Deep State – May 2022

James found his love for electronic music early on aged 12. The Trance music coming out of Germany and the Netherlands at the time had started to infiltrate mainstream radio and the first listen of Energy 52’s Café Del Mar (Three’n’One remix) and Blank & Jones’ Cream (Paul Van Dyk remix) had him hooked. Aged 16 armed with a set of belt drives and a Maplin mixer, the journey into vinyl hunting and exploring the spectrums of house, techno and all things electronic began. DJ-ing locally around Thanet up til the age of 21, he embarked on a degree in Sound Design that started his career in events and production. University years were busy. Either DJ-ing at the local union venues meeting some true DJ/Producer heroes of his like Sister Bliss, Tall Paul and getting to close for the Utah Saints; or smaller promotions, getting to meet some up-and-coming stars of the day and guest appearances in and around the home counties; from private house parties to guest appearances at the Gallery in London. Work took over from 2011; going on to become a technical manager in Germany and now a business owner supplying technical services and audio-visual hire. He’s delighted to have met some line minded people locally and will be bringing a journey from minimal to chugging tech and later in the night an arsenal of techno and heavier and darker tastes to the guests of the last hour.

Karl’s love for the dance scene began back at the age of 11, when his step father used to come bouncing through the front door, having been raving all night at World Dance, honing a tape pack, a microphone and a beaming smile. Karl would come darting down the stairs as he knew it was party time.  He loved hearing the stories of the booming quality music, the regular faces, the MCs and the crowd, the lasers and euphoric atmosphere, it was like a big fantasy to him back then and sounded like pure heaven.  All he wanted was to be a part of it all. He remembers going to bed every night with a set of headphones and walkman, dosing off to tape packs of Slipmat, Vibes, Ratpack, Andy C and the like dreaming of getting out to his first Rave.  His parents, noticing his enthusiasm, gifted him a set of Numark Decks,  and his uncle being a dj on the scene at the time, started to give him dj lessons.  He took to it like a fish to water and began a paper round to earn money to buy records.  He continued to practice though his early teens eventually doing  house parties for friends, moving on to hosting small local events in his home town of Gravesend.  Shortly after the Trance era began, Karl enveloped himself in this, however the real influence for him was when a friend introduced him to the new Sasha and Digweed Northern Exposure Album.  The music was like nothing he had heard before and was to be a huge inspiration on the rest of his musical journey, going on to be further influenced by the Global Underground Series, Renaissance events and discovering the likes of other influential DJ’S on the scene including Nick Warren, Dave Seaman, Hernan Catanneo, Danny Howells, Danny Tenaglia, Seb Fontaine and the like.  The rest is history as these influences inspired further nights out, parties, events and shows, he became frustrated with the lack of good quality events in the local areas and made it his ambition to host such events.  Shortly after meeting two local figures in the scene Dee James Brown and Emma K the Idea for Deep State was born.  This experienced Dj Trio, are dedicated to bringing the Underground Music Scene to Thanet, with a mission to make this a regular local event.  No more long journeys to London, this is right on your doorstep and here to stay.