Thumpa

After listening to Dj’s like Seduction, Slipmatt, Ellis Dee and the Ratpack in 1992 when I was in my last year of primary school, I decided that I wanted to start buying records. I bought ‘Charly’ by the Prodigy in late 1992 when I was 10, and from then on I decided I wanted to start buying as many records as I could. A few years later I had loads of records but no decks because my Dad wouldn’t let me have them until I had 1000 records. He used to be a soul Dj in the early 70’s and he is a firm believer in listening to all kinds of music. He always has music on and is always trying to educate me about the history of music, which at first pissed me off but now I appreciate it, big up my Dad! When I was 13 I got some dodgy decks from a carboot sale and started mixing. I hadn’t been to any clubs and didn’t really know what to do, so I just messed around with the hundreds of records that my Dad had given me.

In 96 I listened to my first proper tape pack (Dreamscape 22) and it blew me away. The Dj’s mixing and the Mc’s lyrics put me in a trance and I fell in love with both hardcore and drum and bass. I found out what a few of the records were and went on a mission buying hardcore and drum and bass. I found myself leaning towards drum and bass and after sending off a few tapes to local promoters I got myself a few bookings at boat parties in Worcester alongside people like Dj Hazard and Ascend from Dred Bass. I was 15 and loved every minute of playing to a crowd, it made me rush that they were dancing to my records!

In 2000 I got myself a residency with Technique Recordings in Derby, playing regularly for Simon Bassline Smith’s nights. This opened my eyes to a lot of things in the scene; the way people help each other out with stuff, all the ins and outs of running nights and a label etc etc. It was about this time that I started playing on Kool FM’s sister radio in London, Pyrotechnic Radio. I learnt a lot from the people there and it was good experience playing on radio down in London. However in late 2001 I couldn’t find the kind of drum and bass I wanted to play, not many producers were making the bouncy stuff, and I was finding it hard to put a set together of brand new stuff. Around this time I was hearing some good quality hardcore on nights out, and so I started buying hardcore again. The cheese has almost been wiped out and the music is a lot deeper sounding these days, the music is forever pushing forwards. Since I’ve started playing hardcore again I’ve had a lot more bookings at places like Neo, Insomniacz and Rezonate.

My style has always been bouncy and relentless whether its been hardcore or drum and bass. I’ve always wanted to keep the hard and happy element in my sets, and when I used to play drum and bass I was always trying to make it sound as hardcore as possible. I’m always trying to play different sounding stuff and get bored quite easily with playing the same stuff over and over again, so I’m always on the lookout for new and different stuff, especially all the old bouncy techno that no one seems to play any more. No Dj’s have influenced me really, and I’ve never been one to copy someone else’s style, its just not right. A good Dj will have their own style and they will stick with it, and if their style is good and original then they’ll eventually get the recognition!

Shouts to my girl Katy, Mr Clipper, all the DFM family, the Lichfield crew and all my friends and family. Big up!

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