Set

Journeys Through Rave Podcast

by Dave Skywalker8 Sounds1 Follower

Who might play a deranged hardcore/jungle fusion of "When I'm Cleaning Windows" or "The Antiques Roadshow" to thousands of people on stage at Glastonbury and cause a mosh pit?

Who's jetted from Sweden to Canada to Detroit, over to Budapest, up to Edinburgh and back again?

Who's appeared on stage at the Ministry of Sound and at legendary rave organisations such as Fantazia, Slammin' Vinyl, Raindance, Moondance, Bang Face and many others?

Dave Skywalker ;)

Dave has always been into electronic music. By 1986, at the age of 8 he was listening to US house music and was already annoying his neighbours with that "boom boom boom" music. As house inevitably moved into hardcore around 1990, Skywalker was already known at secondary school simply by his nickname: "Hardcore"!

Come 1994 and Skywalker was producing mixtapes for friends and by 1996 had began producing his own music under the name "DJ Skywalker", distributing these tracks himself. During 1996 to 2000 he played in venues around Bournemouth, UK, as part of the University student union, most notably Bournemouths lapdancing club "LoveSexy" and The Gardening Club.

1999 saw the release of his first dubplate, "Time and Time", and after graduating in 2001 Dave released his first vinyl single on self-managed Nu Underground Recordings. The now infamous and considerably remixed, "Killerwhale", credited with being the first breakbeat hardcore tune released in the new 'old-skool' style, premiered on London's Hyper FM and remixed by numerous artists including Kniteforece legend Luna-C (part of old skool act Smart E's).

2003 saw Dave's DJ and production career take off and since then he's appeared on such labels as Hardcore Lives, Paranoid Recordings, Kniteforce, Nu Underground and Breakbeat Hardcore (BBHC) recordings and has worked collaboratively with many artists including Luna-C. He now maintains a steady stream of releases and in 2009 commenced work on his neo-rave label, Endor Recordings including artists such as Wizbit, Bustin, Skampy, Deluxe, and many more. In 2009 Dave also began work in collaboration with trackitdown.net to produce the worlds largest legal oldskool rave digital download store - oldskoolmp3.com.

Daves achievements have not gone un-noticed - in 2006 he was runner-up for best up and coming DJ at the Old Skool Awards, and the same year he was runner-up for best up-and-coming producer in the Musik4You Awards. Fast forward to 2010 and he was runner-up for the same categories in the Nu Rave Awards, this time not an up-and-comer, but fully fledged DJ and producer, only beaten by the one-and-only DJ Slipmatt! That same year he won the award for Best Radio Show on Breakpirates and in 2011 Dave reached the Relentless UK DJ finals held at the o2 arena (millenium dome) in London.

Dave now appears at rave events in the UK and internationally, playing hardcore with a breakbeat slant, and has travelled to Hungary, Belgium, Sweden and Canada, USA, and others. In recent years Daves popularity has been growing, thanks not only to his award nominations, but also due to bookings at venues such as the Ministry of Sound and events such as Raindance, Moondance, Bang Face, Hysteria, Epidemik, Vibealite, History of Hardcore, and other smaller events such as High Voltage and Cruze In.

To wrap things up, he's a dedicated and exhuberant DJ, known for his energy behind the decks as much as the energy in the music he plays. Every time he plays he loves, and he puts as much energy into his record label, his friends, and the ravers. Behind the scenes, he's known as a decent and trustworthy bloke too, which is nice :)

Who might play a deranged hardcore/jungle fusion of "When I'm Cleaning Windows" or "The Antiques Roadshow" to thousands of people on stage at Glastonbury and cause a mosh pit?

Who's jetted from Sweden to Canada to Detroit, over to Budapest, up to Edinburgh and back again?

Who's appeared on stage at the Ministry of Sound and at legendary rave organisations such as Fantazia, Slammin' Vinyl, Raindance, Moondance, Bang Face and many others?

Dave Skywalker ;)