DJ Owen Johnston

Location: Ireland UK

Ever since hearing a mixtape for the first time in 1994 from legendary NI DJ Binman, aged just 6, Owen Johnston has been intrigued and fascinated with dance music. Listening to mixes on the NI label Intelligence from the likes of Binman, X-Ray and Paddy Frazer, Owen decided to make it his ambition to be as successful as these guys were and between 1994-1997 collected almost every mixtape from the DJs and practised skills such as scratching on his home hi-fi turntable even before getting his own decks.

At the age of 11, Owen got his first set of vinyl decks and spent countless hours perfecting mixing skills and making mixes. After the breakthrough of Trance in 1999, a whole new world of music was introduced to Owen and his main influences were now coming from further afield from DJs such as Ferry Corsten, Armin Van Buuren and Paul Van Dyk.

Encouraged by his peers he began to put mix CDs together which proved very popular, selling in various shops across Northern Ireland, creating a buzz and a real interest in Owen’s particular music style. It was time to take it to the next level, to unleash this raw, new talent on to the dance music scene and well established clubs such as Club Soi, Portrush and Nation @ The Windsor, Bangor, among others, have opened their doors to support this new , fresh, talent.

Modern influences from such DJs as Tiesto, Sander Van Doorn and Eddie Halliwell are what has crafted Owen’s current style of Tech Trance/Techno/House, ensuring that each set is unique. As well as mixing on Serato which gives him the ability to change/edit tracks Owen has dived head first into in the world of digital music production where he quickly got to grips with Ableton and is now working on his own productions. Owen has had recent tracks signed to labels such as Bonzai and Stampgevaar and has a collaboration with producer Erik K forthcoming on X-Ray’s United In Trance album.

Future aspirations for Owen include creating his own music label to showcase both his own talents and the talents of other up and coming djs/producers from Northern Ireland. Onwards and Upwards!