Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, DJ Tony Gunn has become one of the most prolific and eccentric DJ..s to step on the Thailand scene for the past 3 years. He has chosen to go ..against the grain.. and not play an all commercial set, just to keep the party moving, but instead, he uses a mixture of commercial, old school hip hop, reggae, reggaeton, funk, and of course his hometown..s own; hyphy, to keep the party moving.Born Anthony Leroy Gunn II, Tony was inspired by his father, who was also a DJ and made long mixes on a reel to reel machine. Saturday mornings were and extra treat because music would start in the morning and play all day long, and this is where Tony got his early lessons in how to mix. When his parents had parties, Tony would stick his head out his door and watch his father play songs that would keep the people dancing and the party going, and he knew that was something he wanted to do. In high school he started working for his long time friends Dave Daniels and Adam Crawford in their business, Bass Productions, which was a local DJ service. They would play at high school functions and parties for the fraternities on campus at UC Berkeley. At first Tony was the muscle man who would carry the two big speakers and 10 milk crates of records, but the passion to become a DJ was strong. After watching Dave long enough, Tony knew that he wanted to get behind the turntables, and begged Dave to teach him the craft. Under the direction of Dave, Tony learned how to DJ, and under the patience of Adam, who would keep the equipment at his home, Tony learned to prefect his skill. Dave went on to earn a high school internship at the premier hip hop station in San Francisco, 106 KMEL, and would constantly take Tony along with him. This gave Tony exposure to local and celebrity DJ’s like Latin Prince, King Tech, and Yella. Being exposed to all these DJ..s only furthered his desire to be a DJ.Shortly afterwards Tony moved to Germany with his family and changed genre to techno and house because at that time hip hop was not readily available in Germany, it was, and still is, labeled as "Black Music" in the record stores and the selection was very small. At the time the two most popular songs in Germany were ..Gangstas Paradise.. by Coolio and ..I Got 5 on It.. by the Luniz. Learning how to spin house only opened his eyes to different types of music and also increased his passion to continue DJing. Spinning house also gave Tony a new perspective on how to look at DJing.
After completing high school Tony decided to join the US Navy, this meant that DJing had to be put on hold for a while. He still had the urge to DJ and managed to pick it back up in Virginia Beach, Virginia when his friends were heavy into the house music scene. There he met DJ Pam, a popular local house DJ, who gave him pointers and tips on how to become a better DJ.
After leaving the Navy and joining the Air Force, he got reassigned back home to the San Francisco Bay Area and teamed back up with Dave Daniels and Adam Crawford and he re-united himself with his first love on the turntables, hip hop. Most of his DJing was put on hold for a few years because of multiple deployments to the Middle East and other places throughout the world, but after deciding to leave military service, he found his way to Bangkok where he has once again found his passion for DJing.
In Bangkok, Tony met Shawn Simon (MC Simonbars) and soon afterward was playing gigs with him at a local hot spot, Mystique. Tony and Shawn then teamed up with another friend, Jim A. and formed The Koalition, which then turned into Koaltion Productions. While in Bangkok Tony has had the opportunity to open for some of the hottest Hip Hop groups; 50 Cent, Naughty by Nature, and the Black Eyed Peas. He even had the honor of sharing the decks with Will.I.Am at the after party.In a city where the formula to keep a crowd moving is to only play commercial hip hop, DJ Tony Gunn has managed brake away from the pack with his unorthodox style.
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