Tell us a bit about yourself……
How did you get into the industry and when?
I was in university in San Diego in 1998, California and I went back home to the Oxford area one summer. My cousin invited me over to a friends house and he was learning to DJ. I had a try, sucked badly, but got hooked! I went back to uni and spent my entire student loan on 1200’s and set up….the rest as they say is history!
Whats your favourite night spot?
Difficult to say – 3-30 in South Africa was amazing with a great vibe. RA in the Luxor, Las Vegas was a lot of fun. RAW in Orange County, California with 2,000 of LA’s best looking crowd is a lot of fun, Imagine Punta Cana (a natural underground cave) here in the Dominican Republic has an awesome sound and always a ton of people partying hard.
Tell us a short history of your record label, how did it come about, what was the original idea behind it?
As I got into Hard House I started hearing a producer who’s tracks were phenomenal – really hitting the spot. Then one night (actually I think it was morning – Milk!) in 414 I was DJing and next up on the bill was the one and only Marc Johnson. I was thrilled to meet him and it was really nice to see that he was super cool and down to earth. We chatted and he invited me to make a track with him – I was stoked. We went into the studio with Dave Holmes and came out with The Real Deal. We both knew that it was a good track – obviously Marc by that time was only making good tracks! – and we sent it out to some labels. We got some interest but we wanted to try out our own label. We lined up some other tracks and sent the promo out to the shops. The first release with Marc’s What U Believe on the AA side (we are talking the time of vinyl here!) sold really well and the support from the shops was great. Things just snowballed from there. Marc has a great ear for tracks and so we have a lot list of quality releases but also consistent releases
What are your OTHER favourite types of music?
Before dance music I was into Heavy Metal (but never had long hair!), I like Rock, and most types of Dance.
How do you think the industry has changed in the last 10 years, has it been for better or worse?
Obviously Digital has completely changed the game. Sadly piracy is a big part of this and makes it a difficult business to survive in. It more affects the artists than anyone else because they don’t see the money they deserve for the tracks they produce. However digital means you can create a track today, and tomorrow it can be in a club on the other side of the planet. Hard house has taken a big hit also, but I think some parts of HH got a bit to technical and lost the “fun” element. It will survive and hopefully re-emerge.
What is your favourite moment so far in music?
In music – that’s a little vague but my favourite DJ moments ranging from being on stage in RAW in front of 2,000 and being slightly overwhelmed, to a tiny club that I can’t even remember the name of where at the begining of my set the crowd was divided up in their small groups just milling around and at the end of the set they were all jumping up and down facing the DJ booth with both me and them having a great time!!
The weirdest thing that you have ever experienced
– In food , in music , situation. Not really weirdest but pretty funny – I was DJing somewhere in London and just finished playing Never Surrender, and another DJ came up to me and asked if he could see the record sleeve. I was stoked because I thought he wanted to see the name/producer – and he proceeded to do a line on the cover!!
Your favourite musician?
Wow, I am not sure who qualifies as a musician but if we are talking about anyone in the music business I guess I would say Scooter from California (not German Scooter). He is a friend of mine, but he LOVES music of all kinds, he is technically the best DJ have I ever seen, he can scratch Hip Hop like no one else I’ve ever seen, he plays house as good as anyone, but more importantly when he DJs he doesn’t rest one second, he is always doing something. Check out video of him on youtube or scooterdj.com
As a kid …what did you want to be when you grew up?
A tennis player – then an american football player – then I decided I didn’t want to grow up!
Pc or Mac?
I use PC but I have to say Mac because of their innovation
What new releases do you have out on the label?Any artists we should be looking out for?
We have a new artist on the roster called Chris Forkes and he is putting out some phenomenal stuff – several tracks from him are in the pipeline. More excitingly we have developed out new FlashPoint website and we hope it will rival the big players in the game!! Coming VERY
Any tracks coming from yourself in the future?
I haven’t done any production for a long time. As much as I enjoy it I just don’t have the time. However if I quit what I am doing now, maybe I’ll get back into it!!
Where can we see you play next?
I haven’t been playing for a while now, living out here in the Dominican Republic people aren’t all that educated about dance music. Some day soon hopefully!!
Thanks for the interview!
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