It took John O'Callaghan just a few short
years to outrun the 'next big thing' tag and switch over onto
the A-list fast track. A masterful spinner, his high-octane
trance mix coupled with a highly-refined precision mixing
style has seen him surge up through the DJ ranks. Spinning
his first Radio 1 Essential Mix in the summer of 2008, the
gifted 27 year old was one of only 4 trance DJs to do so during
the year. Immediately following that he made his debut in
DJ Magazine's Top 100 DJs rundown, arriving at No.60. In the
2009 chart he became one of the year's highest climbers, leaping
36 places into the world's top 25 and cementing his place
as Ireland's foremost DJ & producer. In his home country
he has picked up the Best Producer and Best DJ trophies at
the Irish Dance Music Awards for 2 consecutive years; decisively
conquered the notoriously competitive testing ground of Ibiza
and was the first Irishman to play Trance Energy. In 2010
he has entered the inner circle of electronic dance superstardom.
Production: Since making his first moves into music production
6 years ago, O'Callaghan's notched-up over 35 productions
and released them on some of the most respected labels in
the industry. Early club-thrillers like 'The Chamber', 'Exactly'
& 'Space & Time' became mainstays of DJs sets and
along the way prompted Paul van Dyk to comment that he is
"one of the most exciting producers in the world today"..
Soon after, John produced 'Big Sky'... Off the back of an
extended 4-month-long club & radio hammering from the
big 5, it was voted the No.1 trance tune of 2007 on Armin's
ASOT show. From there 'Big Sky' took on a life of its own
and has now reached the status of a modern trance classic.
John also produces through a number of pseudonyms, including
Joint Operations Centre and J.O.C. Under the latter he displays
his affinity of techno-fringed productions, supported by a
who's who of techno and progressive jocks.
'Never Fade Away' & 'Subculture': In the latter half
of 2009 John again reached into the heartland of electronic
dance with both his second artist album and the first edition
of his new compilation series. Containing the hit singles
'Find Yourself', 'Never Fade Away' (which respectively featured
Sarah Howells & Lo-Fi Sugar on vocals), his Giuseppe Ottaviani
collaboration 'Our Dimension' and the increasingly popular,
'Out of Nowhere' broadened John's appeal yet further still.
Conquering the hearts & minds of both fans and press,
it scaled the highest reaches of global dance charts, and
burned through high rotation radio playlists worldwide. 'Subculture'
quickly followed - an innovative hybrid artist/mix album that
premiered freshly produced material including 'Cramped', 'Backup'
& 'Striker'. Tracks that went on to be wholeheartedly
hammered by deeper-minded DJs including Sander van Doorn &
Marco V.
DJ: John caught his first DJing break playing on national
Irish radio station 2FM's 'Sessions Tour'. From the DJ booth
he has gone on to throw trance-fire onto the floors of some
of the world's highest-profile clubs, arenas and festivals.
Counted amongst them are Planet Love & Lush, WMC in Miami,
Rain in Las Vegas and Creamfields. He is also a regular fixture
in Ibiza, roadblocking Cream @ Amnesia throughout the course
of summer 2009 (and already booked to the same in '10), as
well as his yearly trip to Eden for Judgement Sundays. O'Callaghan
has also expanded his fan-bases into Eastern Europe and North
& South America (playing Sunrise Festival, San Francisco's
LovEvolution, LA's Monster Massive, and his Brazil/Paraguay/Argentina
tour inside the last year). In March of 2009 John played the
main-stage at Trance Energy – now universally regarded
as the pinnacle apex of the trance calendar and in 2010 he
has also taken one of the much-prized residency positions
on Godskitchen's 2010 Global Gathering World Tour.
