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Gareth
Hokins
My first real
interest in music (excluding Showaddy Waddy)
came from my older sister, in the form of Ska
and two tone bands such as The Specials, The
Selector and Madness which, in the 80's was the
soundtrack in the Youth Clubs, Night Clubs and
Discos (not that I'd know, being 9 years old).
This rhythm based music came on the shirt tails
of the 70's punk explosion, which I was also
interested in!
The 80's, Electro
and Break dance hit the UK, which is when my
first interest in DJ'ing took off. Dougie Fresh,
Roxanne Shante and all the artists that featured
on the brilliant Street Sounds 'Electro' compilations
used DJ's and I wanted to be one! The second
wave of Hip Hop in about '87 (Beastie Boys, Public
Enemy, Run DMC) sealed the fate and I managed
the local youth club to buy some decks and things
were going OK until someone nick 'em!
I was still
in school when the acid house explosion happened,
but I was aware of its importance. 1990 was my
coming of age, attending my first rave and getting
involved in dance culture. 1992 saw me get my
first set of decks... Cheesy rave anthems, big
Italian piano screamers and early Progressive
House ere the order of the day!
The end of '92
to '95 are somewhat of a blur, strictly Groovy
@ Mathas, Spice of Life, One Love @ Lakota and
Ibiza twice, even tho' I lost a considerable
amount of brain cells I still managed to buy
myself some Technics..... 'dunno how I managed
that!
'96 saw my mate
Gethin and me get off our arses and organise
a few parties of our own ('Something for the
Weekend' @ The Caradog House - Aberdare). Knowing
Craig and Dave from the football and the club
Science, we invited them up to do guest spots,
which they very kindly did at a discount and
its safe to say, the parties were a success!After
various low key DJ'ing spots, my first proper
spot came in June '97 at the Escape club, Cardiff.
Where if I do say myself, I fucking rocked the
place (well the upstairs bar anyway). The following
year saw me realise a dream and I played at a
'Spice' event at the Uni. LAMERICA took off that
year and I haven't looked back since.
From playing
the main slot at the Emporium (which again fucking
rocked, ask Ceri my girlfriend if you don't believe
me) to being flown out to Belfast to play the
main slot at Thomsons Garage, Brunell Room, Creation
and numerous other events have all gone some
way to realising my dreams and ambitions of being
a professional, Top Notch, Roop Da Toop Deck
Meister!This year as LAMERICA goes from strength
to strength, I hope to further my DJ'ing career
and finally get into the studio and lay down
some tracks. Hope I haven't bored you to much. |
