Empathy erd Birthday - House-music-inyourface.com

Friday 3rd September Empathy presents FUTURE Terrace

Jody WayOutWest
Stuart Wilkinson

Main Room
Jody WayOutWest
Jim Rivers (Suelo)
Sam Richardson
At 29 years old, Jody Wisternoff is something of a seasoned veteran. With an impressive career that spans 14 years to date, Jody has achieved commercial success and critical acclaim as a producer, remixer and DJ. In the late 80's, legendary Bristol duo Smith and Mighty opened up their studio to two very young kids who went by the name of Tru Funk Posse (Jody and little brother Sam). These two self-taught, pre-pubescent hip hoppers had already produced a hefty handful of tracks utilizing a ZX spectrum computer, casio keyboard, and 4 track tape recorder. With a modified belt-driven record deck, the older member of TFP
(not yet a teenager) learned to imitate the hiphop DJs of the time who were still inventing
and mastering the art for themselves.

Under Smith and Mighty's 'Three Stripe' label, the two youngsters released their first single - 'Break the Beat' (playlisted by Westwood), as well as accepted gigs anywhere the bouncers would let them through the door. Breaking through to the finals of the DMC hiphop championships, they received national notoriety from mags such as The Face, Hip Hop Connection, and I.D.

Who was responsible for the musical side of the operation? None other than a pre-teen Jody Wisternoff who, as well as filling the world's most illustrious dancefloors, is also one half of the pioneering dance act Way Out West. During the early 90's, Jody became immersed in the free-party scene and scored regular slots at huge raves such as Universe and World Dance. A brief partnership with DJ Die resulted in a slew of underground releases under the moniker 'Sublove'. However, it was '4 AM' (a bass-heavy, saxophone led house track recorded several years earlier and released on Smith 'n Mighty's Three Stripe, under the name Tru Funk) which caught the attention of one Nick Warren. It wasn't until a good few years later, during Jody's disillusionment with the increasingly aggressive hardcore/jungle scene, that a brief meeting
between Nick and Jody resulted in the birth of Way Out West.

The mid nineties brought a regular slot on Bristol's Galaxy Radio. By this time Jody's DJ style had become predominantly house/techno, and as a result residencies at London's Club UK and Bristol's Lakota were secured. As Way Out West became more established DJ work went from nationwide to international. Jody released Two mix cd's on Kickin Records (E-scension 1 & 2), and one on Bliss recordings (Way Out There). Regular trips to the US, South America, Asia and Australia have ensured that Jody's current blend of enticing dance music is always heard. He also plays various one offs across the country, as well as residencies at Bristol's Empathy and TimeLapse. Juggling WOW production, remixing, live shows, and DJing. Constantly at the cutting edge, embracing the exciting and new sounds, whilst shunning the populist/lowest common denominator floor fodder, Jody's passion for music keeps him ahead of the game.

Thursday 9th September 9-3am Residents Special

Stuart Wilkinson
Sam Richardson
Many Dj's have a history of years playing the odd underground club here or there over a 10 year period, Stuart started playing in clubs in and around Bristol around 3 years ago, waiting for the perfect opportunity to show off his perfect turntable skills. With many plays at The Maze and Lakota and various other clubs and bars around Bristol, he then formed Empathy in March 2000. Ever since it has become an institution among clubbers throughout the South West, hailed by Pete Tong on his Essential Selection as one of the best up and coming nights in the UK and also placed in Dj magazines top 5 clubs 7 times in the past year, its hard to imagine Empathy and Stuart ever standing still.
It has gone from strength to strength and with Stuart as resident his ability to entertain
the crowds has shown in the success of the night.

Stuart's style of Progressive Breaks and House has been praised by many fellow dj's and promoters including 2nd Birthday special guests Hybrid Ashley Casselle and Bedrocks Jonathan Lisle plus recently coming 3rd in Venue magazines top djs for 2003. Stuart has appearerd alongside the best including Timo Maas, James Holden, Paolo Mojo, Jay Tripwire, Kasey Taylor, Steve Gerarrd, Jody Wisternoff, Cass, Greg Vickers, Pako & Frederick, Dj Remy and many more. In January 2002 Stuart was made resident at Hope Recordings own night Loop based at the Blue Mountain Club in Bristol, the opening night was a blinding success, Stuart followed on from Global Underground veteran Nick Warren and was hailed as one of Stuarts memorable gigs to date. Abroad Stu has recently played 3000 capacity Joy Beachclub in Cesme, Turkey and is becoming hugely popular in Prague, Czech Republic.having played 3 Creamfields warm up parties at Pragues Naif, Industry55 and brand new club Astorie plus Creamfields Vip tent plus various gigs in Prague at XT3 and Ultramarin and Chateau and also a Creamfields warm up mix on Radio Europe2. Also recently Stuart ventured to Porto in Portugal for a amazing gig at Subsolo a 800 capacity club which was
full to an overwhelming response.
In the UK gigs have included Checkpoint Charlie, Bristol Community Festival, Bootleg Breaks, Vagisness in Bristol alongside Renaissances Ian Ossia and Vagisness in Swansea, Matrix in Reading, Essential Festival warm up, Audio Deluxe, Mrs Monneypennys and Esoterica. Stuart also produced a hot mix on Manchesters Key 103 earlier in 2003 alongside various gigs in the North of England including Kingsize in Warrington plus Solorphonic, Resonace and Music Box. 2003 saw Stuart hold down a residency in room 2 at Slinky in Bristol and in December 2002 Stuart took his Empathy Bandwagon to Prague's super superclub Industry 55 both are are set to continue throughout 2004. Stuart now has a role within the development of CP Recordings based in Stoke, his role includes A&R, distribution, consultant and will be giving many CP artists a
chance to perform at many Empathy nights in the UK and abroad. Artsits include Blue Room Project, Bluehaze, Nash T, Randall Jones.

Since the tender age of sixteen Sam Richardson has been gifting the more discerning of audiences with his subtle and sublime 'hypnotic house' as he likes to call it.

From an early age most of his time was spent frequenting Massive Records, the worlds largest independent record shop in his home town of Oxford, with main influences back then being two Danny's, Rampling and Tenaglia. Many of his residences and guest appearances included a funky house sound, but following his first and seminal visit to Fabric his sound progressed into what we know today: hypnotic house music with a hint of electro, a splash of techiness, and a building groove. Other influences to Sam have ranged from Craig Richards, Doc Martin and Marshall Jefferson to eighties outfit New Order to Gilles Peterson and Pepe Braddock to fabricate his own sound and style he plays out today. The resonance of all these musical genres can be heard at the leading authority on progressive breaks and tech house, Empathy, the club night that has been serving Bristol's sharp and astute clubbers for over three years.

Since moving to Bristol in 2002, Sam has been given the opportunity to raise the awareness of his sound by the residency at Empathy, and has joined forces to co-promote the night with the long serving Stuart Wilkinson. This collaboration has lead on to widening of his opportunities to play all over the UK. These include venues such as Sub-Logic and Thirst in London, and Slinky and further Empathy events such as Future and various boat parties in Bristol, that all contribute to the growing list of previous appearances and residencies in The Cellar, The Bully, and Thirst in Oxford, Massive Records in both
Birmingham and Oxford, and Longs in Swindon.

Having played alongside the likes of Nu Skool Breakers The Freestylers and Tayo when he first started, the more recent developments to his sound have lead him to share line ups with Steve Gerrard, Jody Wisternoff, and Nick Warren. A mix CD as part of an Empathy series that features the likes of Jay Tripwire and Stuart Wilkinson is due out in July, and offers the listener a little peek into the weird and wonderful world of Sam and his music, no big room bollocks but a low down dirty groove, the way he likes to work it, and the way he will continue to work it in the future.

Thursday 23rd September

Jondi & Spesh USA
Momu USA
Stuart Wilkinson
Sam Richardson
Jondi & Spesh. Muzik gave their album We Are Connected "Top 40 Albums of the Year". Mixmag called them "dons of west coast progressive house." For over a decade Jondi & Spesh have put out dance tracks of such stunning quality that the world's dj elite have gone to great lengths to hunt down their unique underground sound. When Jondi met Spesh at a party in San Francisco's South of Market district in 1993, neither realized that the meeting would eventually take them to the creative center of the San Francisco dance music community and put them on the map as two of the world's most innovative and risk-taking dance music producers. Ten years later, Jondi & Spesh have a music label with over twenty releases (the Loöq 12"'s get praise and play from all the biggest - Digweed, Oakenfold, Sasha, Tong, Tenaglia, etc.), an extremely popular event (Qoöl, the world's first underground dance music happy hour) going into it's eighth year, two full length albums with the highest critical praise and a third album to be released on Spundae Records that may very well unearth them from the underground and put them solidly into that "strange yet widely appealing" category currently inhabited by the likes of Radiohead, Björk, and Postal Service.

JD Moyer (Jondi) and Stephen Kay (Spesh) are an unlikely pair - wildly divergent personalities that combine in the studio to creative a creative alchemy : electricity is converted into pleasing noise. Spesh is the strategic mastermind of the duo ... a Vulcan-like intellect with zero tolerance for mushy thinking - he is often three steps ahead of whoever he is speaking with yet is too socially gracious to let them catch on to that fact. His personality is like his DJ sets ... charismatic yet somehow reserved and intimate (this massive subtlety has gained him a large following independent of his production work). For Spesh music is about connecting to people ... even his most twisted production ideas have warmth and accessibility.

Jondi is the slightly more feral side of the duo. While Spesh is a gourmand and culinary expert, Jondi will eat out of paper bags on the kitchen floor if left to his own devices. His creative nature is both prolific and schizophrenic ... there are never less than four current projects on the hard disk at any moment (music, of course, but also programming artificial life software, writing screenplays, and communicating with various scientists in his fields of interest "just to keep up"). Musically he brings innovation, a desire for constant change, and a trigger-happy mouse hand that eventually led to a bone spur on his right clavicle (a problem solved by forced ambidexterity). Philosophically Jondi is slightly left of normal, speculating that after death, he and all of humanity will be resurrected as fully conscious simulations of themselves by infinitely intelligent space-faring supercomputers.

The new Jondi & Spesh album, "The Answer," stays true to their previous work with minimalistic melodies and lush, complex production, yet diverges stylistically with big hooky choruses on several songs, and sublime female vocals on others. The sound palette is organic and unique, with timbres morphing among vocal, synth, and analog natures. Momu is a power tag-team vigilante duo made up of Jondi (of internationally renowned production team Jondi & Spesh) and Mark Musselman, one of San Francisco's most acclaimed breaks DJ's. Momu's sound to date; wicked breaks, future tech sounds, breathtaking melodies, sinister FX, and devastating arrangments that wreak havoc on the dancefloor.

Momu's first single "This Is Momu" was recently licensed to Global Underground to feature on the new Afterhours series. GU has also licensed "The Dive" for Nick Warren's upcoming GU24: Reykjavik. Current and forthcoming releases on quality labels such as Bedrock Breaks, Functional Breaks, Sabotage Systems, Spundae Recordings, and Loöq Records are bursting out of the pipeline with big support from the world's top DJ's including DJ Hyper, Adam Freeland, Ashley Casselle, Nick Warren, Lee Burridge, John Digweed, Jerry Bonham, Jonathan Lisle, Blackwatch, Hernan Cattaneo, Cass and Hybrid.

Jondi and Mark have not been resting their laurels on the remix front either. Momu's recent remixes of Cass's "Mind Rewind" (Sabotage) and Justin O'Brien and Jonanthan's "Levitate" (Stellar) are such devastating feats of production that DJ's worldwide were scrapping for the pre-release CDR's. In the visual arena, the music video of Momu's upcoming Loöq release, "The Dive" promises to redefine what is possible in music videos forever. No exaggeration ... renowned San Francisco director Kia Simon has a pulled a master trump on this one so keep your eyes glued to MTV2 in the Fall.

Thursday 14th October 9-3am

Residents Special
Stuart Wilkinson
Sam Richardson
Many Dj's have a history of years playing the odd underground club here or there over a 10 year period, Stuart started playing in clubs in and around Bristol around 3 years ago, waiting for the perfect opportunity to show off his perfect turntable skills. With many plays at The Maze and Lakota and various other clubs and bars around Bristol, he then formed Empathy in March 2000. Ever since it has become an institution among clubbers throughout the South West, hailed by Pete Tong on his Essential Selection as one of the best up and coming nights in the UK and also placed in Dj magazines top 5 clubs 7 times in the past year, its hard to imagine Empathy and Stuart ever standing still.

It has gone from strength to strength and with Stuart as resident his ability to entertain the crowds has shown in the success of the night. Stuart's style of Progressive Breaks and House has been praised by many fellow dj's and promoters including 2nd Birthday special guests Hybrid Ashley Casselle and Bedrocks Jonathan Lisle plus recently coming 3rd in Venue magazines top djs for 2003. Stuart has appearerd alongside the best including Timo Maas, James Holden, Paolo Mojo, Jay Tripwire, Kasey Taylor, Steve Gerarrd, Jody Wisternoff, Cass, Greg Vickers, Pako & Frederick, Dj Remy and many more. In January 2002 Stuart was made resident at Hope Recordings own night Loop based at the Blue Mountain Club in Bristol, the opening night was a blinding success, Stuart followed on from Global Underground veteran Nick Warren and was hailed as one of Stuarts memorable gigs to date. Abroad Stu has recently played 3000 capacity Joy Beachclub in Cesme, Turkey and is becoming hugely popular in Prague, Czech Republic.having played 3 Creamfields warm up parties at Pragues Naif, Industry55 and brand new club Astorie plus Creamfields Vip tent plus various gigs in Prague at XT3 and Ultramarin and Chateau and also a Creamfields warm up mix on Radio Europe2. Also recently Stuart ventured to Porto in Portugal for a amazing gig at Subsolo a 800 capacity club which was full to an overwhelming response.

In the UK gigs have included Checkpoint Charlie, Bristol Community Festival, Bootleg Breaks, Vagisness in Bristol alongside Renaissances Ian Ossia and Vagisness in Swansea, Matrix in Reading, Essential Festival warm up, Audio Deluxe, Mrs Monneypennys and Esoterica. Stuart also produced a hot mix on Manchesters Key 103 earlier in 2003 alongside various gigs in the North of England including Kingsize in Warrington plus Solorphonic, Resonace and Music Box. 2003 saw Stuart hold down a residency in room 2 at Slinky in Bristol and in December 2002 Stuart took his Empathy Bandwagon to Prague's super superclub Industry 55 both are are set to continue throughout 2004. Stuart now has a role within the development of CP Recordings based in Stoke, his role includes A&R, distribution, consultant and will be giving many CP artists a chance to perform at many Empathy nights in the UK and abroad. Artsits include Blue Room Project,
Bluehaze, Nash T, Randall Jones.

Since the tender age of sixteen Sam Richardson has been gifting the more discerning of audiences with his subtle and sublime 'hypnotic house' as he likes to call it. From an early age most of his time was spent frequenting Massive Records, the worlds largest independent record shop in his home town of Oxford, with main influences back then being two Danny's, Rampling and Tenaglia. Many of his residences and guest appearances included a funky house sound, but following his first and seminal visit to Fabric his sound progressed into what we know today: hypnotic house music with a hint of electro, a splash of techiness, and a building groove. Other influences to Sam have ranged from Craig Richards, Doc Martin and Marshall Jefferson to eighties outfit New Order to Gilles Peterson and Pepe Braddock to fabricate his own sound and style he plays out today. The resonance of all these musical genres can be heard at the leading authority on progressive breaks and tech house, Empathy, the club night that has been serving Bristol's
sharp and astute clubbers for over three years.

Since moving to Bristol in 2002, Sam has been given the opportunity to raise the awareness of his sound by the residency at Empathy, and has joined forces to co-promote the night with the long serving Stuart Wilkinson. This collaboration has lead on to widening of his opportunities to play all over the UK. These include venues such as Sub-Logic and Thirst in London, and Slinky and further Empathy events such as Future and various boat parties in Bristol, that all contribute to the growing list of previous appearances and residencies in The Cellar, The Bully, and Thirst in Oxford, Massive Records in both Birmingham and Oxford, and Longs in Swindon.

Having played alongside the likes of Nu Skool Breakers The Freestylers and Tayo when he first started, the more recent developments to his sound have lead him to share line ups with Steve Gerrard, Jody Wisternoff, and Nick Warren. A mix CD as part of an Empathy series that features the likes of Jay Tripwire and Stuart Wilkinson is due out in July, and offers the listener a little peek into the weird and wonderful world of Sam and his music, no big room bollocks but a low down dirty groove, the way he likes to work it, and the way he will continue to work it in the future.

Thursday 28th October 9-3am

Drew Portugal
Danny Graham
Stuart Wilkinson
Sam Richardson
Portugese Dj Drew is back, after totally destroying the place on his last visit so hes back…Bio will follow. Danny Graham is a 21 year old DJ and producer from Portsmouth, England. He's played just about everywhere there is to play in his hometown to play the music that he love which unfortunately isnâ€™t very many places. But far from moaning about it at the age of 18 Danny took it upon himself to try to change things and started a house night in the commercial club ' TheTangerine Suite'. The night went reasonably well for him though financially it was impossible for him to continue with it. In hindsight Danny says "I think I was too naive not only musically but on the business side of things to start my own night so young but I learnt many valuable lessons" Danny then spent a long time locked away in his room devloping his style and his technique. The first opportunity to show what he had learnt came in the shape of the first ever DJ competition in Portsmouth in what is usually a place for rock concerts 'The Wedgwood Rooms'. The competition was sponsored by Gemini and Danny walked away with the first prize (The decks went in the bin!! ha ha!!). Frustratingly for him nothing came of this but Danny has continued to plug away till this day where some success has come his way. In November 03 Danny appeared in IDJ magazine for sending in one of the best mixes that month alerting the attention of some promoters, producers and fellow DJ's including Distraekt label bosses and IDJ's own Piliavin & Zimbardo who in March this year invited Danny to play at there party at the Miami Winter Music conference. Danny played a stormer alongside many of his favourite DJ's and producers including P&Z, Tom Stephan, Trendroid, Evolved, Dimas, Frank Maurel, Simon & Shaker and Deepgroove and has been invited back next year. Since Miami Danny played more local gigs including Southampton's top night eK which has had fellow top and comers from the south coast Chris Salt, Dave Robertson and PJ Davy all guest there and played in Poland in May alongside Jeff Bennett and Dave Robertson which Danny descibes as "An amazing experience". Danny can be heard on the internet these days and after a couple of guest mixes on top dance station 'Proton Radio' he was offered a weekly slot on Eccentric Beats which can be heard every Wednesday 5pm-7pm and has featured such guests as Kingkade, Anthony Pappa, Greg Benz, Jeff Bennett, Evolved, Dave Robertson, Demi, Habersham. With confirmed mixes from Norman H, Tony Thomas and Omid 16b all confirmed his show is going from strength to strength. As well as his DJing Danny has also developed a love for producing and had his first success this year when his collaboration with good friend PJ Davy entitled 'Blind Exit' was signed up and released on March 1st on EQ Grey Ltd of Australia with a hot remix from another good friend Dave Robertson. The track gained support from the who's who of the A list including Hernan Cattaneo, Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, Lee Burridge, Layo & Bushwacka, Lisa Loud, Rui Da Silva and Desyn Masiello. The pair are currently in negoatiations with labels about the signing over of their new track 'Statik' which has gained CDR support from James Zabiela and Phil Thompson so watch this space with that one. Having spent many an hour in the studio with PJ, Danny felt it was time to move on in order to express himself fully and has recently set himself up for solo production work. With his gig at one of the UK's top nights 'Empathy' and gigs at top local nights 'Mezze' and 'Punch Funk' in the pipeline combining with his radio show and his production work Danny is hoping
all his effort will start seeing some more rewards soon.

Friday 17th September
Friday 15th October
Friday 19th November
Stuart Wilkinson Sam Richardson
Empathy's new monthly residency at Bristol's newest freshest venue, this is a chance to see what has made Empathy so consistently good, the residents are the backbone of any successful clubnight and you can catch them for free in chilled surroundings of Park Avenue.

Stuart Wilkinson (Empathy/CPRecordings)
www.empathyclub.co.uk
empathy_bristol@msn.com
www.cprecordings.com
djstuartwilkinson@hotmail.com
Mob +44 (0)7799 745 870
Fax +44 (0)1454 863757

Future Dates (View attached for Flyers and www.empathyclub.co.uk for biogs) Check out www.ruonit.com/clubinfo for pictures of past Empathy events plus keep an eye out for a feature on the Empathy 3rd Birthday and a theres also the recent Venue magazine review.

Promotinal material to be sent to :- TNS, Broad Lane, PO Box 1775, Yate, South Glos, BS37 7FY Stuart Wilkinson DJ Bookings - Groove Exponents, PO Box 5570, Milton Keynes, MK6 2UT
T/F +44 (0)1908 240249 M +44 (0)7956 119850