Age: | 50 | Background: | Born in London, bred on the turntables of Cape Town – that’s Tobie Allen. He traces his interest in dance music back to the Gardening Club in Covent Garden watching the likes of Sasha and Dave Dorrell, but it was only after moving from the UK to South Africa back in ’94 that Tobie Allen really found his groove. Now, 10 years down the line, he is one of the most recognisable faces in the South African dance scene. He’s the first to pick up on future classics, can always be relied on for a set of positive, pumping, uplifting tunes to suit any occasion and is, without doubt, the most versatile DJ currently playing the circuit.
It all started with a Friday night residency in ’94 at a Club called Nexus and since then, his chronology of residencies reads like a history of Cape Town dance culture from ‘in-the-know’ hangouts like Rush and The Boiler Room to the more commercial Sky, Fez and seasonal Zone parties. He’s also played the hottest spots around the country like ESP in Johannesburg and Durban’s Club Crash and 330 and, on past trips back to the ‘Old Country’ Tobie has cooked things up a Muzik Mag party and even played at the UK’s no.1 club at the time “ Goodgreef “. Club DJ? Yeah, sure, but if you ask the fans, they’ll tell you that it’s the big stage where Tobie really comes into his own.
Take, for example, the annual Synergy New Year’s Eve party in Cape Town – the biggest celebration of music and dance on the African continent. Tobie is the only DJ who’s played every Synergy since it’s inception in ’95 and, as Synergy Promoter Giovan Portuesi says, “Synergy without Tobie wouldn’t be the same – the fans love him, he’s a consummate pro who loves the job and he happens to be damn good at it – from a dance promoter’s point of view, it doesn’t get much better!”
Although at his best playing to a crowd Tobie had made a name for himself as a radio jock playing regular slots on Good Hope FM, the Cape’s largest listenership station, and having taken steps in production with he promptly had a track selected for the groundbreaking Future Sound of Cape Town album. A collaboration with Magnetic led to the release of two tracks through BMG international and his latest offering, “Tell Me” made it to no. 5 on the dance charts.
Like many of the country’s top DJ’s, Tobie has been actively involved in promoting dance culture since his legendary club nights at the Boiler Room back in the mid -90’s, so it comes as no surprise that he was a co-founder of Cape Town’s very first ‘Super-club’ – Unity – in early ’99. Just when the House crowd seemed to be dwindling, trance and hard House kept packin’ em in at Unity and continued to do so every weekend for two years. With the best resident DJ line-up in town, Unity reminded everyone what a great night out was all about and introduced local dance fans to the ‘Club Night’ concept by hosting Nukleuz, Global Underground, Sundessential, Tidy Trax and Frantic.
One must not forget the infamous KINKY nights Tobie held which regularly packed out with all the glitz and glamour trendoids there were in South Africa - holding no less than 30 Kinky nights around the country – the only person to promote a single brand around the nation. Along with his timeless DJing gigs Tobie’s promoting has continued to provide Cape Town with many legendary nights, amongst them recently that stand out were the Slinky tours and the Playboy Easter Bunny Ball which received national T.V coverage.
After being snapped up by Cape Town’s leading superclub, “The Gallery” to head up their international tours and pr department and along with residencies at The Lab, The Fez, Mink, Caprice and the world famous celebrity hang out Rhodes House (all on the funky side of things) Tobie continued to enhance a very big year promoting and furthering an already dynamic DJing career.. Busy……very busy.
Now residing back in the the UK Tobie has unveiled his new project – Bootleg Social which will continue to provide a platform for his love of providing un-paralleled entertainment and above all his love of music.
The future of dance culture may be uncertain, but one thing’s for sure – Tobie Allen will be right there leading the way armed only with a box full of vinyl and an amazing ability to rock any dance floor, any time, anywhere.
| Birthday: | 27th August 1974 | Build: | Slim | Height: | 6ft 4 | Hobbies: | music,sport,travelling, and havin a giggle | Home Town: | london | Job: | promoter | Location: | London | Male / Female: | male | Marital Status: | single | Nationality: | british | Sexuality: | straight | Smoker / Non-Smoker: | both | Currently Listening To: | www.1club.fm | Music Preferences | Trance, Hard Trance, Tech Trance, Psy Trance, Nu NRG, Hi NRG, Old Skool, House, Deep House, Funky House, Prog House, Tribal House, US House, Vocal House, Electro House, Acid House, Soulful House, US Garage, Tech House, Funky Techno, Techno, Breaks, Club Classics, Electro, Jump Up Drum and Bass, Jungle, Disco, Soul, Jazz, Rare Groove, Chillout / Leftfield. |
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Band: | The Killers | spice girls | Club: | was The Cross | Ritzy's anywhere | Clubbing Moment: | Djing Cape Town Synergy party NYE 1998 | Moody clubbers | DJ: | Funkagenda | | Drink: | Karoo Tequila | Gin and Tonic | Food: | Pretty much anything | Sago and Grapefruit | Label: | Fireball recordings | | Producer: | BK | | Saying: | if you dont ask you dont get | | Set: | 4am-6am | grave yard | Tune: | Man with a red face | | Venue: | The Zoo in Cape Town | |
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Top Tunes of all Time: | Cloud 9 - Dont you want me
Shades of Rythm - Garden of Eden
Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives
Leftfield - Leftism
Africa Bambaata |
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