Gareth Emery Added by Goedie, 29 March 2007

Ranked at number 34 in the world in the 2006 DJ Mag Top 100 Poll and tipped by Paul van Dyk as his artist to break through in 2007, Gareth Emery is one DJ and producer whose meteoric rise in dance music has just hit the next level.

“Boring DJs be very afraid: Gareth Emery is about to kick your arse” . So said Mixmag, when in 2002 they took the bold step of predicting that a virtually unknown 22 year-old from Southampton would rise to become one of the scene’s most prominent stars.

Fast-forward four years, and it’s likely that his rapid ascendancy into dance music’s top tier has surpassed even their expectations. His 2006 DJ Mag Top 100 ranking of 34 is reflected by his gig diary, which reads like the departure board at London’s Heathrow Airport. Desert island raves in Indonesia, snow-drenched mountains in Vancouver, Bondi Beach in Sydney: they’re all in a day’s work for someone who’s every inch the modern international DJ. Of course, despite racking up hundreds of thousands of airmiles taking his uniquely credible brand of trance to every continent on the globe, Gareth hasn’t neglected his native UK, and still regularly rocks packed venues at all the major UK super clubs: Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, The Gallery, Slinky, and Passion.

Equally at home in the studio, he’s also well-known for his genre-defying productions, right from 2003’s classic ‘Mistral’ (under his GTR guise), to current releases that find support right across the dance scene. Tiesto, Ferry Corsten and Judge Jules are all big fans, plus he’s recently featured on the personal record labels of both Paul van Dyk (Vandit) and Armin van Buuren (Armind). However, the majority of his music is still released on his Five AM imprint, (described by DJ Mag as ‘the most consistent trance label in the world’), where he’s a co-owner and A&R. Whatever the label, one thing that’s clear is that when Gareth Emery stamps his hallmark of quality on a record, people listen.

Always ahead of the game and keen to push new technologies, Gareth was the one of the first leading DJs to embrace podcasting when he started his fortnightly on-demand radio show through the iTunes music store. The Gareth Emery Podcast was launched in early 2006 and was soon ranked in the iTunes Top 20 chart of all worldwide music podcasts, making it one of the most popular dance music shows on the internet, and an essential download for the savvy music lover.

It seems that dance music fans across the globe can’t get enough of Gareth Emery right now, and who can blame them? With a brand new mix CD, further solo singles, a long-awaited debut artist album, and plans to take the Podcast on tour, you can be sure of one thing in 2007: those boring DJs need to be even more afraid than ever.