GRIPPER

DJ GRIPPER

Vetran DJ and producer Gripper began collecting vinyl in the mid 70s , inspired by his parents eclectic taste in rock n roll, blues, psychedelia, pop, reggae and soul. In 1979 aged 14 he formed a punk band and began recording onto basic 4 track tapes. His taste in music led him to take influences from BBCs John Peel radio shows and the black music coming from Radio Luxembourg. His tape splicing skills led to early mixtapes for breakdancers during the Electro years in the early 80s.
Fast forward to 1986 and regular visits to Manchesters Hacienda and parties around London led to a love affair with hip hop, funk, disco and early house music and Gripper hosting and DJing at local INVASION DANCE DEPARTMENT underground parties and clubnights in his home town of Barrow-in-Furness, England.
The following 5 years were to prove seminal with Gripper establishing his nights as legendary events regularly making top 10 listings in national magazines such as Mixmag, Black Echoes, DJ Mag.
Gripper guested at many groundbreaking clubs around the UK as a result, and began producing music in 1991 and has released music on labels such as Grand Central Records, Dancefloor, OffWorld Sounds, Om Records, Upskirt Records Ibiza, Fat City Recordings, Triple J, Lockdown and more. His releases have been supported and played by such luminaries as Louie Vega, Kenny Dope Gonzalez, Tony Humphries, Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry DJ Camacho, and Larent Garnier.
His remixes have included the likes of Usher, KRS-One, Mobb Deep, Little Egypt, Shaun Ryder, AIM, Gard Du Nord, Jon Kennedy, Victor Simonelli and Niko.

Clubs
The Gas Club, Happiness Stans, Locked and Loaded, Gardening Club, 93 Feet East, Fabric, KoKo, Shepherds Bush Empire, Breakneck, INTER face (pirate radio), Jazz Cafe (London) - Precinct 13, Sankeys Soap, Manchester Airport, Bolton Town Hall, Friends & Family, Roadhouse, The Ritz, Deaf Institute (Manchester) - Cafe Mambo, Kanya, Savanah, Es Paradis, Cafe Paradis, various Upskirt Records parties (Ibiza) - Tantra, various WMC parties (Miami) Sylvias Soul Food (NYC), Zeytuna Beach parties, Radio El Gouna (Egypt) - Ministry Of Sound VIP Chateau party (Bordeaux) Fantazia, The Eclipse (Covenrty) - Quadeant Park (Liverpool) and many many more

Some other artists Gripper has performed alongside over the years include Paul Okenfold, Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Sasha, Grooverider, Shades Of Rhythm, Moby, Alex Patterson, Roni Size, AIM, Souls Of Midchief, Rae & Christian, Judge Jules, Slipmatt, John Kelly, The Furious Five, Mikey DON. A Guy Called Gerald, DJ Face, Naughty By Nature, Dave Haslam (Hacienda), Roots Manuva, Craig Charles.

Gripper has appeared on cult UK clubbing program BPM and worked with Sir Paul Mc Cartney providing studio footage and credit music for his BBC documentary on his Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts project.

Gripper currently runs East Beach Studios in England and hosts 2 weekly 6 hour shows on Sonic Zoo Radio, one (ZOO-OLOGY) playing an eclectic mix of new dub, funk, jazz, electronica, afro and deep alternative grooves and the other (THE INCREDIBLE ELECTRIC DISCOTHEQUE) mixing new deep house and deep disco. Gripper co-runs Sonic Zoo Industries, a non-profit organisation helping young musicians and promoters in all aspects of professional development. He currently records for independent UK label ATIC Records and owns a collection of some 20,000+ records.

Links
www.soniczooradio.com
www.aticrecords.com
https://youtu.be/1UH4edM4rjU