DJ Flapjack

http://defaultrecordings.co.uk/dj-flapjack-bio/ I have been DJing since 88/89 around the time of the Acid House era. The thing that inspired me to DJ was when I was still at school I was going out to the illegal raves such as Energy, Sunrise, Raindance, Perception and the infamous Braintree Barn with Mr C, Matthew B, Lenny D and Frankie Knuckles etc. I used to look at the DJ who was playing i.e. Sasha, Matthew B, Lenny D etc and think to myself “I could do that”, the way that the DJ was controlling the crowds in the rave’s really appealed to me. I went out and bought two second-hand Citronic decks, a crummy mixer and a tape deck and all this being totally new to me I didn’t even know how to set it all up! After asking my science teacher! at school what wires went where I was finally mixing it up day in, day out, driving my parents mad! After around six-nine months of practising I made my first tape and gave it out to a few friends, thinking back now the mixing was terrible but at that time it didn’t matter so much as people were just listening to the tunes rather than the mixing. After numerous DJing at local house parties it was a couple of years before I had my first proper booking at a rave called Innovation back in 1992, although a small venue I found myself DJing alongside LTJ Bukem, Ray Keith and the local elite DJ’s of Ipswich. It wasn’t long before I was gradually getting more play outs at events in my local area of Ipswich, and then Ipswich Community Radio started with a four week licence in September 93. It was my first time on the radio and I was asked to DJ on the Hot Mix Live slot-the DJ Challenge. During the time of 93-94 I was partying HARD, going out twice a weekend and during the week, and I was building a good reputation as a DJ in the area, playing at mostly all of the local events. It wasn’t until June 94 that things really picked up for me after I won the “Tape Of The Month” for Jungle in the well respected Eternity magazine, of which they sold through the magazine and gave me a write up. Soon after this I was approached by a promoter and asked to play at an event in Kings Lynn called Olympia, the Speedway Stadium in September 94, this was my first major big play out at a massive venue and was also co-promoted by DJ SS and his Total Kaos promotions co. I was DJing alongside DJ SS, Grooverider, Randall, Kenny Ken and Ratty as well as numerous Happy Hardcore DJ’s like Slipmatt, Vibes etc. The next event I played at was Olympia 2 at the same place and I was playing in the same arena (Jungle) as before this time with DJ’s such as Bryan G, Ray Keith etc, after the response I got from these two events I knew that this was the one thing I wanted to do, to DJ. With these two big events behind me I found I had more confidence DJing in front of a big crowd, it was totally different playing on a 20k rig rather than say 2k or smaller (as in house parties), I was also getting more involved in the in-depth side of things in D&B. By this I mean I was beginning to see the behind-the-scenes workings of how events were put together etc. I was also beginning to mingle in with the “inner-circle” of DJ’s, Producers etc and I was beginning to get some recognition/advice from DJ SS after the two Olympia events but I knew I still had a long way to go. Now after many years of playing out I have DJ’ed at many raves including Desire (which was my first major break to play at a massive venue i.e. the sanctuary in Milton Keynes 1995, big up the Phil/ Mick), the legendary Raindance, Best of British, Helter Skelter (I won a competition to play at the Energy 97 Festival.) as well as numerous club nights across the UK. I have also played out abroad over the years in Bremen, Germany (Lifeline Promotions), Stockholm, Normandy & Amsterdam (Rude F.M). Also i have had long term residencies on various Pirate radio stations such as Flex Fm, Don FM, Re-Load Fm, Rude Fm & Internet Radio Stations InterFace Fm, Gaia Live, UkRumble.com, planetdnb.com, worlddancefm.com & i am currently on www.dnbradio.com every saturday 9pm – 11pm GMT. I have also made several Drum and Bass tracks which were engineered by Cool Breeze for Dj Raps Proper Talent & Unique Muzique labels & Desires S.U.S Recordings label back in 1996/97. I am using a pseudonym for producing now going by the name of Phrase. With the birth of Default Recordings we aim to produce music that will catch the attention of the listener incorporating styles that i have experienced from the early Acid House era & Hardcore days right through to the present D&B scene today. Alongside the Default Recordings artists we feel we have the knowledge & that certain “edge” to be different from other labels & make an impact in the dnb scene.