JOHN BARBER
www.john-barber.com
www.electricplayground.co.uk
www.myspace.com/electricplaygroundmusic
Currently working hard on new material. New mix cd and full website update of john-barber.com very soon.
I got into electronic music through hanging round local parks and smoking pot with friends when I was in my early teens. I should have known better, as a result I spent a lot of my time listening to Hardcore and jungle tapes from the latest raves and albums from The Prodigy and Underworld.
This must have influenced my mind in some way and I got into playing records with some like minded friends. We put some parties on which we’re pretty good, considering we were only seventeen years old and didn’t really know what we were doing at the time. I got a job in a record shop to help me feed my addiction to buying music. This only made things worse for my bank balance, but fed my weekly appetite for 12†plastic discs.
Record shops became less popular; I ended up getting a proper job and trained to be an electrician. I started sending cds out to clubs and promoters and managed to land some quite cool gigs at clubs such as Turnmills, Club Class, Maison and High Tide. I even got some mentions in magazines for my efforts from dj’s like Nic Fanciulli, and IDJ reckoned I was a half decent in their article on ‘Why dance music still rocks’.
A few years later I decided I wanted to play locally more often, so I started Electric Playground in Southampton. After nearly a year of doing these parties I took the night to Bournemouth where things have got a hell of a lot better. Some great dj’s have been along to play and a lot of people have come and enjoyed themselves so far too. It makes the hard work that goes into doing it worth while. There will be more Electric Playground parties in 2008, more information coming soon.
I also made a half hearted effort a making music a few years ago, got some equipment and spent some of my spare time on it. A few tracks got signed and even featured on some compilations. Now fully focused on music production since the turn of the new year, i’ll be pushing some new music in the direction of the dance floor.
You can listen to some of my music on my website www.john-barber.com (well overdue update coming soon), although my latest stuff is on myspace. You can also download some of my dj mixes from there and also at www.electricplayground.co.uk.
Releases and featured tracks:
B-Siderz (Tracks produced by Branford & Barber)
B-Siderz - High Feeling - Exun Records (Germany) 2006
B-Siderz - Acid Rebirth - (unsigned) Featured on Carl Cox Space Ibiza mix compilation 2006
Bass Experiment (Tracks produced by Sutcliffe & Barber)
Bass Experiment - Sick Note - Headtunes (USA) May 2008
Replica - (Bass Experiment remix) - Headtunes (USA) May 2008
