About Me
From an unusual beginning, as an interim DJ for a cabaret club, in his hometown of Skegness, Thomas has become a main attraction in clubs and bars around the North of England. His sets are influenced by an early love of Jazz, Soul, Hip-hop and Funk, which he skilfully encapsulates into his much-loved House sets.
After seeing Mickey Finn at Hellraiser in Skegness at the age of fourteen, Thomas began his love affair with club culture and the art of DJing. He was determined to become a DJ and know his chosen profession inside out. This youthful vivacity and determination to learn his trade led to him bagging his first paid residency at the age of fifteen, at a club far removed from the raves he was going to at the time. It was a true seaside town cabaret club featuring spectacles from strip shows and blue comedians to family orientated performances; Thomas warmed up the audience and kept their interest between the acts. It was his hour long set at the end of the night that Thomas most looked forward to however, as it was his chance to shine. His sets consisted of early House classics and House tracks from the charts that would have had an air of familiarity to the crowd.
Thomas Tuft is a name synonymous with Liverpool club and DJ scene. With the house connoisseur providing tracks for big names such as Yousef and Sasha at the leading record shop 3Beat, if he playing records selling them! Following the same route as his heroes, Justin Robertson and Andrew Weatherall, Thomas ethos is about doing your own thing and never, ever dropping your standards€?. Whether he is playing soulful house or Latin flavoured beats, only the finest and freshest cuts are guaranteed to meet your ears.
Thomas could be described as a veteran on the scene, considering he has held down residencies since the tender age of 15 and continues to be very much in demand. Catching the music bug from his excellent musician of a father, Thomas enviable DJ career properly began after seeing Mickey Finn play at the Promised Land. After using regular appearances at a seaside Cabaret club in his hometown of Skegness as a practice ground for playing familiar house classics, the rave scene called and a 16 year old Thomas moved on to bigger and better things.
In 1991 Thomas€™ big break came playing at the Pleasure Dome, the club he had followed for some time. On his first night he warmed up for Nigel Dawson, and subsequent guests included Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier, Mickey Finn, Slipmat and all the seminal DJs of the time. After several impressive sets, he became their weekly resident for the House room, and played a three-hour warm up set for the guest DJs. It was here, through practise and observation and warming up for the likes of John Da Silva, Kelvin Andrews, Parks and Wilson, Al McKenzie and Ian Ossia, that Thomas learnt how to work a crowd and perfect his technique. From this residency he also got booking all over the North and was a regular at Shades of Rhythm. The high point of this residency came on New Year Eve 1992/93 when the Pleasure Dome hosted the biggest party of the year, and possibly ever in the UK. This event set the blueprint for the likes of Tribal Gathering and subsequently Creamfields, and Thomas played sets in two of the four arenas. DJs on the night included Africa Bambatta, Grooverider, Fabio, LTJ Bukem, Tony De Vit and Seb Fontaine, and in the JDJ arena: Beat Foundation and N-JOI performing live. Due the unexpected absence of Dave Seaman in the Mixmag arena, Thomas stepped in to play the 3 hour 6am set. After three encores the crowd still wanted more but the security and police had to ask Thomas to get on the mike and say a few words to calm the crowd down and avoid a riot. After this point the Pleasure Dome became nomadic, but finally found roots again in a Stately home in Lincoln where it had parties on a fortnightly basis with DJs such as Jon Marsh. As time went on Thomas became the main DJ at the club, and the night became based around his sets. Thomas became resident at Tutti Frutti where he played with the likes of Yousef, K Klass, Alison Marks and Paul Kane. It was Paul Kane who tempted Thomas away from his hometown and set his sights on further horizons.
His CV boasts of numerous guest appearances, some taking him around Europe, where his performance in front of a 2,500 strong crowd in Poland was documented for the television programme Club Rotation. In Valencia Club Friends, he played a storming set for 8,000 revellers alongside fellow Liverpool legend Steve Parry, which was followed by an invitation for Thomas to play at Club Resolutions in Holland for Peter Gelderbloom and Rene Amez.
Back in England, you are likely to see him entertaining a diverse crowd from exclusive parties that have included guests as high profile as Victoria Beckham and Elton John other half, David Furnish, to the most up for it clubbers. Having regularly performed at Innerstate at the Mint Club (Leeds), stately home rave up Like This Like That in Wigan and Creams legendary pre-club bar Mello Mello, Thomas is often spinning tunes on Liverpools Radio City and Juice FM radio stations with local heroes Steve Parry and Les Calvert.
Not only that, Thomas holds down residencies at stylish city centre club Azure, exclusive VIP members only bar The Vampire Lounge and is regularly seen DJing in Liverpool leading club venues including the famous Lemon Lounge, The Magnet, The Cotton Club and Barfly. In addition to occupying a guest place on Miss Moneypenny tour, Thomas has been known to join line ups at Northbound, Eye To Eye, Baambity, SoulKulcha, Funky Drops, Jubilee and Badaboom, alongside acts like Unabombers, Liquid People, Greg Vickers, Steve Sheils, Paul Kane, Richie Robinson, Jo Mills and Blakkat.
Today, Thomas is producing some of his best work yet with a number of projects in motion. As well as running his own night, Troubled Souls at Liverpools Carling Academy (featuring guests such as the well-respected Richard Earnshaw and Norway Rune Lindbaek), he annually hosts legendary annual BBQ parties at Heart and Soul where chilled out vibes and an essential summer soundtrack is the order of the season. Thomas is also kept busy with his own regular column in the club pages of Liverpools leading what onguide, LIVE Magazine, where he reviews 3Beat€™s hottest new arrivals and compiles a new releases chart. During a stint as in-house remixer for Mousse T Peppermint Jam label, he produced the underground hit Youve Been Warned that was championed by some of clublands biggest names, including Underwater boss Darren Emerson. Thomas has earned himself a credible mixing reputation under the guise of Footworx and worked his magic on projects for Jubilee and Play DJ under his own name. Thomas also has his own local CD series Underground Sessions in the pipeline, so watch this space!
Juice Fm Listen LiveListen Again 030607: Underground Sessions with Thomas Tuft
