Here is a little bit of history about these two musical scoundrels………
Brief Biog – Steve Harvey Started DJing in 1988 at the beginning of the Underground House Explosion in London playing at small clubs, warehouse parties etc. He began his own night called “No Fat Chicks” in 1990 at the famous Milk Bar in London and had Jay Kay perform his first ever PA as Jamiroquai for him there.
With promoter partner Bernie Schuman, Steve became one of the first promoters to put on massive House Parties with huge line-ups of top DJ’s when they launched their “Kinky Overdose” and “Que Pasa” nights at various venues. In 1994 Steve became resident DJ at Londons legendary “Club UK” which drew in crowds of up to 3,000 every week. Steve continued his residency there until its untimely demise 3 years later.
Throughout this period Steve continued his own “No Fat Chicks” nights as well as also holding down residencies at the “The Warehouse” & “Gism” and guest DJing all over the UK at pretty much all the major clubs.
His international DJ career has taken him as far afield as Hong Kong, Singapore, a Thursday residency at Space in Ibiza, Ayia Napa (Cyprus), Spain, Switzerland, France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Jersey & Guernsey to name but a few.
Steve also ran a successful concept night called “Moonwalk” in London’s trendy Hoxton area of Shoreditch and was also resident at “Ultrasound” – one of the most popular funky house nights in the southeast region of London. He was also resident at a yearly Chill Out festival in Denmark called Stella Polaris which is a two day event held in Arhus and Copenhagen.
Steve also DJed together with Kate Lawler (winner of the 3rd Big Brother show) and together they toured the UK for hot new funky house label HOUSONIC (www.housonic.com).
Most recently he has been working on recording a live project called “Collective Soul Project” featuring co-producer Mickey Simms, Vocalist Eric ‘E-Man’ Clark from New York, Davos (keyboard player who recently toured with Peter Hook’s new band “The Light’) as well as other prominent musicians.
Steve is now enjoying life as one half of “Deep Sea Cosmonauts” producing and releasing tracks with Davos. “Deep Sea Cosmonauts” are all about the disco/funky/jazzy/housey feeling and you can catch all their new releases on their soundcloud page.
Davos had his first piano lesson in 1980, his last in 1983, and has been self taught ever since. Now an accomplished producer, live keyboardist and remixer, Davos came to public attention late in 2012 when a video of his performance of a medley of early nineties house classics – drawn from his youth in Blackburn Warehouse parties and raves in the late 80s – hit youtube and went instantly viral, notching up over 120,000 hits in the first week and now over half a million on youtube alone (with an estimated 4 million or more views netwide). The viral catapulted Davos into the limelight and brought him to the attention of some of the biggest names in dance music as well as two generations of acid house ravers.
In the time since the viral Davos has been living the dream with a blistering career as a live performer playing an irresistible and ever-changing medley of rave piano classics and notching up five consecutive years at Glastonbury and countless gigs at festivals and iconic clubnights such as Streetrave Arches Glasgow, Garlands, Bowlers, Fantazia, Clockwork Orange, History of House, Retro, Kendal Calling, Festival Number 6, Beat-Herder, Masked Ball, Solfest, Reminisce and last year performing at Itaca, Es Paradis, Ocean Beach and Space Ibiza, all the while moonlighting as live keyboardist for chart-toppers and rave legends K-Klass, and more recently completing six months on tour with Peter Hook & The Light, followed by sessioning live keyboards for Cream Classical.
Also in high demand as a sessionist and producer, and referred to by Godfather-of-House Marshall Jefferson as ‘..the best keyboard player in England and one of the most talented men I have ever met’ Davos has had a hand in a number of collaborations and releases with Shapeshifters, Doorly, Klang Kuenstler, Marc Vedo, Kevin Saunderson (Inner City), Idris Elba, Baccacha, 2 Bad Mice, Mark XTC, Blandy, David Tupling, Ed Mahon and Andy Edit. Now a partner in the newly built Studio 3 Collective in Blackpool, which has itself made quite a name in the brief time since its doors opened, Davos is currently working on projects for Sonique, Joyce Sims, Alice Ella and collaborative projects Made on Earth and Collective Souls, with releases for all imminent.
Mickey Simms is a DJ of distinction being one of the key pioneers of the UK Dance scene and a Creator of UK Garage music. Recognised by his counterparts as an Ambassador World-wide, he was at the forefront of this scene which led him to become the first UK DJ of this genre to play and gain residencies in Japan, Switzerland, Amsterdam and America.
He was born into music influenced by his Father Sir LLoyd (Studio 1), who was himself a pioneer of the Reggae sound system throughout the UK and also by his Mother who was a Choirmaster in the Gospel church where Mickey gained his skills as a drummer in the church band.
In his early days he regularly DJ’ed on the South Coast, one of the gigs was a weekly residency with Carl Cox at The West Beach club in Brighton as well as gigs around London with some South London DJ’s including his friend Grooverider who at that time was creating what we now know to be Drum n bass.
Being part of the scene Mickey was told by fellow DJ Justin Berkmann that he was bringing over a sound system from the Paradise Garage club in New York and putting it into a disused bus station in South London which went on to become the Ministry of sound nightclub. He was lucky enough to meet Larry Levan when Larry played there in the early 90’s and Mickey was privileged to be amongst some of the first DJ’s to play on the sound system.
When Ministry closed on Sunday mornings Mickey and fellow DJ Justin Cantor would stop in a local pub “The Goose & Firkin before driving home. In the pub they were playing background music and they cheekily asked them to play one of Mickey’s mixtapes and in a matter of weeks they had set up decks and a sound system. Seeing the opportunity they started inviting people to join them from Ministry, the numbers grew and it was full to capacity, later that year (1991)
A.W.O.L Promoter Timi Ram Jam and DJ Matt Jam Lamont joined forces with Mickey & Justin and they moved their event to the Elephant & Castle Pub. The event was called “Happy Days” and they named the style of music they played “Garage” and the Sunday scene was born.
It wasn’t long before the sound grew in popularity and this underground event became one of the most influential within the music industry. It became so popular that within months it was at full capacity and they had to take on another pub across the road (The Charlie Chaplin) to run at the same time. They then moved down the road to The frog & nightgown.
Whilst playing at other groundbreaking events around that time such as Relish,
Central Park, The Wag, Release the pressure, Golden Delicious, Garage City and The Gass Club the new sound that developed from these events led to an explosion of Garage promoters, UK producers and record labels and with the London pirate radio stations helping to push the sound coupled with media interest, the UK Garage scene and a new era in clubbing was being firmly established.
Happy Days moved on to The Arches in Southwark it was an all day event under 2 railway arches which housed the music and an outdoor area where they added a cinema, pool tables, fun fair rides, fashion shows and food stalls.
In 1995 Happy days bought Club Aquarium in Old Street and they started Absolute Sunday. The night became renowned for it’s music, mixed crowd and was more of an experience with Mickey at the helm for 5 years as the resident DJ, influencing the music with his unique DJ’ing style incorporating his collection of outboard gear – delays/effects. Mickey also played monthly at Twice as Nice @ The Collosseum.
In late 1995 he gained a monthly residency in New York. John Davis was the promoter, originally from the UK he had been transferred there by his company. John had helped at The Arches as a security guard & promoter and decided to try the same format in New York on a Sunday Daytime party. Mickey first played for him at The Midas Club and then it moved to Club Vinyl and became Body & Soul, where Mickey DJ’ed alongside Francois K and Louie Vega. It grew into New York’s most revered party and continues today worldwide.
In 1996 Mickey was “headhunted” by Choice FM (London) and he became the first underground DJ to present a UKG show on a legal station. His show “The weekend connection” ran for 8 years . It appealed to a young urban audience with Mickey showcasing the cutting edge of Dance music – popular with the listeners and a firm favourite of the industry with many an A&R locking on to source their next signing!
He had by now established himself as one of the UK’s premier DJ’s and was regularly playing at some of the biggest parties at the time including: Lords of the Underground, Sun City, Liberty, Horny, Cookies & Cream, Sidewinder, Stush, Pure Silk & Exposure.
Mickey was the first to bring the UK Garage sound to Japan, he was the resident at “Step” at Club Kuaile and in 2001 he released “This is 2 Step” compilation on Avex Records for Japan.
In the years that followed he continued to spearhead the UK Garage sound and the scene’s growth in popularity saw him playing at events all over the UK and this increased activity, added to his innovative style resulted in Mickey being one of the in demand DJ’s. Internationally he was gaining exposure and regularly in
Europe including Amsterdam (Dance Valley, Innercity, Need 4 Speed, Melkweg, Speedfreax and The Drum Rhythm festivals) as well as Switzerland (United underground), Geneva (United Nations), Jersey (Maddisons), Ayia Napa, Palma & Ibiza (Ibiza Hospitality).
Who would have thought that the UK Garage sound born in the South London Underground would have had such an influence on so many Artistes and birth so many sub scene’s over the years and with acts such as Disclosure, Clean Bandit, Gorgon City and Sbtrkt riding high in the charts and championing the genre to a new generation – Mickey is proud that his legacy is still making an impact in today’s music market.
Mickey continues to change the face of DJ’ing as we know it, combining cutting edge technology with talent and embracing the digital age. This has recently seen him DJ’ing at private events in Las Vegas & L.A.
After many years in the industry as a successful DJ, Radio presenter, musician and producer, he decided to dedicate more of his time to producing. This led him to design and build a recording studio in South London where he recently completed his debut studio Album.
The Album is Dance music inspired with the individual tracks featuring elements of Hip hop, House, RnB, Garage, Dubstep, World music & Gospel. Each composition is original and Mickey has fused the world of electronic music with live musicians and instrumentation.
An array of vocalists are featured, from well established Legends to fresh Up & coming Artistes. Mickey being a DJ he also can’t wait to unleash the club dubs into the “underground scene”.
Eric ‘E-Man’ Clark – In an attempt to get into the thick of New York nightlife, a young Eric Clark moved downstate from Mount Vernon and landed a job as a security guard at the Ritz. This concert venue, which was at the forefront of all musical genres, is where Eric fortuitously began DJ’ing for the first time. A variety of gigs, including DJ’ing at The Obies Awards, allowed Eric to blend all of his musical loves: soul, rock n’ roll, jazz, funk, reggae, hip-hop, and house. Eventually this music-lover left the Ritz and got a job in promotions at Tommy Boy Records. It was there where music mogul Monica Lynch gave Eric his nickname, Eman.
After leaving Tommy Boy, Eman began a long career in film and television, started producing his own nightclub events, and continued to DJ. In the following years DJ Eman played at NYC bars and clubs such as Coney Island High, Centro-Fly, Chameleon Lounge, Cheetah, Nowbar, 205 Club, Baktun, 13, Idlewild, Sapphire, Frank’s Lounge, Warehouse and Ciello. Eman also performed at clubs as far away as Sweden, Moscow, and the Czech Republic. In 1997 Eman co-founded and was resident DJ at the popular weekly event Bang the Party with then Paper Magazine nightclub reporter Lorie Caval. This intimate, underground house music party quickly gained local and international acclaim and had a spectacular six year run. Since then, Eman has produced many on-going and special events at nightspots around Manhattan and Brooklyn featuring cutting-edge electronic dance music. Articles about Eman, his events, and his music have appeared in publications such as DJ Times, Face (UK), ID (UK), New York Magazine, Next, BMR (Japan), Jockey Slut (UK), Flyer NYC, Paper, New York Observer, NYPress, Village Voice, Mixer, Big Shot, and Time Out New York.
During a trip to Chicago in 1999, Eman met talented producer Daryn “DJ Quad” Brandon and employed his help to produce his first record “Day By Day.” The song featured the vocals of Eman’s long-time friend Sweet Sable (best known for her club anthem “Love So Special”) and was released on HipBone Records in early 2000. Since then Eman has released many internationally renowned singles (with multifarious remixes) on well-respected record labels. His impressive oeuvre includes the infamous “It’s Yours” on Chez Music, “Musical Prayer” on Wave Music, “I Am the Road” on MAW Recordings, and “Brooklyn (Where I Live)” on Sfere Recordings. Eman also co-executive produced the conceptual compilation album Bang the Party: Volume One (Jellybean/Sony) and the documentary film of the same name. In 2007, Eman teamed up with Chicago-based music producer Doc Link to create Liberate Recordings, releasing a plethora of dance floor burners. Eman also began hosting his own online radio shows on a number of streaming sites, and is presently broadcasting a weekly two hour radio show called Run Bklyn Radio on 247House Radio UK.
E-man continues to write, produce and vocalize on projects, collaborating with some of the best producers in the global music community. His Collaboration with Joeski – “Clap Yo Handz” on Defected Records – sat at #5 on The Top 100 Tech House Songs of 2016 and wass #29 on the Top 200 overall list for 2016. In May 2016 Eman started his own Label called Bklyn Trax Company, quickly amassing over a dozen releases. Eman shows no sign of slowing up … stay tuned and be ready for more great DJ sets and music productions coming out of a speaker near you.