Ben Sims - Essex Rascals - Podjam 001 - 2008

Biography of Ben Sims

Ben Sims had his first decks at age ten. Schooled on mix tapes by the likes of Bambatta, DJ Cheese and Froggy, and with his musical roots in reggae, funk, disco, electro, rare groove and hip-hop, by his mid teens he was spinning at after-hours 'blues' houses and a few years later came the acid house explosion with pirate radio and clubs. Skip forward ten years and you’ll find he’s one of the UK’s biggest techno exports and a much in demand producer.

Ben runs 4 labels (Ingoma/Hardgroove/Native/Theory), each one with a distinctive sound, ranging from hardgroovin’ and funk driven techno and house that is the trademark of his DJ sets, via tribal, to melodic electronica. In a genre that propagates sound-a-likes, Ben Sims productions have gained widespread attention and feature regularly in the boxes of his own personal heroes like Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Jeff Mills and Rolando, whilst also attracting crossover appeal that has seen Carl Cox, Fergie, Judge Jules and even Tiesto drop the odd sims cut. He has remixed Jeff Mills, Green Velvet, Blake Baxter, Marco Bailey, Chris Liebing and Adam Beyer and has a forthcoming artist album on the forward-thinking UK label Peacefrog.

The past 6 years have seen Ben constantly touring and tearing up dancefloors at legendary clubs & parties like- Liquid room, Tokyo, Sonar, Barcelona, Limelight. NYC, Rex, Paris, Zouk, Singapore, I love Techno, Belguim and Tresor, Berlin, Awakenings, Amsterdam and Atomic jam, England plus hundreds of others with his tight, energetic and skilful brand of 3 deck wizardry. Add this to his recent ventures into promoting with both the Retro_vert and Split parties causing a storm in London, a monthly internet radio show with Split co-promoter Chris Finke and a new mix cd lined up for Billy Nasty's 'Torture Chamber' series, there's certainly no sign of things slowing down anytime soon for Mr Sims.

http://www.myspace.com/theoryrecordings

Chris Finke - Essex Rascals - Podjam 001 - 2008

Biography of Chris Finke

Chris Finke is 25 years old, lives in Northamptonshire, and has been DJing for over 10 years. Beginning his career as a hip-hop and electro DJ (he has twice entered the DMC UK Mixing Champs.), he went to his first 'rave' at the age of 15 and was hooked on dance music immediately. Between the years of 1991 and 1994, he played at countless clubs, raves and parties all over the UK, at venues such as the legendary ECLIPSE, The QUE CLUB and MILWAUKEES, alongside residencies at THE VAULT, and his own HEADPHUNK in the midlands (as well as guesting in Europe and in Canada). Becoming increasingly disenfranchised with the way the UK 'clubscene' was developing, Chris decided to concentrate on his chosen career, first in hotel management, and afterwards as a radio DJ and voice over artist and put his Djing on hold.

After a 4-year hiatus, Chris decided to return to the DJing, but knew the only way to make any inroads into the highly competitive scene was to promote his own events, and the first 'FLUX' event was held in Birmingham at the end of 1997. With a strictly 'Quality Techno and Electronic Music' policy, the 'FLUX' nights have now moved to London, and is set to become the most exciting new promotion in the capital, playing host to world class guest DJs, such as CLAUDE YOUNG, DJ BONE, SUBURBAN KNIGHT, ROBERT HOOD, OCTAVE ONE, and a forthcoming live set from the legendary PHUTURE 303. The FLUX record label will be launched in mid 2001, reflecting music from the FLUX nights, and featuring tracks from both established producers, as well as new up and coming talent including Chris himself. The aim with the FLUX parties is to try to put the funk back into the London techno scene-too many nights are booking the same DJs who play the same records all night, and Chris is purposely steering away from this trend, booking DJs and artists who make Quality music with a big following but aren't getting gigs in London

As for his Djing style, Chris combines his hip-hop skills with seamless blending as he mixes all forms of techno; from pure deep Detroit and Latin style house, techno and electro, to harder edged tracks. On his style and technique, Chris comments: 'No matter what the style of music I am playing, the most important thing I do is keep it FUNKY. There are too many 'techno' DJs who play hard for the sake of it, but at the end of the day, no matter how technically good you are behind the decks, there's no funk whatsoever in just playing linear beats and monotonous loops all night long. I always put 110% into everything I do-I don't plan my sets, I watch the crowd, I don't play obvious records, and I'm not afraid to take risks behind the decks. I like surprising people-I make sure I keep them on their toes and make it as exciting as I can'.

http://www.myspace.com/chrisfinke