Schak: the Newcastle DJ creating raves across the public transport system - and B&Q stores?

Ever sat on a bus in Newcastle and tried to block out the music blaring out of a mobile phone on the back of the bus? Some commuters on Newcastle’s public transport system might need to brace themselves for a full sound system if the exploits of one DJ is anything to go by.

Thirty-year-old North Shields resident Shakeil Luciano aka Schak has been making a name for himself on social media with his impromptu, guerilla style shows across the city on buses, ferries, trams and even the odd DIY store. His latest stunts on the transport system to support this latest single, Moving All Around (Jumpin’), has earned the ire of some of the operators of the services he’s performed on.

His videos, which have been racking up views on Instagram, have shown the weird and wonderful places the musician has performed in. One video showed Schak throwing a rave on the top deck of an Arriva Newcastle bus - “the bus driver never said anything, and he didn’t stop the bus, so he didn’t have a problem with it” he said.

Another guerilla gig saw Schak board a ferry and travel down the River Tyne blasting his electronic dance music for all on the shore to hear, along with commuters on the ferry. The whole stunt was taken in good grace by the staff on board, with Schak admitting “the captain came and shook my hand and wished me luck when I finished the set.”

His performances at a local B&Q or the NEXUS Metro did not elicit the same response from staff members. His three minute performance in B&Q, where the DJ say he put his “decks and speaker in black bags and pushed them into the store in a trolley” prompted a staff member to ask him to leave.

“All my mates pretended to be shopping and then as soon as I started playing the tune, they all descended into the kitchen,” he revealed. But it was his stunt on the Metro that has caused the most issues with authorities; donning a fake hi-vis Metro train staff uniform, Schak and his pals piled into a Metro train carriage before partying as it pulled into St James’ Park station.

“The nature of these performances could well have caused alarm or distress”

“On the Metro, the driver thought it was funny and he just told us to get off and he offered to take us back to the stop we got on at,” Shack admitted. But a spokesperson for Nexus, who run the Metro and the Shields Ferry, did not see the lighter side of this form of guerilla promotion.

“This was clearly a prank that was carried out as a flash mob style performance without obtaining any prior permission,” the spokesperson said. “The stunt seemed to take place extremely quickly on board a Metro train heading into Newcastle, and more recently on the upper deck of the cross-Tyne Shields Ferry service after the group had boarded normally as fare paying passengers.”

“The nature of these performances could well have caused alarm or distress to other people.”