Artist Profile for

Sanjay
http://www.sanjayland.com

dj history:

1984: a series of basement parties held in gritty north west toronto apartment complexes lead to an ethic of collaboration in which tape decks were linked together through a radio shack mixer to create an early sound system. these throw downs in the kipling and dixon road areas of toronto focused on (now old school) hip hop, italo-disco and rock. we created a dark, deep funky environments without having a clue about decor... we just turned off the lights... the parties fuelled a love of the alternative and of music in general... sadly we all just collected cassettes and taped things off the radio back then... but we did it.

· 1987: dragged kicking and screaming to the suburbs west of toronto, complete boredom ensued and was controlled through skipped school days once a week to jump on commuter trains back downtown where i spent endless hours listening to music and soaking in counter culture in toronto’s burgeoning queen st., kensignton market, yonge st and bloor st. areas... hiding from the skins and eating fries while reading comic books in the diner that is now a starbucks on the corner of queen and john streets... those were the days when being different was not quite the status quo it is now... the fringe wore doc martin shoes and black t-shirts... we listened to ministry and joy division. we were the young men and women.

· 1988: a first residency! as the morning dj at my lame suburban high school. twice a week the pop standards of the morning were replaced by the sounds of schoolly d, new order, mantronix, the cult and early acid house recordings pirated from (then good) cfny club 102 radio hosted by chris sheppard. his legendary post 12am sets were a mix mash of the old and new and i still have not heard anyone play like him. after one particularly loud airing of signifying rapper by school d, the less than understanding school administration pulled the plug on my show just in time for graduation.

· 1989 moved to windsor canada to go to university, directly across the river from detroit where i discovered techno and house music. spent more time in the pubs than in classes and spent more money at dr. disc record shop on cassettes than on textbooks. good times were had.

· 1990: some friends and i held a conceptual string of one room private parties which included pitch black hour long plays of metallica track one over and over again. it was all about the intensity man.

· 1991: early detroit techno fuelled building parties at the university of windsor mirrored the techno culture across the river. we did not call called it a rave, just a party... until i read about raves in british music magazines, they sounded cool so we started calling them raves heh heh. remember james brown is dead? yeah... we played that off a cassettes. hardcore man.

· 1990 to 1994: started a long standing dj residency and eventual 1.5 year stint as music director of cjam-fm, a windsor/detroit community radio station famous for its eclecticism and more or less crazy staff. the station played host to shows from such notables as techno legend dan bell and the late blues legend ']wild child'] gerry gahan. some light night shows were blessed by regular drop in sets from some of the finest techno luminaries that detroit offered and even included a weekly experimental noise program from trevor malcom a one time butthole surfer and avant garde composer. we were probably the first radio station in the world to have plus8 records in our library and actually play them a lot.

· 1992: with several well-respected radio programs and regular dj gigs at various windsor clubs and university of windsor functions i started playing weekly at club vertigo as part of the cjam-fm night. the club was also home to a young richie hawtin on saturdays where he played depeche mode and janes addiction amongst other things. he mixed like no one we had ever heard!

· 1989 to 1994: many nights spent in detroit landmarks such as the shelter (home of the 6 dollar all you could drink wednesdays!), city club and music institute along with many evenings watching painfully loud live bands of the grunge and shoegazer era. this was the peak of my musical life, i got to interview the bands i love, go to concerts for free hob knob with big shots and feel like hot shit. it was fun and i was mostly drunk.

· 1995: to much surprise my graduation actually occurs, i move to toronto and wonder what the hell to do with myself. an accidental job at an advertising agency leads to a career in media planning and then interactive marketing communications and project management. valuable skills are learned, and the real lesson of ‘why neckties don’t matter’ hits home. a long strange road punctuated by gigs as a bouncer, record store clerk and slacker... right through to account director.

· 1995 to 1997: buried myself in the downtown toronto club heyday as electronica becomes a genre and electronic music takes over the radio. this leads to a string of private parties held at the infamous 550 bathurst st. where many hazy nights are spent playing a soundtrack of techno, leftfield and shoegazer sounds amongst others to a crowd of reveling downtown professionals. The breathedeep concept is born and i spend several years djing as breathe deep.

1996 to 1998: successful parties at clubs including ‘the hooch and the living well provide a viable alternative to the increasingly mainstream downtown clubs to those inclined to find one.

· 1998: thanks to a new girlfriend and a need to become healthy, a well deserved rest from partying is taken, just as the popularity of the so called underground peaks ironically making it not actually ‘underground’ in any way whatsoever.

· 2000 to 2001: a few live dj dates at a number of private downtown functions are performed purely out of the love of art and music. its fun again, but i am much lower key and hey... getting older too.

· 2001: a residency at the iv lounge compliments regular guest appearances with respected dj and om festival founder rollin’ cash.

· 2002: a winter spent in india, and somehow some pre-recorded mixes i made end up played across india from rishikesh to mumbai, goa to bangalore. i manage to do a few dj sets in several strange clubs in sri lanka to positive crowd reaction thanks to a collection of minidiscs i brought along. the locals prefer mainstream house, but seem to dig some of the darker stuff too.

· 2003-2005: various gigs are performed for clients and party organizers including the sports clubs of canada, muchmoremusic vj richard cazeau, the canadian film centre, the crocked shoes soccer club, youth assisting youth charity benefits with punk bank syndicated and others. I organize several very fun and successful parties at with the owners le petit dejeuner, a restaurant on king street east. they are off the hook and illegal. sadly they get an actual liquor license and that was the end of that. the 2004 new years eve party at le petit dejeuner however featured 2 floors, and multimedia visuals by project3media.com as well as local art and a midnight performance of a special new years song by john hunter of the band frontier index.

the love of music continues with the gentle people, a collective of djs and producers. we have held monthly events at modesto on queen st. west (now closed), lounge 88 off college st. west and most recently a full on warehouse party with the assistance of project3media and salems loft which featured the dukes and eric downer headlining. lets see what the future holds!

folks i have had the pleasure of working with or alongside:
· university of windsor department of student life
· cjam-fm (windsor/detriot)
· cklw am/fm (detroit)
· cimx-fm (detroit)
· club vertigo (windsor)
· sandra cardoso and 550 bathurst st.
· maya basti (great summer parties in her back yard!)
· rollin’ cash (sumkidz, omfestival.ca, isr)
· jackie brown (isr, omfestival)
· iv lounge
· le petit dejeuner
· the living well
· the hootch lounge
· 4L poductions (joel davies)
· la copa club
· grabling hook films
· dj shokolot
· dj koen (belgium)
· toronto painter ‘frederick’
· dj andy sins
· project3media.com
· cosmosuave (cosmosuave.com.)
· john hunter (frontier index)
· dj sanity (Vancouver)
· adam nathan (releaserecords.com)
· tyler longshaw (fashion designer)
· sports clubs of canada
· modesto lounge
· dj sanity (vancouver)
· dj andy sins (the gentle people)
· dj andy midnite (the gentle people)
· dj jah (toronto)
· alliance atlantis
· pocketadio (toronto)
· specialoffa (the gentle people)
· disaster area (the gentlepeople)
· mike lambert (sumkidz, omfestival.ca)
· lee lee mishi (sumkidz, omfestival.ca)
· lounge 88
· revival (toronto)
· canadian film centre
· salems loft
· minisystem (bitrockalumnae.com)
· the dukes (thedukesdjs.com)
· eric downer