Dowster or DJ Dowster, also known as David Thomas, (born 1 March 1971 in Newport, South Wales), is a Welsh record producer, singer-songwriter and disc jockey from Cwmbran in South Wales. David has been involved in the rave scene since 1998 and his love of the music lead him to begin his DJ career in In 2001, Dowster was signed to Raver Baby Records by its owner DJ Hixxy (born Ian Hicks) to become part of the original Raver Baby Collective. This collective, known at the time as the RBC, included some of the UK Hardcore scene's leading DJs and MCs – Hixxy, Breeze, Darren Styles, UFO, MC Storm and MC Whizzkid. In addition to his DJ bookings and single releases within this period, Dowster's solo and collaborative studio projects can be found on certain volumes of the highly successful Bonkers series as well as other leading names in UK hardcore compilation albums.[1][2][3] Three of his most popular tracks were "Starlight", "Steps Ahead" and "Here We Go".
Dowster | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | David Thomas |
| Also known as | Dowster, DJ Dowster |
| Born | 1 March 1971 Cwmbran, Wales |
| Genres | UK Hardcore, happy hardcore, gabba |
| Occupation(s) | Record producer, singer songwriter, disc jockey |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Raver Baby, Candy Crush Music, Acid Kandee |
| Website | candycrushmusic |
Dowster's recent solo projects and collaborations with Vagabond have been receiving support from Kutski on BBC Radio 1, with tracks such as "Bionix" and "Jungle Juice" getting airplay on Kutski's weekly show. Dowster is a featured artist on the Radio 1 website.[4]
Candy Crush Music
editIn 2008, Dowster founded the UK Hardcore label Candy Crush Music with Alex Bassjunkie, through which a series of collaborations between these two artists were released. In 2011, full ownership of the label was signed over to Dowster as he began to take the label in a new direction. The relaunch of Candy Crush Music was in June 2011. Dowster signed Vagabond (born Sam Thomsitt, previously known as "V.A.G.A.B.O.N.D.", "Euphoria" and "Dreadhed" from his previous work with Next Generation Records and Blatant Beats) to Candy Crush Music in March 2011. Other established artists with whom Dowster has collaborated for the relaunched Candy Crush Music label include Cat Knight, Mark Breeze, MC Whizzkid, MC Wotsee and MC Enemy.
Music style
editDowster relaunched Candy Crush Music to showcase instrumental and vocal UK Hardcore with all its subgenres including happy hardcore, Dutch Hardcore (also erroneously referred to in the UK as gabba) as well as his own melodic take on the electro and dubstep influenced sound which is being pushed by Darren Styles, Breeze and the latest volume in the successful Clubland X-Treme Hardcore series.
Performance
editDowster's love for DJing and performing has led him to perform at events over the UK, including a main stage live P.A. at Slammin Vinyl[5] in 2005. Bookings for 2012 include the HTID Weekender[6] along with international gigs such as "Best of UK Happy Hardcore – Convention Concepts Showcase" in (Germany).[7]
References
edit- ^ "Hardcore Vol.2: Mixed By Sy & Unknown". Amazon.co.uk. 3 February 2003. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ "Various - Hardcore Til I Die". Discogs.com. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ "15 Years of Hardcore - Album Bundle - Various - Can You Feel It - [320kbps MP3] - Trackitdown - Dance Music Downloads & Merchandise". Archived from the original on 25 June 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
- ^ "Dowster - New Songs, Playlists & Latest News - BBC Music". BBC. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ Vinyl, Slammin. "Slammin Vinyl | The UK's biggest rave events". Slamminvinyl.com. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
- ^ "HTID Weekender: Fri 2nd - Mon 5th March 2012". Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
- ^ "Best of UK Happy Hardcore == Convention Concepts Showcase at 99-Starclub, Lübeck Hansestadt". Allevents.in. Retrieved 29 July 2020.