| Vinylgroovers actual
name is Scott, he is one of the younger DJs out there but
a famous name on the Happy Hardcore scene. He started DJing
at the age of 13 and the years of practice have made him a
top DJ. Hanging around in Fusion Records in Portsmouth Vinylgroover
became friends with DJ Ramos and started working in the shop
which lead to his great involvement in the hardcore / old
skool scene.
After being booked for a few parties on the scene Vinylgroover
has become an established DJ for most of the Happy Hardcore
events including Dreamscape, Helter Skelter, Diehard and many
more.
Vinylgroover has set up several record labels amongst which
are "World of Obsession" and "Big Beats".
He has also released a number of records under the alias of
"Midas" in collaboration with Chris Grayston and
set up a PA under the name "Elevate". The best known
of these are "Time", "Freedom 2 Dance"
(jointly with DJ Brisk) and "Wishing On A Star".
Vinylgroover Profile
Vinylgroover is one of the hottest Hard dance producers
around at the moment with releases and remixes coming thick
and fast on labels from Tidy to Split to BMG. With his tracks
featuring in all hard dance compilations and DJs sets. With
recent DJ bookings at Tranzaction, Eyecon and Goodgreef, 2004
looks set to be his year. Under the guise of Kontakt his take
on the Euhritmics - Sweet Dreams is set for major release
through Nu-Life and looks set to be one of the biggest Dance
tracks of the year..
Brief Background:
I have been dj¹ing for 12 years, starting back in the
rave days at events like Fusion (where I also worked in their
record shop), Dreamscape, World Dance, Helter Skelter etc.
My first gig was at 14 years old at Sterns in Worthing alongside
Carl Cox & Ratty, Colin Dale and Grooverider. I left school
a year early to work in the local record shop, at that point
was I was only being paid in records but the experience was
fantastic as it taught me a lot about how the scene works
& I met a lot of people, another bonus was being first
to new tracks! After a few years I was doing around 6 gigs
a weekend all over the uk & was also touring abroad. I
decided to move on from the rave scene in 1999 as I felt it
was time to move on, I was really into all the hard house
& trance that was being released at the time and decided
to make the progression into this scene. It was quite hard
at first & a big decision to make as people were used
to my old sound but as soon as I started red records &
recording with Nukleuz it all fell into place pretty well.
I joined the Nukleuz team at around this time & recorded
tracks like "move your body, rok da house & gotta
have house etc". These went down real well & I joined
the Nukleuz agency which got me some great exposure. I parted
company with the Nukleuz agency early this year and have been
working with many more labels now as well as still playing
& touring all over the world.
You have played as an old skool sets
as well as a hard dance, where are you at musically and what
would you now class your self as
I would class myself as a hard dance DJ defianatly. I do
play the occasional old skool set as back in 92 to 94 I loved
the music that was around and wouldn¹t be doing what
I am today without it. The old-skool bookings are limited
though, there are only a handful of promoters I do this for
and we always have a great night! Also in Ibiza I will do
the occasional funky set at the bars before the main events,
to be honest I¹m a complete music junkie, I love it all,
the tougher edged stuff is my passion though.
How and when did you move into production
I started writing tracks in 1993, working with sunset in
Southamton and my partner Jim (the red hed) in Portsmouth.
I felt it was the obvious thing to do, I was playing all these
big events every week & knew what I wanted from a record.
The production side of things has been as successful &
as enjoyable though, the buzz is amazing when you can play
your track out & the crowd loves what your doing, there
is nothing qite like that feeling.
What guises do you produce under
I have produced under many names, including bb & p with
tidy & red recs, digitech, Midas, Skylab nine, Style 2
& more. One that you may be very familiar with is Kontakt
which I am part of the production team for, we had a top 20
track last Year with "show me a sign" and are releasing
"sweet dreams " later this year, although a bit
more mainstream in sound We always put tougher vinylgroover
mixes in the pot.
What have been your favourite releases
and whats coming up
I do put my all into all the productions so it is difficult
to single out one or two of them. If I had to I¹d say
move your body was a massive release for me as the hard dance
scene really embrased the track and started looking out for
all my releases!! Everlasting & hells drums were also
big records as we try not to stick to the same formular. I
like the fact that when you pick up a Vinylgroover & red
hed track you know we are not going to be doing the same as
anyone else and its also going to be different to our last
production. We try to keep everything moving forward all the
time which is why I love it, we never really have a set plan
for the studio, if it sounds wicked we just go with it
You seem to have releases and remixes
everywhere at the moment, in record shops, dj sets and mix
compilations, how has this happened so suddenly and are things
really taking off for you
The last 6 months have been amazing, BMG gave us the chance
to work on a new label with them (Split records) which was
amazing as we could mould a new style for this label, no rules,
no particular style. So it was really just a case of getting
in the studio & trying some different things and the response
was fantastic. Great producers like Marco V & BK were
loving it and now we have everyone from real underground clubs
to Dave Pearce & Judge Jules on Radio 1 giving the tracks
full support. Also clubnights like Goodgreef, Tranzaction
& Eyecon etc are giving the sound total support so it¹s
a good feeling knowing that clubbers all over the country
are into it It wasn¹t planned to happen, we just did
our own thing & wanted to make class music which was hard,
uplifting & pumping!
Who would you most like to colaborate
with
I have a lot of respect for all producers that are trying
to contribute to our scene, it all helps us evolve & move
forward, I have been in the studio latley with Rob Tissera
& Anne Savage which was awesome as they are both so into
what they do and have so many good ideas. I would love to
work with BK at some point (we are in the process of sorting
some days out) and also Marco V.
Whats your view on Tranzaction and
the clubbers
I love Tranzaction and I think things are going from strength
to strength for them. The club and crowd are really open to
hear new music and the atmosphere makes it a top event to
play. Its really friendly there and everyone is talking about
it wherever I go. Its nice to be a part of something that¹s
fresh & trying to push things in a unique direction, I
cant wait to play there again!
What have you got coming up this year
There are a lot of releases waiting to come out this year,
the next big one is "midnight express" on split
recs, this has been played 5 weeks in a row now on jules show
and my phone has been off the hook for the release which is
early August. Also "the answer " on tidy trax, Hopscotch
on Split as well as "almost human". Sweet Dreams
is also going to be a major release with Nu-life recs on bmg
which already looks huge & is gaining support all over
the world. We also have projects with Duty free/intensive
& Riot records to finish too so its all go. On the dj
front you will be able to catch me play at Tranzaction, Goodgreef,
the Honeyclub in Brighton, Eyecon, Wales and more in the uk
as well as tours abroad so hope to see you all out and avin
it at all the clubs over the rest of the year!
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