Pioneer

Pioneer was always into music as a child, especially Reggae, Soul and Rare Groove, his mother was a massive reggae fan and his dad a reggae bass player. As a teenager, Pioneer was influenced heavily by the reggae sound system culture, his favourites being Killamanjaro, Stone Love, Bass Odyssey and David Rodigan. It was in 1994 that Pioneer started to pay more attention to the UK Underground Dance scene and took a great liking to Jungle music. He started collecting Vinyl even before he owned pair of decks and his music soon became more than just a hobby, it was now a major part of his life. Jungle acts such as Brockie, Funky Flirt, Stevie Hyper D, Det, Shabba and Skibadee were heavily influential for Pioneer and led to him wanting to become a DJ.

In 1997 Pioneer began collecting House and Garage tracks as well as Jungle and got his first radio show in 1999 on what was then Magic 90.2 FM. At this point in his career DJ Pioneer was playing house and garage with productions such as Tuff Jam, Mood II Swing, Todd Terry, Todd Edwards, MJ Cole, Grant Nelson and many more. DJ Pioneer continued to push the sounds of UK garage and moved to pirate radio station London Underground 89.4 in 2001. It was also in 2001 that Pioneer began working at the Wired For Sound record store in Hackney, East London. Working at the record store was a great move for Pioneer as he got to appreciate all styles of music from Jazz to Deep House.

By 2003, DJ Pioneer and his host Ironhead were hosting a show on Y2K FM which on covered US soulful house, old school garage and '4 to the floor' all in the space of 2 hours. The shows became more and more popular and led to bookings at big events such as 'Pure Silk', 'Together as One', 'Cream of da Crop' and many more.

Moving on, Pioneer also landed shows on several pirate stations including Touch FM, and Déjà vu FM and had by this time linked up with an old pal from the scene MC Spidey G. They spent a year on London's Déjà Vu 92.3 fm between 2006-2007 during which time London's house scene was going from strength to strength and this show was at the forefront of this movement.

After many years on pirate radio, DJ Pioneer's skills had not gone unnoticed. In 2008, Pioneer joined the world famous radio station Kiss FM, broadcasting in London, East Anglia and the South West as well as on kissfmuk.com and DAB across the UK. Pioneer has championed UK artists such as Donaeo, Roska, DJ Naughty and Crazy Cousins as well as international acts such as Black Coffee. Many tracks pioneered on his show have gone on to the Kiss daytime playlist such as 'In The Morning' by Egypt and 'The Cure And The Cause' by Fish Go Deep.

DJ Pioneer's has also performed internationally in the Netherlands, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Jamaica and Gambia.

In 2009, Ministry of Sound released 'The Sound of UK Funky' mixed by DJ Pioneer. This CD firmly placed the UK house scene on the map. By 2010, DJ Pioneer produced a Soulful/Funky House track called 'Stronger' featuring Egypt which got great support from the Underground and on commercial radio. The giant sportswear brand Puma have also used one of Pioneer's productions for their online campaign in 2011 and his track was featured on a video promoting Puma's Cobra Golf accessories. Pioneer has now launched his record label, SOTU (Sounds Of The Undergound) Recordings and has some massive releases forthcoming from him and some of the scenes finest producers.

Check out DJ Pioneer on KISS FM every Friday night from midnight til 1am playing the finest in underground house.