For those who don’t know (where have you been!), the D-Joust is the most respected DJ competition in the UK and after the 2008 campaign, you can add Europe to their accolades too.

For four years now the team behind the D-Joust have been working furiously to uncover up and coming DJ talent. Hundreds of DJs enter the competition every year, not only to win a host of great prizes but to take advantage of the great opportunities and the huge exposure that the competition offers.

2008 has been a massively successful year for the D-Joust with separate events taking place in London, The Midlands and Antwerp. 500 DJs, 7 knockout rounds and two semi finals, all leading up to a truly amazing final down at Plan B in Brixton. There were some brilliant performances but we’re very pleased to announce the winner and 2008 D-Joust champion iiiiis…

....TOM EQ!

Tom came second overall in 2007 and came back to prove he had what it takes, we caught up with him post final to get the low down on the Grimsby based DJ / producer.

Hi Tom. First of all, congratulations on winning the D-Joust 2008. You were the first finalist to play on the night, did that worry you at all?

Thanks very much! Yeah, I was the last one to pick a time out of the hat, and as soon as I saw it was the first set I was pretty gutted, as going on first is always hard. But I was lucky because the warm up DJs before me (David Minns and Giles Butler) and Bass6 the beatboxer did an excellent job.

This was your second time in the Final as you were pipped to the post by Dr Fish in 2007. What makes a man come back for more?

Dr Fish is an awesome DJ and I admire his skills. I guess I felt that coming so close and missing out by a couple of points made me feel I had something to prove to myself.

Do you think your DJ skills have improved greatly in the last year and has your style of music changed much since then?

A simple answer would be yes as I only got my first set of CDJ decks at the beginning of this year. I had to borrow my brother's (Mange le Funk) to practice on last year. This year I have really been concentrating on my production skills, but to be honest they come hand in hand with DJing, as you get to learn more about track structures.
I don't think my musical style has changed too much as I have always been fairly eclectic and embrace pretty much any music out there. If you listen to my D-Joust finals set you will hear influences of House, Techno, Reggae, Hip Hop, Old Skool Drum and bass and even Rock!

I hear you have been in the studio and have a couple of EPs coming out soon. Can you tell us a bit more about these?

Yes I've just had an E.P released on Wearhouse music which incidentally is one of my favourite labels; it's called "The Villain E.P". Its a 5 track e.p with a collaboration with Jak Z and a remix by Lee Mortimer. Available on Beatport and DJdownload now. Ive also just finished an E.P for jack Union which should be out in the next couple of months.

And have you been producing for long – Where do you find the time?

I kinda got into it about 5 years ago when I was playing techno and the harder faster styles of dance music, just used to do a few intro's. When I was a resident for a night called Quake I made a remix of the Honda advert, you know that "Hate something, change something" tune. Well it went down really well and I thought I might have a knack for this! Finding the time is difficult but the more you practice the quicker you get. I've done tunes in 4 hours before.

Part of your Prize for winning the D-Joust is a day in the studio with 16steps.co.uk. Do you feel it’s important for already established producers to keep going back to learn more and polish up on their skills every now and then?

I think its essential for all producers to polish up their skills. You can't sit in a dark room and come up with something unique all the time. You need to feed off other producers, engineers and DJs. I'm very much looking forward going to 16 steps.

You have also won 500 downloads from DJdownload.com. Which artists are inspiring you at the moment and are there any particular tunes you will you be hoping to use the credits on?….. I was thinking you could just buy loads of copies of your new EP to shoot it straight to the top of the charts!?

Ha Ha! That's exactly what I said to Luce last night! There's a real buzz in the underground dance music scene at the minute there are so many good producers out there combining all different kinds of styles and fusing them into house/techno music at the moment. Dj/Producers like Hijack, Lee Mortimer, Jak Z, Bass Weazal, Kelevra, Riva Starr and Aniki are all pushing things forward right now. I'm lucky enough to get sent a lot of promo's but I will definitely be checking out labels such as Jack Union, Wearhouse Music, Dubsided, Potty Mouth, Electric Sushi and Venga.

Winners of the D-Joust are well known for getting great gigs after the competition and another one of your great prizes is a gig in Belgium!! Have you played much outside the UK yet?

I've played up and down the UK but never outside. However, saying that, I've recently been booked for a short tour of Lithuania. I'll be playing Fidget Stars @ Maxas Club, Siauliai on 12th December and Fidget Stars @ Havana Social Club, Vilnius on the 13th December. Really looking forward to these gigs, they really have an amazing scene over there.

The D-Joust has a great reputation for finding the real talent out there. Do you think competitions are important and would you encourage others to enter them?

I think DJing in a competition raises your game. The D-Joust competition seems to get some of the most amazing talent I have ever seen. Even some of the DJs that that didn't get into the final where outstanding, which just goes to show the level of talent there is out there.
I would definitely encourage other dj's who want to step up to apply for D-Joust 2009, although you may find yourself obsessing slightly trying to get the best tunes and nail that perfect mix, it really is a great competition.

Tell me about your most ego boosting, self-satisfying, proudest moment.

Other than winning D-Joust 2008, DJ wise its probably getting my first contract for a 3 tune deal with Gung Ho! Recordings, the envelope it came in had the Ministry of Sound logo on so I took a picture of it! Also, I've been getting a lot of "fan mail" from around the world via Myspace, one guy in Australia told me my tune "make some noise" had changed his life! Kinda gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
But my proudest moment would be marrying my Number 1 fan Luce! earlier this year. Who I met whilst DJing over 5 years ago.

Finally, if you could play back to back with any one DJ who would it be?
That's tough as there are so many good dj's out there. I'd probably like to do a back to back with Hijack. He's pretty much my favourite DJ/producer at the moment

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Finally a word (or 500) from Danny, founder and head honcho of The Joust.

“Firstly huge congratulations to the man like Tom EQ. It takes a lot of balls, determination and dedication to come back to a competition like this and Tom thoroughly deserves the title. Banging tunes every time, technically brilliant and a personality behind the decks to match, well done mate.

It’s worth mentioning the second and third place DJs. MOGS, a highly talented DJ with absolutely amazing technical ability. Every time he comes on the decks I’m excited to see what he’s going to pull out the bag and he’s never disappointed. Not only that I’ve never seen anyone enjoy playing so much! Third place was London based DJ Larry Sun, master of the mashup and a great entertainer with more tunes packed into half an hour than seems humanly possible! Not to forget the rest of the DJs in the final who were all fantastic and made it the biggest and best night we’ve put on to date, in no particular order, Levels (Belgium), Enigmatik (Midlands), Mumbles (Berkshire), Miss B (Worcester).

Overall it’s been another great year, a big shout out to all the other DJs who performed; there’s been some great talent on show once again.

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Finally some individual thanks to everyone directly involved in the running of D-Joust.

Firstly Jim my business partner, the not so public face of D-Joust but whom without, none of this would be possible, period.

To DJ / Producer RCaine, AKA Russ running things in the Midlands, and to Twizters in Belgium AKA Robbe and Timpir. You’ve all done a great job and we can’t thank you enough, we look forward to working with you again next year.

Big shout to Zoelee our exceptional PR girl for getting us out there and doing a fantastic job in making this the biggest Joust ever. To Jenny for all your help on the nights and to our fabulous flyer girls Kerry and Kerrie who have done sooo much more to help on top.

Huge respects to our design agency Capsule01, who I’m sure you’ll agree continually churn out amazing designs, flyers, posters, visuals, décor and much more. Not only that but for the creative advice and the continued support and development of our brand.

Our judges in the final Dave Minns (Read The Crowd), Alex Parsons (16 Steps) and Russ, the aforementioned DJ RCaine. Not forgetting all the other judges and guest acts over the months. An extra special shout to the amazing human beat boxer Bass6 for co-hosting the finals. Thanks also to Vickie Parker for the wonderful photos of the final. .

Our sponsors, Guy and Juliet and everyone @ DJdownload.com, our primary sponsor. Alex Parsons @ 16steps.co.uk music production courses and everyone @ The BPM DJ Exhibition . All three have continually supported the competition for the last two years and made contributions far beyond the generous prizes, for which we’re also very grateful.

Other sponsors Bedroom-DJ.net, Twisted Elements Twisted Elements, USA Import Records, Young Talent Corner,TrixOnline.be, Bombomatic, Café D’Anvers,Magiq, Obsessed by Music and Goefstation, thank you all.

Special thanks to all the supporters of the D-Joust and everyone who made it down to the events, you’re all great! I couldn’t possibly forget Pearl and all the bar staff @ Plan B who’ve been brilliant.

Finally to my beautiful girlfriend Suzanne who puts up with me working non stop on D-Joust for at least 6 months of the year, never complaining and always being supportive x

If I’ve forgotten anyone I’m truly sorry, there’s a huge and dedicated team working together to make the D-Joust the success it is and we’re hugely grateful to you all.

That’s quite enough waffle from me anyway, 2009 is already in the making and we’ve got some exciting tricks up our sleeves. D-Joust will be back bigger, better and with a few new twists…. watch this space!” Danny

Well done Danny from us all ;)