Music:
Member Since: 12/6/2006
Band Members: Danny Bonds name has been a name that
has rolled of anyones tounge who knows the music genre known to people as
ìBassline Houseî we today meet the man himself to get an insight to the man
behind the musicÖÖ:
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Hi Danny,
Thanks For Taking The Time To Talk to usÖ:
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No Problem what so ever, cheers for
contacting me! :
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Your name needs no introduction, even
my 7 year old sister knows the name, so firstly is it your real name?:
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Yes it is, so please hold of any James
bond jokes, ive heard them too much now, :
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So how and when did you decide this
is what you wanted to do as a career?:
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Well its weird really, I was 15 years
old, and I always remember going round to a friends house, and he had two decks
and a mixer there, along with a load of records and he was messing around with
them, two of my closest friends also took a interest and we would go round and
have a play, but the truth of it was, I was rubbish, my two friends were good,
so I wasnÃt even going to bother in investing in something, :
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Following that I was getting more and
more eager to try my hand at it. So I nagged my parents for a set for Christmas,
I was surprised they said yes as the hours of practice comes at a price with the
neighbours. Following that I started to build my collection of records which at
the time was hard house and trance, My parents had bought everything before
Christmas but when ever they went out I was so eager I would go set them up just
to get going with it, the truth is though I still didnÃt really progress at it,
where my friends were doing really good, 5 months passed and I finally got the
hang of it and did my first party at a mansion near by to me, ill never forget
that night, as the same record ìJonestown Sweet Thangî was played around 20
times in the night, after that I immediately wanted to pursue this as it was
something I really had a passion for,:
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How old was you and were was your
first paid gig?:
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As unbelievable as this is going to
sound it was in Tenerife in the summer of 2002, I was 17 years old, id become
pally with a dj out there who id been in contact with over a few years, he
informed me that there could be a opening out there if I was up to the standard
required, that in mind, I had a dead end job and thought id be so silly to give
it a miss, so I flew out there and met the owner of the club and did a working
trial and ended up with the job, this was 6 nights a week at a club called
clockwork orange on the veronicas strip, playing house and trance, It was really
good at first as it was a big step for me, the pay wasnÃt brilliant but still
enough to live off, it was hard work though 6 hours a night for 6 nights a week,
I was still young and learning all the time, unfortunately I had to come home as
there was problems with management there, from this I really wanted to make a go
of things at home but knew I wasnÃt going to be able to walk into the job and
had to really put myself out there:
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Right. so when did the whole bassline
house thing start for you then as I havenÃt heard the genre your famous for
mentioned once? :
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Well It was always there from around 16,
like I said earlier the biggest record at a party I did was a bassline house
record ìJonestown sweet thangî I had always took a interest to the music but the
truth of it was, I didnÃt really have the cash at the time to pursue it as the
average record in that scene was a fair bit of money! :
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What made you stop all the trance
music and concentrate solely on bassline house?:
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The old bassline house stuff from the
mid 90s cant touch anything musically in my eyes, it was so good to hear on a
system it got me really really hooked, djs who are now some of my best friends
Mark Howarth and Marc Leaf were pioneering the sound in Leeds but was always cut
up with quality house music, I would go out on a weekend and listen to the music
and see how bigger reactions it was to crowd, at this point I still hadnÃt
played again since Tenerife but was pushing so hard to get going with it when I
came up with the idea of running my own night to get things going, Id come into
some money and approached a friend to get ideas and from there it grew to be a
very successful night that ran for around a year or so, from that the bookings
were coming in slowly but surely.:
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ThatÃs all good but thereÃs hundreds
of djs out there all doing the same thing, and without blowing your trumpet for
the scene your in, your name is one of the biggest names out there. How did you
make it that and why is it that you think youÃve become so big for the past
couple of years?:
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Well that is an awkward one to answer!
Erm right well I would say first the reason why people know my name is because
of how popular the mix cds are, a record shop in Bradford give me the
opportunity to put my cds on there shelves, I offered them the cd for free just
to promote myself and from there I watched them gradually sell more and more
each month, eventually after 6 months they were the leading selling cd in the
shop, from this the bookings became very often and things started to go really
well from there.:
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Do You Class Yourself as Unique to
the rest?:
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Again thatÃs a bit of a awkward one to
answer but if im honest I do think I do stuff different to a fair few of the djs
in todayÃs bassline scene, I like to do something a little bit mad, play a
record where people think ìwhat the f*&$kî and then after two minutes there
really into it, IÃve always made sure I would try tracks out that most people
wouldnÃt play in the bassline scene, some of them have crossed from a few genres
but have still become massive, two of my biggest tracks in my sets at the moment
arenÃt even bassline house but they still get a huge reaction. :
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What ive noticed is these days a lot of
djs donÃt seem to want to take a risk of doing something different as there
scared it wont work.:
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What has been your career highlights?:
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Ive had a lot of highlights im still
only 22, im so so lucky to have been given the opportunities that I have
received so firstly a big thank you to everyone who has helped me out over the
years, you all know who you are. :
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ItÃs so hard to pick a highlight, as
thereÃs so many for so many different reasons. Djing in the states in March 2007
was a big one for me though; when I got contacted for it I was shell shocked, I
couldnÃt believe that people 1000s of miles away was into the music. If im
honest I thought it was some kind of prank and didnÃt think much of it till I
received a call from a guy in the states who was finalising details and bookings
my flights and accommodation, :
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23 hours of flying and I arrived in
Denver, I was really ill when I arrived and spent most of my time in the hotel
until the night came if im honest I was a bit nervous as I was worried I wasnÃt
going to be taken well by the crowd as I was completely blind to there scene, on
arrival to the club I looked round and the crowd was so mixed and unique it got
me even more nervous but it made me realise how diverse America was and that how
people from all scenes of life can come together and party together rather than
the social groupings we seem to have at home, :
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I played a two-hour set and the crowd
was so responsive something very unique from past experiences for them to pick
up on the sound so quick and be so responsive to it, and the most important
thing was that everyone was grateful. So thanks for your hospitality Tommy and
Shane!:
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I would say that was the biggest
achievement, but the summer in Ibiza in 2006 along with playing in Majorca and
Ibiza again this year, are all up there, but as I say im still only 22 so there
will be more if you come speak to me in a few years if im not :
Deaf by then!:
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How Is The Bassline House Scene at
the moment?:
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ItÃs coming back stronger and stronger,
thereÃs fresh new productions coming through all the time, labels and producers
like ecko.Paul Sirrell,Sean Coy, Nocturnal, yep yep to name but a few are really
pushing things forward, it was desperately needed as the truth of it was the
music had gone stale and needed something to bring it back again.:
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Nights wise bassline house is doing
really well, the Fridays in Leeds are packed out to capacity and Saturdays are
doing the same, people who say its dying are talking crap as the numbers speak
for them selves, the new era of crowd are coming through all the time, itÃs the
young keen people who will keep this scene going if im honest with you.:
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Were nearly done now Dan so what does
s the future hold for you?:
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ha ha this is like a essay! Well at the
moment im just finalizing some more US dates in Denver, Los Angeles and Las
Vegas. Im also going to be pushing a big bassline house classics brand called
ìtimelessî so look out for that, I want to bring back the people who were out
when I first started when the music was different, im not slagging the new music
in any way shape or form but im afraid youÃll never beat the classics! :
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Lastly you can catch me at Precious @
Puro every Friday, this has been sell out for the last month since launch so get
involved! :
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Finally Decks or CDJs?:
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IÃm Afraid im going to have to say CDJs
now, they have become a big big part of all my work, but if im playing a
classics set then its vinyl all the way! :
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Danny Its been a pleasure, any final
things to say?:
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Thanks to everyone whoÃs been there over
the years and helped me, family friends and colleagues, also a big mention to
one of my now close friends Mark Howarth who listened to me when I put my idea
together to work on nights with him, and also gave me a chance to play out, I
feel for people trying to get into djing now its so so hard.:
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Danny Thank You for you time:
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No problem itÃs been a pleasure.:
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Mark Anson LSU Media Studies October
2007
Influences: Me @ Hidden
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: None