Antix or Mr. Mix Trix....His Turntable Antics Are Very Real and Very Hawt!

Photograph by John Hamilton

A brilliant trickster of words, a master mixer, a living contradiction....he is one of the most colorful DJ's that we have encountered to date. He is a perfect gentleman who is not afraid to cuss and dis up a storm in his mash ups, yet he is able to project a disposition of a sage and worldly-groomed soul. May we introduce one of Scotland's finest DJ's/Producers/Sound Engineers, who can even claim the title of "Baron"* among the unworldly! On the club circuit he is known as Antix, and Antics by nature, when the mood strikes him. Yes, Antix rid himself of the title DJ, as it is in his nature not to conform. Coming from an island where conformity is an integral part of a culture and hailing from the legendary town of Falkirk, which was the final battle location for the rebellious Scottish hero Braveheart...This similar streak of rebellion in Antix is working to his favor and it's helping to elevate his status in the European club industry and beyond. Even Antix himself labels his style as, "eclectic" and he is not above mixing and mashing contemporary UK Artists (i.e. Irish pop band B*Witched) with mainstream chart toppers, to cutting in piano and instrumentals into a piece, if what he produces is a departure from the norm and generic.

He was weaned on greats such ABBA and major artists such as: Rod Stewart, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Diamond, Annie Lennox (see collage above) and Reo Speedwagon to name but a few and you will find bits of the work of these gems infused into his masterpieces. His style has even elicted interest from major DJ icons such as DJ AM, who apparently approached Antix months ago about getting a copy of his work on vinyl and Jason Nevins who also sought out Antix for his work. Both a major compliment!! Having also befriended and worked closely with another Scottish powerhouse Producer/DJ/Sound Engineer/MC -Kon-Tempt, Antix has been diligently working on evolving his personal style in addition to self-promoting his Antix namesake. He is making major sound waves and is catching the eye of many players in the club industry. Antix's mixes have been featured on: Shade45 (Sirius / International), BBC 1Xtra (U.K), New York Style Radio (U.S), HOT97 (U.S), Skyrock Radio (France), Radio 1 (Greece) and Fetty Be's Buzz. His name is becoming well-known in the remix world. His VJ mixes have graced such shows as: MTV Jams (for which he won an award), The Hits, Kiss, and Vibe. Antix also just recently signed a deal with AV8 Records, and he is now regularly producing mix tapes that he has cleverly labeled as his "Mix Trix's" series. These will be produced on a monthly basis.

These mix tapes are intended for other DJ's to utilize and are approximately 10 mixes in length. Antix has designed this tool with the intention of DJ's integrating the mixes into their sets and allowing the artists some flex time. This is one of the latest trends taking hold in the mash scene and DJ's seem to be appreciating these performance "enhancers". They are compilations of the most current mainstream hits, mashed up just enough to give the club-goers some unexpected thrills and chills while grinding to the beats out on the dance floor.

Top artists such as: T-Pain vs Chris Brown, Pittsburgh Slim, Baby Bash ft Akon, 50 Cent ft. JT, Ja Rule ft. Lil Wayne, and Lloyd vs. Ludacris were used in Antix's first Mix Trix. With a line-up of such hawt artists and reconstructed just to spice up the flow, a DJ can't go wrong adding these quick runs into the night's soundscape. On a purely practical level, this tool has even been bestowed with the lovely label of, "LOO Breakers or PISS Breakers", depending on your country of origin!! Either way you slice it, Antix's Mix Trix are fresh and are available at Dramamix, Monstamix, AV8 Records or Crack4DJ's.

http://www.crack4djs.net/

http://www.dramamix.com/

http://www.monstamix.net/

In addition to his quick fixes for DJ's, Antix has also produced several extremely popular longer mix tapes as well, with his most recent production being labeled, "Coming To A Continent Near You". He's been a very prolific Scotsman behind the decks, despite a relatively new career as a DJ and as result of his extensive production efforts, he is easily able to put on a full Antix remix night. His music background has a long history though and from as early as an infant who thrived on banging pots and pans for the beat, it quickly moved to an accidental, yet life-changing keyboard incident in grammar school, to a drum set and finally a mixing board and PC. As is the case with many of the DJ artists that we have featured, a life long love affair with music appears to be the precedent to an artist actually succeeding as a DJ and pursuing the endless passion for music. Antix was raised by a his "mum" alone from almost birth and this arrangement may have been the catalyst to what draws this individual to music on such a profound level. It is a part of his being and it is what drives him on every level of his life.
In Antix's exclusive DJ Buzz Survey, he speaks of the former superstar Hip-Hop artist Tupac Shakur, as having played a major influential role in his life, in addition to his mother. He makes note of how he relates to this artist in many ways such as being raised in a single parent home, to sharing the same birth date, but most importantly, he expresses being moved by 2Pacs poetry and musical lyrics. "Keep Ya Head Up" is listed as a favorite of Antix's and perhaps it's the advice to never give up and to treat women with respect, that has inspired Antix to produce a run of slam dunk mix tapes such as his previous Devi-Antix production of: The Complete Antix Collection on Vinyl (The Pitbull Collection, The Jay-Z Collection and the 50-Cent Collection), On The Beat Vol. 1, Coming To A Continent Near You, Monthly Mix Trix series, Kon-Tempt's Call An Ambulance Guest feat., and the Official TvT Mix Tape.

Photograph by John Hamilton

Despite his definite humor attribute, still and reflective waters run deep in this “trickster” of the turntables. One of the most noble and interesting characteristics of this DJ, is his utmost respect for women. This does make a lot of sense considering his upbringing was solely by his mother. He finds it disturbing to see women degrade themselves, which is a frequent occurrence in the club world for certain. However, he is a big supporter of women who advocate for themselves and maintain self-respect in the process. As was stated, this is definitely a check to his character and helps him to maintain his professional edge, in what can be a dog-eat-dog industry. Simply put, Antix has proven himself in his field even though refusing to compromise his moral fibers to get there.

Photograph by John Hamilton

Antix possesses many talents and as a result this master of a myriad of trades, offers services such as: sound engineering, live DJ club work with vinyl or Serato, ring tone mixing ("Smack That Shorty" Jamster ring tone), custom production, custom remixing, music-based journalism and song/club conversion ability. A soul who is a contradiction by choice or by fate, we aren’t sure. However, the bi-product is completely intriguing and with so much competition to produce the hawtest mash ups, Antix has calculated an angle that differentiates him from the pack and as Miss Elliot says, “The party is endin’ at 2am, so whatever you must do…do it now!” The “Ching-A-Ling” remix of Antix’s is currently his favorite piece and it’s completely fitting as it’s mantra is that you must seize the moment and ride the pleasure wave now, so long as you remain in control of your own destiny. Life is short, so live it and live it to every possible beat you can!

Photograph by John Hamilton

Want more of Antix or feeling like a bit of Mix Trix? Then be sure to check out his hawt remix traxs at Dramamix, Monstamix, AV8 Records, Crack4DJ’s and The Buzz gives a big plug for his delicious Electro work and his "Amusement Park" 50 Cent Remix ( A HUGE fav of Fetty Be and Fetty Bu’s). Scotland’s producing some major hitters and they are literally rockin’ global shores!

*Baron Explanation:"Edinburgh's a great city...the ghost walks are funny, although they ARE based on a lot of true history... like the ghost of Baron Von Antix' who only shows himself to the public on rare occasions. Rumor has it, he used to chop, and cut his victims with twelve inch rounded plates and then mix them all up so they could never be recognised again! Scary ain't it?" (Antix, March 6/08)...Humor...remember this at the end...humor....

Photograph by John Hamilton

Antix – Industry Credits / Bio ...or CV!!

Record Label:

AV8 Records

Awards:

ｷ MTV Jams “Jam of the Week” Artist

Releases:

ｷ "The Antix Collection" on 12inch Vinyl - Released on Devi-Antix Entertainment
ｷ "On the Beat" Volume 1 - Debut Antix release - sold 7,000 units to date.
ｷ “Coming To A Continent Near You” - Mix tape Released 12th Feb 2008.
ｷ “Mix Trix” Series – Volume 1 released 1'st March 2008
ｷ The Official TvT Records Mix Tape
ｷ Call An Ambulance (Guest Appearance with Kon-Tempt)

Radio:

ｷ Shade45 (Sirius / International)
ｷ BBC 1Xtra (U.K)
ｷ New York Style Radio (U.S)
ｷ HOT97 (U.S)
ｷ Radio 1 (Greece)
ｷ Skyrock Radio (France)

TV – Video Mixes regularly aired on:

ｷ MTV Jams
ｷ The Hits
ｷ Kiss
ｷ Vibe

Other Endorsements:

ｷ “God Damn thats some hard shit. DJ Antix is KILLIN IT” - Fred Wreck
ｷ “Pipin' Hot on the Mash-Ups” - Jason Nevins
ｷ “Sick, Just Sick” - DJ Muggs (Cypress Hill)
ｷ “Antix, that's that hot shit, baby” - Stik-E & The Hoods (G-Unit Records / M.O.P)
ｷ “The Hottest Remix Artist on the planet, TRUTH” - Rosco speaking of Antix and Akon

http://www.av8records.com/

Services

ｷ Antix / Stik-E & The Hoods (G-Unit Records) – Sound Engineering
ｷ Antix and DJ Ace (AV8 Records, Starsal74) – Custom Production
ｷ Live DJ with CD / Vinyl / Serato
ｷ Custom Remixing (Specialising in intro mixes / mixshow jingles)
ｷ Music-based Journalism / Artist Interviewing / Product Reviews
ｷ Club Conversion – Have your favourite tracks beautifully crafted into club friendly edits

Misc:

ｷ The “Smack That Shorty” video has received over 833,000 online views to-date!
ｷ The same song, “Smack That Shorty” was turned into an official ring tone by “Jamster”
ｷ Antix is the only Scottish artist signed to AV8 Records.

Antix Buzz Exclusive DJ Survey

1. What inspired you to pick your DJ Name?

Before I went full-time with music, I used to change my names with my socks. When I decided to go for the professional career, Antix just appeared out of nowhere and stuck. Besides being an alias though, the word is an absolute reflection of my nature, so it's a perfect fit all round. I've just recently had it tattooed up my right arm as well so I'm stuck with it whether I like it or not Haha.

2. What kind of music do you like to spin?

I can be very eclectic. I played a wedding a while back and had people slow dancing to the piano version of Cascada's “Every Time We Touch”. I could tell from the reaction that it took until about 2 minutes into the song before people really realised what they were dancing to and how strange it was to hear that played at a wedding, but it worked. I've made enough remixes in my time to put on a full Antix remix night (which I've done), but generally speaking, I'll play almost anything. I've got a 320 gig external hard drive with only 20 gig left to spare, and that's all music ranging from Hip-Hop to House, Dance to Dancehall, RnB to Reggae and Rock. I've got into the habit of finishing every night with some Electro / Dance remixes with Hip Hop / RnB acapella's. Works every time!

3. What and who are some of your major influences?

Rod Stewart

I didn't grow up around any of the music I make or listen to now. Quite the opposite in fact. I was brought up by my Mum around the sounds of artists like Annie Lennox, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, Simon & Garfunkel, REO Speedwagon and Abba. I remember using the pots and pans as drums when I was really young, but that was more for the purpose of making a noise than working my way to composing a symphony ya know..
I never took music at school either, except in first and second year when it was compulsory. Although something did happen then that caused a bit of a spark. I was messing around on a keyboard and done some sort of crescendo which caused my teacher to shout “who done that”. Thinking she was about to tear me a new one, I reluctantly put my hand up and owned up to it.... Thankfully, what she had to say was “You, son, have a musical ear” - It intrigued me, but I didn't really follow up on it until a few years later.

By Melbourne artist Stephen Armstrong www.pollockgallery.com.au/.../Mother-&-Son.jpg

I also share the same birthday as the late Tupac Shakur which led me towards his music and poetry when I was about 16 (I'm 20 now). The more I listened and researched, the more interested I became and it was soon apparent that we shared a lot of moral fibres. Like 2Pac, I was raised by my Mum alone, practically from birth. This lead to a lot of very good morals and ethics being installed in me from a very young age which is something I've always used to influence anything that I do. I've got mad respect for women (who respect themselves), always have done, which is the reason for part of my answer to question 14.

I'll leave it at that for now, I could actually go on for hours about who has influenced me and why, but I've probably lost the attention span of 90% of readers by now.

4. Biggest reward about being a DJ

Probably one of the most rewarding and nostalgic experiences I've had was Jason Nevins (big shout out) contacting me just last week. The first record I ever bought was his “It's Like That” remix. He made some really nice remarks about my work which meant a lot to me considering that things could have went a long long way in the other direction if I'd picked up the record beside his ya know.

Jason Nevins

5. Biggest pet peeve about being a DJ?

Two answers.

1. The way most women will cheapen and degrade themselves with unrepeatable offers made in order to be in your “good books”..... IT DISGUSTS ME, HAVE SOME RESPECT FOR YOURSELF BITCH!"

2. Like, see since you like, love me, could you like, make this remix and only 1, like send it to like, ME?!?!" - The answer is no, and always will be.... Unless you're name is Fetty Be : p
(Thank you Antix and I wouldn't ask that way either!!! FB-)

6. What is the best party you have ever spun at?

I've performed on an ice rink. Seeing kids moonwalk on ice is a serious laugh out loud experience. I'm also talking with a website right now about DJ'n through there. To break it down, the site is a virtual city; users make up avatars of themselves and go about their business. It's MSN Messenger meets The Sims. Sounds geeky as hell but hey, it's an interesting, innovative gig and will look great on my CV, and oh yeah, did I mention, they have an average of 8000 members on at any one time?

7. If you could mix at a club or party anywhere where would it be and with whom?

Besides the Playboy mansion. I've love to do the annual event, “Big In Falkirk” which is held in the park of my home town each June and attracts roughly 40,000 people each day over the three it runs for. One year, it's my gig ;)

8. In what cities have you spun?

I've only been DJ'n live since November 2007 so I'm still playing local for now....

9. What is the hottest club you have ever been to either as a DJ or patron?

Le Monde / Tiger Lily (Edinburgh).... It was Kon-Tempt's 23rd with DJ / VJ Scott Granger spinning. Definitely a night for the history books!

Unconfirmed image of the mysterious famed Scottish producer, DJ, MC...Kon-Tempt!

10. Do you plan out your sets or do you play to the crowds reactions?

I'm not going to lie. Every now and then I think, “Oh yeah, they sound great together” based on past experience. But as I said earlier, I've got a massive tune collection so I'm never short of something to spin so most of the night's music is picked at random based on what's happening around me.

11. If you could design a club name three important aspects of its layout.

Famous UK Foam Parties!!!

1. Mirrored walls, floors & ceilings.
2. High-rise, glass platforms for the resident dancers
3. Foam machines.... EVERYWHERE! ( Translation...Bubble and Suds Machines)

12. Techno / Trance or Mash-up / Hip Hop?

Mash-Up / Hip Hop

13. Mac or PC?

I use PC's purely out of habit, but I'm seriously considering investing in a Mac

14. Top favourite 3 tracks of all time

Akon - Keep On Calling
2Pac - Keep Ya Head Up
Usher ft. Alicia Keys – My Boo

Antix....or Devi-Antix to some!

All business emails / booking:

antix@inbox.com

Websites:

http://www.dramamix.com/
http://www.crack4djs.net/
http://www.monstamix.net/
http://www.av8records.com/
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ANTIXONLINE

Keeping the beat with a twist of hawt Scottish brogue!!!