For the best part of five years, one brand has been steadily building not only a reputation for putting on some of the best Hard Dance parties in the South, but also for giving Bournemouth a steady supply of legends to keep even the most discerning of ravers eagerly satisfied and anticipating the next event with awe. Having been host to some of both Hard Dance’s brightest shining stars and it’s darkest underground overlords (inclusive of the likes of Uberdruck, Mark EG, Organ Donors, DJ Slideout, Scot Project, Kutski, D.A.V.E The Drummer and Chris Liberator on the short list), it’s taken the hard graft of one aspiring Bournemouth underground DJ and his as equally hard working team to keep this road block party at the top of it’s game. That show stopping, thrill inducing party is Resonate and the DJ in question - is none other than Resonate’s head honcho SL-DJ.

A regular patron at the gone-but-not-forgotten Country Club events, SL-DJ has always been a devout follower of Techno and Hard Trance, something he has stuck with and passionately supported for the best part of a decade and with this enthusiasm and love for his scene has developed this into a promising DJ career, nicely spearheaded by his running of the Resonate events, which have seen him not only perform as part of his own branded line-up in his native Bournemouth but also tear the roof off as a guest for many other almighty brands including the likes of Fusion, HTID, Contact, Slammin Vinyl and Destiny.

He’s in the process of producing, when he finds the time of course as not only does DJ’ing, promoting and a day job keep him occupied, but he’s also the Director of A&E Management, whom currently manage the affairs of many a name you may well know and love including that of the arena smashing Organ Donors, who are also residents for Resonate. Here we talk to the man himself about performing, promoting, working hard and this Friday’s eagerly awaited Resonate debut at Crank in Bournemouth as they present the ‘UK Legends – Classics Showcase’.

You’ve been promoting for exactly how long now, where did it begin and was it always about Hard Dance? Tell us about the origins of Resonate?

I’ve been promoting for five years now, our first club was Passion, a sandwich and coffee bar during the day and cheesy gay bar at night, with an amazing underground club beneath it. Our friends from the Frenzy crew got us in there to host a second room for them (which was actually just the bar upstairs) (laughs). After that the owners decided to let us have the full venue, our first night was a success and we were hosting events in there for about six months before the club closed. I think the music policy was derived from my days as a Country Club goer; I loved that place and the music; so I chose Techno and Hard Trance because they were the styles I and the other residents were playing at the time.

What do you think in your mind has made it the strong brand that it is so many years on?

I couldn’t say to be honest; I guess we’ve always offered something different to the Bournemouth clubbers. Our music policy has always been the hard European sound, over the years it developed from Hard Trance to Hardstyle but we’ve still kept that trancey element and although Resonate is raw and hard it still has that quality to it, we still play those anthemic tracks that unite the dance-floor when they’re played. It’s moments like that which make a night memorable I think.

We also re-branded it this year and that definitely made a difference by giving people something to identify, the little alien-looking dude with the headphones on is becoming instantly recognisable as the Resonate logo, I love it and so does everyone I speak to! Not forgetting our core residents either, The Organ Donors, Mark EG and Iain Cross, these guys undoubtedly make the night what it is, in fact, forget everything I just said, it’s all about these guys! (Smiles).

Tell us also about some of the guests you’ve had during that time and the venues that you’ve smashed in the process?

Over the years, we’ve booked Uberdruck, Mark EG, Organ Donors, Dave Joy, DJ Slideout, Dr Willis, Sam Punk, Scot Project, A*S*Y*S, Kamui, Mic-E, Alex Kidd, Kutski, D.A.V.E The Drummer, Chris Liberator, Tony Burt, M-Zone, Tommy Pulse, K90, Frisky, Ribbz and this year you’ll be seeing a lot more of the Dutch names coming over. Venues we’ve been in from the beginning to present day include Passion, Club Destiny, The Opera House, The Old Firestation and now Crank. We’ve got some wicked plans for later in the year and 2009 too, loads of fresh faces, up and coming producers and some mad concepts!

You’ve worked with some names in your time haven’t you! Give us a no holds barred name dropping bonanza of a rundown of your CV as a DJ outside of Resonate?

Well it’s not huge but of the bigger events, I’ve had the pleasure of playing for Slinky, Atmosphere, Destiny, HTID, Hardcore Heaven, Fusion, Contact, Slammin Vinyl and loads of smaller nights (too many of them to mention).

Which came first, promoting or DJ’ing and in answering that which one is the greater passion?
Well I’ve been DJ’ing for seven years and promoting for five, the promoting side came as a means to take the DJ’ing to the next level so both are of equal value to me. Saying that though, DJ’ing is the least stressful, but nothing beats staring at a packed club of ‘avin-it’ ravers on a night that you’ve put on; that’s what makes all the stress worth it!

Now, the buck doesn’t stop at just DJ’ing and Promoting does it, we hear you are also UK management for some very special Hard Dance acts? How did that all come about?

Yes I run A&E Management, Artist & Event management. We handle the bookings and management of a select group of European artists as well as European Bookings for the Organ Donors. We also manage Resonate tours and are currently involved with Mainline Music on the forthcoming ‘Old Skool Autopsy’ Album Tour for the Organ Donors (Out August 18th). It’s been about six months in planning and we’ll be launching the site properly later in the year.

Are you a Producer yourself or do you have any plans to produce?

If I had the time I would be in that studio every spare second, as it stands I manage to get a few weekends a year in with Iain Cross and my buddy Chris Hare, there’s some great potential there I think but with everyone being so busy there’s never the time to get anything finished so the projects kind of get pushed aside.

How do you manage to juggle it all? It all sounds very hectic man…

I’m not quite sure (laughs), I’m never off the PC I swear! There’s always something to sort out or some email to reply to but thankfully there’s a great team working for me, Emma (Pocket Raver) and John (Black) take a fair bit of the workload off me, cheers guys!

My girlfriend is very patient too, she’s not keen on me working three jobs but I’ve assured her it won’t be forever (winks and smiles). The day job will be getting jogged-on eventually and I’ll have more time for her (laughs).

Is it just a Bournemouth thing for you guys or have you taken it much further a field, what are your plans for World domination?

This year especially we’ve started to go further afield, we’re hosting a stage for Slammin Vinyl in Winchester this August which is the furthest North we’ve been. Myself, Iain Cross and The Organ Donors took Resonate down to Premonition in Plymouth last weekend which was an awesome party and Resonate will be back down in the South West on the 6th June with our good friends Atmosphere for the “South West Alliance”. Really looking forward to that one!

As mentioned earlier, you make your Resonate debut at Crank this Friday, who’s on the line-up besides yourself of course and what can be expected from the shift to the new venue? What’s the grand plan?

Well it’s a classics night so we’ve drafted in all the boys that have been there from the start. There’s Mark EG & M-Zone, Cally & Juice and The Organ Donors. They’ve all been told to dig the old tracks out of the loft and get together a set of tracks from the past ten years or so. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard some classic tracks on a big system so I’m really looking forward to it. There is no grand plan as such though; this move all happened very quickly, we’re just going to continue to do what we’ve been doing in a newer venue.

Anything you’d like to add, before we go?

Yeah, here’s a mix I did a while ago to get everyone in the mood for Friday, hope you enjoy it, many of you will have already heard it but a few might not have. Keep your ears out for my next one coming soon

P.S.) I’m not always this slack, one mix a year is pretty good (laughs out loud)

Thanks for joining us man, don’t forget – you can catch SL-DJ joining Mark EG, Organ Donors, Cally & Juice, Iain Cross, M-Zone and some very special guests THIS FRIDAY at ‘Resonate Presents UK Legends – Classics Showcase’ at Crank, Hinton Road, Bournemouth from 21:00pm! Check the useful links below for more information!

Interview & Words: Jon-Brown

Photo Credits: Photo 1: billynasty

Photo 2: Low-Kapow

Photo 3: Chris-Jones

Photo 4: TGPromotions-com

Photo 5: Gavin-Quiet

Photo 6: billynasty

Useful Links

Official Resonate Website
resonate-tickets.com

Resonate Event Page - Tell Us You'll Be There!
RESONATE presents "UK LEGENDS"

Resonate On Don't Stay In
resonatedsi.com

Resonate On My Space
myspace.com

Resonate On Facebook
facebook.com

Resonate On Bebo
bebo.com

Resonate TV
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