DJ Phantasy

Dj Phantasy has been Djing for just over 16 years now and his determination and vibe has not hindered since the day he first touched the sacred 1210's. Coming into the music when Acid House was at its foundation roots, he soon found his love for the music was to strong to ignore. When Phantasy started Djing back in those hazy days, the scene was still so fresh that the Dj's could get away with pretty much anything. The one thing Phantasy concentrated on was his mixing technique and this was one of the things that got him noticed. Dj Face and Mickey Finn were some of the first Dj's to recognize his ability and they soon started letting people know about him and started to recommend Phantasy to promoters for bookings. Shortly after that Carl Cox decided to sign him to his agency. This was a massive step for Phantasy who suddenly started playing in the maddest towns and cities all over the world. Towns that you would drive through and it would be so empty that he used to wonder if he was in the right place. But when he got to the party, oh my gosh, he soon found out where the whole town were. They were in the rave.

Phantasy made his first record in 1989 called 'Jepron' which was a mix of piano, big bass & a programmed 808 drum break. It was Phantasy's love of the Breakbeat that propelled him to the nether reaches of the earth. When he made the club classic 'Never Try The Hippodrome', with long time Dj partner Gemini, it was a fusion of Hip Hop meets Jungle Techno which to the masses was a breath of fresh air from the 4 to the floor sound that was around. The whole Jungle movement was to be born from tunes like this, with only Top Buzz, Mickey Finn and Phantasy himself playing this new sound that was about to take the world by storm.

Phantasy recalls one night in Bristol where he played at an event that was jammed to the rafters with people. "This guy came up to me and said that the Jungle Techno I was playing was tearing and my set sounded like the same beat was playing for the whole of it". That's the moment Phantasy knew that Jungle was going to be massive. So being one of the founder members of Jungle/Drum n Bass, Phantasy just grew with the music.

In 1994 when the ragga element came in, Phantasy, as always, wanted to be playing something different and not running with what was happening now and trying to find a new way forward. It was then that he discovered Drum n Bass 'Hard Step'. It was a clean sound for Drum n Bass and not like the clangy beats of Jungle. This was hard to break through with only Grooverider playing the same kind of stuff. It wasn't until Groove made a statement that the music was called 'Hard Step' that the scene decided to take it seriously. At that time Phantasy's phone started to ring with promoters saying to him "You play that Hard Step don't you". This was a bit annoying as it seemed that no-one wanted to make a judgement for themselves but follow the scene like a lost sheep. That was in 1996 and with his links with Alex Reese, Phantasy had all those massive Drum n Bass classics like Pulp Fiction and the like.

Over those few years Phantasy helped pave the way for Drum n Bass to explode in countries like Canada and various parts of Europe. Phantasy was the man who brought Dj Hype, Andy C, Flux, Randall, Fearless and many more to the shores of Canada and those Artists are still going there regularly to this day.

In 1997 whilst on a night out with Dj Hype, a personal friend of Phantasy, hype was chatting to Phantasy about tunes and Phantasy asked him why he always played commercial tunes and never dug deep to play some more daring tracks. Hype's reply was that he plays for the crowd and that his job was to entertain and not to educate. He said he was there to vibe up the place and after a long discussion about it Phantasy decided he needed to change the way he thought about Djing. He was always there banging on the door trying to break new music but it was the big tunes that had been out for a while that the crowd were responding to. That night Phantasy changed his whole outlook on the scene and the new Dj Phantasy was born.

Determined to start playing to the crowd and entertain instead of educate, he soon saw his bookings start to rise. He noticed that alot of the people who were known as Jungle Dj's were not around as much as they were and that this was a good a time as any to reinvent himself.
Playing alot of Old Skool parties over the years, Phantasy soon found he had a tag as 'An Old Skool Dj'. This annoyed him as he was still playing Drum n Bass but it was the Old Skool parties that were drawing the biggest amount of ravers and reviews. Phantasy has this quote about this which goes 'I'M NOT OLD SKOOL. I'M TRUE SKOOL'. Phantasy was just stating that he was true to the Drum n Bass sound and wasn't one of the people who ran to another music when Drum n Bass went through a bad patch. He stayed true to the music, all forms of it, old and new.

As the years went by he made some dancefloor smashers in the form of '44 Mag' and 'Easy Dred' and had remixes by some of the scenes greatest Artists. In 1997 he made his debut album, which went on to sell very well worldwide. On the album were Hype, Pascal, Probe and MC Fats to name but a few. Also, that year he went on to record a single with Sonia Redd, the mother of famous British RnB star, Shola Ama. That track entitled 'Music is my Life' was a full vocal track which done very well but was to far ahead of it's time. When Shy Fx produced 'Shake your Body', Phantasy suddenly started getting calls from various playaz in the industry. They were saying that he needed to remix the tune and bring it up to date. And that's exactly what was done. In 2003, new mixes hit the streets from Total Science and the man himself.

The future is looking great for Phantasy and the team of people who he works with behind the scenes. With his club night Devotion up and running now, having just celebrated it's 3rd Birthday, he has teamed up various promotions to co-host parties @ The Coronet throughout the year. He also hosts monthly club nights in Brighton, Germany and will be going back to Ibiza for a series of parties throughout the summer. Also he will be taking Devotion to the Greek town of Kavos. having signed many new Artists to his label, Easy Records, he has many future releases in the bag.

Having already helped set up the first ever Drum n Bass show on MTV, which currently runs on a Monday night, he has also helped set up similar shows in the USA and he has already been in talks with TV Stations in other parts of the world for more future ideas to help get out the message to the general public about our music. He feels that Drum n Bass has been a faceless music for far too long now and he is looking to change that forever. With videos for his new singles in the pipeline and always looking for fresh new talent, you will defiantly see much more from him and his associated labels.

Peace

Phantasy would like to thank God for giving him the greatest gift and talent in the world and he would like to thank his family for their support over the years. The late nights and early mornings. Love to my Mrs and my Two Daughter's. Thanx to all the people who have supported me through the years and to everyone who I have met. Big up to you all. I'm just here to try give you all back a little something. I hope you enjoy it.!!!!

CONTACT: phantasy@easyrecords.net