TIME-LINE OF A SPOON...
(or Simon Neale)
1977 - Born in Portsmouth, UK.
1980 - Made first mixtape aged 3 on my Dads music centre with Police, Stones & other records! (It was wooden with large buttons).
1985 - Junior school buys Yamaha PSR keyboard, i'm obsessed!
1986 - Dad buys Casio keyboard, obsessed with this also!
1987 - Forced to play trumpet at school. :(
- Listening to ANYTHING that sounds electronic! Depeche Mode, New Order, Gary Numan and even Jean Michel Jarre!! :s
1988 - Bought my first house record accidently, Londonbeat "Theres an Acid House Goin On".
1989 - Joined a secondary school with a massive new music dept' budget ;)
- Found a TB303, TR606 & Juno 60 in music room cupboard!!!
- Music teacher: "mmmm, I think they make acid house with a 303".
1990 - Discover a Kevin Saunderson mixtape from Bognor's Empire Club, HOOKED!
- Start sampling & making beats using Atari ST1040/Notator & Akai S950 sampler at school.
1991 - First hear a proper Hardcore mixtape (DJ Krome & Time), obsessed with 130bpm breakbeats and Rave noises!
- still way too young to go to a club!
- Became a disciple of the new Essential Selection on Radio 1.
1992 - Found out my best-mate's nieghbor (Brian Carew) is a house DJ... Proceeded to listen through wall daily to him and his mate (Jamie Allen - he'll be happy now haha).
1993 - Summon up courage to knock on his door to ask for a proper listen.
- Summon up courage to have a go... hooked!
- First heard Gat Decor's "Passion" & Acen's "Trip 2 The Moon"... wow!
- Met my hero Liam Howlett @ Prodigy gig, we briefly become mates!!
- Hardcore gets too cheesy, bring on the Jungle!
- Left school, I'm lost without equipment. :(
1994 - Liam helps me out buying some old equipment, releases 2nd album and disappears. :(
1995 - Got bored with Jungle, Sasha Essential mix "changes my life"! haha
1996 - Stopped producing & let turntables become a part of my body.
1999 - Musically Lost! :(
2001 - Worked in mates record shop, discovered Propellerhead's Reason software!
2002 - Christened "Dave" by Fly Mic! :)
2003 - Edit audio for Fly's radio show, then christened "Spoons" too (you do the Maths).
2004 - Left Record shop, accidently made "21st Century".
- Mark Knight signs "21st Century" to Toolroom, opens Essential mix with it! :)
2005 - Seamus Haji signs "Sunrise" to Big Love.
- Remixing for Stealth, Cyber & Data.
2006 - Made "At Night", added to 3 track "Outside EP" for Toolroom.
- Remixing more & more...
- "At Night" becomes rediculously big, even Tiesto & PVD are playing!??
2007 - Make "Sylo EP" with Mark Knight.
- "At Night" becomes "Bad Girl (At Night)" ft. Lisa Maffia on vocals, coming on Apollo.
- My first Essential New Tune, weheyy!
- Started new studio project with Pete Tong - remixes & other stuff to come!
- Buy a keyboard from a mate of Gat Decor's, end up remixing "Passion"... Madness!
- Having a temporary break from DJing to do my album. Will be doing a few exclusive gigs later in the year only!
Dave Spoon began his voyage into music aged 3 with his first mix tape and then at 10 was forced to play the trumpet. From these humble beginnings Spoon has gone on to be at the forefront of the global Dance music scene since his 2004 debut release 21st Century on Mark Knights’s Toolroom records.
In 2006 Spoon released ‘At Night’ which went on to receive phenomenal support the world over from the likes of Pete Tong and Francois K to Tiesto and Paul Van Dyk and later went onto become a chart success as ‘Bad Girl’ ft Lisa Maffia.
As a remix artist Spoon has enjoyed commissions from the likes of Basement Jaxx and Calvin Harris to Beyonce and Dizzee Rascal.
In 2008 Spoon was invited to host BBC Radio One’s prolific ‘In New DJs We Trust’ radio show which is an awesome achievement.
The future looks ever brighter for Portsmouth’s official number one export with his own label Televizion going from strength to strength and DJ sets booked across the globe.