About me, DJ SKIPPY...(Who ??) Depending on which part of the country you go out partying, you may or may not have heard of SKIPPY or SKIPPIN TRAX RECORDS. If you are a West Country raver like myself then you may well have seen me bouncing around behind the Decks like a complete loon @ a G.B.H. Basically it goes like this: My real name is Ben Gready (Yep go on say it, Greedy Bastard) I'm 24 at the moment and work as an I.T Hardware specialist. I've been spinning the wheels of steel for 3 years now, but had a massive interest in hardcore from 1993 (back when parties were parties!). It all started off when I approached a local Pub/Club owner in my home town of Weston-Super-Mare, and asked "may I put on a night of hard dance for the local crews?" It was there and then agreed that I could have Sunday nights from 7:00 - 10.30 (shit time I know). Gradually I worked all the local DJs into my nights and the Sunday Hardcore thing became an instant success. One Sunday after playing my set I was approached by a guy named Mike David a.k.a DJ TORMENTOR, who had been in weston on the weekend, and we spoke about music etc. and it was agreed that I would play for him at Revibealize in the underground club of "Pawlett Manor" (Bridgewater, somerset). Every Friday I would play at 'Revibealize' @ Pawlett Manor with the likes of DEVASTATE, BRISK, BALISTIC, TORMENTOR etc. whilst still running a successful Sunday night in Weston. I was then introduced to playing at free parties across the West Country, standing in a field somewhere at 5 in the morning, twated, freezing my knackers off and pumping out Hard, Fast Hardcore... Love it!! Around about this time I started playing at local events such as ENTITY and BASSED OUT. Due to unforseen circumstances (like old bastards upstairs complaining about music levels on Sunday nights), my hardcore thing was to cease. I carried on playing at local venues and kept right at the heart of the scene within the West Country, and the organization 'Revibealize' that I was playing for now formed into G.B.H Events, still based at The Manor @ Pawlett and it was decided to incorporate the harder edge of techno trance into the club as well. Shortly after the name change, Pawlett Manor in Somerset was sold for planners to build an elderly people's home upon. It was a sad decision as Pawlett Manor had been around for a good 50 years and had always had a reputation for being a dingy but bangin' underground club, now all this was to come to an end. It was one of the most saddest moments of my life having to play my very last happy / bouncy set at the club I loved and grew up with. However G.B.H moved on to bigger and better things and 'THE DEPOT' in Bristol was to play host to future Hardcore / Techno / D'n'B events. Aug 15th 1997 saw the first GBH @ the new venue, with a capacity of just over 1,000 bodies. GBH soon were filling the venue to capacity, with good reviews from magazine and web sites, and an atmosphere that's like no other. GBH events today are now some of the biggest and most successful Hard dance organizations in the West Country. I've now been with them for 3 years (nearly) and I'm having the time of my life. The GBH crew are really close and all pull together to make a successful scene and I'm happy as a pig in shit being No.1 happy hardcore resident with GBH. By early this year I wanted to do something more than just promoting / DJ'ing so I started booking a few studio sessions and messed around with samples and drum patterns and it all rolled out from there really, the label, the tracks, the passion for the music. So for those of you out there who ain't been to a GBH event in the South West, you don't know what your missing, well worth travelling to Bristol for, and now you can also see me mixing and scratching it up @ the likes of 'SOUND & MOTION' @ Oscars 2000, Longleat, Warminster. But for you lot that ain't experienced that GBH feeling... do it now!!! Laters Ben SKIPPY (SKIPPIN TRAX)