1991 was a very memorable and special time
in my life. It was a year of free house parties,
the Eclipse night-club in Coventry, and music
by the likes of Sasha, Carl Cox and Massive
Attack to name just a few. More importantly
for me it was the year in my life that I felt
the desire to start Djing.
Music had always influenced me during my
teenage years and after seeing the atmosphere
and hearing the musical talents of such DJ's
as Sasha back in 1991 I was hooked on the
music for life.
I set up my own night in early 1991 with
two friends of mine calling it OUR HOUSE.
These nights were held in the Bath and Bristol
area from 1991-1993 at a time when there was
no other new nighteries. The Our House nights
that we ran had guest DJ's such as Nick Warren,
Mike Shawe (1 Love- the Lakota), and various
DJ's from the DIY Nottingham posse.
I'd always been interested in music from
an early age. At school during the early 80's
my heavy influences came via the Electro sound
that was coming out of New York at the time.
Back then I was buying lots of Hip Hop, Electro,
and soul. I'd always create my own mix tapes
which would combine the sounds of Hip Hop
beats with funky soul grooves. (For the record-
my first ever 12" was Run DMC's walk
this way!)
Towards the end of the 1980's I was still
in to the hip-hop sound but started to expand
my musical interests into a variety of other
sounds such as hip-house, Italian piano house,
the odd bit of Indie and even a little Reggae!
My biggest musical influence as far as DJ's
are concerned came in the form of Sasha. He
was a young 20-21 year old DJ whom had both
girls and boys worshipping him. Girls would
kiss him and guys would shake his hand, but
it was his music that grabbed me. I loved
his musical vibe; a combination of piano and
vocal house backed with early progressive
house all perfectly mixed together. He'd create
such an atmosphere, it was wicked!
Other DJ's that influenced me at the time
were DJ's such as Carl Cox, Micky Finn and
bands such as Urban Soul, Brothers in Rhythm,
Bizarre Inc and the Prodigy.
I then moved to London in 1995 in search
of all the hustle and bustle to see what it
might hold for me. I was soon bitten by the
bug again, upon hearing lots of new and interesting
music.
I Djed the odd Saturday afternoon in a very
busy clothing store on Oxford Street for a
friend of mine and it wasn't long before I
was attracting more and more regulars to both
the shop and to hear my music. (I even had
one guy who constantly wanted to buy mix tapes
from me to play at his London gym). Then one
day a guy came in who was promoting a new
weekly Friday night @ The Hanover Grand. He
spotted me- loved what I was playing and then
asked me to be his resident! I went from the
bottom of his flyer to the top.
Then it was like a domino effect for the
next 2/3 years. I was playing all over London
developing a name for myself with various
residencies and guest slots. During these
important years I got to play at the following
clubs:
Venom, The Cross, Hanover Grand, Raw, The
Leopard Lounge, Browns, Emporium, The Aquarium,
the Velvet Underground, Epping forest country
club, the Imperial gardens, Legends, all the
clubs in London virtually!
By 1998-1999 I was moving further afield
playing more and more across the UK at such
clubs and nights as...
Serious @ the Cross, L'amour @ the Cross,
Club class @ Atomics- Maidstone, Freedom-
Bagleys, The Unit- Sheffield, Evolution @
Ascension - Leeds, Miss Moneypennys @ Bonds,
The church, Raymondo's, the Cross plus various
Uk and international tours, The Monastery
- Torquay, The Candy Store - Plymouth, Kitch
Kismet @ Babylon- Bath, Galaxy 101-Bristol
with Tristan Bolifo, Flaming Colossus-Leicester,
Dionysis- Hastings Pier, Chuff Chuff with
Oakenfold, Jules etc..., Regents Park- Barnsley,
The Annexe - London, The Sound exchange- Banbury,
The Place- Stoke, Movimento @ the Aquarium-
London,V99, Come dancing- Imperial gardens.
Along with these UK gigs I got to play for
Miss Moneypennys @ El Divino in Ibiza, Legends
/ Faces club - Ayia Napa, Miss Moneypennys
big New Years Eve bash (1998 into 1999) in
Sydney, Australia, where I Djed alongside
Alison Limerick and Adrian Luv dup, and finally
in December 1999 I landed a gig in Hong Kong
also for Miss Moneypennys.
Over the past couple of years my Djing has
taken me even further to such locations as:
the Miami winter music conference (Miss Moneypennys)
Suite 16- Auckland-New Zealand, Sydney –Australia,
Faces- Ayia Napa- Cyprus, El Divino - Ibiza,
Privilege - Ibiza, Full on Fridays - the Isle
of Man.
While back home I’ve been playing at
the likes of:
Pacha- London (glitterati resident), Space
@ the Cross (resident), Mango- Reading (TNT),
Massa-Edinburgh (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), The
Matrix- Reading, Pop - London, the Zap- Brighton,
The Society club - Liverpool, The Monastery
- Torquay, Kool waters -Taunton, De Ja Vu-
Kent, Blue collective @ Rulin- the Ministry
of sound, L'amour - the cross, Amadeus - Aberdeen,
Hot Bananas- Teignmouth, Cafe De Paris- London,
and Voltz- Weston super mare to name just
a few.
Along with these club nights I have also
been Djing at various Universities up and
down the UK. In Nov/Dec 2000 I djed on a 15
gig Uni tour. The tour took me all over the
UK playing at various Uni's such as...
Bournemouth, Glasgow, Nottingham, Nottingham
Trent, Portsmouth, Liverpool, Warwick, Greenwich,
Newcastle, Reading, Exeter, Kent. I was the
only DJ booked to play at every night. Guest
Dj's included...
Yomanda, Fergie, Alex P, Lisa Pin up, Slipmatt,
Jon Pleased, and Anne Savage.
To date I have played at many of the main
clubs in the country alongside all of the
big names such as:-
Roger Sanchez, Erio Morillo, Danny Rampling,
Judge Jules, Paul Oakenfold (see flyer section
on web-site).
I've also been busy in the studio working
on various projects and productions, with
writers/producers such as Sam Obernik, Ben
Onono, Katherine Ellis, Lisa Scott Lee, Emma
Bunton, Panos (Amen Uk) to name just a few.
I also produce and write my own music alongside
my studio partner Marc Jb. Together we go
under the names bimbo jones, dead stereo,
element and skahana.
Aswell as writing and producing our own tracks
we’ve also been fortunate to remix the
likes of: Annie Lennox, Kasabian, Coldplay,
Alicia Keys, Natasha Bedingfield, Rachel Stevens,
Emma Bunton, Lisa Scott Lee, Abs, Ciara, Tyler
James, Usher plus many many more. You can
hear some of my productions by going too
Just a quick E to say thanx so much for the
kickin CD you gave me and my mad mate at The
Cross during the Space party (April 23). When
we heard you on the dancefloor I couldn't
believe our luck. Your music is so inspired
- I've never heard any DJ use Supertramp before.
When I heard 'When I was young, it seemed
that life was so wonderful...' I got such
a massive high.
We put on your CD on Sunday and we couldn't
believe howgood it was - all the way through.
We just carried on partying. I love the way
you mix old and new, and hip hop with hard
house, and always keep the energy pumping.
'Walking into the sun' is, well, sublime.
Stay eclectic; some djs are becoming a bit
one-dimensional and pretentious. When you
really love music, it's infectious.
Rosie The Cross (April 02)
Also, a big THANK YOU for the CD's you gave
me. I've listened to the first one (Live at
the Monastery), and it is one of the best
hard house mixes I've heard in my life. Dropping
Jon the Dentist VS Ollie Jaye's classic Feel
So Good so early on in the mix really got
it for me. Sometime in the new year I'm coming
down to Torquay to hear you play, so if you've
got a list of dates for your residency I'd
love to have a copy. A load of my friends
who were there on Wednesday night have listened
to your CD as we l and they'd love to come
down and hear you play.
Matt Young, Bournemouth UNI Gig (Dec 2000)
lee,
heard you play last week and thought this
was the best set I've heard in ages, was hoping
to get ahold of your cd! am in the states
right now, if you can send it here, it would
be great.
J. Lee
410 N. Meridian, Apt. 316
Indianapolis, IN 46204
thanks, and good luck, will keep my eye out
for you when back in london!
june lee (Jan 01)
Polly here, met you at the Zap on Saturday
night where you gave me your card!! Once again
i would just like to say that it was a WICKED
set, i really enjoyed it! Just took a look
at your website and it is pretty impressive!
Polly Stevenson, The Zap Brighton (Feb 01)
Next to arrive was Miss Moneypennys resident,
DJ Lee Dagger accompanied by his lovely wife
and manager combined, Selina. Within 10 minuets
of mixing Lee had the main hall bursting,
buzzing and banging with 100% pure, concentrated
energy? We were very impressed with the spell
that Mr Dagger had cast over everyone of the
euphoric clubbers bodies and minds. It was
as though Lee was an anaesthetist who through
music was controlling the souls of the hoards,
simultaneously, and rhythmically through an
invisible, imaginary intravenous drip. He
had the crowd hypnotised throughout his 2-hour
slot, until he had to shoot off to please
many more lucky clubbers.
Night Out Mag March 01
Is there any chance of getting a copy of
your cd my mate got a copy off you when we
saw you in ayia nappa,(fucking wicked set
by the way) but you ran out have you got any
more?
Nic (July 01)
It's Theo the manager from the Zap, Brighton.
I'm just mailing you to blag a copy of your
cd as Lee ran off with the copy you left with
us on Saturday nite!! Blinding set, by the
way.
The Zap, Brighton
Just got back from the Matrix - another blinding
night. Cheers for that. Saw you down in Cornwall
a while back - that was excellent.
Any chance of a cd. If it's anything like
you played tonight, I know it's gonna be a
good'n.
Catch you later dude.
The Matrix, Rrading (Aug 01)
I saw Lee at The Cross a few weeks ago and
me and my mate had an absolutely fantastic
time! She managed to get a CD that had been
recorded at The Monastery in early March,
and we have been fighting over it ever since.
Please could you get in touch so I can get
some more of those top tunes!
Many thanks
Nikki
(Sept 01)
just thoughti'd take the oppertunity to congratulate
you on a great set that keped me (humiliatingly)
dancing all night! keep it up!! see you next
month!
