True Believers (of House)

True Believers one of Auckland's historic underground House music events re-ignites for another gathering at Fitzroy.

True Believers started in 1999 at The Box before moving to nsomnia on k`rd;. Other venues included FU, Calibre & Ink.

Featuring DJs
Andy Vann
Azza
Byrne

About: Azza
https://www.mixcloud.com/electri.../electric-orange-46-azza/
Azza started DJing in 2001 while living in London, where he played his first club gig and was hooked. He has played a lot of top parties over the years, including True Believers, Chicago Disco, Electric Orange, Jack The Groove, Essence, Deep n Disco, Love Bug and Pitch n Faders to name just a few. In 2007 he had a Friday night show on George FM for 3 years called the Midnight Snack which he did with fellow music heads Ed, Bodge and a heap of guests. He has also played support for some of his favourite international producers, including Inland Knights, Da Sunlounge and Sonny Fodera. For the last 5 years he has been a resident on Ink Bar’s hugely-successful vinyl-only club night, "Black Wax".

About: DJ Byrne
https://www.mixcloud.com/electr.../electric-orange-43-byrne/
Byrne discovered house music in the mid to late ‘90s.
learning to play vinyl, hanging out at record shops, and meeting lots of other DJs & house heads along the way made it an easy progression into playing tunes out at various venues.

Byrne always been a social thing- sharing of the music I enjoy with others, as opposed to making a career out of it.

It was quite special to have been amongst the thriving nightlife scene in the early 2000s and Byrne had the opportunity to play regularly at some of the iconic clubs of the time. Calibre, Centro, Hushbar, Chicane, Aisha. Byrne played some of the earlier editions of True Believers back in the day.

More recently Byrne has been playing gigs at Fitzroy bar, and also the Auckland icon, Ink bar, where I have in fact put on a few of my parties. Have also played both the Aum new years, and Ponderosa Ranch festivals.

About: Andy Vann
https://www.mixcloud.com/.../electric-orange-45-andy-vann/
In a near 40- year career, Andy has done more than most to put New Zealand on the global map of house music.As well as bringing many of the scene’s elite acts to Aotearoa, he’s introduced some of our brightest talent to the world through a series of successful record labels.

More on that soon, but first let’s go back, way back, to the early 1980s when Andy, captivated by the electronic sounds emanating from northern Europe, played on bFM as a schoolboy.

After graduating to Auckland’s clubs he became one of the city’s first DJs to beat-mix. His CV reads like a roll call of classic venues the '80s, '90s & 2000s- from The Brat to Box, Calibre, Centro, Berlin, Cleos, Club 21, DeBretts and Zanzibar. As founder of long-running house brand Fine Tuned, Andy’s been responsible for some of Auckland's top underground events. He's toured and supported a slew of stars, including Frankie Knuckles, Josh Wink, Mark Farina, Derrick Carter, Sonny Fedora, D.I.Y and Inland Knights.

Over the last decade, through record labels HuHu and Grass Green, he’s promoted fresh Kiwi house and disco producers - with resulting acclaim on international dance charts.

His record company credentials were established long before then: in the late 80s he founded The Voodoo Rythme syndicate and hip hop/R&B/house label Voodoo Vinyl, releasing cuts by chart stars such as Sisters Underground, Semi MCs and Pacifican Descendants. He was also part of the team that released the now legendary Proud album.

As comfortable playing daytime disco as rolling late-night house, Andy currently runs the hugely popular Black Vinyl and Electric Orange events. Coming soon: Electric Orange music with the release of some mighty fine tunes.