James has been DJing for 5 or 6 years and recently came 2nd place in the Vestax National Student DJ Awards held at Ministry of Sound. He used to be resident DJ for ‘Mixturise’ at Bubblegum in New Cross and has played regularly at The Castle in Farringdon.
A typical set from James would see things warming up with Soul, Motown and old RnB and finishing along the lines of electro and DnB, taking records from a large range of styles and mixing it up throughout.
In 1999 Pook found his sound. "Prog house was getting dull, trance was doing nothing for me and then I stumbled across Vinyl Addiction in Camden, the guy behind the counter was urging me to listen to his label - Fingerlickin - I was hooked!
"I loved these beats I'd discovered, then on a whim I fucked off to spain for a year" On his return, Pook soon slipped back into the party scene, playing at Turnmills, The Gardenin Club, Orbital bar and various other bars and clubs across London.
In 2003 he was busy making a name for himself in the Bristol free party scene, going back to his old skool roots and playing marathon 4hr '92 hardcore sets. "I loved my bank holiday weekends!"
Pook is now hosting Beat Route on Vybe 99.5FM every Monday night 7-9 www.vybefm.co.uk show casing new and unsigned talent from across the globe and guest mixes from the likes of General Midi, Chris Carter and Dirty Habit.
Also he can be found playing at various other events including 44, Monday Club, Supatronix and Mumbo. Go easy.
Andrea Ruggiero is Italian and started DJing in 1991 in Calabria (Southern Italy), initially at private beach parties, then at local bars and fairs. In 1999, at the age of 24, he started DJing in renowned clubs in Florence such as Meccanò, Tenax, Central Park, Yab, Space and Electronic Discoteque.
He moved to London in 2003 to pursue medicinal chemistry research (an MSc at King’s College then a PhD at Imperial College). During his free time he has been DJing at the K-Bar in Chelsea and at S-Bar in Battersea, bringing the UK all his experience and creativity as a DJ
He loves RnB, hip-hop and old skool rap, but also enjoys playing a broad range of house music styles (such as funky, deep, vocal, soulful, classic) and Electro. On occasions, when people on the dance floor are all drunk, he has fun playing a selection of funky soul and 70’s, 80’s and 90’s classics.
Andrea likes to vary his sets and particularly likes to see people dancing, regardless of his musical taste!
DJ, Events Promoter and head honcho for the Pret A Ecouter music outfit in London and an incredible enthusiast for quality global dance music, Jerry Frempong has nearly a decade of experience in promoting and performing at some of the UK's prestigious underground music events.
Born in Clapham in 1980, from an early age his parents knew he had a keen ear for good music. Noticeably his early major influence came from that of his father, Anthony Robert Frempong, head honcho for the Ghanaian 'Hi Life' record label, Asona Records; the success of the label fuelled a great hunger for Jerry to do the same in his musical development.
On returning home from his globe-trotting around the world in late 2004, Jerry returned to the UK with a relentless energy and drive to launch the brand, Pret A Ecouter Music. With partner in ryhme and close friend from university Ian Morbey accepting the offer to join forces the momentum began to build and they've since gone from strength to strength
Having thrown a countless number of events around the UK, on boats, in bars, in clubs and at peoples houses the Pret A Ecouter guys can sure party! With a delectable assortment of nu-jazz, latin, spoken word, disco, broken-beat and deep house, expect an eclectic show from beginning to end.
