DJ biography (April 09)

Jonty Skrufff: DJ Biography: March 2009

Recently hailed by top Vietnamese web portal ‘Quan Doi Nhan Dan’ as ‘one of the world’s leading DJs’ in its preview of his December ’08 show at Hanoi’s Friendship Cultural Palace, Jonty Skrufff has certainly come a long way since he started DJing in 2004.

While the Vietnamese site (which officially translates as ‘Organ of the Military Central Commission and Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence’) euphorically greeted his ground-breaking headline set at what was the South East Asian country’s first ever large scale rave, he also popped up in Pacha Ibiza’s newsletter the same month, in its section ‘NEW ARTISTS JOINING PACHA’.

“Pacha Ibiza has recruited upcoming electro-punk-tech type JONTY SKRUFFF as a monthly resident DJ for the summer season of 2009,” the legendary Balearic clubbing institution announced, “The nowadays Berlin based Londoner will be spinning throughout the summer alongside Andy Baxter and guests in the superclub’s renowned GLOBAL Room, the creative heart of the club. . . where the most experimental genres are heard.”

Both plaudits came just over four years after Jonty made his DJing debut at then ultra-fashionable London club Golf Sale (which later became Boombox) marking a remarkable progression that’s seen him headlining underground clubs, festivals and superclubs in twenty-two countries to date.

Picking up prestige repeat bookings everywhere from Ibiza (both Pacha and Judgement Sunday) to Serbia’s Exit Festival and Czech Republic’s Summer Of Love festival, he’s also toured Brazil four times as well as spinning to well over 10,000 clubbers in China last Christmas when he played in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.

 

Elsewhere, he’s played Japan (Ageha), Lithuania, Bahrain, Israel, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Thailand, France, Spain, Holland, Norway, Dubai, Czech Republic and the Balkans (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia) and DJs regularly in London and Berlin (where he’s now based).

In Berlin, he’s headlined Tresor a number of times (most recently helping to launch the club’s 3D surround system IOSONO), DJed to hundreds of thousands at the Christopher Street Parade and regularly spins at cutting edge underground clubs including Neon Raiders and infamous warehouse Salon Zur Wilden Renate.

Back in London, he plays regularly at the capital’s coolest cutting edge clubs, including Gutter Slut and Naked Zoo @ Egg.

He also continues to publish his hugely influential and acclaimed weekly sex-drugs-clubs & politics e-zine Skrufff-E (available at http://www.skrufff.com) and is actively involved in making music, co-producing and remixing Fidelity Kastrow’s upcoming single 21st Century Girl and most recently two tracks with Radio 1 star Judge Jules. Trainwreck shortly appears on Jules’ upcoming artist album ‘Bring The Noise’, out on Maelstrom Records in February 2009.

“Jonty’s enthusiasm, experience and talent shines through in his writing, DJing and now production and when he asked whether I was up for making a track together I jumped at the chance,” said Jules in a recent interview. 

“As a DJ, he’s focused on the more alternative, underground aspects of electro and techno than I am but he’s been sending me his DJ mixes for ages and I always listen to them in the car going to gigs”.

“When I heard his first draft of Trainwreck, I immediately had an idea for making it work for my dance-floors, and I’ve been getting great reactions with the new mix everywhere I’ve played it so far,” he added.

“I’ve watched Jonty’s DJ career take off big-time,” Jules adds, “With tune-making the natural next step,” he said.