Nick Warren - Biography
Nick Warren is a household name on account of his internationally renowned DJ career which has taken him to the best clubs worldwide, and has even scored him a residency @ superclub Cream (UK). Nick moved to Bristol in the early nineteen eighties at age 21 and began dj'ing to art students at his own club (called the Wiggle)
As the dance scene exploded into nightclubs around 1990, Vision opened in Bristol and attracted guests such as Carl Cox, Frankie Bones, and The Shamen. Nick was playing upstairs where he mixed The Carpenters and Frank Sinatra over breakbeats, played house records at the wrong speed and introduced hip hop and dub.
With the downtempo scene breaking in Bristol via a night called 98 Proof, Nick and a few fellow collaborators recorded a track under the name 0272 for a Bristol charity compilation album alongside contributions from Smith and Mighty, Tricky, and Massive Attack, whom he accompanied on their first US tour as official DJ. He began working with Cream following a successful stint at Liverpool's G-Love night and his dj'ing career rapidly developed.
In order to offer a taste of Nick Warren's DJ set to the masses, Cluboxed unleashed three Global Underground compilations (Prague, Brazil, & Budapest) representing Nick's set in each respective locale. A fourth one is on the way early next year, and the setting will be Reykjavik, Iceland. In addition, Nick Warren jumpstarted the DMC Back to Mine compilation, with his very own collection of downtempo tripped out ambience. This set most closely resembles the sound of Nick's legendary sets @ Club Vision.
| DOB |
The old f*@#er won't let us know! |
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| LIFE BEFORE DJING: |
Gamekeeper |
| FIRST DJ GIG: |
1986/7. Student Parties |
| MOST MEMORABLE GIG: |
Best: "Glastonbury, 1995, for Massive Attack. It was a buzz playing somewhere
I'd been going to year after year." |
| |
Worst: "Bug Tan in Newquay. The stage was full of pissheads bumping into
me and the decks and falling over." |
| FAVOURITE CLUBS: |
Cream, Liverpool; Hippo Club, Cardiff; Pacha, Ibiza |
| LIFE OUTSIDE DJIING: |
Artist and remixer. "I like fly fishing and watching football." |
Nick Warren Biography
Nick Warren became one of the first so-called "superstar DJs" in the mid- to
late '90s, holding down a high-profile residency at Cream in England,
touring around the world, and appearing on several DJ mix albums before they
became commonplace. Though he spun an eclectic array of dance styles in the
late '80s and early '90s, he eventually championed the late-'90s trance
sound of labels like Hooj Choons and joined the ranks of other superstar DJs
like Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, and Tall Paul. Furthermore, he dabbled a bit in
production, collaborating with Jody Wisternoff as Way Out West.
Before leading a jet-set lifestyle, Nick Warren moved to Bristol in the 1980s
after having just turned 20. By the early '90s, he was one of the city's top
DJs, spinning upstairs at Vision, one of the city's first superclubs. At the
time, Warren spun everything from dub and hip-hop to house, which became his
preferred style. When fellow Bristol artists Massive Attack left to tour
America in the wake of their early success, they invited Warren to accompany
them on tour as their official DJ, a testament to his turntable skills as
well as his reputation at the time.
Eventually, Nick Warren began a massively successful stint as the resident DJ at
Cream in Liverpool. The club's stature grew quickly, as did Warren's as a
result. Mixmag asked him to mix a volume in its Mixmag Live! series, which
the magazine tagged as the "Future Sound of Europe." Around this same time,
the mid- to late '90s, Warren was also garnering quite a bit of attention
for his Way Out West collaboration with Wisternoff, resulting in several
popular singles for Deconstruction, most notably "The Gift," as well as a
self-titled full-length featuring the group's hits.
Next came an opportunity to mix the third volume in the then relatively
obscure Global Underground series of DJ mix albums. The resulting mix,
Global Underground: Prague (1997), featured several anthems of the time such
as "Cafe del Mar," "Life on Mars," and "Nipple Fish," helping to define the
then-evolving trance sound of the late '90s. Warren's mix proved so
successful that he was offered the opportunity to mix a second volume,
Global Underground: Brazil (1998), and then yet more successive volumes in
the increasingly popular series. Moreover, DMC offered Warren the chance to
mix the first volume in its Back to Mine series of downtempo albums. In
particular, 2001 was a big year for Warren; the New York-based Mixer
magazine chose his Renaissance: Revelation mix album on Ultra Records (also
featuring Danny Howells) as its album of the year, and his second Way Out
West album, Intensify, also proved to be a favorite among not only listeners
but critics as well. Global Underground volumes followed in 2003 (Global
Underground: Reykjavik) and 2005 (Global Underground: Shanghai).
Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
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Nick Warren's TOP TEN
'papua new guinea' f.s.o.l. (jumpin & pumpin)
"This is their first and best record. I like emotional house records. F.S.O.L
are influenced by reggae,
hip hop, breakbeats, big chords. 4AD artists are the vocalists, who have always
been my favourites."
'lost in the sound' adonis (jack trax)
"This is a Chicago instrumental track. As you can see, very few vocal tracks
in dance music excite me.
Deep house has nice choruses, nice sounds. Put it on and it works every time.
People dance to it. Our
job as DJs is to make people dance not go up our own arses."
'just let go' petra & co (bcm)
"This an Italian house record, a dub mix. It came out in 1992 and if you hear
it you might not know
who it's by but everyone recognises it. I still play it at least once a fortnight.
It's got a killer riff that
sticks in peoples' head."
'alone' don carlos (atmo)
"I think this came out in 1992 when the Italian house thing got big exposure
in England. Much of it was
Black Box cheesy samples and sounds but this was deep house. An emotional instrumental
track.
'only love can break your heart' st etienne (heavenly)
"This came out at the height of the Balearic explosion when people like Oakenfold,
Rampling and
Weatherall went to Ibiza. This is a mix by Andy Weatherall, it's mid-tempo,
it's not a house track, and
it works so well. You can play it anywhere in a house set."
'chime' orbital (ffrr)
"I remember hearing this for the first time on the radio. I was gobsmacked.
Before the era of orbital
raves and Sunrise I'd never heard this music. It was this record that got me
into house. Again, it's got a
very British sound."
'keep movin' mike perras (basic)
"This came out around 1993. It's an American Chicago track. Again it's an instrumental
deep house
track; it's very emotional. A classic that I hope is not going to be remixed
in 1996."
'unfinished sympathy' massive attack (wild bunch)
"This came out when I started to DJ with Daddy G, but before I DJ'd with the
band. He brought a
tape around to my flat and said 'listen to this'. I was amazed. I had that feeling
of the hairs on the back
of my neck tingling which so rarely happens in dance music. It still sounds
brilliant today. It'll never be
remixed or re-released, they would never let anyone near it. They're so precious
about their music, and
why shouldn't they be?
'4am' tru funk (three stripe)
"This is Jody's first ever house track which he made with DJ Die - who now records
with Roni Size. It
came out in 1991 and it's early acid house. It's brilliant - there's a sax sample
going through it."
'cut for life' leftfield (hard hands)
"Leftfield are one of my favourite bands. Their sound is so British in the way
they take their influences
from dub reggae to hip hop to techno and mix it all up and come out with something
that wouldn't get
made anywhere else. This track has all these elements. It starts with half speed
reggae and comes in
with all the elements of dance tracks that I love."
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