Finding balance in life is a constant struggle but it’s something former Radio 1 DJ and Bestival founder Rob da Bank has managed through the art of contrast therapy.
As a DJ in the 1990s, Rob da Bank – born Rob John Gorham – led a hedonistic lifestyle playing clubs, parties and festivals. At 51, life is a little different. While organising Camp Bestival – Bestival’s family-friendly sister festival held in Dorset and Shropshire – and other gigs in the UK and abroad still keep him busy, wellness has become central to his lifestyle.
Rob has trained in Yoga Nidra – a guided meditation practice that involves lying down and relaxing to achieve a deep state of conscious awareness sleep – takes daily cold-water dips in The Solent and, together with his wife Josie, extols the virtues of the sauna through their wellness brand, SLOMO.
The couple, who live in Bouldnor near Yarmouth with their four sons, opened the island’s first public beach sauna in Freshwater last year, where customers could take a ‘sweat bath’ before plunging into ice cold baths of water. Following its success, this summer, they collaborated with the National Trust to perch a sauna at the top of the headland overlooking Compton Bay.
‘Not only are saunas amazing for your mental and physical health, but they are also a great reason to turn off, tune out and drop in, being offline and connecting with friends and people in real life, whilst recharging the batteries,’ enthuses Rob, whose venture is supported by the British Sauna Society, a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is to promote and develop sauna culture for physical, mental and social health and wellbeing. ‘Our mission is to get SLOMO into the High Street, as well as in the seaside resorts. You see yoga studios on most town and city high streets, and it would be great for people to see having a sauna and an ice bath as a completely normal thing to do as part of their daily or weekly routine.’
The concept appears poles apart from his party days in London as a 20-something DJ but is, in some respects, a return to his roots.
‘My grandpa went cold-water swimming well into his nineties and he used to take me swimming at Warsash, near where we lived so perhaps that is where the love of it comes from,’ suggests Rob, who grew up in the Hampshire village at the mouth of the River Hamble and remembers riding his BMX through Strawberry Fields, playing trombone in his dad’s brass band and sailing the nearby waters on a dinghy in his teens. It was all very ‘normal and not very rock ‘n’ roll,’ he admits.
It was while studying at Portsmouth Grammar School and struggling to find his place, that he started making mix tapes and throwing beach parties to try and fit in.
‘I wasn’t that great at sports, nor was I the class comedian so, from the age of 15 I kind of became this shy party starter and that was my way of fitting in,’ he confesses.
After graduating he moved to London to study French at Goldsmiths College, and it was here that he began playing hip-hop and funk in the city’s clubs under the DJ pseudonym Rob da Bank. His weekend club night, Sunday Best, soon gained cult status and caught the attention of Radio 1 bosses looking for a new face to host the chill out early morning show.
‘At the time the whole down-tempo scene was really exploding so I was invited to do a pilot and ended up staying there 12 years,’ he remembers. ‘It was the best job in the world, but I had huge imposter syndrome. I mean, John Peel was over there, Annie Nightingale over there and then Fabio and Groove Rider would walk in – it was like having all my heroes in one room at the same and it was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.’
It was the mid 1990s and a time of huge change for music thanks to rapid advances in technology and the internet.
‘I started off lugging record bags onto planes and going off to DJ in South America or wherever with my vinyl records and by the end of it I was carrying around a tiny USB stick with 2,000 tunes on it and sticking that into a computer,’ he laughs.
In 2004, Rob and Josie joined forces with some friends and started Bestival as an offshoot to Sunday Best club nights. The annual four-day music festival at Robin Hill Country Park attracted 50,000 people in its heyday and spawned the family-friendly sister event Camp Bestival.
‘It started out as a cool, underground music festival sort of influenced by Glastonbury, and was basically a whole load of people in their twenties and thirties off their nut having an amazing time,’ he says. ‘Then, four years later, we started having kids and talking about how we could have all the fun of Bestival but without the late nights and craziness. Something that would cater for families and kids.’
The two festivals both moved to Lulworth Estate in Dorset in 2017. While Bestival was cancelled a couple of years later, Camp Bestival continues and now operates a second festival at Weston Park in Shropshire.
These days Rob and Josie love nothing more than being at home in Bouldnor with their kids and menagerie of chickens, goats, cats and dogs.
‘Our social media might tell a story of some insane rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle but that's not really the case,’ smiles Rob. ‘We’re both real homebodies and spend most of our time seeding the vegetable patch, feeding the pygmy goats and looking after our kids at home.’
‘I really thought they wouldn’t be interested in the whole sauna thing, so I was very surprised,’ admitted Rob. ‘But I think kids are pretty switched on these days and want to live long, healthy lives. My 14-year-old was like “this is great dad, I don't have to think”, and that's absolutely spot on, because you can't take your phone in there so you just sit there, and you can’t over-think because it’s just too hot.
‘We have a great time all together in the sauna and that’s what it is about ¬– giving people a great experience. Whether it's in a nightclub, at a festival, or sitting in a sauna, for me it’s all about seeing people have a great time.’
The Slomo sauna at Compton Bay is open Saturday and Sundays, between 9am and 5pm with prices starting from £15 per person or £75 for a private group booking. For more information and to book, visit slomo.me.
Contrast therapy is a series of short immersions in alternating hot and cold temperatures. The contrast causes blood vessels to dilate and constrict, which improves blood circulation and oxygen delivery to muscles. It also increases the release of endorphins, which can lower cortisol levels and ease pain, and can trigger lymphatic circulation, which helps detoxification. It also trains your body and mind to be much more adaptable and resilient, so you can cope better with stress.
Rob’s top autumn wellness tips
• Don't turn your phone on straight away when you wake up, try and do something, just one thing, first, such as a couple of minutes guided meditation or some stretches.
• Get into cold water in the morning. I’m fortunate that I can go in the sea every day but if you don’t have any open water near you then try a cold shower. If you do live near the sea autumn is the perfect time to start as the water will have warmed over winter and by December you’ll be confident to nail the colder temperatures.
• Make time for your health. Whether it’s a cold-water swim, a sauna or meditation, people often say they don’t have time. But if you can make time to do all the things you do for work, family the house, etc then you can make time to dedicate a few minutes each day to yourself.
