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Anthony John Culverwell is an ordinary middle-class citizen of the British Isles...by day. But by night-time, he transforms into his alternative persona, the superhuman speed machine DJ SWITCH!!! Erm, actually no he doesn't. But to say that Switch's estoric rise to fame is nothing less than dramatic would be very accurate - five times UK DJ champion (an unprecedented feat), three consecutive UK supremacy titles (another unprecedented feat), two back-to-back WORLD battle titles (erm, yeah another one), and all by the tender age of twenty (sod it this guy's good! Ok?)
Switch has built his rep by keeping to and expanding the musical possibilities on the ones and twos. His performances are a combination of mesmerising scratch skills, visceral visuals and stunning track selection - all combining to leave the crowd staring in awe and dancing till they drop. At the same time, if physically possible. And you may be thinking "well, what kind of music does this guy play?" Well you can either book him for a straight-up hip hop or d&b or dubstep set...or you can let him loose and see what happens. You'll be amazed at the results. Given the chance he'll loose some big beat, funk, jazz, swing, reggae, rock, electro, garage, house, soul, jungle, electronica and the trainspotters will be left wondering "how did he get through all that in one hour?"
The unshaven Brummie has been featured on Blue Peter, BBC Breakfast, MTV, Radio 1 (more times than he remembers) and 1Xtra. You may be shocked to know that he's been going since he was eleven, and has chalked up headline gigs from Bulgaria to China to Denmark to every county in England. And Tony's support slots read like a who's who of the musical world - (in no particular order) FOREIGN BEGGARS, KANO, KILLA KELA, AQUASKY, THE NEXTMEN, SHY FX, ED SOLO, NERO, DJ YODA, JACK BEATS, JEHST, DJ KENTARO, JUNGLE DRUMMER VS DJ FU, THE SCRATCH PERVERTS & PENDULUM. Lest we forget the old school hip hop veterans Q BERT, JAZZY JEFF, SUGARHILL GANG, GRANDMASTER FLASH & PUBLIC ENEMY.
After attending the DJ Academy course, Switch has now returned as a part-time & one-on-one tutor, specialising in digital DJins and turntablism masterclasses. He also has a countless list of radio broadcast work, youth training schemes and several other projects to his name. One of the more experimental and successful is his performance of Gabriel Prokofiev's "Concerto For Turntables & Orchestra" which has received critical acclaim from audiences as well as...well...critics.
So there you go, you know all about this guy now. Don't believe the hype? There's only one way to find out what this musical maestro can do, and that's see him for yourself. Even if you can't catch him live all across the country and several others besides,you can check some clips of him in action. You can even catch him at his residencies at FILTHY BEATS (Leicester), PLANET OF THE BREAKS (Shropshire), or fumbling around with his crew of Xboxers/scratch freaks/dirty-minded monsters Bionic Stylus.
Word.
QUOTES:
“You never know what he’s gonna play next!”
"Blimey, he's a cheeky little blighter in't he?"
"The King loves what you do."
"What does this guy put on his corn flakes?"
"Switch's mix showcase was crazy. His "Swing Set" is probably one of the dopest mix routines I've ever seen. It was epic. It felt like a 10 minute journey through every aspect of DJing. Double nanopad hot-cueing for the ultra win."
"He looks like this one dude I went to high school with who was awesome at ping pong and his parents bought him every new Nintendo that came out. That dude was kind of a d*ck. Not to say that this Switch guy is a d*ck. But doesn't he look like he just kicked your ass in ping pong and he's being kind of a b*st*rd about it?"
BATTLE STATISTICS:
* West Midlands DJ Champion 2002
* Youth Music/Homelands Mixtape Champion 2005
* DMC Derby Champion 2005
* ITF Nottingham Champion 2005
* DMC UK Battle For Supremacy Runner-Up 2005
* DMC UK Battle For Supremacy Champion 2006
* DMC UK Battle For Supremacy Champion 2007
* DMC UK Battle For Supremacy Champion 2008
* DMC Birmingham Champion 2008
* DMC 3rd Place UK Final 2008
* DMC World Battle For Supremacy Champion 2008
* DMC UK Team Champion 2008 w/ Bionic Stylus
* DMC World Battle For Supremacy Champion 2009
* DMC 3rd Place World Team Battle 2009 w/ Bionic Stylus
MIXES FOR FREE DOWNLOAD:
DJ Switch - Ego Thieves Mix
DJ Switch - Hip Hop Connection 2009
DJ Switch - BBC Asian Network Mixtape Challenge
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