Katakana (AKA Jools) has a very impressive resumé, with over 13 years of experience behind the decks and in the studio.
From humble beginnings at small nights in the Midlands around 1991, Jools soon found himself playing at now legendary clubs and events such as Renaissance, Venus and Golden, appearing regularly alongside DJs such as Sasha, John Digweed, Carl Cox and Dave Seamen. From the mid 90’s to the year 2000, Jools guested the length and breadth of the UK and Europe, and was also one of the main residents at Progress, one of the UKs top ten clubs. It was during his time as part of the Progress family that he began to hone his skills as a producer.
Having already released several successful tracks as part of XL Rhythm, Jools joined forces with progress head honchos Pete & Russell, to form The Progress Alliance. Due to the club’s status, major label remix work soon flooded in, and was rapidly followed by a top ten hit which saw the boys film a video and appear on Top Of The Pops.
By this time Jools’s talent as a solo producer/engineer were evident, and he began to feel the itch to explore his passion for deeper, progressive house and breaks, and in 2000 he split from Progress, set up a studio, and Katakana was born…..
The DJjing side of Jools’s career also continued to grow, with international work further afield taking him to all corners of the globe – World Cup opening parties in Paris, a tour of the far east for Hong Kong TV station Channel V, and perhaps the most prestigious, Moscow’s now notorious Club XIII! - where Jools was their first international guest DJ, and proved such a hit that he, alongside Rowan Blades of Breeder, returned once a month for 3 years and undertook a 7 week tour of Russia playing all the country’s major cities.
Back in the UK, Jools was now successfully running his own label, Sonambulist Recordings, showcasing artists from Canada, Australia and Macedonia, which were all given the Katakana remix treatment. Jools’s ability to fuse tech, tribal and progressive house styles began receiving critical acclaim, and his tracks received plays from the likes of Nick Warren and Sander Kleinenberg, as well as being licensed to various compilations, including Peace Division’s ‘Nitelife’ on NRK, and Pacha's Ibiza Winter Compilation.
Recent years have seen Jools run his own Midlands based night, Silicon, which played host to some of the biggest names in underground house, most notably giving a young James Zabiela one of his first UK residencies. James and Jools remain great friends, and James can regularly be heard championing Katakana's material in his sets.
In 2003 Jools undertook a 4 month residency at Hong Kong’s, C-Club, following in the path of John Da Silva and Ricky Stone. The last 2 years have seen Jools DJ extensively in Asia and Australia, at clubs such Shanghai’s, Park 97, Orange in Manila, and Oz’s legendary C-Moog, in Byron Bay. Jools and Ricky are now regarded as two of the biggest names in Hong Kong and China, and are credited with helping progressive and breaks being one of the most popular sounds in that area, and paving the way for names such as Sasha (who undertook his first ever tour of China in late 2004).
With the overwhelming success of recent productions, for labels such as In Music, Source Of Gravity and most notably, his massive remix of the classic 'Kites’ by Ultraviolet, which has seen rotation from all the key players, Jools is now DJing exclusively under his Katakana moniker.
Future releases for 2005 include remixes and tracks for labels such as Intrinsic, CP Recordings, and industry leaders Electrofly. Keen to embrace digital music distribution, Jools also sells tracks in mp3 only format, and Katakana material is now a permanent fixture in the top downloads charts of mp3 websites such as EDM digital and Beatport.
2005 will also see Katakana, once again, head off to the Far East for a Silicon tour of China, The Philippines and South East Asia, as well as performing in Poland, Russia, and the USA.