Gordon Kaye

British DJ Gordon Kaye began his fixation with music and records from an early age and was Djing in pre-club bars in his Brighton hometown in 1984. The following year he started his own weekly club night, "The Sunshine Playroom" at the Escape Club. This was the most prolific indie night in the U.K. and was frequented by regular faces including Alan McGee, Primal Scream and Norman Cook. The club's music policy continuously pushed musical boundaries and it was not unusual to hear The Velvet Underground next to Motown, Sly Stone, Sixties Psychedelia, New Order, The Beastie Boys, James Brown, Orange Juice or The Teardrop Explodes (the club itself took it's name from a Julian Coke single). Gordon had moved into a more dance-orientated territory by 1989, spurred by many of the bands whose records he was playing at the time (Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Stone Roses, The Shamen and Flowered Up.) By the end of 1990 Gordon was Djing at some of the best dance nights throughout the UK, making regular appearances at such clubs as "Venus", "Renaissance", "Chuff Chuff", "Up Yer Ronson" and "Back to Basics". Gordon moved into the world of broadcasting, hosting a weekly upfront Dance show on Brighton's Festival Radio. As a partner in "Joy For Life" records Gordon opened the first branch in Brighton and by 1993 there was a second branch in Nottingham. 1993 became an extremely hectic year with an ever-increasingly busy DJ schedule. Mix Mag also commissioned Gordon to compile and mix their Mix Mag Live Volume 8 "New Bloods" collection alongside John Digweed. The "Joy For Life" brand evolved quickly to become so much more than just a record shop. In Spring 1994 Gordon was signed to D.M.C.'s Stress Recordings under this moniker and went on to release three singles for them between June 1994 and September 1997. Developing his taste for the recording studio, Gordon produced and remixed material for a whole host of labels, such as Polydor, Shindig, D.M.C., Manifesto, Solid Ground / Strongroom, The Café Del Mar Volume 3 on React, AMPM and Whoop!, using a handful different pseudo names. "Joy For Life" also became one of the Midlands most popular monthly club nights, booking such guest Djs as Paul Oakenfold, Boy George, Graeme Park and Jon of the Pleased Wimmin. 1995 saw Gordon present his first Radio One "Essential Mix" for Pete Tong. In 1996 Gordon compiled and mixed one part of a three-pack CD collection for Stress entitled "DJ Culture 3: The International Series". This tied in well with his first tour of Australia, which has become an annual event, now incorporating Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Gordon set up his own studio in Nottingham and completed his final year of a prestigious Sound Engineering course, which greatly developed his understanding of studio production. He is now working on an abundance of projects in the studio with Nick Hook, (Hook/Deliverance/First Life) and Mike Monday, (Beat Foundation/MM Records) amongst others and a whole host of new material is expected very soon. This includes productions for John Digweed's Bedrock label and more tracks for Deep Dish's Yoshitoshi imprint. December 1998 saw Gordon join Galaxy Radio's ever-increasing roster of club DJ's. He presents his own monthly mix, which follows Boy George's show on Saturdays as part of "The Galaxy Weekend", (other monthly guests on rotation include Paul Oakenfold). The mix is broadcast on all of Galaxy's regional stations simultaneously between 10.00 and 11pm. Gordon Kaye was voted number 58 in DJ Magazine's Top 100 International DJ's in November '00 and his Autumn tour of Asia was fully documented in the Christmas '98 issue of DJ Magazine. Gordon views himself as playing sophisticated underground dance music of all varieties, varying from deep and tribal American house to a harder more progressive European style.