Thomas Tuft

Liverpool based DJ Thomas Tuft has his roots in house, jazz, funk, hip-hop and with a life-long love of disco he's been described as one of the most versatile DJs of his generation.
Thomas comes from a family with a great musical heritage. His dad, Tufty Gordon, was a jazz saxophonist who played with an extremely diverse range of artists including Joe Cocker, Tony Christie and Stan Getz. It was his father's love of music that set Thomas off on his own musical path.
In the early 90s Thomas was resident DJ at North West club, The Pleasure Dome, a place which set down the blueprint for future events such as Tribal Gathering and Creamfields, and welcomed such diverse guests as Africa Bambaataa, LTJ Bukkem, DJ Dimitri, Angel Moraes, The Beloveds, Jon Marsh, Groove Armada and Lenny Dee. He then became resident DJ at The Sub Club, sharing a booth with Yousef, Alison Marks and Paul Kane, the latter tempting him to explore Liverpool's vibrant music scene.
After moving to Liverpool, Thomas took to the airwaves on Liverpool's Juice FM for eight years where he had a listenership of 30,000 people, not bad for going for the late-night slot. He also worked at the internationally acclaimed 3Beat Records, going on to buy the store (which he still runs today) and expanding it into a successful ticket agency that sits nicely alongside the upfront house, techno, disco, drum and base and jazz soul funk.
Thomas has DJ'd at all the top nights in Liverpool. He was a regular at legendary techno night Voodoo dropping cool house in Room 2. He is the only DJ to be broadcast on Liverpool FM's live from Cream's Annexe. Thomas has brought his sought-after sounds to Camp and Furness' very first house night, Waxxx as well as Cookie Dough (at the Lemon Lounge), The Magnet, The Cotton Club, Barfly and Albert Dock's Baby Cream. He founded the Troubled Souls night at Liverpool 02 Academy where he teamed up with record label Defected and a residency at Alma De Cuba where he spun Latin jazz and Afro-beat.
Internationally he's played to 8,000 clubbers at the Club Friends main room in Valencia, been featured in an MTV style TV documentary in Poland and was invited to perform a rare guest set in Club Revolution, Holland, alongside Rene Amez. He has also DJ'd at Bora Bora in Ibiza and Peter Gelderblom's early morning breakfast club in Rotterdam.
It is easier to list the DJs that he hasn't worked with but notable line-ups include slots with Josh Wink, Blakkat, Liquid People, Riton, Kelvin Andrews, Farley 'Jackmaster' Funk, Rolando, Marshall Jefferson, Rune Lindbaek, Mark E, Fish Go Deep, Chris Coco, Greg Wilson, Unabombers, Crazy P and Joey Negro He also warmed up for Carl Craig at a 3Beat in-store appearance.
Thomas recently played the SSW Weekender and organiser Yogi Haughton has this to say about him. "Support DJ's should never underestimate their value, those early/late slots can make/break a room. Take Thomas Tuft this year, he played to 25-30 folk on the graveyard shift but man, he had the place going nuts and left me with one of the best memories of SSW7 and that is why that wee dynamo is booked for SSW8!".
Never one to be constrained by musical genres, Thomas supported indie band The Charlatans at Liverpool St George's Hall and performed at a private party for Mike McCartney with the legendary John Peel in attendance. He has also opened up for Alexander O'Neil and M People and one of his favourite gigs was playing at a private party for George Evelyn, better known as Nightmares on Wax, where the bosses from Warp records and Paul Woolford were present. In December 2016, he warmed up for Martha Reeves and the Vandellas at their Hangar 34 show.
And just when you think he couldn't possibly have time for anything else, Thomas has become a respected producer, recording and remixing artist under the guise of Troubled Souls. He has produced remixes for the likes of Runnin' Records, a subsidiary of Peppermint Jam, Mousse T's legendary house label, Bush and Carpe Diem. Thomas' newest project is the Tufty Cub which sees him work with various musicians and vocalists to create an original new sound. Currently he is in the process of an exciting album project which has already had interest from the likes of BBE and renowned NYC label Golf Channel. He has also finished a string of remixes for Universal Music and Nang.
Thomas has also written for various music publications including EMP and is a guest lecturer at the SAE Institute. He performs continuous consultancy services with record labels, producers, clubs and festivals.
Thomas will be playing the Sunday at this year's Creamfields – his 9th year in a row. He is also taking a North-West residency for disco night Stardust and his first date sees him play alongside Joey Negro and Danny Krivit as well as appearing for newest Liverpool house night, Movement.