i wont bore you all with mundane details of... the places i've dj'd and name drop the people i've played along side. i wont bore you with intimate details of how long i've been playing for, what productions ( if any) i've made, what labels i've signed upto or even founded....its all been done by countless dj's before!!!!
what i want to do is show you a little bit of my past and some of the people thats been close enough to influence me, help train my way of thinking towards music, teaching me its history and to imbrace its future and helped to nurture what has grown into an absolute love for dance music and its culture!!.....
as with a great many people, there has been a huge parental input for my musical influences, with either records being played or the radio turned on, nigh on, perminantly during my childhood years.
with such an ecclectic taste between them ranging from 60's rock and roll, to 70's glam rock, to motown and atlantic soul, to abba and commercial disco, to neil diamond and even demis rousos amongst their tastes.
to have been submerged with such varied genres of music has definately rubbed off on me and my musical tastes remain varied to this day.
but the one main style that has been to the fore of my life, even in those early years, has been...dance!!!
so, my first big thank you has to go to my mum and dad...thanks to you both, i love you (and to mum...miss you) so much xx
I left school at the tender age of 15 to work as a trainee chef in an industrial canteen, this is where i met my next set of influences.
It was 1985 and here i was introduced to the likes of james brown, teddy pendergrass, maze, luther vandross and brass construction amongst many others...by two older lads who seemed to take me under their wing!!
(you could say the 80's soulweekender music...and funny enough it was at this time i discovered 'clubbing', attending the greenways soul bashes and local soul/reggae sound systems )..
and yet there was to be another influence coming from this work place..a young lad only a year older than myself would bring in the street sound albums, rare groove and early electro hip hop.
i would religiously tape these albums and play them over and over in my bedroom, go back into work and nigh on beg the guys for any more albums that they had. i couldnt get enough!!!
i started to amass a collection of tapes...but i still hadnt got into vinyl yet.
it was only a year later in 1986 that i started college, and thanks to my love of soul/raregroove and hip hop, a college friend lent me his personal cassette player. whilst listening to his music i discovered yet another, totaly new style....
i feel very honored to have been able to hear a brand new genre of music, something so new that the 'pop' masses certainly had never heard it. something so new to me that i had to ask what the bloody hell it was......HOUSE!!! with absolute classics...mr fingers 'can u feel it', adonis 'we're rocking down the house', hercules '7 ways to jack' and farley keith's 'give yourself to me' amongst many others are still held very dear to me to this day.
so this next thank you goes out to jon and chris, rob and especially to neil vidamo for introducing me to house music.
i now have to jump forward a few years to bring you my next influence. 1991 and my brother!!!
after living in germany for a while, my mum fell ill and i came back home to england. i hadnt particulary been into music when i was abroad, but to come home and find that my brother and several of my friends had got into the hardcore rave scene, it was certainly rejuvinated!
listening to bootleg mixed tapes of slipmatt and lime, carl cox and lsd. with classic tracks such as lennie de ice 'we r ie', the pin up girls' 'take me away' and bug khan & the plastic jams 'made in two minutes'
well it was just what i needed under the circumstances and i fell into it with absolute revelry. getting into the music and the hedonistic rave culture!! making so many new friends and living the life, so yeah...cheers martin, love you loads, your the best x.
as a foot note here to '91 and my brother, i'd like to mention one of the clubs that has had an impact on me...a little place, down an alley, in a side street of a small town...trotters!!!! it was not open for that long but it gave me a huge insight to what clubbing, clubbers and the music was about..so a big cheers to all those that went to one of the bestest, smallest, friendliest clubs i've known.
As time went on i felt that the rave/hardcore music was loosing its direction, with pinky and perky style vocals and the even harsher 'jungle' sound.
With what seems to have been perfect timing, i got in with a group of people.
now these were predominantly club promoters, record a&r people and dj's and the progressive house scene was now... in!!! going to clubs like the love ranch, gardening club and wag and listening to tracks such as lionrock/lionrock, the classic 'not forgotten' from leftfield and dee pattens 'who's the bad man'...an absolute corker ;0).good times indeed!!!
this was an important era for me definately, as it was now that i got interested in vinyl and dj'ing, and my first decks were bought as i delved into the world of beatmatching.
however, throughout this period was my lynchpin to it all..rachel, my girlfriend at the time. and she showed me yet another side to house which was (as it was known back then) garage, or, as it is termed now.. U.S soulful house!!
so here's the next shout...to fred everywhere,dom,ali, mark detmar and the sittingbourne crew and mainly to rachel, thank you x.
onwards we go!!!
this next pair kind of fall into the last chapter too, because it was at roughly the same time..'92/'93..that i met (probably) the biggest influences of the lot!! here's to you larney p and moley.
now these two local dj's/promoters have, in my mind, some of the best tastes in music and the most amazing record collections i have ever seen or heard in my life.
quite difficult to put into words really...jazz/soul/rare groove boys who, back in the days, also loved hip hop and turned their attentions to the more soulful side of house.
i wont go on too much about them, as that could possibly be a whole book in itself ;0) but i will say is that they have been my two best mates ever since and have shown/taught/steered me so, so much..taking me to record shops, clubbing together and dj'ing together, but especially to lance..my mentor, guru and even best man!!! so..huge shouts!!
i have to put this next person in, because although she's not played a huge part in my musical past and she's not influenced me majorly when it comes to my music, but rather, because she plays a MASSIVE part in my life and influences me in my every move and day to day being. i value her opinion. i value her support and i love her more than all else...my wife, Becca. i thank you so much, i love you so much. ;0) xxxxxx
i'm gonna put a final piece in here about my last influence, not a person, but a reasonably new discovery for me...the internet!! without this new tool for seeking out both, new and old tracks and information, i certainly would not have as much of the knowledge of the music, its history and its whole persona/culture or indeed half the record collection, as i have.
trawling through all the music sites such as discogs, looking up personalities/dj's through sites as facebook and myspace and buying the music from places like h.t.f.r and traxsource or beatport, all of which are being a massive influence on me today.
so there you have it, my main influences on what i play and why i play it.
i'd like to thank each and everyone of you that has played a part in my life..no matter how small, it has still shaped me and helped to make me who i am. so without you i would not be the same person. peace.
the message is in the music..all you gotta do is listen.
d x