www.AudiationMagazine.com
10
I've had a fairly long history in the music industry, starting when I purchased my 1st pair of belt drive decks back in 1999 from Hard to Find Records.
This turned out to be a huge turning point in my life, I didn't realise what an impact this day would have on me. Thinking it would just be a hobby, it soon become apparent it was more than that!
Fast-forward a few months, I was eager to get my hands on the most upfront UKG and wanted a way to be more involved in the music industry. So I went to HTFR to do some record shopping, but this time with a copy of my CV in my hand, applying for a job while looking for some fresh snipers! After working my way through various departments I was soon picked by the Head Vinyl Buyer to take on the role of Garage buyer due to my knowledge of the UKG scene, some of the contacts I already had and my ability to know what was going to be big before the general public were aware. He knew I was good at predicting what would sell because I was constantly on his case, bringing updates on a daily (sometimes hourly lol) bases of what to look out for, and what we can't miss out on.
From there I built strong contacts and made friends with the scenes largest labels, producers & DJs from all over. This helped me with supplying exclusive releases from some of the key players from back in the day, labels like Ice Cream Records and Love Peace & Unity to more recent bassline labels and grime releases. This obviously came to an end when HTFR stopped selling new vinyl.
At that point I took a step back from the industry for a while concentrating on other projects until my friend messaged me about bringing an old station back called Mix FM, which was big back in the 90s and early 2000's across the Midlands. He wanted me to have my own show, I had done some radio way back in 2000 (Real FM) and remembered how much I enjoyed it. Once I accepted the offer & presented my 1st show, it brought back my passion for music and DJing. I stayed on Mix FM for a few years, until its unfortunate end, but at this time I was already moving onto Birmingham's leading underground station Silk City Radio. This was a radio station that heavily influenced me during my early days of DJing (or trying to DJ). After bringing my following from Mix FM to Silk City and gaining their listeners too, I had a pretty large listener base. This then lead me to being asked to join Grant Nelson's D3EP