DJ Bustin
Bustin first got involved in the rave scene in about 95. A regular attendee of numerous acid trance clubs around the capital, he was enamored by the scene but not by the music. Bustin’s hardcore roots were formed in late 95. At the back of an English class Bustin used to sit with another boy who was really into his happy hardcore. The boy leant over one day headphones in hand “Jus bruv! Listen to this” Bustin took the headphones and was introduced to hardcore at that moment. The track playing was rushing on Pink champagne, such was the impact of this tune that Bustin hurried down to remix records in Camden and bought himself a ticket to Moondance at Bagleys.
A year later a real DJ’ing fad spread around Bustin’s college, everyone was learning how to mix and Bustin joined in, selling his drum kit for a pair of KAM direct drive decks. He then went down to Remix records again and purchased some of his first tunes including 99red balloons, six days, hardcore fever and the trick of technology. Later that year Bustin played his first gig at a private party at Dingwalls in Camden. Bustin’s set went down a storm despite not really being any good. The next few years were a heady mix of raving all over the country and playing at numerous private parties around the capital.
The next few years was full of highs and lows the biggest low was the perceived death of the music that Bustin loved, Hardcore as he knew it died with the turn of the millennium. This didn’t stop Bustin from going back to the old skool and having moved up north making a name around Liverpool as the only old skool DJ in a town dominated by house. In this time Bustin played all over Liverpool as well as playing in different cities including Leeds, Brighton and Manchester. Bustin was short-listed for a red bull national DJ competition. Among the judging panel was drum and bass star DJ Futurebound. Bustin smashed it and won the admiration of all the judges. The problem was that Mr. Futurebound was caught having sex in the ladies toilets and was ejected from the competition before he had the opportunity to judge everyone so his previous scores were removed from everyone that he had seen. This meant that the competition finished a draw between Bustin and a hip hop DJ. The rep from Red bull pulled Bustin to the side and explained the situation to him that he had won prior to Futurbound’s marks being stricken and that despite it being a draw the other DJ’s style of music was more suitable to the crowd that red bull would be aiming for.
Bustin moved back to London in 2001 and earned himself a spot on south London based pirate radio station Hyper FM. While the station had some good DJs and good listener ship it wasn’t long before the station ceased broadcasting and Bustin was determined to follow the likes of Phantom D, Jonah, Infinity and Delight by making the jump to London Pirate veterans Eruption FM. That opportunity came a few months later when through good references from Phantom D and Lukozade Bustin earned himself a slot on Saturday mornings. Bustin moved around several set times over the next year or so until he was moved to a Sunday and this would be a key moment in defining Bustin’s style of music. It was these Sundays on Eruption Fm that he met and became friends with Lucky Breaks boss (and fellow Endor records artist) DJ Wizbit. At this time Wizbit was playing Hardcore that sounded like the heyday of Hardcore. Uplifting piano’s, rolling bass lines, old skool stabs and most importantly break beats. Up to this point Bustin had been playing old skool for a while and occasionally dipping into his vast collection of Happy hardcore. However here was a new sound that was literally music to Bustin’s ears and a sound that Bustin could see himself adopting.
Around the same time Bustin started listening to more and more of what DJ Luna-c was doing and felt inspired by this to step into production. Through Wizbit, Bustin had heard about DJ Ponder and having listened to his engineering work (especially on the Lucky breaks material) Bustin booked a session. The result was ok, the truth was Bustin’s inexperience in the studio had left Ponder with a lot of work to do and not much inspiration, the resulting track was “I guess I need you” which was a Britney spears rip that would later be signed by breaks label Sonic Fortress.
The second visit to Ponders was something entirely different. Loaded with ideas and samples Bustin and Ponder managed to thrash out “Truffle Shuffle” an adrenalin fuelled ragga jungle romp that looked likely to tear up the dance floor. The track was signed to Lucky breaks within days of its completion and while it unfortunately never did come out on Lucky Breaks it was late picked up by Kniteforce and eventually released as part of the seminal “Jungley pea” as well as being included in Luna-C’s supaset 5 and being played all over the world.
“Truffle Shuffle” changed things for Bustin more so than anything he had done before. While not becoming a household name he was starting to be recognized, even if it was for being “that guy what done that tune off the Jungley pea”. Nevertheless more gigs came his way as a result of this and to date Bustin has played alongside some of the biggest names across the dance music spectrum including Pendulum, Sway, Fabio, Grooverider, Slipmatt, Brisk, Luna-c, Foreign Beggars, Scott brown, Adam F, Sharkey, Kev Energy and many many more.
Bustin went on to produce a few more tunes with DJ Ponder including Raging Skank (Endor records) and the much played but never released “Entranced”. At this point Bustin took an inadvertent break from music production mainly because he had gone back to college to get his teaching qualification. Upon his return to production Bustin started working with former eruption fm DJ Skampy. With both artists on the same wavelength regarding taste and style the tunes began to flow. The combination worked a charm and in the last year and a half Bustin and Skampy Have signed tracks to numerous labels including Kniteforce, Endor and Rave Stylee. Along with this production success 2009 was also a massive year for Bustin the DJ as Bustin found himself playing out alongside some of the biggest names in the industry on a regular basis and his involvement with Kidson’s Nu-rave/K2 organization led to him playing alongside some of his favorite old skool artists including Slipmatt, Devious D and Ash a-tak at the K2 summer showdown.
You can still catch Bustin on Eruption 101.3 FM each and every Sunday from 2-4 and there is much more to come from Bustin and Skampy on the production front with remix and original work penned in for the coming months and weeks.
