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Funky House / DnB |
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Artiste
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Jay On Drums |
House,DnB,
retro grooves
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Jay
–On-Drums

Biog
Having a Father who played drums, I spent many hours as my
Fathers 'Roadie' helping him load and unload his drums almost
every weekend at gigs all over London. Little did I know that
this would be good practice for my profession all these years
later. Even then, playing on a drum kit. I would turn off
the resonator on the snare drum. And play out drum rolls without
using the cymbals, only concentrating on the drums themselves
to create 'tribalistic rhythms'.
Even though I took drum lessons and understood the rudiments
behind drumming my attraction to the 'electro' 'hiphop' and
'breakdance' scene in the late 70's and early 80's took me
away from the drums on a physical level and into a 100 percent
audio experience, listening to music almost 24 hours a day,
experiencing the explosion of musical genre's that have given
way to the music scene as we know it today.
Almost every DJ's biography can remember wanting to mix together
music where as I always wanted to express the rhythms that
I could feel inside of me. Albeit, breakdancing, body popping,
beat boxing. As I moved through my teenage years and into
my twenties I never lost my love for the music but only expressed
myself by annoyingly tapping out sounds on almost everything
and anything that was close to hand, much to the annoyance
of all that were close by...
After a major upheaval in my life in 1994 (and almost 10 years
since last playing a drum kit) my brother took me under his
wing and invited me to 'Jus House' the most amazing underground
night held under the arches in the Bermondsey area of S.London.
A weekly night hosted by Sarah H.B with live PA's. This gathering
was at the location called 'Happy Jax' a club night run by
Jeff, Mary and their sons Tommy Ben and George. They renamed
their night 'One for You' and resident DJ's Amanda and Chris
G introduced to us an awesome fix of uplifting house. It was
at this time that a friend of mine, Kelly Chambers bought
me some Indian clay bongos and I could be found at the after
parties @ 'Horns' banging away to mixed tapes of the resident
DJ's when everyone was attempting to 'chill out'.
It was here that I made my first ever live performance. A
pair of bongos brought back from Cuba as a present for the
owners of the clubs Son, Ben and BONGO JAY was born.

After much praise from those around me I saved up enough money
to purchase some 'Afro' congas and proceeded to stand on stage
and attempt to be heard over the booming sound system by playing
with water bottles and sticks. I would spend hours in a trance
like state with my eyes closed just listening to the DJ's
mix endless hours of music together in such diverse ways,
whilst enhancing the sound of the music with the drums. Over
the next two years, with audiences of 500+ every weekend my
confidence grew, especially after playing with guest DJ's
such as Graham Gold, Biko, Luv Dup, Nancy Noise, Dave Lambert,
Jon Pleased Women, Pete Wardman and Fat Tony and of course
DJ Amanda and Chris G.
My talent to play over such diverse music and mixing without
taking away the DJ's set enhanced what was already a truly
historic era in the club scene as we know it today
In 1996, I was contacted
by the Ministry of Sound as I had been recommended as a percussionist.
Within a few weeks I made my debut headlining with Alistair
Whitehead and Brandon Block in front of 4000 university students
at their annual union ball on the grounds of Luton Hoo Stately
Home. An amazing experience made even more amazing when the
decks cut out during Alistair's set and the M.O.S tent fell
to silence. With only two beats missed, I started to boom
out some sounds on my drums building the silent tent into
a dancing and cheering frenzy until Alistair mixed in an awesome
uplifting house track. 'Bongo Jay had saved the day'
The Ministry team were very impressed and I was asked to accompany
them on many tour dates around the UK playing with DJ's such
as Jazzy M, Heaven, Falatio and Paul Jackson. The inspiration
I got from playing alongside Jazzy M was incredible and I
found myself playing in the 'BAR' room on Saturday nights.
Just two congas, bongos and some sticks with no mic's and
the acoustics were amazing
A truly great experience was my first gig outside of the UK
playing in Turkey on behalf of the leading radio/television
station Numero 1. The MOS team were flown out to Bodrum to
perform at an out-of-doors club. The gig itself was headlined
by Stevie P and Gareth Cooke joined by myself and three dancers.
On arrival we were told that at midnight the three dancers
were to arrive standing at the front of a 100ft boat, into
the back of the club. That the music would be turned off,
and that they would like the drummer to start an acoustic
beat as the dancers made there way above the crowd to their
podiums. Once they were in position they wanted the DJ to
mix in the first record to the drums. On top of all this their
would be television crews filming the event and broadcasting
live across Turkey! The pressure was on, the atmosphere was
electric. And when that first record came in with the drums
the club, all 2500 people went crazy and it just got higher
and higher for 5 hours
The highlight of my time with the Ministry of Sound was working
with CJ Macintosh.
We were flown 1st Class to the Philippines. An old 2nd world
war aircraft hanger was turned into a warehouse rave for one
night. We arrived at midnight to 4000-5000 people and atmosphere
was awesome. CJ was in control of three decks I had 7 drums
set up on stage. MTV Asia had done a series of interviews
with us all and were there filming for future broadcasting.
I had never worked with CJ before and told him 'no matter
what you do I will keep up', he smiled and said 'we shall
see'. We started our show and for the first 30 minutes CJ
worked three turntables with mixes that were incredible. He
lifted the crowd up and up and up sending my drumming into
a wonderful vibration, with the help of the sound man who
was spinning my drums off around the warehouse, until eventually
CJ dropped the music at just the same time as I completed
some wonderful drum beats. I raised my hands in the air, turned
around with a beaming smile and he lent over and shook my
hand..! A truly amazing moment in my career to date.
Since that wonderful moment I have been working all over London
and surrounding counties and as far afield as France and Marbella.
I have been concentrating on expanding my teqnique and developing
differant sized sets to accomodate various sized events. I
turned professional in 2001 and have worked with many high
profile promotions and event organisers
BOOKING HISTORY
( Name From – Until Location Genre)
PHIZZLE PUNKS May04 – Present Cherry Jam, London Electro
House
(Resident) Cafe De Paris (VIP Bar)
Playing alongside DJ’s Stevie ‘Devious’
D & JP
Performed live with Freaky Fingers (Guitarist) & Maria
Angeli (Vocalist)
Future collaborations on the ‘Porn Stars’ Record
Label featuring Jayondrums (Dates to be set)
SUNDAY SESSIONS May04 – Present Faces, Hoddesdon R&B,
Garage
(Weekly Resident)
Playing alongside resident DJ’s Ross Mac, Mr. Mac (Kiss
FM), MC Rankin
Performed live with Ratpack http://www.ratpackmusic.net
HOUSEXY Feb04 – Present Pacha, London Soulful US House
(Bi-Monthly Resident)
Playing alongside resident DJ’s Leo, Clemey Riley &
guest DJ’s from HOUSE FM (88.6)
Performed live with Barbara Tucker (US Singer) ‘Beautiful
People’ ‘Deep Inside’ ‘I Get Lifted’
Performed live with Kathy Brown (US Singer) ‘Don’t
give it up’ ‘Joy’ ‘Love is not a game’
Performed live with Onyx Ashanti (Digital Flute)
HOUSE FM (88.6) Dec03 – Present EGG, London Soulful
US House
(Resident) Scala, London
Canvas (Bagley’s)
Ministry of Sound
Playing alongside all major radio stations DJ’s at any
event that takes place. http://www.housefm.net
Future studio/session work on the HOUSE FM label (Dates to
be set)
ZINGA WARRIORS December 03 Cargo, London Drum & Bass
(Guest)
After hearing my performance earlier in the year, Zinga Warriorz
(Birmingham) asked me to stand in for their drummer to perform
a one hour live show at the celebration of the ‘Buttercuts’
Record Labels 1st birthday. Very innovative fusion of live
music, vocalists & electronic beats. http://www.zingawarriorz.com
HIGH SOCIETY Dec03 – Present Liquid, Peterborough Hard/Funky
House
(Resident) Met Lounge, Peterborough Club M, Newmarket
Working alongside resident DJ’s Simon Baker, Paul Kelly
and DJ Roo. http://www.high-society.com
In association with RADIO 1,I have worked with Dave Pierce
& Fergie
Launch night at Club M where I worked with HED KANDI’s
DJ Andy Norman
GRAHAM LISTER September 03 Essex Country & Western
(Studio Session)
Independent record producer of Country &Western music.
Had an 80’s Number 1 global hit with ‘Clingons
on the Starboard Bow!’
Added percussion to a track called ‘Over you!’
to feature on a forthcoming album release.
BOOKING HISTORY…continued
Name From – Until Location Genre
DISCQUARTET Aug03 – Present Corporate/Private Events
Latin, Disco, Pop…
(Member of group)
Discquartet is a new concept in entertainment whereby the
DJ & Live Band are fused together. With an extensive record
collection and high quality sound system, the DJ is able to
link the percussionist, saxophonist/flutist and vocalist/guest
musician together using a headphone monitoring system. This
allows the DJ to orchestrate the music and musicians to deliver
an evenings entertainment without any pauses. The band is
left free to set up in random locations around the premises
rather than just on a stage, enabling the audience to interact
and experience their evening much more. http://www.organisedkaos.co.uk
Performed with Dave Baptist (Saxophonist/Flutist) & FATCAT
(US Soul Singer)
D&B LIVE Jul03 – Present Cargo, London Drum &
Bass
(Guest)
D&B Live is a collaboration of DJ’s, MC’s
& Musicians to reinforce live music http://www.dnblive.com
Performed alongside DJ’s Mickey Finn & Bryan G
Performed with live band DUST 21
Talks in progress regarding future dates for an event in Cardiff,
Wales
TOGETHER Jul03 – Present The Royal Oriental Hotel, Luton
Funky House
(Monthly Resident)
Working alongside resident DJ’s / Record Producers ‘Digital
Records’ http://www.cometogether.com
Performed with DJ’s Norman Jay (MBE), CJ Macintosh &
ATFC
Performed with vocalist Shelley D (Good Looking Records)
Future dates planned for Ministry of Sound and at the launch
of a new club called ‘Class Fusion Music & Dance’
in Marbella, Spain.
BRIGHTER DAYS Mar03 – Present Pacha, London US Soulful
House
(Resident)
Working with resident DJ’s Rob Acteson & Neil Pierce
http://www.brighterdays.co.uk
Performed live with the legendary disco divas Norma Jean Wright
and Luci Martin, the original lead vocalists with super group
‘CHIC’
Worked alongside DJ/Record Producer Joey Negro
LOOP BAR Dec02 – Present Tignes, France Mixed Dance
Music
(Resident)
Fly out to this ski resort bar to help celebrate the ‘opening’
& ‘closing’ of the season.
Worked alongside Ibiza resident DJ/Producer Reugene Unduso
NIGHTLIFE Sep02 – Present Aquarium, London Soulful US
House
(Monthly Resident) Canvas (Bagleys), London
Worked with DJ/Producer Grant Nelson, MJ Cole, Jon Cutler
& E-Man
Worked with DJ’s Clemey Riley, Neil Pierce & Paul
‘Trouble’ Anderson
Performed live on stage with Angie Brown, Jocelyn Brown, Kenny
Bobien & Michael Watford
WOOF PROMOTIONS Sep02 – Dec02 Peterborough House
(Guest)
Worked with resident DJ’s Ian Stevens & Pete Martine
Worked with DJ Boy George
Performed live with Sleaze Sisters ‘You’re the
best thing (That ever happened to me)’
A TOUCH OF CLASS Aug02 – Present Peterborough Funky
House
(Monthly Resident)
Worked with resident DJ’s Ru$tler, Mark Anderson &
Ian Avery
Performed live with HEIFFA (Pop Idol Finalist, Eurovision
2004 UK Finalist)
Worked with DJ Alex P
RISE / RISING Aug02 – Present Elbow Rooms, Islington
Latin/US House
(Monthly Resident) Turnmills, London
Worked with resident DJ/Producer Rob Acteson
Worked with guest DJ’s Tom Waine, Richard M, Roy the
Roach
PURE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC Feb02 – Present Living Rooms, Brixton
Soul, Funk, Dance…
(Own Promotion) Cafe Cairo, Clapham North Dog Star, Brixton
Baroque, Streatham Southwark Rooms, SE 1 Aquarium, London
Rhythm Factory, London Babushka’s, Ladbrooke Grove AKA
Bar, London
Working together with DJ Chris Grace who unlike most club
DJ’s, has not limited himself with just a few genres
of music. His record collection is so extensive with selections
of music spanning 50+ years covering soul, funk, blues, rock,
pop, jazz, hip hop, house of all kinds, break beat and drum
n bass. http://www.purebeautifulmusic.com
Pure Beautiful Music’s style is that the DJ starts off
in one place and takes the music on a wonderful journey, traveling
through various styles of music but put together in a way
that always gets people dancing.
We have provided entertainment for the BBC to perform at the
‘Wrap’ party for the children’s series ‘The
Queens Nose’
We have provided entertainment for ITV to perform at the ‘Wrap’
party for the forth coming TV series ‘Rose & Malone’
starring actress ‘Sarah Lancashire’ (Coronation
St.)
We have provided entertainment for Orange Productions ‘Wrap’
party for the film due out this year named ‘Dead Fish’
starring ‘Robert Carlyle’ & ‘Gary Oldman’
Performed with’ Groove Armada’ DJ, Andy Cato
20’s IBIZA REUNION September 99 Prestatyn, Wales Dance
(Guest)
After working with DJ/Organizer John Constantine in Ibiza,
I was booked to play at the Ibiza Reunion Weekender working
alongside a vast number of DJ’s & Dancers over 3
days.
Performed live with ‘One Phat Diva’ & ‘Leo
Sayer'
BONGO COLLECTIVE July 99 West End, Ibiza Funky House
(Guest) Es Paradis, Ibiza
Mambo, Ibiza
Worked at various nights around the Island with DJ’s
Ariel, Steve Facey (Kiss FM) & Brandon Block
KINKY MALINKI Sep99 – Dec03 Imperial Gardens, London
Funky House
(Monthly Resident) Aquarium, London
Glasshouse, London
Cross, London
Ministry of Sound, London
Eden, Ibiza
Space, Ibiza
Worked with the Kinky Malinki promotion as their resident
percussionist over 5 years, playing with 100’s of resident
DJ’s http://www.kinkymalinki.com
Worked with DJ’/Producers Bobby & Steve, Kids Stuff,
Sharp Boys, Grant Richards, Raymundo Rodriguez
Performed with ‘Shelley D’ Vocalist signed to
‘Good Looking Records’
MINISTRY OF SOUND Jun96 – Aug98 Luton Hoo Stately Home
House
(Resident) M.O.S Bar, London
University Tours, England & Scotland
Bodrum’, Turkey
Manila, Philippines
My first booking with the M.O.S was at the UK University Student
Ball which was held at Luton Hoo Stately Home in Bedfordshire.
I was booked to play in the dance tent with DJ’s Alistair
Whitehead & Brandon Block. During my set with Alistair,
the power failed on the DJ equipment and silence fell on the
4000 strong crowd. I instantly started to play my drums acoustically
building the rhythm up and getting the whole dance tent dancing
and cheering until the DJ mixed in a record. This saved a
very embarrassing moment and led onto me being booked on a
permanent basis.
Went on tour across England and Scotland performing at Universities
‘Fresher Weeks’ working with DJ’s Jazzy
M & Heaven
Joined DJ’s Jazzy M, Tim Deluxe, Paul Jackson on the
‘RULIN’ promotion held on Saturday’s in
the BAR.
Traveled to Turkey to perform in an open air club with DJ’s
Gareth Cooke & Stevie P. The main radio station named
‘NUMERO 1’ were the promoters of the night. With
the 2,500 capacity met, our set started with a drum solo from
myself as the dancers, dressed in eccentric costumes sailed
into the rear of the club on a 100ft yacht. I built up the
atmosphere as the dancers made their way to their podiums
above the crowd, driving the audience crazy until the DJ’s
dropped the first record into my drum beats. The night was
made even more amazing by the fact that it was broadcast live
across Turkey to over a million listeners and filmed live
for TV coverage.
Traveled to Philippines to perform in an old American aircraft
hanger with World Class DJ CJ Macintosh. With a 4-5000 strong
crowd and working on stage with CJ, dancers and an amazing
team of sound and light engineers. This experience was by
far the most amazing that I have experienced to date, made
even more special as MTV ASIA filmed the event for future
broadcasts all over Asia.
ONE FOR YOU Jun94 – Sep96 Happy Jax, London Uplifting
House
(Weekly Resident)
This is were it all began, playing on stage in front of 500
clubbers playing with water bottles and sticks working alongside
resident DJ’s Amanda & Chris Gee
Worked with DJ’s Graham Gold, Biko, Pete Wardman, Luv
Dup, Fat Tony &, Nancy Noise
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