Paul Rooney and Grant Smith open up about a life built on risk, resilience, and relentless graft - from teenage beginnings in the underground music scene to becoming pioneers of the UK rave and events industry. Starting out young, they threw themselves into record production, launched their own label, and quickly learned hard lessons after being burned by shady distributors. As the rave scene exploded, they evolved with it - moving from pressing vinyl and selling records directly to shops, to promoting club nights, running record stores, and staging major events at iconic venues like Bagley’s, Brixton Academy, Alexandra Palace, and the Sanctuary.

But behind the success was constant pressure - financial gambles, volatile crowds, industry setbacks, and moments where one bad call could wipe everything out. From building brands like Dreamscape and One Nation to navigating the shift from underground raves to large-scale festivals, they reflect on a journey shaped by reinvention, risk-taking, and a genuine love for bringing people together. Through it all, their long-standing partnership has remained at the heart of everything - built on trust, instinct, and decades of surviving the highs and lows of the events world side by side.

This is the eventful life of Paul Rooney and Grant Smith.

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Dodge get's into what it means to back yourself when no one else will, why so many people are held back by the fear of being judged, and why feedback from the right people is the only thing that tells you if you're on the right track. Dodge talks about building businesses from nothing without outside investment, why you have to promote yourself if you want to make it, and how backing the people around you is just as important as backing yourself.

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In this episode, Dodge get's into what it looks and feels like to start something from absolutely nothing, why so many people sit on ideas for years and never act on them, and why naivety and curiosity are more powerful than any business plan. Dodge talks about the reality of entrepreneurship, the pressure, the sleepless nights, the people who quietly want you to fail and why doing your homework, and just being yourself is what separates the ones who make it from the ones who don't.

Are you a business owner & want to be a guest on the show? Click here 👉🏼 https://dodgewoodall.com/guest

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Website: DodgeWoodall.com

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.