My enthusiasm for DJing and the culture therein was born around seven to eight years ago when I started making regular trips up to the seedy Soho backstreets in search of House vinyl (and nothing else, honest). My tastes have since mutated along an increasingly breakbeat-laden journey into my DJing weapon of choice, which is now drum'n'bass. Still as a comparative newbie to the scene I'm not sure i'm allowed to get all retrospective yet ;-) but if i had to name early influences, I'd call out the likes of PFM, Bukem and Peshay, largely down to the theft of my room mate's old Logical Progression mix CDs.

Arriving at uni up north I was grabbed by the then strong drum'n'bass scene back then and started rolling out dnb demos, bagging my first club booking about four years ago at seminal night Sophonic Sessions; I spent most of the next three years playing regularly around Liverpool, bagging a couple of residencies along the way. I've also stuck my proverbial DJ oar in over the years at various cities all round the UK, the highlight probably winning a competition to play b2b with the great Bailey at the Ministry of Sound, after moving back to the capital in search of more dnb in the Summer of 2006. Since then I've spent some time getting my teeth into the London scene as well as securing further bookings inside the UK and out.

Having developed a love for radio I also ran my own weekly radio show on Internet station (and former stalwart of the pirate scene) Keen FM for a year or so, and have played on Dublin 104.6 FM, WitnesstheSickness radio, Bassdrive and London's Life FM and Manic FM. In November 06, myself and partner in crime Sharper joined the family of London's finest, Rude FM 88.2. Catch us playing 2-4 pm each and every Sunday on 88.2 on your FM dial in and around the London area, or alternatively check the online stream @ http://rude882.servemp3.com. In January 07 we gained an additional show on internet station Kunninmindz, where you can now catch me every other Tuesday from 8pm-10 @ www.kunninmindz.com.

A real highlight came in February 07, years of hard work finally paying off in my selection for the final four of the XtraBass 07 Breaking New Talent competition by the panel of 1Xtra judges. Entered this on something of a whim, so it was a rather pleasant surprise. I managed to progress and win the competition after two rounds of public voting and live mixing, bagging myself a set on the XtraBass tour at Birmingham's Medicine Bar alongside Flight, Alix Perez, Sabre & Crissy Criss. Then they went and made a documentary about it all. Watch / laugh at me here here.

First & foremost, I would say I definitely try to 'go somewhere' with each mix that I do, a habit which no doubt stems from a year or two dabbling in Prog House. Set construction seems such a neglected trait in this music. These days my tastes generally veer more towards the more, well, musical end of the spectrum... Liquid, techy, darkside or anything inbetween, I'd say i mix up all genres of quality drum'n'bass. Still plenty of it about. Having taken inspiration (like so many) from the likes of Andy C and Friction when learning, I still hold showmanship in high regard, but believe it's more than possible to mix with creativity and impact and still retain musical integrity *strokes beard*.

Selection wise, I have always been well into foreign producers like State Of Mind, Gridlok, Noisia, Teebee and Tactile, not to mention UK heads like Break, Matrix, Commix, D Bridge, Klute and the one and only Calibre. The new breed of talent breaking through in the last year or two have really hit the spot for me too and I'm often playing stuff by Icicle, Saburuko, Lynx, Alix Perez, Survival and so on. Good to see decent dancefloor making a return from the likes of Xample, Culture Shock, Lomax etc too. Historically nothing touches the old Ram sound for me, coupled with a lot of love for the Bad Company and Virus of years gone by... Goes without saying I guess!

Lots of shouts are due to all the crews at Keen FM, NWDNB, Rude FM, Kunninmindz & 1Xtra who have helped me out along the way. Respect also to my boys Sharper & Ascension back in the southeast, in for the duration!

      

On this page:

A wide selection of my demos from the past few years are to be found here, with some rather shakier older ones lurking in another folder, for history's sake. Also peep some very accomplished guest mixes from a variety of up and comings, all of whom's mixes I obviously rate enough to host on my page ;-) ... Each rolling tightly through various flexes of quality music.

If any listeners want a CD of any of the mixes below or to book me to play some records, drop me an email using this site's function or hit me up on aim as thegrimeydj. Finally, all my studio mixes on this site will fit on one 80 minute CDR, should anyone wish to burn their own copies.