DJ Dave Haslam made his reputation DJ-ing over 450 times at the legendary Hacienda club; being invited to open for a host of bands, including the Stone Roses and New Order; and writing for a variety of magazines including the ‘NME’, and ‘The Face’ and publishing three books.

He made his debut at the Hacienda on May 1st 1986. Playing an eclectic mix his Thursday ‘Temperance’ night became the focus for Madchester’s indie dance fraternity. Ian Brown, Tim Burgess and the Chemical Brothers all later credited the night as an inspiration. In 1989 it was described as “the best club night in Britain” by the ‘NME’.

He DJ-ed at the Hacienda, mostly Thursdays and Saturdays throughout the ‘Madchester’ years in the late 1980s, and returned to play at the club in 1996; he was on the wheels of steel on the last night of the
club on June 28th 1997.

In 1990 he toured America with Mike Pickering, Graeme Park, and Paul Oakenfold (his gigs in Detroit and Chicago remain among his favourite ever gigs).

Through the 1990s he played at the Boardwalk in Manchester, at ‘Freedom’ on Saturdays, and ‘Yellow’ which dominated Friday nights in Manchester for seven years – 1992-1999 – creating a magical mix of regulars getting off on classic New York disco, soul-stirring house, rare groove, and deep funk.

During the early 1990s he travelled to Ibiza, Switzerland and France playing Italian piano anthems and bleepy Warp remixes. In Berlin in 1993, he played alongside Paul van Dyk at the famous E-Werk club.
Haslam was nominated one of the top 100 DJ’s in the world by ‘DJ’ magazine in 1993, and won ‘City Life’ DJ of the Year in 1994. He has DJ-ed three times at ‘Creamfields’.

He has also cooked cauliflower cheese for Morrissey; confused a TV presenter live on Icelandic TV in a conversation about Moby; and written three books (‘Manchester England’, ‘Adventures on the Wheels
of Steel; the Rise of the Superstar DJs’ and ‘Not Abba; the Real Story of the 1970s’).

He currently hosts ‘Sweet Sensation’ nights – fabulous, but infrequent guest-list only parties at various venues in Manchester. He describes his DJing philosophy as “playing the best records ever made one after the other”.

His recent gigs have included the after-party for the Manchester film premiere of ‘Control’, a new wave night at Nouveau Casino in Paris (highlight; Haslam playing ‘French Disko’ by Stereolab and then pirouetting in the dancefloor), and a Gorillaz aftershow party (highlight; Damon Albarn standing on a chair singing along to ‘White Man in Hammersmith Palais’).

In May 2008 he played two nights at ‘Aura’ in Lima (Peru), and has since played in Paris, Berlin, and Geneva.

I am a DJ and have been on the scene for a considerable length of time having first got the bug in 1982. I have had the good fortune to have a career as a DJ yet remained steadfast avoiding most trends. This has enabled me to to play what I want, I categorise this as anything good though my main loves are Disco, chilled out Balearic beats and electronic oddness.

I have been fortunate and have performed as a DJ in many countries including India, Venezuela, Romania, Portugal, France, Russia and Ireland to name a few. My current party is called Aficionado and this celebrates its 8th birthday this July, my partner in this is Moonboots who you can contact through my friends list on myspace. We play anything good with the emphasis on found funk, basically records we have sourced from the sixties to the current that suit our taste. Aficionado is now a sporadic event that takes place at various venues in Manchester on occasional Sundays.

I also DJ at other parties primarily in Manchester though occasionally i do venture South, East and West.

Elliot’s Djing career began in 1992 at Manchesters infamous Hacienda, playing frivilous disco sets in the clubs gay traitor bar, It was here he fell over his soon to be partner in crime Miles Holloway. Miles had decks, Elliot had a couple of contacts… and they were off. Picking up his first residency at the boardwalks now defunct ‘yellow’ night alongside journalist dave haslam…It was here he taught himself to experiment a little, playing disco next to soul, house, and weird funky nuggets.The gigs at the hacienda coninued, playing support to sister sledge, rose royce, the pet shop boys and various others.

In 1993 came an offer Elliot couldn’t turn down… A new club was being opened in the nearby city of leeds, Hard times was to become one of the most respected and underground of the british ‘superclubs’ [rip]. With Eastwick and Hollway at the wheel this was sure to be one of the most solid resident team ups in the UK, outplaying the likes of Danny Tenaglia, Todd Terry, Derrick Carter.

In 1994 came there first studio outfit… as Salt City Orchestra the pair recorded ‘storm’ for the awesome tribal uk label… It instantly became the labels biggest selling record and planted the seed for paperecordings..The label they set up with their drinking freind’s in the summer of 94, and provided paper with a handful of underground classics, ‘the book’, ‘downtime’, ‘wastpaper’ etc.. word spread fast and soon enough the pair were remixing for the likes of underworld, moloko, the sneaker pimps and Marshall Jefferson and releasing records and mix albums on pagan and paper. Elliot left hard times in 1996 to concentrate on his homegrown ‘robodisco’… this night is still in full effect and whilst releasing It’s quirky mix albums it continues to be a vehicle for elliots sideways slant on house. the pair [he and hollway] also began touring the world Djing… [until Elliot developed a fear of flying]

In 1997 things went full circle and Elliot and Miles were asked to be the Saturday night residents at the Hacienda… this time with full control of the night… The club shut down 6 weeks later. [they cursed it] but not before elliot managed to play the last record, this can be seen in reincarnation the the film 24 hour party people.

2000 and Eastwick and Hollway had ditched Salt City Orchestera and started their ‘reset’ studio project… releasing a string of varied singles on paper working with vocalists such as steve edwards and alison david and providong paperecordings with there 50th release ‘runaway love’. He also spent alot of time travelling the Uk spreading the house music message. Elliot also conquered his fear flying and spent the year catching up on all those exotic locations such as New Zealand, Africa, Australia, Usa, Norway, iceland, russia, and hull. When at home Elliot presented [with Ben Davis] the radio show ‘at home with ben and elliot’ for kiss, galaxy and atantic 252..the show was broadcast from bens cellar and included the first examples of radio lookalikes, hoovering and heavy swearing….suffice to say they were sacked from all 3 stations quite quickly.

2001- elliot started the millenium with his own night going back to his soul and disco roots with ‘rinkydink’ a weekly night for 300 people where he played a five hour set every week for a year. Moving on to residencys at the end, turnmills, and combining travelling the globe with setting up his own studio and releasing a string of top knocker house tracks….He also started writing for music magazines including Muzik, jockey Slut and Faith. He also planted the seeds of a now blossoming TV career appearing in channel 4′s ‘fakin it’ and hosting his own show ‘this is music’ on ITV.

The present… Elliot is working on a studio project with heidrum from Gloss to follow up their disco gem called “NUMBER ONE” signed to Wall of Sound. its going to be a big floor moment. As well as Djing in serbia, greece, norway, new zealand, australia and the states all on the horizon for the next few months. All this and he still finds time to do ‘elliot eastwicks world famous pop quiz’ at the 333 and the comedy store, look after 2 kids, present telly programs and get drunk.

Manchester based DJ and producer Dave Law is one of the new breed of rising Dj’s who’s made his mark on the Manchester Club scene and now starting to make a big impact on the London Dance scene.

Over the years Dave has played at some of the biggest clubs in the world including the world famous Hacienda where he held a residency for 4 years. Others include Sankeys, Tall Trees, Ampersand, Dry Bar, 1 Central Street and Socio Rehab in Manchester, The Brickhouse in London and also travelled as far as New York (Sapphire Lounge, Izzy bar), Korea (Basement, The Dam, Hollywood), Spain (Puro Bar).

2008 saw Dave flourish as a producer and many long nights spent in the studio are yielding serious results.In particular his collaboration with Mark Atherton (11AM)… Their tracks are being played worldwide and it clearly wont be long before you’re hearing much more from Dave & Mark with a flurry of remixes and singles in the pipeline.

With an amazing ability to ‘transform’ any night he may be Djing at, Dave truly is a Dj who pays attention to what the crowd are really up for, which is a rare talent.

His much sought after cd’s have been distributed all over the world and his music is full of quality Deep Soulful House.

With superb experience behind him Dave continues his residency with the infamous ‘All Back To Ours’ parties at the Brickhouse in London and has most recently started a new monthly ‘ABTO’ residency at House 9 in Manchester with Gaz James and regular spots with Dave Haslam @ Sweet Sensation in Manchester.

Chris E was one of the founding members of Out of the Gloom. As well as gracing the decks more times than any other resident, he is also responsible for the nights artwork and he designed the website. He has a fantastic record collection and enjoys playing a mixture of styles at the night from hip hop to funk, disco to dubstep and lots and lots of soul and house!

Chris got his first set of decks in 2000, he had already built up a healthy record collection and felt that he could do better than the local DJs he heard in his home town of Bolton on a Saturday night. Born and bred in a town more associated with Styrofoam pop or chipmunk vocals, Chris managed to escape this by developing a deep love of all things house. His first DJ gig came by asking the manager of the pub he worked as a barman in if he could have a set!

At the time Chris was a student at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk and this is where he formed his first regular night. Alongside fellow students there was a mixture of indie and hip hop, while Chris provided the house. The night was a great success amongst his fellow students. After finishing university Chris travelled around the US and Barbados, where he heard lots of new music and was inspired by the party venues overseas.

On returning to Bolton in 2002, Chris cemented a residency at one of the few bars in the town with an open-minded view on music. He played a mixture of soul, house, funk and broken beat and was occasionally joined by live percussion and sax players. Playing every Friday and Saturday night for over 2 years was a great learning experience. But at the end of the time Chris was ready for a change and ready for a social life!

Chris has since played Sankeys Soap, 2Risque, Audio Boutique, Waves for Shelter @ The Music Box, Niteshift, Kill the Disco in Middlesbrough and many more. He has played alongside SLAM, Greg Wilson, Iain Taylor and Audio Whores to name but a few.

Chris is currently working on “secret projects” aside from Out of the Gloom and is one half of 2 Players a night started in 2007 alongside Stylus’ Scott Carey.

By way of music influences, Chris names Stevie Wonder, Masters at Work, Mr Scruff, George Benson and Todd Terry as his heros. When he is not spinning eclectic Sunday vibes at Out of the Gloom, Chris can play all manor of house music and broken beat, but he has also been known to bang out a techno set!

Chris aspires to “play music to an appreciative audience” and push Out of the Gloom to the masses.

Steve was the tour dj for Jamiroqui in 1997 and has had dj spots all over the uk and around the world since 1990. He also works as a dancer and actor appearing as a northern soul dancer on Ocean Colour Scene and Moloko videos as well as the lead actor and dancer in the short film “Function At The Junction”. Recently back from a dj tour of L.A, Steve’s Manchester based promotion “Soul Or Nothing” will be hosting the third room at Soul Revolution with an eclectic spread of DJs spinning anything from RnB, oddball instrumentals, obscure northern, off the wall 70s, and just straight up soulful tunes. All spun off original vintage vinyl.

Bob Jones career in the music business started in May 1967, he secured a DJing job at his local youth centre and gained his first ‘club’ appearance in 1971. His music policy was, as it is now, the highest quality black music, featuring soul, dance and jazz, and he has been recognised worldwide as one of the first DJs ever to play jazz to a dance floor as early as 1971. In 1979 he was instrumental in DJing at the world’s first ever soul and jazz Dance Weekender at Caister in Norfolk, England, and went on to play at 24 Caisters.

He has played in numerous clubs and venues across England, Europe and the world. In 1981 he played on the pirate radio stations in Essex and London, and quickly gained a reputation for playing quality black music and was asked to join Blues & Soul magazine as their jazz correspondent in 1983. In 1987, Dr Bob DJed at the first Southport Dance Weekender, started by Northern club promoter Alex Lowes. This event has gained full respect from the music industry worldwide and now in it’s 20th year with Dr. Bob Jones being a resident member of it’s DJ team. He also played at the famous Monday night Jazz Sessions at London’s Wag Club alongside Gilles Peterson, Kevin Beadle and Sylvester.

In 1990 he was approached by the American music giant Motown Records, to remix and additionally produce a record by The Temptations. The result was a credible dance record and an international hit ‘The Joneses’. The rhythm track to the ‘Joneses’ has been used by the artists known as ‘Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince’, and Bob is now credited as a co-writer of ‘Boom – Shake the Room’, this reached No 1 in over 14 countries. He was also instrumental in giving Coldcut the idea to record Yazz’s No 1 Record ‘The Only Way is Up’, which sold 6 million copies and became the biggest selling single at the time.

Since then Bob has produced over 30 different artists including Terry Callier, Al Green, Daryl Hall, Snowboy, East West Connection, Swing Out Sister, Izit, Squeeze, and Bobby Womack. He has also given his expertise on the history of black music consulting and starring in Lenny Henry’s ‘New Soul Nation’ on Channel 4 and was Music Consultant to BBC 2′s ‘Late Show’ on The British Black Music Industry, and has just completed a film treatment for’A History of UK Black Music’. Jones was one of the founder members of The British Rhythm & Blues Association – the BRBA.

In October 1993, Bob started his own club night called ‘The Surgery’ in London’s West End and every Saturday for 2 years the club was full, winning an award reconising it’s status as ‘Best Soul Club in the UK’. In December 1995 he opened a successful soulful dance night at the Bluenote club in London’s Hoxton Square. The night is called ‘LIFT’ and has been given top marks by the music media and critics. It features some of the UK’s top underground DJs like Harvey, The Idjut Boys, Harri, Glenn Gunner and Phil Asher and has contributed to Bob winning ‘Best British Club DJ’ for 95, 96, & 97. In July 1996 he was asked to play at Universe’s Tribal Gathering – a massive dance attracting over 30.000 clubbers. He accepted and appeared at the same event again in May 1997. He also appeared at ‘Universe’,'Creamfields’ and ‘V98′ Festivals in 1998, and is a regular DJ for the ‘Bud Ice Bus’.

Over the last 20 years,he has compiled albums and written sleeve notes for various major labels in the field of black music, including Sony/Epic in Japan after a 10 day tour there in 1994. Bob has compiled a ’90′s Soul LP’ for Beechwood Music – the company responsible for the highly successful Mastercuts LP series (normal sales are 40,000+) – and also an anthology album entitled ‘Stop and Listen Volume 1′ (Barely Breaking Even Records). This was released to celebrate Bob’s amazing 30 years as a DJ in May 1997. Jones put together the immensely successful ‘Soul Spectrum and Jazz Spectrum LP’s’ for the Barely Breaking Even imprint and compiled the ‘Inspirational Dance’ LP for Slip ‘n’ Slide Records which was out in the summer of 1999. It’s all this and more that has earned him the reputation of being one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject of black music.

It was a natural progression for Bob Jones to form his own record label – Black on Black Records – and to build a credible catalogue of high quality Black Music primarily using British singers, songwriters,and musicians. The label, started in October 1993 has released 14 singles all of which have been licensed to 3rd party record labels for inclusion on various artists albums for release in Europe and the rest of the world. One of the artists Camelle Hinds to JVC in Japan, with the release of 1 single and an album in Japan, last year. Also The Jaziac Sunflowers are now recording as Aquasky with Moving Shadow, and The Hightower Set for Passenger.

In October 1996 Bob Jones returned to studio production completing a project under the alias of ‘Universal Jones’ with lifetime friend and record producer Ashley Beedle, released to much acclaim on Ashley’s Afro Art label, and in February 1997 finished another dance project ‘East West Connection’ with another DJ friend – ‘Lofty’ , and recorded a credible cover of Teddy Pendergrass soul classic ‘The More I Get The More I Want’ for Chilli Funk Records for release in June /97. His 30 year Anniversary as a DJ was celebrated at London’s Bluenote on May 31st 1997 with an eclectic DJ lineup including Snowboy and Kevin Beadle, and Ben & Pete (Barely Breakin Even).

Making a conscious decision in the latter part of 97 to continue as a Record Producer, Bob has teamed up with longtime colleague Lofty from Chilli FunkRecords , www.chillifunk.com and Flying Records-London and is at present recording and producing as East West Connection, & Raw Cuts as well as DJing at his club nights – ‘Lift’ & ‘True Spirit’ and DJed with Terry Callier on his 1998/99 acclaimed UK tours. Dr Bob & Lofty have written a tune with Terry Callier… to be featured on the 2nd East West Connection album.

Dr. Bob is DJing all over the world, and makes regular appearances in Russia, Eireland, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Norway as well as Chilli Funk Parties in the UK. He completed a 6 day tour of Sweden to help launch the album ‘A Collection of Fusion Soul Classics’ for Disco Stockholms’ ‘Fusion’ club. He has recorded and produced projects for Chilli Funk, the second Album for East West Connection. Released 2 x Various Artists compilation called ‘TRUE SPIRIT Vol 1 & 2 ‘ including tracks from Sfere, Guidance & Large Records (USA), File (Japan), Lumi (Finland) and Estereo (UK

In 2005 Bob DJ’d at The Big Chill (UK) and Elektrik Picnic (Dublin) Festivals, and has made regular appearances at The Sunday Sessions @ The Big Chill Bar in Londons Brick Lane and The Chill House, in Kings Cross London. In 2006 Dr Bob embarked on a UK & European Tour to celebrate 10 years of Chilli Funk Records.

Apart from his producing, recording, record label and DJing activities, Dr Bob Jones is now a Soulful Dance correspondent for Soul specialist magazine ‘MANIFESTO’, and regularly contributes articles for and ‘FAITH’ fanzine. He is currently writing a book on his 40 years in the music business. In May 2007, Bob celebrates 40 years spinning Quality Black Music to the masses worldwide.

Mike Shaft is one of Greater Manchester’s best known broadcasters. He set up his own station Sunset Radio, and appeared on 80s daytime BBC1 show Open Air.

Brought up in Denton, Mike DJ-ed in classic Manchester clubs like Rafters and Pips before literally talking himself into his first radio job – at Piccadilly Radio.

Greg began DJing in 1975 and is regarded as one of the most important figures on the UK dance scene. He enjoyed hugely popular residencies in the early eighties at Wigan Pier and Manchester’s majorly influential Legend. He was a pioneer of mixing in the UK and in 1983 he became the first ‘dance music’ DJ hired for a regular weekly session at Manchester’s now legendary Hacienda club. Greg was instrumental in breaking the new electronic, post-disco records coming out of New York, a sound he has dubbed ‘Electro-Funk’.

In 2003 he set up his own website electrofunkroots to document this crucial era in the evolution of dance culture and, having retired from DJ work at the end of 1983, Greg returned to spinning tunes two decades later, receiving plaudits for his red-hot appearances at renowned nights including Electric Chair, Horse Meat Disco, Fabric, Back To Basics, Ministry Of Sound, Asylum, Melting Pot and the Sub Club, to name but a few. Before long he was picking up an ever increasing amount of bookings throughout Europe and, more recently, worldwide.

In 2005 Tirk Records released ‘Credit to the Edit’, a compilation of re-edits spanning Greg’s entire career, some even original tape edits from way back when (Greg still uses his trusty old Revox B77 reel-to-reel tape machine when DJing out). This wasn’t his first compilation either, having collaborated on most of the tracks to appear on the Street Sounds ‘UK Electro’ LP in 1984, as well as being the selector behind the ‘Classic Electro Mastercuts’ LP in 1994.

Other firsts for Greg include being the first DJ to mix live on British TV (The Tube in 1983), putting together the first UK radio mixes of their type for Piccadilly 261 in Manchester (beginning 1982) and showing a certain Norman Cook, then a young aspiring DJ called Quentin, how to scratch (Dec ’83). Greg has written for magazines / webzines like Wax Poetics, Clash, Grand Slam and Discopia, and presented a monthly online radio series, ‘Time Capsule’, on Samurai FM.

2008 saw Greg go truly global, embarking on an end of year tour that literally took him right around the world, with dates in Japan, Australia and Brazil, following-on from a series of gigs in the US (a return to New York and his San Francisco and LA debuts). Now a firm favourite on the festival circuit in both the UK and Europe, he also played Ibiza for the first time in the summer of 08, including a terrace appearance at the famous We Love Sundays session at Space.

Nominated by DJ magazine for outstanding contribution, and also named amongst their top twenty remixers of all-time, Greg’s edits and mixes continue to feature on the playlists of DJ’s in every continent.

In January 2009 Greg’s reputation was further enhanced when his Essential Mix on BBC Radio 1 became something of an instant classic, receiving almost universal acclaim and, in the process, providing the perfect way to commemorate the 5th anniversary of a remarkable renaissance.