Billy Gonzalez Posted by James (ClubTheWorld) on Sep 7, 2005 - 1:06:00 PM

DJ Billy Gonzalez

DJ Billy Gonzalez is known for his tight technical ability as well as breadth and variety of tune selection. Being an open-minded and true lover of the various genres of dance music, he has mastered the art of Balearic DJing, that is to say he will play whatever best suits the mood or will best take the party in the direction he wants it to go. Whether warming the crowd up early on or rocking the place late into the night he has something special to offer and always responds to the club's atmosphere and the crowd itself..

Having started out as a trance DJ under the guise of MrE, he started by making mix cds for friends and playing at parties, learning what keeps a crowd going, builds them up, breaks them down and getting feedback all the while. Having enjoyed clubbing for many years, his social group consisted of many Djs/producers and clubbers all sharing a passion for the music whom have all influenced the artist- none more so than his brother Kristian, also known as The Road Runner.

While at university he joined the LSE's Underground Dance Music Society and was given the opportunity to play at a number of events held in the Underground Bar. Rather than playing to trance fans, regulars at nights like Serious at the Cross he experienced a new target audience of students and post-grad students from all over the world who wanted to hear more of the breaks and house records he’d been collecting all the while. One night he played breaks for the first set and then dropped some DnB for the final set of the night, much to the surprise of those lasting all the way through!

His performances there attracted a lot of attention, earning him recommendations to promoters and soon enough the sets were coming in thick and fast. While based in Shoreditch he played at nights held in The Charterhouse Bar, Parker's Place, Fluid, Bar 1920, Bed, The Bear, Ember and all the while continued to rock the party scene gaining a reputation for his special blending of house, breaks, electro, techno and trance.

His prime-time club debut came in March 2003 when asked to play a set in The Quad, the hour just before Judge Jules. Bridging from funky house before him, he kept the rhythm going adding techier sounds through the set climaxing to a Trance finale ready for the Judge to take over. He remembers asking Jules if ready to take over to which he replied "No I’m enjoying this. Do you want to stay on for a bit more?" This led to him being booked the following September for Party Like There’s No Tomorrow once again playing with Judge Jules, this time for 2 hours in the main room of Turnmills.

In 2004 two of his mixes, Ethereal Trance 1 & 2 were selected to be showcased on chemical-records and he was invited to play live on Pulse FM radio station. Getting on well with producers of the show he was invited back to host his own show "An Education in Dance" which can be heard Thursdays 1230-1400 on Pulse FM on the radio-waves and also live on the internet. At the Pulse FM Awards in April he won the "Best DJ" category, adding another feather to his cap.

Always responding to changes in tastes and shifts in the club scene, his second trip to Ibiza showed him a new sound coming out from DJs such as Felix the Housecat, Danny Ghenacia & Benny Benassi, whom he met with and discussed the new electro-funk genre. He returned to London with an aim to champion this new sound, dropping it into his regular sets at the Masque Bar, Kings Cross.

2005 will see the release of 4 bootleg titles and a remix on the newly formed Looney Tunes record label as well as the release of his compilation series' entitled Funct House & Breaks Electro. He was voted in as new president of the UDMS and has taken this organization in new directions, organizing a DJ competition and putting on some wild parties at Play, 93 Feet East and Plastic People.

Past Events

08/06/05 Milkshake @ Ministry Of Sound.
UDMS Hosting the Babybox room, this is the final Milkshake of the year!

06/05/05 Tanya's 30th @ Amber.
I resigned to play funky funky house for the 90 minute warm-up set and got the joint rammed by the end. The management were so impressed that I've been invited back and offered a paid residency on Fridays or Saturdays. As the night went on Ian Cashman invited me to join him b2b for the final Trance set.

04/05/05 Artificial IntElectrogence @ 93 Feet East.
With the usual UDMS suspects and a live band in the main room, I played some retro Electro for the final set of the night. The reaction was good and the promoter gave us a nice bonus for our efforts ;-)

23/04/05 Russ' 32nd @ 1920.
What a night! I played 11-12.30 building the BPMs up slowly and was then joined for a final 30 minute b2b with the Dust man himself!

16/04/05 Tongue In Cheek @ Masque bar, guest DJ: Frankie Tiago.
A special night with 2 good friends playing over at Serious. First airing of many of the tunes I bought in Paris.

19/03/05 Tongue In Cheek @ Masque bar, guest DJ: Fyrbeat.
This girl did well, one week after competing in the national final of the Telegraph DJ Competition where she was 3rd placed.

16/03/05 The Funky Finale @ Plastic People
Played from 7-2am. Check out the website at www.plasticpeople.co.uk

19/02/05 Tongue In Cheek @ Masque bar, guest DJ: Liquideyes
Liquideyes played the best warm-up so far IMO! I was glad to let him carry on a bit later, joining in with me b2b.

04/02/05 UDMS People's Choice Crush @ The Quad.
I opened up with some funk and non-commercial Hip-Hop till 8pm and then got back on at 10pm to get those students raving to their choice of music as voted for in the Crush music survey (NO RnB allowed!) ie House, Breaks & Electro.

20/01/05 Tsunami Fundraiser @ The Quad
11-1am just after The London School of Samba I played a special 'Latin' set.

15/01/05 Tongue In Cheek @ Masque bar
Official launch with guest DJ: Oliver Wilson. Runner-up in this year's Daily Telegraph DJ Competition and fellow UDMS comittee member.

25/11/04 Winter Vibes @ 333
The pictures say it all: here I got the 1-3am set and set the place on fire- I even got the bouncers dancing!!!!

10/09/04 Kristian, Stuart & Mihir's joint birthday @ Bar 1920

10/04/04 3 x Andys' party in Golder's Green

18/03/04 Judge Jules @ LSE in The Quad, Holborn

18/03/04 Billy Gonzalez's Pre-Party @ Parker's Place, Kingsway

04/03/04 D&B Soundclash @ Undeground Bar, Strand

19/02/04 D&B Set "Battle of the Beats" on Pulse FM

05/02/04 Funky House to Trance set "Crossing Over with Billy Gonzalez" on Pulse FM

15/10/04 Party Like There's No Tomorrow! @ Turnmills
played 9-11 in the main room with Jules on at 12

30/01/04 Joel's leaving party round at Joel's, Fulham

08/01/04 Colette's party at Scott's, Bayswater

21/11/03 UDMS Allstars @ Underground Bar, Strand

23/10/03 PAKUME @ Charterhouse Bar, Farringdon.
I had a flu and fever on the night yet started on time, nursing a cup of Lemsip! I soon recovered my health (after a few beers) and mixed it up with resident DJ Aught Kelly.

26/04/03 WiLDCHiLD After-party @ Shillabeer's.
Unplanned first public performance, I replaced the fading DJs on rotation- borrowing Reece Elliott's box of vinyl and firing it off again!

DJ Billy Gonzalez with Jules

Future Events

JULY 2005:

Saturday 9th July
Futuregroove @ Meet, Farringdon

Saturday 16th July
Richard & Aruna's wedding @ Chateaux Lagorce, Bordeaux, France

Saturday 23rd July
Katka's Birthday @ Club Boulevard

SEPTEMBER 2005:

Friday 2nd September
Defected with Sandy Rivera in Qult, Warsaw, Poland

OCTOBER 2005:

Saturday 29th October
WiLDCHiLD present The 3rd Birthday @ The Awesome - With all our friends from Slinky, Sundissential, Passion, Storm, Trance Generation & more!!!

REGULAR SETS & RESIDENCIES

Catch me every Thursday on www.pulsefm.co.uk from 12.30-2pm with my show "An Education In Dance"

Come to our free pre-party Tongue In Cheek every 3rd Saturday at Masque, King's Cross 7-2am www.masquebar.com

www.djbillygonzalez.com