With an approach and attitude that is slightly different to most, Paul Woolford has established himself as one of the most original dj/producer/remixers that house music has exposed in recent times.

An avid buyer of vinyl since the age of 8 (“Let’s put it his way, I’m not telling you what my first record was…!”) and carrying an obsession with music that borders on an illness, he’s what you might call a vinyl junkie. The backdrop to all this has been the radio, which has been permanently switched on in the Woolford household.
At the age of 12 he acquired his first turntables and, having already discovered home keyboards and the percussion section of his father’s organ, he set about re-creating the rhythms that had been on constant rotation from those early house compilation albums that were all somebody on pocket money could afford at the time.

After a brief flirtation putting together pause-button megamixes consisting of huge amounts of other records, Paul’s focus shifted as he soon realised that not only did he want to be a dj, he also wanted to produce these records that were being played on the radio. In this time he still managed to win a megamix competion on local radio in Leeds at the age of 13, which was to then act as a red-rag to a bull; his prise was a stack of 12 inch records, among them Adonis “The Poke” - a seminal acid house track…

Paul’s first visit to Dave Beers infamous Back To Basics sealed his fate in many ways, being as it was the place where he heard so many of the records in his own collection in the full club context, which felt to Paul like jigsaw pieces falling into place. “I remember clearly the first time I walked in, I think I was only 17; the only way to describe it was bedlam. And the overriding thought was ‘I’ve got to play in here one day!’”. From that day on, Paul began to fiercely develop his dj skills. Today he holds a residency at Basics inbetween his guest spots globally, and a DJ style and ability beyond the reach of most that takes an underground sound and twists it into public conscience.

Woolford released his first record at the age of 21, a collaboration with his friend and studio guru Tony Senghore. They went on to form a partnership and released a succession of 12 inches and an album that were picked up on by the more switched-on house djs such as DJ Sneak and Mark Farina. Their fusions of house, electronica and hip hop sensibilities were widely acclaimed across the dance music media (Single Of The Month in Muzik, Album of the Week in Seven magazine), and paved the way for an open-minded approach with which Paul carries through as the common thread throughout his music.

After these initial releases Paul began his Bobby Peru project for 20/20 Vision, and in February 2000 on the release of his debut LP “Death Of A Player”, was once again on the receiving end of widespread positive acclaim from the press (Album Of the Month in DJ magazine amongst other excellent reviews). This was the project that really put Paul on the map both with the press and with many djs and dance music fans, and ensured that Bobby peru as an artist was developed further, and is now an on-going part of Paul’s studio life.

His studio skills sharpened and he put these to further use on collaborations with Yousef for the esteemed Junior label (10,000BC “Whatever”), again a pivotal move and one that opened many doors, and he also collaborated with Steve Mac on a release for Junior Sanchez’ Cube label in the States. Both these collaborations have continued and thrived even though the tracks have varied widely in their scope, and this is an important part of Paul’s outlook. Darren Emerson also invited Paul to collaborate on an unreleased Brother Brown remix around this time that was a huge inspiration.

From there things snowballed, and whilst many labels have offered a home for Paul’s music, he’s been selective and given his quality singles to 2020 Vision, Underwater, Subliminal, Soma’s Freelance Science imprint, and most recently Mark Brown’s C2 label. These releases and his remixes have made fans of his production from a wide range of djs from across the board including Laurent Garnier,Erick Morillo, Andrew Weatherall, Pete Tong, Derrick Carter, Seb Fontaine, Dj Heather, Sister Bliss, Yousef, Slam… the list continues and this is testament to the quality control and a signpost of Paul’s long-term wider aims.

Simultaneously the list of labels Paul has remixed for grows all the time and so far includes NRK, Azuli, Robsoul, Airtight, Brique Rouge, Hooj, TronicSole, Virgin, Palm Pictures, DMC, City Rockers, Warners, Credence, Nulife, Bush, Rulin, 20/20 Vision, Variation, Automatic and many more. Paul’s view of remixing differs slightly to that of many in dance music, and he eschews the ‘give ‘em one of your own tracks with the vocal stapled on’ school of thought in favour of creating a whole new environment for each project which Paul then uses as an experiment for new ideas, the most successful ones of which then become the inspiration for album material and other tracks.

Throughout all of this studio time, Paul has also built up his global dj bookings and clocked up the airmiles taking his unique style of djing across the world from Chicago to Singapore and all points inbetween. He is universally regarded within dance music as someone who djs as well as they produce and sees himself very much 50% DJ and 50% producer. The clubs and events he’s played at and rocked speak for themselves: Smartbar in Chicago, Berlin Love Parade, Pacha in Ibiza, Space Ibiza, Peter Pan in Rimini Italy, Piekarnia in Poland, Centro 360 in Singapore, Cream in Liverpool and Ibiza at Amnesia, Homelands consecutively for the last 4 years. These are just a few from an ever-growing list.
Paul’s Djing style takes in the more energetic abstract approach of layering tracks in key to make a third sound, and blends it with the more straight forward club-rocking approach to make a very well-rounded and eclectic program that takes in underground house, techno, electro, breaks and whatever suites the moment, all through the focus and context of a house set. Over the years he has developed his technical abilites at the same time as his programming and so everything builds towards a more emotional climax, and it’s with longer sets that Paul’s technique shines.

Yousef was the first DJ on Radio 1 to invite Paul to do a 30 minute hotmix, and this happened in 2001 when he sat in for Seb Fontaine. This was a key mix and pricked up the ears of many who had previously bought Paul’s records and not known about his deckskills, this mix also included a track by Ivan Smagghe’s Blackstrobe who have in 2004 broken through and made a solid impact on dance music. Seb Fontaine followed in March 2002 and again, Paul constructed a live mix that was wildly different and very peak-time that furthered his reputation. And in December 2002 Pete Tong awarded Paul the accolade of being one of his “Heroes Of 2002” and invited him onto the Essential Selection to spin a 30 minute hotmix which furthered support and really kicked off Paul’s bookings.
Since then Paul has enjoyed the support of all 3 and also Lottie, as all have regularly played Paul’s productions and mixes on Radio 1.

The inevitable Essential Mix debut was made in April 2004 to absolutely fantastic feedback and saw Woolford tear through around 33 tracks in 2 hours.

Paul is currently working on the second Bobby Peru album for 2020 Vision as well as Djing and remixing with the usual energy. His plans for his music are to take it beyond the concept of “cross-over” – his ultimate aim is to make records that appeal to everyone…

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