From guest appearances on BBC Radio One, to hosting his own show on London’s prestigious Kiss 100, from exclusive residencies at 3 of the World’s most influential clubs (The Gallery, Cream and Ministry of Sound) to an ever increasing diary of guest slots around the world, John Askew is now enjoying the rewards of over a decade of consistently hard work. After spending most of his teens playing guitar in a variety of local rock bands, John’s musical alliance was suddenly disrupted when he attended a rave in Cornwall in 1993. He immediately ditched both his band and his beloved Les Paul in exchange for a pair of decks. After a year of practicing for up to 6 hours a day John made his club debut at the then notorious Acid House venue in North London - Woody’s. A few months later he blagged himself a slot at a rave in Wiltshire which in turn led to a residency for the then infamous Wiltshire based sound system “Code Red”. This position gave John the opportunity to regularly play to thousands of underground revelers that would loyally make their way out into the countryside every weekend to party in the open air. His sound was influenced by a mixture of the melodic German music that was putting Frankfurt on the map as the capital of trance, and the tougher, more percussive sounds of artists like CJ Bolland and Jeff Mills. At the end of 1995 overwhelming pressure from the police led the organisers of Code Red to move the parties from the fields into the clubs. With this move John started warming up for a host of top international techno names such as Billy Nasty & Dave Angel. He quickly established a name for himself and was subsequently booked to play a number of other high profile club nights including Universe’s legendary Final Frontier where John rocked the decks along side Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox. Over the next few years John found himself starting to a regular at Heathrow and Gatwick, traveling to Slovakia, Denmark, Sweden, France, Ireland and Amsterdam to deliver his now trademark sound. A sound and style that one Scandinavian radio presenter summed up as “…like watching Jeff Mills mixing but using Paul van Dyk’s records!!”. John’s debut appearance at The Extreme Club in Bratislava (Slovakia) was simultaneously broadcast on the national radio station Fun FM. Two hours into the set and there were still 1000 people waiting outside on a “one in one out” basis. This night was to be a significant turning point for John as it was the one event that began his obsession with radio. The next 5 years brought John residencies and guest slots at some of the coolest club nights in the South of England not to mention more trips abroad. In 1999 John teamed up with Bristol’s most respected techno dj, Simmer, to form Shimmy recordings. With highly acclaimed reviews from the national dance press and a huge underground following in the West Country, John began to gain a reputation for his unique writing and production skills which combined euphoric melodies with hard punchy beats. In 2000 John took up a touring residency for Universe (of Tribal Gathering fame). In one month john played 21 gigs across the country along side many of the world’s finest djs including Carl Cox, Timo Maas, Danny Rampling, Danny Howells, Way Out West and John “00” Fleming. On NYE 2000 John rocked the main stage at Ministry of Sounds’ infamous event at the dome. His technical wizardry on the decks in front of 26,000 clubbers led Ministry to offer him a residency at their world famous club - Ministry of Sound - London - where John was resident for 2 years. For these 2 years John rocked the main room at Ministry with his legendary end of the night 3 hour sets. Since 2001 John has been pushing his distinctive sounds to the masses through his now firmly established record label - Discover - which has seen releases from The Thrillseekers, Ralphie B, Pablo Gargano, Germany’s Kyau vs Albert, Backbeat and many others. Today, John has taken a step back from the running of Discover in order to concentrate on his new project - Kompressed Recordings. With Discover often being credited in the press as a trend setting label that separates itself from the ‘run of the mill’ commercial pop-trance that has flooded the UK market in the last 5 years, there are now a huge number of industry people and Discover fans keen to hear what the opening releases of Kompressed will deliver. His diary is full of dates at some of the world’s names in dance - including: Cream, Ministry of Sound, Slinky, God’s Kitchen and many more. Today, John has taken a step back from the running of Discover in order to concentrate on his new project - Kompressed Recordings. With Discover often being credited in the press as a trend setting label that separates itself from the ‘run of the mill’ commercial pop-trance that has flooded the UK market in the last 5 years, there are now a huge number of industry people and Discover fans keen to hear what the opening releases of Kompressed will deliver. Look out for forthcoming remixes from John on Kompressed, Discover, Lost Language and Fundamental Records in Holland. |
|
 | ||||||||
