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| Freakmenoovers
Biography |
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| download
biog here |
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| Freak:
Someone who is so ardently devoted to something
that it resembles an addiction. |
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| Some
DJs can mix, some can scratch, some can rock a party
and some can do it all. And the Freak Menoovers
(Dema and Nice) are two such DJs. Holding down a
weekly residency at the world famous Glasgow School
of Art – Freak Moves lets Dema and Nice juggle
(literally) the full spectrum of hip hop beats,
always tailoring the results for the dancefloor.
In fact the discerning readers of Hip Hop Connection
voted their weekly Freak Moves club 3rd Best Hip
Hop night in the UK. Residencies aside, the Freak
Menoovers’ 4 deck thing - mixing up hip hop
with some classic rock, soul, R'n'B, reggae and
funk – is much in demand with guest spots
galore throughout the country. |
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| Starting
out like all true great DJs it was the love of the
music that first drew them in. For Dema it was then
the lure of the spray can that gained his attention
and it was through tagging that he developed his
name – apparently because the letters looked
good together. Meanwhile Nice was busily trying
to get his Sanyo hi-fi to perform such death defying
stunts that he was hearing the great DJs of the
time perform. Figuring out that he could flick the
switches in such a way that he could play tapes
and records at the same time was Nice’s introduction
to the art of bedroom mixing. Soon after Dema and
Nice hooked up and it wasn’t long before the
two were hammering away on the ones and twos, perfecting
their skills for future use. |
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| Their
first real DJ outing – friend’s parties
aside – came in 1996 at McHullis on the High
Street Bar. Renowned for its quality DJ sets the
Freak Menoovers made an impressive leap into the
limelight when the then bar owner heard their stuff
and immediately offered them a weekly residency.
Drawing the hip hop crowd out for a Wednesday night’s
aural delight their names soon became synonymous
with quality tunes and quality mixing. Much club
work came on the back of that, with a coveted Friday
night residency at Yang, which they rammed every
week until moving on to bigger things at the Glasgow
School of Art. Starting off with a monthly Friday
slot such was the crowd’s reaction that the
flagship Thursday night was soon offered to them.
In amongst all this there was the highly respected
and much loved Tablist Lounge, which often involved
the Freaks mixing it up with guest turntablists
- sometimes culminating in a six deck work out.
Their second residency at the Glasgow School of
Art was basically born out of the Tablist Lounge
and it offers the hip hop faithful and all other
interested parties to see the Freaks close up (they
play on the dance floor) cutting, juggling, scratching
and mixing those tunes we all wanna hear, be that
hip hop, funk, soul, R ‘n’ B or breaks.
The two were also frequent guests at Edinburgh’s
Trouble at the Blue Note - before it was savaged
by fire - where they joined the resident funk band
to add the icing to their sound. |
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| Radio
has given the Freaks more of an opportunity to inject
their personalities, with guest appearances on everything
from Radio 1 to German radio station Back to Basics.
As hosts they first started working with student
radio station Sub City – for five consecutive
years – before moving on to Internet based
radio station Radio Magnetic (www.radiomagnetic.com).
Blasting out of the Glasgow studios across the globe,
via the internet, gives the Freaks the chance to
talk to hip hop fans the world over, with fans emailing
in their shout outs and requests from as far and
wide as the beach in Australia to diners in the
US or even round the corner from the studio. Guests
often feature on their Kinetic Energy show, with
the likes of Afrika Bambaataa, the Pharcyde, Obie
Trice, Public Enemy, Vadim, Tim Westwood, DJ Cash
Money and Bootsy Collins being but a handful. In
terms of listenership Radio Magnetic often tops
the top 3-listenership figures for Internet radio
stations and the Freak’s ‘Kinetic Energy’
show is the most requested archive on the station’s
web pages. |
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| In addition
to Freak action the pair are much in-demand by the
Scottish hip hop contingent, keen to have their
DJ idols grace their tracks and add weight to their
releases. Dema is now a fully paid up member of
Scottish hip hop crew Belles in Monica, where he
provides the cuts over their beats. The group released
their debut album in 2002, with two subsequent single
releases, which scored respectable sales in Italy,
France and Australia. As the band’s DJ, Dema
was also invited to do a session for Radio 1 in
support of the album. With their sights now firmly
set on the US, work is under way on the second Belles
in Monica album. Dema has also flexed his musical
prowess with collaboratory work on the ‘Hedonism’
EP by the Operators (Seminal Emissions), with plans
to release his own Freak Menoovers EP this year.
Nice, on the other hand, has been providing the
necessary edge to Scottish rap group the 4-Most
who are busily putting the finishing touches to
their second full length album for release later
in the year. In addition to that Nice also provides
the scratches for Scottish funk outfit Soundbone,
who blew the cords away at last year’s Glasgow
International Jazz Festival. 2002 saw him join the
country’s finest DJs in London, where he was
a UK DMC Finalist, prior to that he took second
place at the Scottish DMC. |
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| Hip
hop in Scotland would be a far duller place without
the Freaks, something recognised by many of the
country’s promoters who have been keen to
book Dema and Nice for some action. Arches Millennium
Party, El Segundo (Edinburgh and Newcastle), Moneyshot,
Stirling University, Dundee Centre for Arts, Urban
Art Official, Doodlebug (Manchester), Massif Adventures,
Queen Margaret Union, Sub Club, King Tuts, Optimo
2001 Space Odyssey, Rokjesoksof (Amsterdam)… |
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| Promoting
their own nights as well as working with other promoters
has seen them play alongside literally hundreds
of the world’s greatest hip hop acts and DJs
including Grand Master Flash, Phi Life Cypher, Souls
of Mischief, Mixologists, Gamma, DJ Apollo, Scratch
Perverts, Wu-tang Clan, Chuck D, 3 times - Hosts
of Scottish DMC Championships, Rahzel, P Trix, Ugly
Duckling, DJ Format, Woody, Abdominal, Funky Fresh
Few, Beatphreak, Jungle Brothers, Hosts of 8 Mile
MC Championships, Scottish hosts of the Nokia Raw
& Prince’s Trust Urban Music Festival,
DJ Premier (Gangstarr), Flaredycats, Herbaliser,
Dilated Peoples, People Under the Stairs, Eminem
after-show party , DJ Jsone, Rectangle, Dexter,
Killa Kela, DJ Vadim, Mr Thing, Plus One, Blue Rum
13, First Rate, Q-Bert, Natty & Dwella… |
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For
bookings and further information contact:
Stewart Dalley: 07932014852
info@freakmenoovers.com |
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