BrianOwen
Tuesday, Aug 2nd 2005, 03:27 PM
tune in Wed at ipm EST only at www.friskyradio.com
James Fierce is currently one of the most in demand DJ’s spinning on the
international underground house club scene today.
Born in central England and having lived on a staple diet of punk rock and
the Beastie Boys for so many years, he easily became a child of the new
emerging UK acid house scene of the late 80’s at an early age. Partying
came easy for him and his new set of club friends hitting Birmingham’s
breaking house music clubs such as ‘Eden’ (one of Sasha’s first ever
residencies), ‘Chuff Chuff’ boat parties and ‘Decadence’, as well as ‘The
Engine House’ every Sunday for ‘Full Of Beans’ and a pre-trance
‘Gatecrasher’. As well as these they found themselves also venturing
further north on a regular basis in search of their weekly house fix where
they found it, at the legendary ‘Hacienda’ in Manchester and ‘Shelley’s’
in Stoke, living for the weekend.
From these times he was forever hooked, regularly visiting record stores
‘Global Grooves’ & ‘Pure Records’ in Birmingham to quench his thirst for
all things house. And after a few years of bedroom djing, James began to
get requests to DJ around Birmingham, spinning regularly at the legendary
glam fest, ‘Miss Moneypenny’s’ with the likes of Jim Shaft Ryan, David
Morales and Frankie Knuckles, and well known clubs like ‘The Steering
Wheel Club’, ‘Splosh’ and ‘Marco Polo’s’. But his entire concept of music
changed after a chance night out having headed down to London after
spinning at ‘Moneypenny’s’ with the late, great Tony DeVit, to Tony’s
residency at the legendary ‘Trade’. The music and energy had a huge effect
on James and one particular sound grabbed him and changed his concept of
music for good. Listening to ‘Trade’ resident Malcolm Duffy spinning his
deep, Chicago and New York based underground grooves, influenced him for
life and he realised that this was the style he had been looking for, for
so long.
Listening to this music, he began to be exposed to DJ/producers like
Derrick Carter, DJ Sneak & Cajmere and his music style changed over night.
With dance music becoming the mainstream in the UK in the mid 90’s, and
playing the underground style it became hard to find places in the UK
where he could spin or get inspiration. Only places like ‘Trade’, ‘Wobble’
in Birmingham and ‘Back To Basics’ in Leeds were bringing the artistes
like Derrick Carter, Armand Van Helden, Sneak, Danny Tenaglia and a then
little known DJ duo called Daft Punk from Paris to spin and James drew his
inspiration from seeing these artistes & DJ’s
During this time James found that he could not spin the sound he wanted in
the UK. Only in small underground parties around the country could he play
what he wanted and these were including dates at infamous UK fetish clubs
like ‘Mostly Harmless’ and ‘Torture Garden’, as well as guesting in the
backrooms at ‘Trade’ in London (this is where James got his DJ moniker
after being regularly described by Lawrence Malice (Trade Promoter) as
James the Fierce DJ) and ‘S.L.A.G’ in Birmingham. So, James decided he
wanted to launch himself on the international scene to spin at the clubs
around the world that these DJ’s and producers he followed were playing
at.
Although James plays a distinct Chicago style with influences from the
London underground, he prides himself on his own unique style all of his
own, described as Dark Disco by ‘DJ Magazine’ editor Jim Byers in 1999.
‘Always underground but always funky’ is how he describes it taking
influences from the deepest Chicago beats to funky looped Grooves. Present
day musical influences are drawn from artistes such as S.W.A.G, Music for
Freaks, Justin Long, Jerome Pacman and Derrick Carter to just name a few.
‘Being a DJ is all about breaking new music, whilst still being able to
move the crowd as an entertainer, dropping a well known tune next to an
unknown one is a skill, its the difference between just being able to mix,
and being a DJ. Any one with rhythm can mix, but to move a crowd is an
art. But after all, its just about playing records and having a party’.
Over the last few years, James has been spinning his sound in diverse
places, from Mermansk to Moscow, Bangkok to Bogota and San Francisco to
Sao Paulo, as well as undertaking tours of Asia, Australia and South
America to name a few. Present day sees James also spinning at events
representing Ibiza’s No.1 Sunset venue, ‘Café Mambo’ as resident on their
world tours. Bringing the pure house sound of the party island to venues
world-wide. Past and future tours include tours of Asia, Europe and US.
Present day sees James being represented globally by well-known New York
City music Management Company and DJ agency, ‘Media Services NYC & The
Joint’, home of U.S DJ/producer legends such as DJ Pierre, Onionz, Maurice
Joshua and DJ Dayhota. On the production front, James has been working on
an album to be released on his own label ‘Stereo Jack Recordings’ label.
He is also working on remixes with Al Mackenzie, former member of
‘D.Ream’, on a deep electronic tip. James Fierce also runs his own music
company called ‘Yo! Management’ representing some of the worlds best known
clubs worldwide.
With 15 years of experience behind him James Fierce has become one of the
UK’s best underground house music exports and someone who defines quality
house music, musical diversity and solid skills in the world of electronic
dance music.
James Fierce is currently one of the most in demand DJ’s spinning on the
international underground house club scene today.
Born in central England and having lived on a staple diet of punk rock and
the Beastie Boys for so many years, he easily became a child of the new
emerging UK acid house scene of the late 80’s at an early age. Partying
came easy for him and his new set of club friends hitting Birmingham’s
breaking house music clubs such as ‘Eden’ (one of Sasha’s first ever
residencies), ‘Chuff Chuff’ boat parties and ‘Decadence’, as well as ‘The
Engine House’ every Sunday for ‘Full Of Beans’ and a pre-trance
‘Gatecrasher’. As well as these they found themselves also venturing
further north on a regular basis in search of their weekly house fix where
they found it, at the legendary ‘Hacienda’ in Manchester and ‘Shelley’s’
in Stoke, living for the weekend.
From these times he was forever hooked, regularly visiting record stores
‘Global Grooves’ & ‘Pure Records’ in Birmingham to quench his thirst for
all things house. And after a few years of bedroom djing, James began to
get requests to DJ around Birmingham, spinning regularly at the legendary
glam fest, ‘Miss Moneypenny’s’ with the likes of Jim Shaft Ryan, David
Morales and Frankie Knuckles, and well known clubs like ‘The Steering
Wheel Club’, ‘Splosh’ and ‘Marco Polo’s’. But his entire concept of music
changed after a chance night out having headed down to London after
spinning at ‘Moneypenny’s’ with the late, great Tony DeVit, to Tony’s
residency at the legendary ‘Trade’. The music and energy had a huge effect
on James and one particular sound grabbed him and changed his concept of
music for good. Listening to ‘Trade’ resident Malcolm Duffy spinning his
deep, Chicago and New York based underground grooves, influenced him for
life and he realised that this was the style he had been looking for, for
so long.
Listening to this music, he began to be exposed to DJ/producers like
Derrick Carter, DJ Sneak & Cajmere and his music style changed over night.
With dance music becoming the mainstream in the UK in the mid 90’s, and
playing the underground style it became hard to find places in the UK
where he could spin or get inspiration. Only places like ‘Trade’, ‘Wobble’
in Birmingham and ‘Back To Basics’ in Leeds were bringing the artistes
like Derrick Carter, Armand Van Helden, Sneak, Danny Tenaglia and a then
little known DJ duo called Daft Punk from Paris to spin and James drew his
inspiration from seeing these artistes & DJ’s
During this time James found that he could not spin the sound he wanted in
the UK. Only in small underground parties around the country could he play
what he wanted and these were including dates at infamous UK fetish clubs
like ‘Mostly Harmless’ and ‘Torture Garden’, as well as guesting in the
backrooms at ‘Trade’ in London (this is where James got his DJ moniker
after being regularly described by Lawrence Malice (Trade Promoter) as
James the Fierce DJ) and ‘S.L.A.G’ in Birmingham. So, James decided he
wanted to launch himself on the international scene to spin at the clubs
around the world that these DJ’s and producers he followed were playing
at.
Although James plays a distinct Chicago style with influences from the
London underground, he prides himself on his own unique style all of his
own, described as Dark Disco by ‘DJ Magazine’ editor Jim Byers in 1999.
‘Always underground but always funky’ is how he describes it taking
influences from the deepest Chicago beats to funky looped Grooves. Present
day musical influences are drawn from artistes such as S.W.A.G, Music for
Freaks, Justin Long, Jerome Pacman and Derrick Carter to just name a few.
‘Being a DJ is all about breaking new music, whilst still being able to
move the crowd as an entertainer, dropping a well known tune next to an
unknown one is a skill, its the difference between just being able to mix,
and being a DJ. Any one with rhythm can mix, but to move a crowd is an
art. But after all, its just about playing records and having a party’.
Over the last few years, James has been spinning his sound in diverse
places, from Mermansk to Moscow, Bangkok to Bogota and San Francisco to
Sao Paulo, as well as undertaking tours of Asia, Australia and South
America to name a few. Present day sees James also spinning at events
representing Ibiza’s No.1 Sunset venue, ‘Café Mambo’ as resident on their
world tours. Bringing the pure house sound of the party island to venues
world-wide. Past and future tours include tours of Asia, Europe and US.
Present day sees James being represented globally by well-known New York
City music Management Company and DJ agency, ‘Media Services NYC & The
Joint’, home of U.S DJ/producer legends such as DJ Pierre, Onionz, Maurice
Joshua and DJ Dayhota. On the production front, James has been working on
an album to be released on his own label ‘Stereo Jack Recordings’ label.
He is also working on remixes with Al Mackenzie, former member of
‘D.Ream’, on a deep electronic tip. James Fierce also runs his own music
company called ‘Yo! Management’ representing some of the worlds best known
clubs worldwide.
With 15 years of experience behind him James Fierce has become one of the
UK’s best underground house music exports and someone who defines quality
house music, musical diversity and solid skills in the world of electronic
dance music.