Autumn Update

I am back once again to fill your inbox with a few delights to forefill your eyes, ears, minds, hard drives and lives. I know i previously said i would blog more often and send out news to my mailing list but i got distracted and as a result you are getting half a years worth of news in one mega mail. Forgive me.

It’s been an exciting and often very weird time over the last few months and i’ll try my best to round it up without waffling on and just get down to showing you the goods.

Seen many a planes, train and automobile gigging at tons of incredible venues this year but the big one was ‘The Reels of Solid Steel Tour’ back in March. Landing right on my birthday me and the Boom Monk hit up loads of dates down under. I took my video camera to document it and in typical fashion have only just finished the edit…. check it out here:

If you missed that… there’s plenty more to come so hope to see you at one of these upcoming shows:

Sat, Sep 25, The Book Club, London
Sun, Sep 26, Thekla, Bristol
Sat, Oct 02, BPM, NEC, Birmingham
Fri, Oct 22, The Roundhouse, London
Fri, Oct 29, Metropolis, Bristol
Fri, Nov 05, Motion, Bristol
Sat, Nov 06, Loerrach, Freitongebiet, Germany
Fri, Nov 12, Katowice, Poland
Sat, Nov 13, Motion, Bristol

This year i’ve also been featuring on some really interesting tracks. At the start of the year, good friend Kormac asked me to feature on a song for his new album alongside DJ Yoda for a battle of itchy fingers, wordplay and wit… The track ‘Kormac’s Scratch Party’ is available now in all good record stores. For a preview check it out here:

Buy the track and the incredible album ‘Wordplay’here

Another track I’ve lent my scratchy wotnots and wordplay to is a remix by Tom Central for The Leisure Allstars. ‘Friday Night’ features Lady Chann on vocals and is an out and out party tune. For my parts i used elements of everything from a Brill Cream advert to Trainspotting for another wordplay verse at the end of the track. Check it out here:

I have also done a verse of cuts for Mr Benn on his upcoming album. The track ‘It’s A Shame’ features one of my favorite vocalists, NYC’s Emskee from The Good People. You’ll have to wait to hear this one though but it will be worth it! Massive tune.

No new video mix from me yet this year but I have been releasing full length videos from The Reels of Solid Steel optimised for Video SL so grab them and load them up to rock your party, front room or laptop. If there are any you want but dont see, send us a mail or leave your requests on the Facebook page.

Some readers may have seen me also rocking some unusual beer taps of late? The advert i appeared in for Becks Beer was based around a really cleverly rigged bar where every beer tap played samples and stems as well as pouring a pint. Clever stuff indeed, for the full advert, story and the gloriously nerdy technology behind it read the full story. Click the image below.

For a deeper look into my level of nerdism and an insight into how badly my music files are organised take a look at these interviews i have done recently:

1) ‘Space mixes‘ for the discovery channel’s ‘How stuff works’ Blog

2) Interview at Serato HQ for their Whitelabel Blog

3) Soon to be published, a look at the first 5 things that appear on my iTunes in shuffle play for the brilliant 273 blog. eeek.

Sad but true, its time to say good bye to a couple of things… First up MySpace. I wont bore you with my feelings about the odd evolution of myspace but sadly im kinda letting my page fizzle out now. What once was a great community and resource is now the victim of its own attempts to be more like Facebook. Wait though, this is where the irony kicks in… I’m now using the excellent Bandpage for Facebook, which is an app tab that is making Facebook pages look more like myspace used to be. Confused? Don’t worry about it, all you need to know is this is the new place to keep up to date with my tour dates and daily brain spillages.

The other thing thats leaving us sadly is the promo page on the website. Since the launch of DJCHEEBA.COM we have sent out; over 20 pairs of Scratch Live control records, 10 mega memory watches, a couple of very rare TTM57 faceplates and countless DVDs, tshirts, stickers and CDs to people joining the mailing list. Sadly the swag bag is now empty but we are looking at new ways to reward you guys for your feedback and involvement with the website and comps.

I’ll leave you with news of a few gigs that im especially looking fwd to.

October sees the UK’s biggest music and DJ expo, BPM hit the NEC in Birmingham once more. I’ll be there doing demos and answering any questions on the Rane/Searto stand throughout the three days of the show as well as a 1hr AV set in the main arena on the Saturday before my man Yoda headlines with his awsome video show. During the weekend Serato are also running Scratch Live training sessions, if you’re coming along for the day, sign up here and become a ‘Serato tech mate’.

This summer I was asked to curate a series of AV shows at Bristol’s ‘Metropolis’ Venue and as such i have been inviting friends and peers from the world of AV DJing to come and join me in this incredible space for some brilliant parties. We kicked off with DMC champ, Beardyman collaborator and all round good egg, JFB who came and showed us incredible turntable skills with really imaginative video clips to illustrate his wikki wikka wahs. Last week we had Sampology over from Australia with his ‘Super Visual Smackdown’ and headlining was Robin Hexstatic with his new ‘Trailer Trax’ project who both smashed it and impressed everyone there with thier individual takes on the medium.

Coming up on October 29th is the much anticipated ‘Turntables in Technicolour’ AV show from DJ Woody. So, whether you’re an AV nerd, hip hop lover or just looking for something different to the usual kind of vibe clubbing in the UK offers, get yourself along to Metropolis in Bristol to give your feet and mind a workout.

This year sees the 20th birthday of the Ninja Tune label. 20 years is an incredible achievement for an independent record label and to celebrate they are holding massive parties all over the world, releasing a massive boxset of new material, holding exhibitions and even painting murals across London. Having hosted the Solid Steel club nights for over 5 years Detectives of Perspective have managed to line up a sizable bill for a Bristol based Ninja XX party that i will be playing at. Check this for a line up, then buy a ticket cause you know line ups like this are very rare indeed and it is going to be an incredible night!

If all that wasn’t enough, you should see what else we got coming before the end of the year!

Cheeba out.