This was written by Blocko fro Pharcyde - hopes it sums things up for ya

Born in London, bred on the turntables of Cape Town – that’s Tobie Allen. He traces his interest in dance music back to the Gardening Club in Covent Garden watching the likes of Sasha and Dave Dorrell, but it was only after moving from the UK to South Africa back in ’94 that Tobie Allen really found his groove. Now, 10 years down the line, he is one of the most recognisable faces in the South African dance scene. He’s the first to pick up on future classics, can always be relied on for a set of positive, pumping, uplifting tunes to suit any occasion and is, without doubt, the most versatile DJ currently playing the circuit.

It all started with a Friday night residency in ’94 at a Club called Nexus and since then, his chronology of residencies reads like a history of Cape Town dance culture from ‘in-the-know’ hangouts like Rush and The Boiler Room to the more commercial Sky, Fez and seasonal Zone parties. He’s also played the hottest spots around the country like ESP in Johannesburg and Durban’s Club Crash and 330 and, on past trips back to the ‘Old Country’ Tobie cooked things up at the Muzik Mag party and has even played at the UK’s leading club at the moment “ Goodgreef “. Club DJ? Yeah, sure, but if you ask the fans, they’ll tell you that it’s the big stage where Tobie really comes into his own.

Take, for example, the annual Synergy New Year’s Eve party in Cape Town – the biggest celebration of music and dance on the African continent. Tobie is the only DJ who’s played every Synergy since it’s inception in ’95 and, as Synergy Promoter Giovan Portuesi says, “Synergy without Tobie wouldn’t be the same – the fans love him, he’s a consummate pro who loves the job and he happens to be damn good at it – from a dance promoter’s point of view, it doesn’t get much better!”

Although at his best playing to a crowd Tobie had also made a name for himself as a radio jock playing regular slots on Good Hope FM, the Cape’s largest listenership station, and taken steps into production having a track selected for the groundbreaking Future Sound of Cape Town album. A recent collaboration with Magnetic has led to the release of two tracks through BMG international and his latest offering, “Tell Me” made it to no. 5 on the dance charts.

Like many of the country’s top DJ’s, Tobie has been actively involved in promoting dance culture since his legendary club nights at the Boiler Room back in the mid -90’s, so it comes as no surprise that he was a co-founder of Cape Town’s very first ‘Super-club’ – Unity – in early ’99. Just when the House crowd seemed to be dwindling, trance and hard House kept packin’ em in at Unity and continued to do so every weekend for two years. With the best resident DJ line-up in town, Unity reminded everyone what a great night out was all about and introduced local dance fans to the ‘Club Night’ concept by hosting Nukleuz, Global Underground, Sundessential, Tidy Trax and Frantic.

One must not forget the infamous KINKY nights Tobie held which regularly packed out with all the glitz and glamour trendoids there were in South Africa. Holding no less than 30 Kinky nights around the country – the only person to promote a single brand around the nation. Along with his timeless DJing gigs Tobie’s promoting continued to provide Cape Town with many legendary nights, amongst them that stood out are the Slinky tours and the Playboy Easter Bunny Ball which received national T.V coverage.

After being snapped up by Cape Town’s leading superclub, “The Gallery” to head up their international tours and pr department and along with residencies at “ The Lab, The Fez, Mink, Caprice and the world famous celebrity hang out Rhodes House (all on the funky side of things) Tobie was prepared for a very big future promoting and furthering an already dynamic DJing career.. Busy……very busy.

Tobie is now back in the land of tea and scones where he has launched three new nights encapsulating his ethos of fun, debauchery and his love of music under the umbrella 'Bootleg Social'

The future of dance culture may be uncertain, but one thing’s for sure – Tobie Allen will be right there leading the way armed only with a box full of vinyl and an amazing ability to rock any dance floor, any time, anywhere.

Bootelg Social Solutions

www.bootelgsocial.com


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