Ste Roberts caught the music bug back in 2000, playing back to back in the aptly named DJ duo ‘Private Parts’. Together they hosted a number of illegal parties around Cleveland and Yorkshire, playing tripped out house and techno to crowds of ravers in the hidden away beaches and woods around the area. Following the success of these parties, they began their weekly club night ‘Retox’ at the Purple Onion in Middlesbrough, something of a musical first in the area.
In September 2003 Private Parts were selected as winners of the monthly I-DJ Raw Talent mix competition, and they quickly followed this up by winning the ‘Nu-breed’ DJ competition at Stereo in Newcastle. A guest mix aired on Metro FM as well as an interview on BBC Radio 1 came as rewards for their success.
The next logical step was to move to a bigger city, so in Autumn 2003 Private Parts came to Leeds. Things progressed at a fast rate as they quickly notched up another DJ competition win and gained gigs at popular nights such as 6am and the Masterpeace Festival in the process. Despite their success, different ideas meant that the duo decided to go their separate ways, and after playing the Sugarshack at The Middlesbrough Empire in October 2004, Private Parts was no more.
Around the same time, Ste Roberts began work experience at Leeds based house label 2020 Vision, working alongside Ralph Lawson. A job in local independent record shop Tribe Records quickly followed, where Ste served up the finest electronic music to the likes of Paul Woolford and Matt Tolfrey on a regular basis, as well as guests visits from those such as Magda, John Tejada and Doc Martin. Ste made his debut at techno night The Darkside at the back end of 2004, playing alongside Marco Carola. In Spring 2005 Ste was invited to play at Technique (www.technique.org.uk), for their Kompakt Records party with dance music Legends The Orb and new kid on the block Dominik Eulberg. Further gigs at the Technique after parties over the summer went down really well, culminating with a back to back set with Dave Martin at Technique’s summer residents party.
Ste was asked to become resident at new electronica night Room 237 (www.rm237.co.uk) in 2005, and over the coming months was given the opportunity to play alongside forward thinking producers and DJ’s such as Luke Vibert, Squarepusher, Surgeon, Jimmy Edgar, Mike Paradinas, LFO and many more, making the night a huge success in the process. A gig at leading techno night Superconductor (www.superconductormusic.co.uk) came in December alongside Ken Ishi and The DMX Crew, and the year ended with Ste playing the Rm237 outdoor marquee at Northern Light for The Dirty Disco New Years Eve celebrations.
2006 began where 2005 left off, and Ste was handed the chance to appear on the same bill as Kompakt’s legendary Michael Mayer for Technique’s 5th Birthday celebrations. Another residency at Friday night hoedown Surroundz (www.surroundz.com) at MyHouse came about in the summer. Highlights for Ste at Surroundz so far include warming up for Funk D’void and playing after Phil Kieran. Ste has recently begun work for top underground techno label Immigrant Records, working alongside Dave Martin and Robin Porter. 2006 finished in style at Technique’s new home The Warehouse, where Ste opened the main room with Radioslave, Radioactiveman, and Maurice Faulton all on the bill for the event.