John Askew is without doubt one of the hottest tech/trance producer/djs in the world. His record labels Discover and Discover Dark have given birth to some of the most exciting trance and techno records of the last 6 years – including John’s latest single “Chime” which Paul van Dyk played 5 weeks in a row on his legendary Soundgarden Radio show.
After the huge successes of his singles “Vellum”, “The Door” and “New Dimension” and “Fuck Private Ryan”, John has gone on to deliver release after release of consistently high quality club music.
As a remixer John has worked for numerous high profile labels such as Euphonic, Afterglow Records, Duty Free, Ministry of Sound, Monster Records, Flux Delux, Moodmusic, Fenology and Paul van Dyk’s legendary Vandit Records on which John’s remix duties have been employed numerous times.
His debut artist album “Lower the Tone” (released in 2006) received massive acclaim in the press and within 4 weeks of its release was completely sold out – a testament to John’s die hard fan base.
John’s Discover and Discover Dark labels have now established themselves as one of the World’s most cutting edge and influential outputs for high quality trance and techno. The labels have led to the birth of many of the hottest trance / techno talents – including John O’Callaghan, Inertia, Alex Morph, Greg Downey, Sean Tyas, Neal Scarborough, Bryan Kearney, Thomas Datt, Tom Colontonio, Gate 42, Mekk, Aled Mann and of course John Askew himself.
You only have to look in the record boxes of djs Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Eddie Halliwell etc to see how popular the Discover sound is.
In 2006 John launched the “Live As….” album series, which features recordings of live club performances from the in demand Discover djs.
You only have to listen to John’s live albums from Passion, The Gallery, Turnmills, Beirut or Los Angeles to see why he is so in demand for live club appearances.
For more info on the “Live As…” series please visit www.recoverworld.com
From exclusive residencies at 2 of the World’s most influential clubs (The Gallery and Ministry of Sound in London) to a constant stream of high profile guest slots at the coolest clubs around the world, John is also now enjoying the rewards of well over a decade of consistently hard work.
In 2005 the world’s number one dj, Paul van Dyk, requested John to be the only guest at his legendary Birthday party in Berlin.
In 2006 Armin van Buuren requested John as the headline guest dj to play along side him at his massive A State of Trance 250 party in The Netherlands.
In the same year Tiesto specifically requested John to be the main guest along side him at one of his few UK dates – at Slinky, Bournemouth.
At the end of 2004 Judge Jules picked up on the hype and signed John up to his reputable Serious Management Company.
This year Pete Tong approached John to do an Essential mix for BBC Radio One. A rare honor and one that confirmed John’s status as a highly respected dj within the premier league of the international scene.
From guest appearances on countless high profile radio shows around the world including several guest slots and an Essential mix on BBC Radio One, to hosting the flagship trance & techno show on Ministry of Sound radio and then later London’s prestigious Kiss 100 station John has always had a strong passion for Radio.
In 2006 Paul van Dyk requested John to take up a weekly residency on his exciting broadcasting platform – Vonyc. John made 50 broadcasts for the station before taking a break in order to prepare for the arrival of his first child. Today John still continues his association with Vonyc by creating an exclusive series of epic 5 hour sets.
To tune in to Vonyc log on at www.vonyc.com/radio
Playlists from all of John’s radio shows can be found at www.djjohnaskew.com
Biography: Today
August 2007 saw the release of John’s massive single “Chime”. Around the same time several banging Askew remixes emerged including his killer mixes of ‘”A dream of Peace” by Amadeus and Aly & Fila and “Oasis” by Digital Nature”. John’s next track “The Advent of Us” will be out toward the end of the year on Discover Dark.
John has also hooked up with his old friend John O’Callaghan to form CARTEL. Their debut single “Moments” has been thoroughly thrashed by both Armin van Buuren and Eddie Halliwell. A follow up is already in the making.
2006 also saw John launch his new electronic band DRUM CULT with his old friend Zak Frost. The band incorporates a variety of new and exciting electronic influences. Their debut single “Radio” was released in September on Dirt Crew Recordings. The massive DRUM CULT remix of “It’s up to You” by Sasse came out on Moodmusic.
A new DRUMCULT single has been completed (title TBC) and will be available soon on DRUMCULT Recordings. More info at www.drumcult.com
DRUMCULT are currently recruiting musicians with a mind to tour the band from early 2008.
As a dj, John continues his long standing residency at The Gallery where he can regularly be seen and heard rocking the dancefloor along side the likes of Paul van Dyk, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong and just about every other credible dj from the international circuit.
John also holds a residency for Ministry of Sound’s worldwide tours which has seen him flying the flag for the world famous brand all over the globe.
The last 18 months has seen John play prime time sets at some of the world’s coolest festivals including his banging set on the main stage of the 2007 Nature One Festival n Germany – which was also broadcast live across the whole country on Sunshine Live Radio.
In the past 3 years John has played on all the far corners of the globe including: North America, Canada, Australia, Russia, Brazil, Venezuela, Egypt, Germany, The Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, China, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Greece, Ukraine, Georgia, and of course all over the UK.
In September of 2007 John joined the PFA agency, home to Eddie Halliwell and John O’Callaghan.
At the same time John also was signed to legendary management company AM Only in New York who now look after all of John’s bookings in North America and Canada.
Biography: History
After spending most of his teens playing guitar in a variety of local rock bands, John Askew’s musical alliance was suddenly disrupted when he attended an illegal rave in Cornwall in 1993. He immediately ditched both his band and his beloved Les Paul in exchange for a pair of decks.
In 1994 John made his club debut at the notorious North London 80’s Acid House venue – Woody’s. A few months later he blagged himself a slot at a rave in Wiltshire which in turn led to a residency for the then infamous Wiltshire based sound system “Code Red”. This position gave John the opportunity to regularly play to thousands of underground revelers that would loyally make their way out into the countryside every weekend to party in the open air. His sound was influenced by a mixture of tough melodic German dance music that was fast putting Frankfurt (and djs like Sven Vath and Dj Dag) on the map as the epicenter of the global trance scene, and the hard, more percussive sounds that artists like CJ Bolland, Westbam and Jeff Mills were pioneering.
At the end of 1995 overwhelming pressure from the police led the organisers of the Code Red parties to move their events from the fields into licensed clubs and venues. With this move John started warming up for a host of top international techno names such as Billy Nasty, Dave Angel and Dave Clarke. He quickly established a name for himself and was subsequently booked to play a number of other underground nights including Universe's legendary Final Frontier at Club UK where John rocked the decks along side a plethora of big names including Paul Oakenfold, Carl Cox and john’s biggest hero of the time Dj Dag.
Over the next few years John found himself becoming a regular at Heathrow and Gatwick Airports, traveling extensively across Europe to deliver his now trademark sound. A sound and style that one Scandinavian radio presenter summed up as “…..like watching Jeff Mills mixing but using Paul van Dyk’s records!!”.
The next 5 years brought John residencies and guest slots at some of the hottest club nights in the South of England, including the infamous UFO Club which hosted debauched parties for thousands of party people every weekend on the picturesque Longleat Country Estate.
In 1999 John teamed up with Bristol's most respected techno dj, Simmer, to form Shimmy Recordings. With highly acclaimed reviews from the national dance press and a huge underground following in the West Country, John began to gain a reputation for his unique writing and production skills which combined euphoric melodies with hard punchy drums and percussion.
In time, as his sound developed, his productions became firm favourites with the likes of Armin van Buuren & Paul van Dyk.
In 2000 John was asked to be the resident for Universe’s (of Tribal Gathering fame) “Sorted” tour. In one month John played 21 gigs across the country along side many of the world’s finest djs including Carl Cox, Orbital, Timo Maas, Danny Rampling, Danny Howells, Way Out West and John "00" Fleming.
On NYE 2000 John rocked the main stage at Ministry of Sounds’ infamous Dome event. His technical wizardry on the decks in front of 26,000 clubbers led Ministry to offer him a residency at their world famous club – Ministry of Sound – London – where John was resident for 2 years.
John’s end of the night 3 hour sets in Ministry’s “The Box” main room were legendary and often had the capacity crowds rocking long past their official 8am closing time.
In 2001 John released the massive single “Vellum” on Telica records. This led to the owners of that label recruiting John to develop and A&R a new label for this sound he was creating. The new label was called Discover Records.
In 2003 Danny Newman (Tall Paul’s brother and owner of London’s coolest electronic music venue Turnmills) heard John play and immediately asked John to become an exclusive resident for The Gallery – the flagship night for Fridays at Turnmills. Accepting the offer did not require much thought!
