One of Britain’s best-known and, indeed, best-loved house DJs, Cox actually began his career in hardcore and rave in the eighties, where he commanded crowds at iconic clubs that included Heaven in London and The Hacienda in Manchester. His charisma and personality guaranteed him several radio jobs during his nineties heyday, including on Radio 1 - where had a monthly residency - as well as on Kiss FM. He’s released four solo albums to date - 1996’s ‘At the End of the Cliche’, 1999’s ‘Phuture 2000’, 2005’s ‘Second Sign’ and, in 2011, ‘All Roads Lead to the Dancefloor’. He’s put out a slew of single over the course of his career, too, but he’s best known for his live work.
His main focus these days are his two record labels, Intec Records and 23rd Century Records, but he continues to perform live; he curates a night at Manchester superclub the Warehouse Project on an annual basis, and also has his own stage at Ultra Music Festival in Miami, Florida, Electric Daisy Carnival in New York, and the world’s biggest dance festival, Tomorrowland in Belgium. The free reign he's given over the curation of a stage at these huge festivals tells you everything you need to know about his revered status in the dance world.
Hailing from Bangor, Wales, born, Alexander Paul Coe on September 4th 1969, is DJ Sasha. He stumbled across electronic dance music at an establishment called The Haçienda in Manchester. He naturally gravitated to the sound of acid house, with it’s raw sound. He would make regular trips to Manchester, and eventually moved to Disley just outside of the city. It was around this era that he began to teach himself how to mix. It was a gradual rise to success for Sasha, as he struggled financially, whilst trying to maintain his career performing at low paid gigs. Fortunately, he landed a residency at the Hacienda, but decided to move on to a club named Shelly’s Laserdome in Stoke-on-Trent. His music was growing, in popularity and musically, drawing influences from Italian piano and acid house. Through his efforts, he landed a recording contract.
Moving on, in 1993 he crossed paths with John Digweed another DJ on the circuit. Together they released “Renaissance – The Mix Collection”. The single “Be as One” which he produced with Maria Nayler on vocals, peaked at 17 in the UK Singles Chart. Sasha eventually came to the attention of Ministry of Sound, who released the album “Northern Exposure 2”, this earned the Sasha and Digweed an international tour, which notably cemented and crafted the sound of trance. They earned themselves a residency at Twilo nightclub in New York City. It was around this time that Sasha produced remixes of Madonna’s “Ray of Light”, and also went on to score the PlayStation games Wipeout 3 and Gran Turismo. This was now the age of “superstar DJs”.
Following further international tours, and a successful album, the 2000s saw Sasha part ways with Digweed, and continue working on his own success. He released his sophomore album of original material, entitled “Airdrawndagger” in August 2002. It was pursuing another style of music, a less heavy and more ambient project. “Involver” was his following project, released in 2004, which was debated amongst the Grammy committee as to whether it was up for an award; unfortunately it didn’t receive a nomination.
Sasha’s career took all sorts of twists and turns, especially with his September 8th 2008 release, “Invol2ver”, which was more of a progressive house record. He is always voted into the top 10 DJs in the world in the DJMag each year, achieving the top spot in 2000.
Digweed was born on New Years Day 1967 in England. By the time he was 15 he had established himself as a prominent DJ in his hometown Hastings. He was particularly popular at the raves on Hastings Pier in East Sussex and sometimes played alongside the likes of the Prodigy and Carl Cox.
Digweed had been DJing for nearly 10+ years until he got his big break. In 1993 he passed a demo on to Renaissance Club owner Geoff Oakes who subsequently relayed it to influential acid house producer Sasha. The recording impressed both of them and eventually led to Digweed’s partnership with Sasha. The two producers worked together throughout 1993, touring and producing a string of mixtapes and remix albums for other artists. Digweed also kept in touch with Oakes and in 1994 comprised a compilation album of tracks recorded at the Renaissance night club aptly entitled “Renaissance: The Mix Collection”. Sasha and Digweed have been noted as some of the first producers to logistically market a compilation mixtape. They continued this trend, releasing compilations under the series Northern Exposure and Global Underground.
Once Digweed got a firm footing in the music industry he formed his own record label, Bedrock Records. He not only used the name Bedrock for his label, but also used it as a medium to perform under, alongside his friend and collaborative partner Nick Muir. The duo found success with their debut single, “For What You Dream Of” , which was featured in the critically acclaimed Danny Boyle film “Trainspotting”.
In 2000 Sasha & John Digweed issued their 5th album (i.e. apart from their Northern Exposure concept series). Though this release did not receive as much critical praise as their previous compilations it is arguably one of their most commercially successful, breaking into the Billboard 200 at No. 149. The compilation included artists ranging from the Orb and Chemical Brothers to Eric Clapton.
As Digweed built his stature in England with his Bedrock club, he also made a name for himself in America, much thanks ado to his residency at New York’s Twilo. He also furthered his status in the American electronic scene by appearing in the 2000 Greg Harrison film, “Groove”, a story which revolves around a San Francisco dance club. 2002 proved to be a vary hectic, but satisfactory year for Digweed as he embarked on a high publicity six week US tour and also scored the soundtrack to the Sean William Scott action movie “Stark Raving Mad”. Throughout the 2000s he hosted a radio show on the UK program Kiss 100 and in 2008 he joined forces again with Sasha, embarking on an extensive North American tour. Digweed has frequently been credited as one of the world‘ greatest DJs by a variety of reputable publications, including Resident Advisor and DJ Mag.
Carl Cox has been on the DJ scene for many years, starting his journey in the industry as a hardcore rave DJ. This section of his career saw him performing regularly at popular nightclubs, for BBC radio in a regular slot, and being hired out for prestigious events. Cox achieved enough success to form his own record label and continue producing his own music along side.
I was lucky enough to catch Cox at Ibiza DJing one of the main parties, and it really was the best DJ set I’ve ever seen. It really makes you appreciate the skill and talent needed to mix and perform live when you witness it first hand. He played through tonnes of mixes of his own, and also mixed up some covers and collaborations from other big artists. He played an adapted version of Dirty Bass, and everyone went mad, dancing and jumping around, jamming along to the incredible mix. He’s got a great stage presence and vibe when he’s performing, and his banter between and over the top of tracks kept everyone entertained and cheering for the music. I don’t think we stopped dancing from beginning to end, and the house music with catch hooks begged us to stay on our feet. If you want a good dance, Carl Cox is the DJ for you!
yazhow
Alexander Paul Coe, aka Sasha, is Wales’ contribution to the Electronic Dance Music scene, and damn is it a good one. Grammy nominated for remixing Felix da Housecat’s “Watching Cars Go By”, he has remixed tons of artists, from Madonna and The Chemical Brothers. Like most established EDM artists, his live sets are nothing short of epic. An inclusive light show that is perfectly synched with every track that flawlessly transitions into the next. He does a great job of building anticipation for the beat to drop by a continual tone progression that just repeats and repeats, and slowly builds upon this one tone repetition. This all leads to the fast-paced first track that erupts the huge crowd into dance. He doesn’t speak much, but really doesn’t need to. His sets are centered on his tracks, and they are more than capable of speaking for themselves. He includes the remixes he has done, in addition to his original songs. An hour long set usually results in the best dance time you have in a long time, and you leave completely knackered but with absolutely no regrets about it. There is even a point where the entire crowd is so deeply entranced by the music that everything outside of the tent disappears.
Ellinoinsta
There are many people around who dabble in DJing, but seeing John Digweed perform live, really demonstrated just how hard it is to be successful in the industry. His concentration, and the way that he was controlling the desk was incredible. His hands were flying from the record deck, to the synth, altering volumes, and distorting sounds.
He opened the show with Satellite, and slightly altered it from its recorded version which was awesome. He manipulated the build up to the drop so that it took longer to wind up, so when the drop finally happened the entire crowd were dancing like crazy. As well as being a super talented DJ, Digweed is a born entertainer. From start to finish he had the audience under his control, he’d put his arms in the air and start clapping, and everyone would follow right away. It was a great vibe, because it seemed that everyone was equally passionate about the music.
He mixed up the vibe constantly, and went from house, to electronic dance to keep everyone on their toes. As well as being in an awesome venue with brilliant music, the visual qualities were great, and reflected the music perfectly.
yazhow
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