First up we have birthday boy and Prehab artwork & web designer Gary Optim. 2007 was a pretty big year for you with main room sets at The Gallery and Koko so tell us, what was the highlight of the year?

Thats a real tough one! Gallery main room is something I feel I really excel at with my sound, and take a lot of pride in as I've had some of the best moments in that booth playing to the crowd I'm a part of pretty much week in week out sometimes. Would have to say the KOKO set took the biscuit this year though. The room where I discovered clubbing and dance music way back at Peach. That place has always meant a lot to me and I'll take every opportunity to get down there, to be on the other side of the decks is an honour and a privilege, especially when you are sharing the bill with Paul Van Dyk! I got some wicked feedback for the set which is nice cos I don't play the mainstream stuff. Its sometimes nerve wracking when your playing what you believe in as to wether a crowd will accept it, especially when the main draw is the biggest trance DJ on the planet and you're playing quite minimal tech house and prog, but on the night the crowd soaked up everything I threw at it and the vibe in there really was electric, building up throughout the night and was great to have a lot of support down there.

You spent the summer over in Ibiza, how was that for making contacts and also musical shenanigans?

OOOOOH the stories I could tell you...! but wont! Haha The summer was great great fun if a little tough at times. Spending a couple of weeks completely homeless at one point and spending every last cent on getting mash up and checking out DJs and getting involved, partying for days and eventually falling asleep on the beach, it was a great experience and something im eager to do again this year...minus the homelessness maybe! The amount of DJs and industry heads I met out there was phenomenal. It was nice to feel part of a scene, and playing regularly at the workers hang outs for free booze and a chance to play out, being made weekly resident at the beach bar was great fun as well we had some really good nights down there.

Not just a competent designer and DJ you've been getting on the production scene as well, hows that going?

My two passions in life have always been art/design and music. Im very lucky to be in a situation now where I can do both of these and tie the two together in my work. I've been working freelance as a graphic designer for quite a while now, working almost exclusively within the music and clubbin industry. Club brands and DJs iv previously worked for include: Ministry Of Sound, Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Sundissential, Wildchild, The Gallery / Turnmills, The Syndicate, Summit, Hard Dance Awards, Playtime, Innovate, Nu Religion, Vaccine, Euphoria, Frantic, Need2Soul and many more the list goes on. I can produce pretty much anything a promoter would need so anyone needing some work doing feel free to get in touch. As for the production Its something iv been doing for a few years in the background, but this year its gonna be more of a focus for me definitely. I'm currently working on a remix for a great up and coming name in the minimal melodic tech scene, Yana Heinstein, for German label Lifetime records which is due for release soon. An artist who can count some hefty names in the industry such as Hernan Catteneo as big fans. I've got lots of original material forthcoming as well so keep an eye on my myspace page at www.garyoptim.com. Im at a really exciting stage with my production im learning new stuff everyday, and enjoying putting any spare moments I can towards production projects.

You've got friends Dumbbug warming up for you at this Prehab so tell us a little bit about them.

Yeah its great to have these guys down to play for us at Prehab, Alex Rooks and Alex Goldwater under thier Dumbbug moniker. A couple of great mates of very high talents who will be making waves this year big time, on the decks and in the studio as well. Rooks cut his teeth with production and engineering, working full time in a studio producing underground remixes for the likes of Kelly Rowland, The Macabees, and Ministry Of Sound whilst working with a long list of well known artists and producers. A very talented guy, the amount of quality original tunes he has done over the years is amazing, across many different genres aswell from making banging techno to producing hip hop albums. The other Alex has relatively recently turned his hand to DJing aswell, having borrowed my ropey set up whilst I was away in Ibiza for the summer with Al Rooks. He now mixes using Serato scratch following in the footsteps of Richie Hawtin and the like, mixing with vinyl and samples with the consistency and skill of a veteran and an impeccable ear for great music. The boys have started putting on parties at Brixtons Jamm which have been going down really well aswell so look out for the name DUMB in 2008 at home and on the white isle. Expect minimal techno, a very "now" sound from these two lads warming up T3 perfectly for whats set to be another top night...and birthday for me! So make sure you get down early you wont be disappointed

What does 2008 hold for Gary Optim?

As I've said the production is going to really take priority for me this year music wise. I'm soon to be getting a gaff with a great mate iv done some tunes with in the past, Michael Walken, a Prehab resident from the days at Southside Bar. So we will be working on a great amount of projects and looking at building our studio, and putting together a Live/DJ gig setup so look out for that this year. As always looking forward to the summer and Ibiza and hopefully putting on some parties out there this year as well. On top of that of course still gonna be working hard on helping out the two daves and keeping Prehab riding high and staying ahead of the pack, and just to carry on bringing the best parties thats the aim for 08 really! and looking at some International gigs sometime soon aswell in talks about that at the moment. Look forward to seeing everyone down at Turnmills on the 1st for a right royal knees up!

For bookings and design work e mail garyoptim@prehab.org.uk

Next up we have Prehab guest Ioan Evo.I oan, I understand this is your first time playing in London?

Yes that's correct I've played at many venues across Wales and the South West but to date I'm still a London dj Virgin. Looking forward to the gig though as there is a top draw line up in all the rooms and with Turnmills being one of my personal favourite clubs in the UK to go clubbing at myself it will be a pleasure to spin there before the unfortunate redevelopment and closure later this year.

You appear to have embraced new technology so tell us what you use in a DJ set?

I've always been one to embrace new technology, too much Star Wars as a kid I think. I've spent the last 5 years on cdjs and as much of my set is techno based I like to use multiple decks and loops so towards the back end of 2007 I made the change from the trusty cdj1000s and cds to using N.I.'s Traktor software with the trusty Macbook laptop and utilising the pioneer djm800 as a midi controller the creative possibilities are endless with the ability to do live re-edit mixes on the fly, I'm only now really starting to tap into its true potential. In addition to this you can have at your fingertips 1000s of tracks at once as opposed to being limited to the one or two cd bags that you bring to a gig, so there is no more wishing that you brought a certain tune when at a gig.

You promote your own night over in Bristol, tell us a bit about that.

Yes I co-promote the Paranoid club nights which is into its second year now. It all began with a group of like minded djs at a small basement/dungeon type venue in Gloucester where we built a reputation for dirty house and techno music at a local level but we soon outgrew the small venue so Paranoid "Insomniacs Anonymous" was born with a new late night monthly residency at the Soho club in Bristol. Our nights run on the last Saturday of the month from 10.00pm - 7.00am just before Xmas we had a wicked event with Audiojack headlining and in 2008 we have some great parties lined up with Bigger Than Jesus bringing their mayhem to the decks for February and the truly excellent Smokin Jo headlining our March event. 2008 looks set to be a good year!

Who are the Paranoid DJs?

Paranoid Djs are the resident djs for Paranoid, they are Ioan Evo(myself), Gareth Yip, Mr. Yip and Drasik. Each dj has his own distinct sound that as a team can be generalised as "Underground House and Techno"
In addition to this for 2008 myself and fellow resident dj Gareth Yip have a live dj double act performance "2 djs-2 laptops-2 mixers" playing under the guise of Paranoid Djs, it's going to be grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

What can the Prehab regulars expect to hear from you?

Groovy House and Techno. My sound is always evolving I love both house and techno music with a leaning towards the minimal techno side of the spectrum. Favourite promotions and artists would be Meganite, Cocoon, Circoloco, Mauro Picotto, Richie Hawtin,Carl Cox,Dubfire.Deadmau5,Gabry Fasano,Beckers D-nox

For more details visit www.djioanevo.co.uk