DJ Shade Biography

 

DJ Shade began his DJ career in 1987 in Newcastle, Australia at just under sixteen years of age. With hip hop playing a major influence he took to the decks to learn the art of cutting, scratching and tricks which is better known today as, "turntablism".

After only twelve months on the turntables his extraordinary talent was exposed, reaching the finals of the 1988 NSW DMC Mixing Championships. By undertaking an interest in r'n'b, commercial dance/top 40 & acid house/hip house he was being not long after, booked to play at major house/dance parties in Newcastle's major dance club, The Castle Tavern. In 1989 & at the age of just seventeen and less than two years experience he had earned himself residency at The Castle Tavern on Friday and Saturday nights. It was not long after that Newcastle's only other major dance club, Leroys Bar, booked Shade as resident DJ for Thursday nights and shortly after The Castle Tavern giving Shade Wednesday night residency. At this time DJ Shade was working four nights a week as a resident DJ in Newcastle's two major night clubs, with only two years experience.

As techno music evolved through 1990-92 DJ Shade followed by introducing this new form of music and culture developing a big local following and staging rave/dance parties in the local halls/venues that Newcastle had to offer. It was at this time that the birth of "S Productions" came along staging events which attracted crowds up to 300+ which, at the time, was a large crowd for a rave/dance party in Newcastle. DJ Shade staged events which had not been seen on such a scale in the Newcastle region before with top Sydney DJ's playing at these unique events as well as Shade & other local DJ's including Mark N(Nasenbluten). Local followers and friends had by this time also acquired the services of DJ Shade for their functions including many 18th & 21st birthday functions as well as wedding receptions with the service by far, exceeding any other local "mobile DJ" standards with superb quality sound together with a spectacular light show.

With club management in Newcastle not supporting the evolution of techno/rave music, Shade focused on taking his turntable talent to the city of Sydney where huge rave/dance parties were being staged frequently and the rave/dance scene was booming. In 1992 he had earned himself residency at Humphreys (The Roundabout Hotel, Hurstville. Sydney), alongside top Sydney DJ's including Pee Wee, Nik Fish, Paul Holden, John Ferris and more. DJ Shade was, at this point, eager to make the move to Sydney as travelling weekly to Sydney for his residency at Humphreys wasn't convenient. In 1993-94 he had more exposure playing as a special guest at, the biggest club nights at the time, Stun (Neo Pharaoh on Wednesday nights), Brave (Zoom on Wednesday nights) and Plush (Sunday recovery) which was held at various different venues on Sundays. It was not until 1994 that he finally made the move to reside in Sydney and his talent was further exposed through his residency at a Sunday recovery, 'Sundaze', which attracted over 500 people.

In August 1995 the magnitude of his mixing ability was recognised when he, "played an awe-inspiring set" to win the Sundaze DJ Competition "with an overall score of 92%", "displaying a standard of mixing to inspire and amaze".

"Quotes taken from 3D World Magazine editorial August 14, 1995."

From this point on Shade continued to rise playing at major parties including Sonic, A Perfect World, Trip To Space, Global NYE 1995-96 where he played the midnight set leading up to international live act - Dyewitness, Ultra-Sonic (Leroys Bar, Newcastle), Utopia 2,3,4,5 & 6….., Love Nation NYE 1996 & 1998…., Colossus 2, as well as Dance Nation NYE 1997 where his set was described as, "At 5am, Shade once again exhibited his skill, hyping the crowd with his flawless scratching in what was most definitely the best set of the night"-3D World Magazine January 12, 1998.

With his versatility playing all styles of music he was also added as a resident DJ at Sydney's biggest Friday night hi-energy club, "The Vault" at The Roundabout Hotel, playing alongside DJ's Stevie B, Johnny Gleeson and Jewels. In 1997 he took to the radio co-hosting the Danceteria program on New Wave FM 99.3 and later hosting the program for the last four months of 1997.

In 1998 he hosted his own radio program "Versatility" at the prime time of 8-10pm on Saturday nights. He has continually been billed to play at many events from 1998 through to the present day including Laserdome events, Apollo Festival, Free Love, Someone's On The Decks, Nightbreed events, Mystic events, Happy Valley 2003, Back 2 Basics, Utopia NYE events, Once Upon A Time events and many more.

He has also, since leaving his hometown of Newcastle, had continuous ongoing bookings for private functions (birthdays, weddings etc) from the city of Newcastle based on the services provided prior to leaving in 1994. All functions were taken to the limit providing more than just a mobile DJ with the best in sound quality and spectacular state of the art lighting which few mobile DJ's, if any, could or would bother to provide. In the present day, nothing has changed, with a continuous demand for private functions with the same high level of production & professionalism that has always been provided. The mobile DJ service is now available from the Hunter Valley(Newcastle) region right down to the Illawarra(Wollongong) without additional expenses (i.e. travel, accommodation etc) and DJ Shade performs regularly as a DJ in Sydney at various dance parties as well as interstate events/clubs.

DJ Shade's performances have been described in a variety of editorials in 3D World Magazine as, "had the crowd in a frenzy with his sampling and mixing skills", "displaying a standard of mixing to inspire and amaze", "awe-inspiring set", "displaying his awesome scratching abilities", "brought the house down leaving over 2000 people in complete awe" and also in Concrete Press (Newcastle local music paper) as "high precision beat-mixing", and DJ Shade himself being described as "one of if not the most talented DJ's in the Sydney Scene"-3D World Magazine DJ

Shade has released 13 mixed tapes & 3 mixed cd's. Recent high demands have forced him to re-release the tapes on cd, which ranged from hi-energy to happy hardcore as well as a mixed tape series named "Rave Back In Time" for which he has released 6 tapes and more recently released Volume 7 on CD. The latest series launched have been the 'Energize" series which is a mix of hardhouse & trance and the "Mercury Rising" series which is a mix of club/hi-energy & clubtrance.

Due to the huge success of the Rave Back In Time tapes released, he then went on to promote under the now established "S Productions" name, staging "Rave Back In Time" parties which have been held in various Sydney venues with the theme being, the biggest, rarest and best anthems of the rave culture. These events are still known as one of the most talked about rave anthem events in Sydney & are much awaited in anticipation by a large majority of partygoers.

DJ Shade's standard and style of mixing is one to be reached by few, if any, throughout Australia. With his unique combination of precision beatmixing, imagination, turntablism skills and originality DJ Shade incorporates precision beat mixing, sampling, scratching & tricks to create what one could only describe as, a euphoric musical masterpiece. It is a common occurrence at any event that DJ Shade performs, that a crowd of partygoers flock beside/near the DJ box to watch over him and be amazed with the precision and technical skills of this truly amazing DJ.

With a musically open mind, he is one of Australia's most versatile DJ's specializing in, and playing, all styles of music. His predominant style at present is a combination of energy, trance & hard house/trance but he is still played at rave events and anthem events where his morning sets remain unrivalled to this day.

DJ Shade with his unique style of mixing, track selection & broad musical experience is guaranteed to bring any party to life making him one of Australia's leading and elite performers and entertainers. He is and will always be an inspiration to watch and to listen to whether you are just simply listening to the music or dancing the night through.

 

For more info including demo cd's or dj bookings click HERE to e-mail DJ Shade!