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'SUBWAYS'
I moved to Germany in December of 1988 as my fathers job took us abroad, whilst in Germany and a little later, the summer of 1992 to be exact that my foray into the dance music industry began.
The first set I played was at an illegal gathering on the outskirts of the city of Munster, it was there that I met up with 3 other English Djs, Dj Andy G, Dj Medusa, Dj Dicey, also as fate would
have it I met for the first time Robert Lauterwein and Gregor Enberdink, they were just getting started in the industry and were promoters and PA suppliers to the party, I didn't know it at the
time but they were to play a pivotal role in my dj career.
Bobby and gregs were to hold their first event just 2 months later and asked if I was interested in a warm up set, the event was to be held in a disused railway station in Hiltrup, a suburb of
Munster, they named the venue 'Subways' and it was to become legendary amongst the serving British service personal, ex-pats and the local clubbing population.
The club nights were held once a month, but that soon changed as word spread amongst the British personal and ex pats, 'Subways' would become the most successful venue in Munster, with regular
weekenders, they came from all over Germany as far as Hamln, Duisberg, Herford and Bielefeld just to be a part of it. The venue itself didn't start as a place of homage for the brits, it started
as a Techno/Acid night, but because I and the other aforementioned English djs started the nights with break beat and jungle warm up sets the venue started to attract a very diverse mix of
clientele.
Soon it was apparent that break beat was the favoured sound, this gave rise to the 'Lost it Posse', a group of British soldiers who later became known as the Mushroom Troop. The 'Lost it Posse'
grew and grew with members from all over Germany attending 'Subway' nights, and myself Dj Medusa, DJ Andy G and Dj Dicey would later be known as the XTC Dj team.
Sadly 1 year later the British forces were to reduce the numbers of troops stationed in Munster, this along with bobby and gregs leaving the venue for bigger and better things lead to the demise
of the venue, 'Subways' was finished. The venue later re-opened with different management under the name of 'CCCP' club, I stayed along with Dj Andy G for the remaining 6 months, but the venue
was never the same again.
The venue was then condemned and shut down after a fire, as it was not safe. I carried on playing out, however they were mostly illegal gatherings, in fields and private house parties for around
8 months, I was then contacted by bobby in Jan 95 as he and Gregor had a new location. This is where my career really began to take off.
'COSMIC CLUB'
The venue was situated in the heart of Munsters Industrial area, and also became known as the hawerkamp (pronounced haverkamp), the venue was a disused warehouse with the potential to attract
around 2,ooo clubbers, with 4 different dance floors and was a perfect replacement for 'Subways', it had a very underground look and feel to it, which was bobby and greggs all over.
The first event I appeared at was as a guest international Dj, with the likes of WestBam and Tanith, where I continued with the breakbeat theme, the success of this event would lead me to be
employed as a resident Dj with the 'Cosmic Club' which entailed one 2 hour set once a month, however it meant me switching to house as my chosen genre as breakbeat was wearing thin and it was
preferred by clubbers and promoters that breakbeat be kept for the big raves.
Playing a mixture of UK progressive/hard house and Dutch/German house, for up to at times 9 hours, I became a regular feature on the 'Cosmic Club' roster, I soon went from one set a month to at
times 3 sets a month. While I was a resident the opportunity for me to appear at bigger events presented itself, with me taking centre stage in the main arena for the Mystic land 1 rave, which
was held at the Hawerkamp, and would lead me to take part in all but one of the Mystic Land events and there were 6, on such occasions the venue could open up an out door arena, and together
with the 4 floors inside had a regular attendance of around 3 to 4 thousand revellers.
Following on from the first Mystic land rave in May, my birthday bash was probably my highest point from an experience point of view. The event was held in the September of 95. I topped the line
up which included Carl Cox also reuniting with Andy G and Mc Elite for my birthday bash. The event was once again held in the 'Cosmic Club' and to this day holds the record for the biggest
attendance in any club in the whole of Munster on a club night, over 3500 attended that night. My career was going from strength to strength and 96 was to be even better.
I was asked to be the official Numark Dj for Germany, an honour for any English Dj, this entailed travelling to exhibitions throughout Germany and demonstrating equipment, mainly to trade such
as the Frankfurt Music Messe, however on occasion would appear at events which Numark sponsored, this would include the love parade96 in Berlin. I appeared at the after event on behalf of Numark
to an estimated audience of 10 thousand partygoers.
Also of that year the 'Cosmic Club' went on tour taking in 11 clubs in the furthest corners of Germany, these included; Hanomag/Hannover, Reaktor/Munich, Poison club/Dusseldorf, Orpheum/Dortmund,
Subway/Bielefeld, Warehouse/Koln, Music Fabrik/Pirna, WM/66/Berlin, Glashaus/Worbis, Tunnel/Hamburg & Tribehaus/Neuss.
With the coming of 97 I was asked to appear once a week on Evo-Sonic Radio, this was a satellite radio, catering for dance music only, it had potentially an audience of millions as its network
stretched from Koln to St Petersburg in Russia, and to the West coast of Ireland down to Portugal, sadly the station closed after a year and was no more, however the radio station was to give
me an insight into the production side of things, and was to wet my appetite for the future.
I also appeared at the following 2 Mystic Land raves of 97, which were Mystic Land 3&4 and at Mystic Land three I was asked to play in three of the four dance arenas, a first for any of the
'Cosmic Club' residents, and a first for the 'Cosmic Club' the main arena being Trance, the second arena Drum & Bass and the last being House.
The following year 98 I was asked to appear at the Love Parade by bobby and gregor as they had started there Dj distribution Business 'Elevator Dj Equipment' they were going to have a
promotional wagon at the parade, this would be the first time I had participated in the actual parade, and what an experience that was. I had never seen a gathering of people on that
scale ever! It was enormous; people as far as you could see in every direction, they were hanging from lampposts, out of windows bouncing on the roofs of cars, just people everywhere.
My set consisted of Drum & Bass and included accompaniment on the microphone by 2 of Germany's leading Mc's, DMC Quincy and Da Wolf, also making a guest appearance was Mc Ribbs from England.
The estimated attendance was in the region of 1.8 million, sadly that was to be the last Love Parade as Berlin authorities denied permission for subsequent parades, as the city of Berlin could
not cope with such an influx of people. There have been smaller parades since 2000, however nothing on the scale as before.
Dj Mickey D
Evo Sonic had wet my appetite for radio so I applied to B.F.B.S, which stands for British Forces Broadcasting Service, changing my artist pseudonym from Dj Prime to Dj Mickey D. I was offered
the opportunity to provide a weekly mix for the Friday drive time show hosted by Jason King, it was only a half hour mix but other opportunities were offered such as the chance to
co-produce/co-present the millennium countdown, a show to be broadcast around the globe to forces personnel, the show consisted of dance music from the preceding decade, I provided all
the material for the show and a small part in the presentation. BBC Radio 1 and Carl Cox immediately followed the show.
By now the Cosmic Club was beginning to fade; bobby and gregor decided a change of scenery was in order, so once again they went looking for a new location. The Cosmic Club was no more.
I continued to work for B.F.B.S as a free lance Dj however with a change of management on the horizon and a dance scene in decline it wasn't long before I was on the move again, I finished my
time with B.F.B.S in October 2000.
Having had a very successful career as a Dj I decided to try my hand at promotion and events management, my first and only event was my 29th birthday bash. This event would take place in the
Cosmic Clubs old location, the Hawerkamp, the event consisted of 4 floors. And was it every bit the success I had hoped for, however something was missing, I had all this experience as a Dj
and had never been in a recording studio to record my own material and it was something I really wanted to do, so much so that I decided to return to England to attend university to obtain my
qualification in music production. So in 2002 I returned and attended Northampton University College where I gained a HND in Music Production, whilst there I was approached by the college to
teach, the subjects I taught were Dj Skills this included a variety of techniques such as off beat mixing/beat mixing, all manner of scratching/cutting skills, Sound Creation and
Manipulation/Sequencing and Events Management/Health & Safety, I left the college in 2005 to start my own business. I am now the managing director of Urban Audio Connection.
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