Rob got his first set of decks bought for him at xmas 2000, they were a set of soundlab belt drive decks with a clapped out numark 2 channel mixer. At the time Rob was into trance and progressive house and would be found most weeks attending Cream, Sankeys, Reniansance and Golden.
The decks got Rob into buying music and he would spend most weekends in 3 beat records, Hmv and looking for old classics in the basement of the palace.
In 2002 Rob had his first Freeze party at Bar Zero on North John street, Liverpool. He played a few one off gigs that year as well.
In 2005 Rob and his friends Si Johnson and Andy Currie decided, after many drunken nights of talking about starting their own night, finally got it together and Freeze in its current guise was born.
It began it October 2005 at the famous Lemon Lounge, the first night started with friends playing and from there in has gone from strength to strength with guests from Paolo Mojo, Claude VonStroke, Greg Vickers, James Talk, Steve Parry, Leo Belchetz plus local dj talent Andy Currie, Wes Hart and Alex Wasikowski plus many more The Future for Freeze is a very bright one
Influences for Rob's djing: Sasha, Josh Wink, Greg Vickers, Steve Parry, James Talk, Steve Lawler, Yousef, X-Press 2, Ralph Lawson, Laurent Garnier, Francois K, Nic Fanciulli, John Dahlback, Paul Woolford, Max Graham, James Zabiela, Infusion, Danny Howells, John Digweed, Breeder, Paolo Mojo, Dave Seamen.
After smashing the shit out of the Boutique at Sankeys, Freeze return to Liverpool on Bank Holiday Sunday at the end of May with something simply sensational!
In conjunction with our friends at Plastic Soup, we present the first Freeze BBQ of the summer and a line up that is a lot fatter than the meat will be!!
There are few, if any parties that have had an affect on the recent clubbing landscape in the UK as secretsundaze. James Priestley and his co-hort Giles Smith ARE secretsundaze. From its launch in 2001 both the night and the djing career of James have gone into orbit!
This legendary Sunday afternoon London party with its colourful, cosmopolitan crowds and cutting-edge music policy soon became the talk of the town to the point where in 2005 both Mixmag and Time Out awarded it 'Best UK Club Night'. The secret was also out in Europe, with hugely successful secretsundaze parties now taking place in Ibiza (Blue Marlin, & Gala Night) Barcelona (during Sonar) and Austria (Snowbombing). With a reputation for using risque/off-the-cuff venues, the club has welcomed some of the world's most renowned djs & producers with the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Carl Craig, Trevor Jackson and Steve Bug all appearing over the years. More recently, top European clubs such as Panorama Bar (Berlin), Robert Johnson (Frankfurt) & Magazzini Generali (Milan) have all played host to rocking secretsundaze parties.
In 2004 James launched 'Go!Zilla' and as co-promoter, programmer and resident dj it was the perfect avenue for him to showcase and pursue far more diverse sounds and tastes, incorporating more Disco and live bands into the party realm inviting the likes of the Glimmers, Rub n¹ Tug and Optimo as well as people such as Ame, Damian Lazarus & Dixon to join him. Here he currently holds residencies at Cargo & East Village, both in Shoreditch.
James has a distinct djing style, playing broadly what you would describe as deep House & Techno, often borrowing from his freestyle background, preferring to move things around rather than follow one linear groove. You will also notice James' solid musical background in his sets and productions usually favouring strong melodies and warm, organic sounds. His style hasn't gone unnoticed and he regularly plays some of the best clubs and parties around the world, highlights including Cocoon (London), Circo Loco (London), We Love Sundays (Space, Ibiza), Module (Tokyo), Dama de Fera (Rio de Janeiro), Propaganda (Moscow), Week-end (Berlin), Manumission (Ibiza) Nitsa & City Hall (Barcelona), Showcase (Paris), Morphine (Hamburg), and in UK Fabric, The End, Bugged Out!, Electric Chair, Basics, Asylum, Boutique, Superfreq, Faith, and Global Gathering, V Festival, Bestival, Hi-Fi, Latitude, Tales of The Jackalope, Bloom and Isle of Wight festivals.
In September 2007 it was 10 years since James began djing in earnest and the month aptly saw the release of his first compilation/mix CD ¬ 'secretsundaze Volume 1', distributed worldwide through Amato Distribution on his own label, 'secretsundaze Music', which he co-manages and A & Rs.
That month also saw the release of his debut original track, 'Chariots' on leading UK label, Will Saul's Simple Records which has released music of the pedigree of Mathew Jonson, John Tejada and My My in the past. The follow up to that, 'The Source', was recently released, winning the highly prestigious accolade of 'Record of The Week' at Phonica Records and also hailed as 'House Release of the Month' there too.
May 2008 sees the release of the latest in the secretsundaze compilations.
Just looking at the clubs listed above shows what a coup it is for us to get James in the Lemon Lounge! We are hugely excited with the booking and know this will be one of our best parties to date.
Warming things up will be the Plastic Soup purveyors of fine tunage - General Jimmy, Paul Outlar and Jazzbo. The perfect starting place for James to take over! Closing things down and smashing things out will be Casson and Currie. The perfect duo to take over from James!!
So, get you sunglasses and summer clothes on, we are firing up the BBQ and bringing you the best music Liverpool has to offer on a sunny bank holiday sunday!
Freeze
Sunday 25th May 2008
James Priestley (secretsundaze)
Rob Casson
Andy Currie
Plastic Soup presents......
General Jimmy
Paul Outlarp
Jazzbo
7 til late
£6 adv, more on door
PM for tickets or call 07837459784
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Pics from the Christmas Bash 16/12/06, Photos taken by the legend Nik Torrens
Freeze & Aztec Presents Claude VonStroke, Fri 26th Jan
