What I do is...- dj internationally and teach English, am equally consumed by both, and live close to the beach to los angeles.
- hold dj residencies in Southern California 9 years running with Tropical House and Moontribe.
- fly all over the world to dj, so far in 2007 in Russia, Spain, Scotland and UK, including Fabric in London. Upcoming trips this year include Japan and the Planet of Burning Man.
- hold teaching residency at South Bay Adult School in Redondo Beach, CA. Evening class averages close to 60 students every night and set a school record with 74 in one night first year teaching there.
- so far am not being flown internationally to teach English but welcome offers :)
Career dj highlights include:
- Wiggle at Fabric, London
- Club Propaganda, Moscow (12 visits since 2001) plus 9 other cities in Russia (St. Petersburg, Saratov, Ekaterinburg, Murmansk, Krasnoyarsk, Magnitigorsk, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, and Yugno-Sakhalinsk).
- Muz TV, Moscow, (djed and answered call-in questions at the same time through multiple translations) viewed by 2 million people across Russia
- Rave Goa Ano Nuevo in huge bullfighting arena in Madrid, Spain
- Festimad in Madrid, over 20,000 people
- Aca World Sound Festival in Acapulco, Mexico, over 60,000 people
- 8-hour sets at the annual Shasta Gathering 2004-2006
- 40 Tropical warehouse parties and 5 boat parties in los angeles since 1998
- Countless outdoor full moon parties in the southern california desert and forest since 1998
- Lived for 2 years in warehouse venue/5 bedroom loft-space known as the Treehouse which held scores of great parties downstairs and infamous afterparties upstairs with guests including Eddie Richards, Pure Science, Gideon Jackson, and Richie Hawtin
How it all started:
In 1995, just a few weeks shy of graduating university, Ben Annand went to a rave party that changed his life forever. He had been to a couple of similar parties exactly four years earlier, but at the more mature age of 21 he was blown away by the frendliness of the ravers, the lack of aggressive energy, opr judgement about how one danced, and above all by the futuristic sounding music that was perfectly designed for dancing. He recalls driving across the United States after graduation, bringing 30 cassettes of widely varying music but listening to the same 3 electronic music cassettes over and over again on the long days of driving. It's fair to say he was hooked!
Returning to Los Angeles in September 1995, Ben began working in promotions for some friends. When his friends couldn't pay him he was compensated in mixtapes, and Ben thought that better than money anyway. His landlords disagreed though, and he began proper work as a high-school substitute teacher. For a year Ben went out 4 nights a week , dancing happily and talking people up about his friends' parties, then appearing in the morning at local high-schools to teach kids just 4-5 years younger than him. Very occasionally he even ran into his students and, needless to say, Ben was their new favorite teacher.
Growing tired of promotions during a year of exhausting work, Ben became fascinated with djing and the direct connection djs have with the dancefloors he spent so much time on. How fabulous to be able to control the music on the dancefloor of a great party, music that rang through his ears all day long. In September 1996, after spending a pensive, 'what am I going to do with the rest of my life' summer in Edinburgh, Scotland, Ben decided to become a dj on return to the U.S. and told himself that the next time he went to Europe he would be flown there to dj. Lofty ambitions for someone who had never beat-matched before, yet through hard work and a sharp ear for music, he accomplished this goal in just under 5 years.
While learning to beat-match Ben continued to scratch a meagre living teaching part-time. To save money for records he slept for several months on a friend's couch. In the classroom he found himself writing 'Mr. Annand' on the chalkboard every day, and adopted this as his dj name to reflect his unusual career combination. Nowadays he is equally happy to be billed as the more symbolic 'Mr. Annand' as the more practical and more lyrical 'Ben Annand' and generally leaves that decision to the promoter.
Today Ben manages a hectic dj schedule while teaching English full-time to immigrants to the Los Angeles area. He tries to centralize travel in his vacation months but when called to duty during the school year he simply rings a substute teacher...
