About Me
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POINT BLANK 108FM LONDON
Glowing text created at ProfileTweaks.comThe story/journey into music started in a galaxy far, far away, well my
dad's house, circa 1974 to be precise.
My first recollections of music were the distant strains of The Beatles and
Elvis coming from my father's stereo or radio during sleepy afternoons
waiting for the football results to come in, or catching the last moments of
World of Sport wrestling. The love began to fully blossom into recording the
Top 40 on Radio One and playing it back again hundreds of times until the
audio tape chewed up.
These two things; music and radio, did then and still do, hold the main
place in my heart and take up most of my waking hours.
I began having piano lessons from the age of six, but a miserable tutor, who
was more like the Penguin from the Blues Brothers film than a teacher, led
to that plan crashing and burning before it took off.
I then plumped for the guitar and spent many happy hours either playing
along with tapes or jamming with bands. Joined my first band Defender with a
friend Bill Garnish and played school halls and youth clubs, before joining
other bands and doing the rounds at music venues across Surrey.
These were golden times to be playing music, punk had just breathed its
last, commercially speaking, so I had the whole Sex Pistols back catalogue
to draw influence from, New Wave and Electronica were in full swing and just
finding its feet respectively. What a time for a boy to be listening. And of
course staying up until the early hours listening, taping and then making
compilations of John Peel's shows.
During the 1980s a truly special sound, I would call it magical, began to
break through my speakers, Chicago House, led by the musical magician/genius
Marshall Jefferson.
Inspired, I did what every young Surrey boy should do at the dawning of
musical era; take to muddy fields across the South and dance until the sun
comes up.
Yes, I donned dungarees and danced at Energy Heston, Sunrise White Waltham
and so on.
Great times with fantastic music, groundbreaking, stone setting tunes and an
attitude which in many ways, can still be seen in the underground house
scene today. The buzz, adrenaline and joy of a great track and a good DJ
mix.
Inspired and slightly war-torn, I purchased my first set of decks around
1990 and dived, Greg Luganus style, straight into the underground DJ scene
playing squat parties; raves and small clubs, always with the belief that it
had to be real, not commercial.
With an unquenchable thirst for knowledge I joined a music production course
and met up with a DJ who introduced me to Point Blank 108FM, a pirate radio
station, which in many ways became my church.
I applied for and got the 2-4am slot on Friday nights, and still struggle to
put into words the buzz I got from preparing my tunes, driving to the
venue/flat, seeing the aerial on the roof and then actually taking to the
decks.
The one thing that keeps pulling me back to pirate radio is that buzz and
knowing people are listening in and getting off on the music.
That can never be replaced. It has been known, on countless occasions, for
me to DJ straight through til 10am the next morning, no drugs, a few beers
and that great buzz.
I eventually took up the 8-10am slot on Saturdays, before making a new
acquaintance in the shape of Stefan Robinson who had a good understanding of
computers, software packages and just happened to share a love of dance
music.
It must be said that at this stage of things I did not even know what Midi
was, let alone processors.
So, the pair of us set out to build a studio and produce our own dance
tracks.
The G3 Mac soon gave way to a G4, and the tracks started to come, followed
by an extensive period of upgrading and outgrowing software, systems and
production styles.
Tracks followed under our group name Enduring Souls. Releasing tracks on the
Aquamelon and Jump Da Shark labels, some of which can be checked out here.
My radio time began to be replaced with this type of work, which I must say
broke my heart, but I am now back on the airwaves (Tuesday 8-10pm 108fm,
check me out, send a text for a shout out) and now the work continues via
MySpace, with plans to Internet DJ. My aim with this will be to play my own
mixes, underground tracks and receive mixes from unsigned DJ's who I can
play on air, and give them some coverage. All I will need is a disc, and
some contact details, email, name etc.
ANYONE INTERESTED IN THIS SIDE OF THINGS, SHOULD CONTACT ME AT MySpace TO
START.
I am also currently working with DJ Jak Smoothe under the guise of Logical
Funk. The aim of the project is to produce funky, dirty house tunes and is
so far proving very fruitful.
On a personal basis I am also looking to broaden my horizons into movie,
video, podcast soundtracks, remixes and generally meeting up with more
quality people along the way.
(PS: AS WITH THE INTERNET DJ PROJECT, IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN USING MY
TRACKS FOR SOUNDTRACKS, OR WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS AND FORM OF REMIX WORK
ETC, DO NOT HESITATE TO GET IN TOUCH).
The adventure continues....
