John Askew

John Askew is without doubt one of the hottest tech/trance producer/djs in the world.

Over the last decade his productions and remixes have seen massive support from Eddie Halliwell, Tiesto, Armin van Buuren and Paul van Dyk who has employed John's remix skills repeatedly on his highly respected Vandit label.

After the huge successes of his singles "Vellum", "The Door" and "New Dimension" and "Chime", John has gone on to deliver a catalogue of big singles including the recent hits "Nothing Left Between Us", "Fade to Black", "Bored of You, Bored of Me" and most recently "Vandalism".

As a remixer John has worked for numerous high profile labels including Vandit, Euphonic, Afterglow Records, Duty Free, Ministry of Sound, Monster Records, Flux Delux, Conspiracy, Moodmusic and Fenology.

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.

In 2007 John joined forces with John O'Callaghan under the alias "Cartel" and created two massive singles for Armin's Captivating Sounds label titled "Buenos Aries" and "Moments".

In 2008 John released his second album "Z List Uber Star" which was met with amazing reviews from the most respected dance music press (M8, Dj Mag, IDJ, Harder Faster, Trance.Nu....)

You only have to look at the track listings of the world's biggest trance djs to see how popular the sound of John's Discover labels have become. Discover and Discover Dark have been the birthplace of some of the biggest names in the scene right now – including John O'Callaghan, Sean Tyas and Tom Colontonio. In 2006 John launched the "Live As…." album series, which featured recordings of live club performances from the in demand Discover djs.

Following the launch John has recorded and released albums from all over the world – including London, Beirut and Los Angeles. 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 around the world, John is now enjoying the rewards of over a decade of hard work. At the end of 2004 Judge Jules picked up on the hype and signed John up to his reputable Serious Management Company.

In 2005 the world's most respected trance 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 alongside him at his massive A State of Trance birthday party in The Netherlands. In the same year Tiesto specifically requested John to be the main guest alongside him on his UK tour for Slinky.

In 2007 Pete Tong approached John to do an Essential mix for BBC Radio One. A rare honour and one that confirmed John's status as a member of the djing elite. From guest appearances on countless high profile radio shows around the world, 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. For a year in 2006 John presented a weekly show on the newly formed Vonyc Radio (created by Paul van Dyk). Today John hosts a monthly show on Digitally Imported, Slink Radio and City Beats Radio.
Since 2004 John has released a total of 7 mix compilations and 2 artist albums.

For a full discography of all John Askew releases, remixes and albums please visit www.djjohnaskew.com

2009 has started with a number of high profile remixes – including for a request from Vandit to remix Paul van Dyk's massive single "The Other Side" as part of his huge greatest hits album "Volume".
John is also working on a new studio mix album which will be out towards the end of the Summer. The album will feature feature a variety of reworks and rarities as well as John's new singles "F@cking Caps Lock" and "Bad Dog Get Down".

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. 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.

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 at Nature One Festival in 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, Colombia, Argentina, 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!