Pilgrim first started dj’ing back in 1987 when back then, he
was a hip-hop scratch dj using 2 copies of the same record
to do loads of trickery like using his nose, knees or elbows
to work the cross fader and generally scratching records up
beyond recognition, which later became one of his
specialties from his Hip Hop years.
After a while he found the music in hip-hop had started to
change to slow gangster rap whilst at the same time the rave
scene had started to grow. As he got more used to the rave
sound, he liked what he heard as the music was uplifting,
energetic and everyone into the music seemed so happy, which
is what hip-hop used to have, so at that point he made the
decision to switch over to play what is now known as
hardcore.
Dj’s that used to inspire him from those early days where
dj’s that mixed it up, which came from his years as a hip
hop scratch dj so whether it was in the way of cuttin,
crossfading or doubling up the records, dj’s he would listen
to would be Hype, Sy, Mickey Finn, Ratty & Carl Cox.
Pilgrim’s first major event he played at came along because
he had played at a few other clubs in the midlands so he was
quite well known in the are, and a lot of his mix tapes had
done the rounds so people knew about his mixing styles from
his hip hop background. He became the resident at Quest
because he and a few friends actually approached the club
owners where Quest was held, as they were thinking of doing
a night there themselves. Not long after approaching the
owners, he got a call from them saying they were putting on
a night and would like him to play, and that was the
infamous 1st ever Quest night on Saturday 19th September
1991, Palomas, Wolverhampton, with Top Buzz, Rap & Pilgrim
after which he became resident.
Soon after, Pilgrim became a household name across the UK in
the 1992 - 93 era, as he played at some of this countries
biggest and best parties such as Quest, Pandemonium, New
Age, World Party, New Dawn, Blast, Dance Planet, Helter
Skelter, Total Kaos, Infinity, Kinetic, Mind Blown, Bangin
Tunes, Dreamscape, Amnesia House, Fibre Optic, Milwaukee's
(Equinox), Dance Nation, Fantazia, Summer Dance Festival,
Vision, Entropy, Obsession, Adrenalin, Inter Dance, The
Edge, Starlight, Heaven On Earth, Zest, Vibealite, Dance
Trance, Reincarnation, Devotion, Innersense,Fusion, Tribal
Gathering, Perception, Phobia, The Pleasuredome, Frequency,
Destiny, Fun-de-mental, Labrynth, Diehard, Southern
Exposure, Rezurection, Ardshock, Asylum (Bowlers), AWOL,
Warehouse(Doncaster), Uprising, The Drome (Birkenhead),
Sutra, Sunrise, Spellbound, Double Dipped, Planet Earth,
Origin, Hypnotic, Evolution, Distruxshion and many more but
the biggest crowd he ever played to was the massive Fantazia
at Castle Donnington with an estimated 40,000 people there
at which he played on the main stage and played the midnight
set.
When Pilgrim first started dj’ing he was able to be
versatile, so his music appealed to a wide audience, but
about 1993 he felt that the rave scene started to make a
change for the worst as some of the music that was around at
that time got very dark sounding and started to attract the
moody element, whereas some of the music was happy &
uplifting which he preferred as the crowds seemed to be
friendly & more up for a party. This was a turning point in
his career as he made the decision to play the happier,
uplifting music as he preferred the up for it crowds but
found it quite hard to shake off the label as a Jungle dj
because were he came from, most of the clubs in the midlands
catered for that style of music.
After a while the hardcore music went faster & harder and
seemed to rip off all the old classics and cartoon themes,
so he took a back seat from it all until about 1998 when he
started playing more of the old original tunes from his
favourite era for music which was 91-92, as there were so
may class tunes about which to this very day still get
played and still get a really good response, and at that
point he started up his own old skool night in Wolverhampton
called Reminiscence.
Not long after that Pilgrim hooked up with the guys from
Flashback as they too, were ex old skool ravers, and were
putting on small parties totally dedicated to the old skool
classics. Since then the old skool scene has once again
risen with all-nighters and club events all over the country
dedicated to the music.
Pilgrim still plays out most weekends, mainly in the
Midlands & up North, but the style he plays is the style
he’s best known for which is the Old Skool Hardcore sounds
of 1991 - 1993. You can normally catch him at illusion,
Hardcore Till I Die, Rizzen, Absolute Old Skool, Flashback,
Reminiscence, Slammin Vinyl + many more old skool events up
& down the country.
DJs
