The man like the DJ Vinyl Junkie… A product of the late 80s / early 90s rave scene. Established himself as a DJ in his hometown of Bristol in 1991. Has played at hundreds of events all over the UK and abroad. Began producing in 1994. Owner of Warehouse Wax records. Discovered rave culture in April 1989 when in Ibiza for what was supposed to be a fortnight holiday. Little did he know that from this point forward, his life would never be the same again! On the night before he was due to board his flight back to Bristol he attended the Ku Club with a friend and so the ecstasy honeymoon began. Needless to say John didn't board that plane the following day. He and his friend stayed behind and waved goodbye to the other 12 of their holiday making buddies, who couldn't understand why they had decided not to return home. After a party fuelled summer of love spent on the 2 glorious islands of Ibiza and Tenerife John finally arrived back in Bristol in October with just one thing on his mind: "Where’s the next rave at?" A week later he went to “Sunrise Vs Back to the Future” in an aircraft hangar at Santa Pod Racecourse, totally blown away. The next 18 months is a blur, week in, week out it was party time. During this time he picked up a strong fascination about what was going on behind the decks and soon he had acquired a set of turntables and started buying records. THE FUSE WAS LIT... He picked up the skills of the bedroom DJ very quickly and in February 1991 the Vinyl Junkie was unleashed on an unsuspecting public in a small club on the outskirts of Bristol called Fairways, at a night he promoted himself called After Dark. This was the first of many and soon John started to pick up a strong local following, which secured him gigs at many other clubs in and around Bristol. Around this time the free party scene was massive in the south of England, more commonly known as traveler’s partys back then. Johns persistence and willingness to hang around behind the decks all night earned him a regular slot for a lot of these free party organisers such as: Free Party People, Sweat Sound System and Circus Warp. He played at many of these events throughout 1991 along with other DJ's like Easy Groove, Donovan "Bad Boy" Smith, DJ Die (now of Full Cycle), DJ Jody (now of Way Out West) and The DJ Producer. Then at the end of 1991 John played at Vibes Alive at the University of the South West of England. This at the time was probably the biggest event in the Bristol calender. The Vinyl Junkie tore the roof off and was made resident immediatley. This was a major breakthrough and this residency would last nearly 3 years even when Vibes Alive changed hands and became Sutra. Over the next two years bookings came from promoters all over the country like: Ektos, Total Kaos, Obsession and Quest as well as lots of local club promoters. Along the way John had met Rob Bryant & Paul Shurey, who were at the time Promoting Universe, this eventually led to him playing in the main arena at Universe's first ever Tribal Gathering in April ’93. He also played in the hardcore arena at the 1997 Tribal Gathering. In 1994 John felt it was time that he started making some tunes and so teamed up with Jody from Sub Love. Together they made 2 tunes, which, although they never got released, gave John a real taste for production. In 1997 he embarked on a City & Guilds in Sound Engineering at Bridgewater College. He borrowed some dosh from the bank and bought an Akai S3000 and an Atari with cubase and has been making beats ever since… Almost 2 decades has passed since the Vinyl Junkie touched down and he still plays at many events up and down the country including Raindance in London and Illusion in Stoke… Mainly playing old Hardcore from the early nineties, combining the new sounds of Hardcore Breaks and throwing in some Breaks and Jungle for good measure... Hardcore Breaks is a more recent incarnation of that early 90's sound. Hardcore breaks, was partly spawned by John and his co - conspirator Darkus who he met in 2001 and who together launched the label Warehouse Wax. Along with other labels like 2fresh, Bassrock, Firewall, Hardcore Lives, Enormous Mouse, Good Gosh, Repeat Offender and Darkus' label Hardcore Projektz (as well as many others) John tries to push this sound to the masses and make it a recognised genre. In 2001 John, along with some friends launched a night at Lakota in Bristol called Absolute Old Skool which played a massive part in the Old Skool revival which was taking place at the time. Over the following 4 years they staged around 15 events which were very successful. All the top Old Skool jocks from back in the day were asked to make appearances, the majority of whom, did. Absolute Old Skool helped launch the careers of many young local DJ’s like Kickback and Sketchy & Compulsion. John still DJ’s on a regular basis and produces as much as he can and is currently studying towards a degree in Music Technology. Just some of the promoters Vinyl Junkie has played for over the years… Vibes Alive (Bristol), Sutra (Bristol), Universe (Tribal Gathering 93 and 97), Excursion (Bristol), Bristol Exposure (Nationwide), Pandemonium (Liverpool, Wolverhampton), Pleasuredome (Skegness), Tick Tock (Swansea), Dance Planet (Wolverhampton), Obsession (Wormelow), Obsessed (Bristol, Port Talbot), Sketch (Bridgewater), Galactic (Bridgewater), Southern Exposure (South Wales), Big Love (Bristol, Salisbury), X-Static (Bristol), Bzrk (Port Talbot), Die Hard (Leicester), Uprising (Sheffield), Double Dipped (London), Kinetic (Stoke), Essence (Plymouth), Dance Concept (South Wales), Hyperactive (Bristol), Quest (Wolverhampton), Total Kaos (Leicester), Ektos (Swindon, Longleat), Adidance (Nottingham), Adrenalin (Barnstable), Fusion (Bristol), Hyperbolic (Kings Lynn), Headcharge (Sheffield), Cohesion (Birmingham), Full Contact (St Austell), Code Blue (South Coast), Feverish (Bristol), Fish (Bristol), The Dock (Liverpool), Energy24 (Glastonbury Festival), Illusion (Stoke on Trent), Bionic (Cardiff), Hindsight (Exeter), Flashback (Birmingham), Back in the Haze (Leeds), FutureVibe (Leicester), Oblivion (Bournemouth), Ravenation (London), Best of British (London, Bristol), Raindance (London), Absolute Old Skool (Bristol), Absolute Hardcore (Bristol), Delirium (Bristol), Uproar (Swindon), Enigma (London). Cool Aid (Swansea)…. (And lots more!). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.