Smokin Jo – Influences

This was the first record I ever bought, It was a 7″ with a fabulous black and white shot of Diana on the cover, I wanted to be her so badly, I was probably around 11 years old. and I played it to death over and over. I still have it. Quality track with the best disco licks and the sultry tones of Ms Ross, you cannot go wrong and I still play it out now when the mood is right.

Absolutely love this track, I used to be out at all the Hip Hop jams back in the day when I was way too young to be out at night, following Dave Dorrell around. I just love the energy, the licks were all so exciting to me.

One of the earliest house tracks that I bought after hearing it out at a rave. I just love the simplicity and the hypnotic groove, I just knew I wanted to be a DJ so I could stuff like this. The version with the rap I also loved to bits, feisty female raps were very trendy back then.

One of my all-time favourites, it just reminds me of being out dancing until the sun came up at all the early illegal raves in the countryside, they used to always play this in the daytime and people who had been dancing all night long just seem to come together, smiling, happy, this was so uplifting and really inspired me to get behind the decks myself. Love the bassline, the vocals and the lyrics all come together to make this stonkin’ killer track. Everyone would always be singing along to it.

Another mega track for me, after first hearing it I just had to go and buy it. Still gives me shivers when I hear it. This track just sums up the early house scene for me, it’s uplifting, musical and the exquisite vocals just made me wanna cry. Stunning track and again a tune that really inspired me to want to DJ.

Quality house tune, this style was the vibe I really loved back then, just stripped down, jackin’ deep grooves with killer bass lines. DJs like Kid Bachelor and Paul “Trouble” Anderson were playing this sound and I was out every night of the week dancing all night ’til they threw me out at the end of the night. Absolute bliss.

This track blew my head off when I first heard it, it was just so different to everything else I had heard before, I was mesmerised by it. I was and am a massive techno fan and this track just gave the whole genre a new dimension, ground-breaking stuff. And of course when it got to the part that slowed down it just tore the dance floor to shreds. First time I heard it was at The Dungeons, Leabridge Road, Colin Favor played it, the sun had come up and the whole dance floor slowed down to almost slow motion dancing to fit with the track. Another moment in time that really sealed it for me that I HAD to become a DJ.

A Strictly Rhythm classic for me, I played this to death in my early career, it sort of defined my sound, chugging, groove, sweet vocals and a piano. Reminds me of my early days at Trade and my first time in Ibiza on Space Terrace in 1992, massive and still sounds great now.

Another track that still gives me shivers, the organ riff and the quality vocals make this a huge tune for me, I played this non-stop for years usually twice in one set. This is kind of tune I used to live for, around this time there were so many amazing tracks being produced and it was so exciting to go to the record store every week to find new tunes, something I dearly miss. Ashley Beedle (X-Press 2) used to work at Black Market and I used to work in a shop nearby, so I used to be there every lunch hour buying new tunes from him, lots of fun.

A track I still play now, and a real Ibiza track for me, I was in love with Ibiza and I was spending a lots of time there before I eventually moved out there to live for 7 years. I remember Alex P and Brandon Block put on a party at the Aqua Park, Aqualandia it was absolutely nuts as you can well imagine, I think this track got played about 20 times!! Amazing production and sounds, to be able to make a track so special and really meaningful without any vocals is such an achievement.