Eloize Pridham sits in Kingston rock bar The Fighting Cocks, reflecting on her career as a pop punk guitarist, dance DJ, and children’s guitar teacher, among other things. Aged 20, she has a calm confidence beyond her years and is forging her own path.
Inspired by her self-employed graphic designer dad and her project manager and sound therapist mum, Pridham was motivated to pursue her interests rather than choose the traditional route of attending university or getting a nine-to-five job.
She got into 80s rock as a kid, playing the video game Guitar Hero. She loved the whole soundtrack but particularly Rock You Like a Hurricane by The Scorpions. Her mum and dad’s music tastes also influenced her.
She said: “In the car with my mum, it would always be rock or jazz, like Jamie Cullum, and with my dad, he’d be playing David Guetta and the Ibiza soundtrack.
“I love rock and metal just as much as dance and EDM stuff. This weekend, for example, I’m DJing at The Globe in Cardiff doing an emo night there.”
As lead guitarist in the soon-to-be all-female band You Over Me, Pridham regularly gigs around London, from selling out at The Fighting Cocks to playing Camden’s legendary Fiddler’s Elbow and renowned punk and metal venue the New Cross Inn.
In 2022, the band reached the final of Pride’s Got Talent. As a result, they played on “some of the coolest stages”, including Her Majesty’s Theatre, Hard Rock Hotel and the official London Pride stage in Leicester Square.
It was just after the start of lockdown in 2020 that Pridham bought her first pair of DJ decks. “I went on YouTube and taught myself,” she said.
As DJ Eloize, she pursues her love of house and drum and bass in clubs, often working professional gigs through an agency and DJing all types of music for corporate events.
Pridham said she loves performing and getting the crowd going. “The thing I mostly get complimented on is reading the floor and playing banger after banger,” she said.
She has a few gigs coming up throughout the UK between now and Easter and has a date scheduled in Lisbon.
On top of her gigs and rehearsals, she has worked stints in event management and freelances as a digital marketer. Meanwhile, Monday to Friday sees her walking dogs during the day and teaching guitar to children after school.
Looking to the future, Eloize Pridham aims to do more teaching, but she said: “I’d love performing to be my main job. It’s such a buzz, people’s reactions. There’s nothing like it.”
Social infrastructure strategic planner, training for the NCTJ News Journalism qualification and publishing local news stories via the Kingston Courier.
