Tons of hardships were taken on along this journey. I’ve always remembered that God’s not going to give you anything that He and You can’t conquer together!

Pun the DJ – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
In Pun the DJ, I have grown my business by being Pun and not falling short of expectations. When they hire Pun the DJ to provide entertainment services for their wedding or party, that’s what I give them-Pun! I don’t send out another DJ that sits there and presses play. I lead the dances, make announcements, take requests, interact with guests, and above all-PLAY GOOD MUSIC!!!

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moments in my career come more often than not. I take great pride in making people who would not normally let loose-go polar opposite and dance like no one is watching. It’s almost like you’re watching a Mountain Dew commercial being made!

Pricing:

• I work with budgets
• $1,200-$1,500 weddings 4hr
• Travel fees applicable, Corporate, birthday, ANYTHING!

Contact Info:

• Website: Punthedj.com
• Phone: 4697334298
• Email: punthedj@yahoo.com
• Instagram: #punthedj
• Facebook: Pun Sidler

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.