Chris Stanford takes on underground electronic music as his life and passion. First visiting illegal raves in the mid 90’s, he has witnessed scenes come and pass. Open minded to new styles have kept him interested and a consistent desire to discover fresh exciting music. Over 10 years ago he first began to experiment with mixing vinyl, many of those years spent in underground record shops in East London building a collection from a variety of genres. At the age of 15 he discovered pirate radio which at this time played a major part in London’s rave scene, within a couple of years he was being heard on the airwaves and after various shows on different stations he gained a weekly show on London’s most notorious House music station, House 88.6FM which regular listeners tuned into religiously every Wednesday night for nearly 3 years.
Meanwhile Chris had started to perform in the clubs and bars around London, with a strong interest in deep tech house and minimal techno. In 2005 this sound was rarely heard in Londons clubs as the city seemed to slowly follow other major cities in Europe. So with a group of like minded young djs including school friend Dario Burelli he started a weekly basement party in Hoxton Square. Not long after by chance they met with a young lad called Antony Difrancesco who at the time had just launched a new event Lost Souls and sharing views and ideas they decided team up for Lost Souls first club residency held at Kingsland Road venue, Herbal. At the same time Chris’s dj career was being noticed gaining bookings for other events including The Gallery held at the now legendary Turnmills which gave him opportunity to support the likes of Sander Van Doorn, Marco V, Judge Jules, John Askew and Guy Gerber.
In summer 2006 he went to live in Ibiza for 4 months whilst playing in small bars for his party funds he was influenced by the dj’s he saw at big clubs such as DC10, Amnesia and Privilege. The likes of Richie Hawtin, Sven Vath, Luciano and more sent Chris back to London with whole new ideas for his own sound and the way his sets progressed.
Lost Souls had been continuing their Herbal residency but they wanted something different , a new venture and after hearing about parties at a former public toilet converted into a mini club in Commercial Street known as Public Life. In no time at all Lost Souls began its Saturday daytime residency which has lasted for over 3 years and is still happening every week regularly shows guests such as Chris Liebing, Pig & Dan, A Guy Called Gerald, Raudive, Perc and more.
Asides from the toilet parties Lost Souls have been organising and many well respected techno events at clubs and warehouses every time showcasing the artists who’s productions are globally renowned on labels such as Drumcode, Kompakt, M-nus, Sender Records, Mobilee Records, Pokerflat, Border Community to name a few. But not only with Lost Souls, is Chris very much in demand for his dj talents which have seen him perform in pretty much every London venue that’s been around over the past few years including the ones been and gone such as The Key, The Cross (Bagleys Studios), Turnmills, Shoreditch Warehouse and Unit 7 Cable Street. As well as the ones still here such as SeOne, Ministry Of Sound, 54, The Lightbox, The Egg, Cafe 1001, Rhythm Factory, Hidden, Corsica Studios, Aquarium... Over the past year or so he has taken on another monthly Friday night residency for Don’t Techno Sh!t held at basement club Bar 54 Commercial Street regularly supporting acts like Maxime Dangles, Dandi & Ugo, Piatto, Florian Meindl, Spektre and Avus. This has all led to Chris gaining an impressive following and becoming a favourite in Londons dj booths. Now bookings nationwide are coming through including occasional performances for Cocoon Records in Birmingham with Sven Vath, Josh Wink and Dubfire.
But djing is not where it ends for Chris, music production is well on the agenda, expanding his knowledge of software tools such as Ableton Live, Reason and Logic. Still early days yet but be sure the time will come and seeing as one of his first works is due for release this year, things are moving the right way for him.
FOR BOOKING ENQUIRIES CONTACT:
ME@CHRISSTANFORD.CO.UK
Also check out the Lost Souls at their website by clicking the relevant logo below!
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