About John

Following his inauspicious beginnings DJ’ing at school discos and 21st birthday parties, John Gibbons’ rise has been meteoric – fast-tracking his way into the public consciousness with his distinctive stage-presence and high-energy performances, and making a name as arguably Ireland’s hottest young property on the international dance scene. Currently tagged as “Irelands hardest-working DJ”*, Club Educate head-honcho John has headlined every Irish club of note, plays regularly for international clubbing brands Gatecrasher, Godskitchen and Slinky among others in Europe, the US, Asia and South America and has made numerous TV appearances for stations such as MTV, VIVA TV Europe and 4FUN TV Poland. Gibbons currently holds down residencies for Godskitchen Ireland, Lamouche (France), Letrik (Ireland), Spank (USA), Fuse (Madrid) and Planet Love in the UK.

A champion of his own distinct brand of tough Tech-Trance, John produces and hosts his own ‘Club Educate’, radio show on Spin FM, Dublin (Thursdays 23.45gmt – webcast on www.spin1038.com) and regularly appears on numerous other high-profile radio stations wordwide. Described as the hottest newcomer in Irish dance radio**Gibbons is currently viewed as the don of dance radio in Ireland and Club Educate is the first media port-of-call for international DJ’s playing in Ireland. It has also been nominated for Irish radio’s PPI ‘Best Specialist Show’ of 2008 and won ‘Best Radio Show’ at the 2008 Irish Dance Music Awards. He is also presenter of ‘Off The Limit’, a clubbing and sports magazine-style TV shown on Irish national station TV3.

Playing regularly worldwide alongside the world’s biggest DJ’s, Gibbons is currently making waves on the international production front also. Quite apart from his trademark personal edits of tracks, evident during his explosive DJ sets, Gibbons’ debut release ‘Engorged’ became a huge underground success before being snapped up by Flesh Records in Germany. Follow-up track ‘The Urge’ featuring African Hip-Hop MC Muzzy G, scored similar success on Flesh, while the John Gibbons’ techno remix of Irish breaks producer Johnny Pluse’s debut track ‘Market Street Hustle’ on Invisible Agent hit No.7 in the UK dance download chart in 2007. Remixes of tracks by Corvin Dalek, Sander van Doorn, Paul Webster and Mr Sam have received massive A-List support while Gibbons’ next release for Flesh, ‘My Norca’, seems set to blast it’s way into DJ boxes the world over. His 2008 collaboration with fellow Irishman Scimon Tist – ‘Beautiful Filth’ on UK label Tekelec – was one of the biggest tunes of the last year in international circles, being hammered by DJ’s around the world, receiving plays for no less than six consecutive weeks on Judge Jules primetime show BBC Radio 1, on Paul van Dyk’s legendary Vonyc Sessions, has crossed over to the mainstream reaching No.22 in the Irish pop charts and No.1 in the Irish dance charts. It was also been licensed to Gatecrasher’s massive “Immortal” compilation.

Other huge recent tracks include massive remixes of Paul Webster’s ‘Problems’ on Fraction and Tatoe & Groove’s ‘Tarantula’ on Ego UK., with the latter going Top 10 on all the major international download sites and receiving huge A-List DJ support.

Other forthcoming tracks include ‘Yesterday’s Children’ (Bonzai), ‘Propaganda’ (Stampvegaar) and a remix of Allan O’Marshall’s ‘Something You’re Not’ on Irish label Full Tilt. New track ‘Maktub’ was also recently included on John O’Callaghan’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix , has received 6 consecutive BBC Radio 1 plays to date, is receiving massive support from Armin van Buuren and is due out on John’s new Club Educate label in March.

Recent high-profile gigs of note for Gibbons include headline slots at The Gallery (London), Groovewaves (USA), Tecnogeist (Mexico), Xi-Xi (China), Gatecrasher (Ireland), Citadel (Mexico), Summer Of Love (Czech Republic), Rotation (Poland), Space (Brazil), NEC (UK), Godskitchen (Ireland), Sterio (Estonia), Planet Love (Northern Ireland), Pharma (South Africa), Point Depot (Ireland), 2FM Sessions Tour (Ireland), Nocturnal (California), Xtasis (Ibiza), Whoosh (Amsterdam), Over & Out (Malta), Letrik (Ireland)…The list goes on and with confirmed future DJ bookings in America, UK, Spain, France, Malta, South Africa, Germany,  Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia and Sweden, along with 2009 tours of China, Canada and Australia, John Gibbons is a name to watch out for now and in the future!

International press credits to date include DJ magazine, I-DJ magazine, M8 magazine, Mixmag, BBM, Bassline, USDJmag, Remix, Slick DJ, Hot Press, X-Mag and full national exposure through his regular column in national Irish newspaper ‘The Star’.

* Niall Redmond (Ministry of Sound)

** Mark Kavanagh (Trade, UK)

Steven Gerome for Club Educate September 2008