After picking up the DJ bug while working in a record shop in the early 90's, Paddy Freeform has gone on to forge a career taking in several high profile residencies and playing at just about every open minded party in the North East of England, as well as promoting a good few of them...This resulted in DJ appearances and support slots alongside a whole list of great djs, including Carl Craig, Zed Bias, Bugz in the attic, The Unabombers, Gilles Peterson, 4 hero, DJ Bone and many more
The first step in this career was setting up the legendary OCP collective in the early 90s, A group of artists and DJs (including drum and bass artists Hidden Agenda and Elementz of Noize) who joined together to organise parties and push the new music that was coming out of the collective.
Some of this music was picked up by labels such as Metalheadz (Hidden Agenda)and SOUR/Emotif (Elements of Noize), leading to the collective reaching beyond the local area. DJ slots followed around Europe. Meanwhile back home, with the crew's profile reaching ever greater heights, OCP were busy organising some of the area's earliest drum and bass parties, including appearances by Goldie & Doc Scott, LTJ Bukem and Grooverider, all supported by Paddy Freeform. A radio show (Freebass) also started on the North East's only all dance music station Ice FM, which saw Paddy Start to dabble in music outside the drum and bass genre. this eclecticism was further explored at OCP's longest running residency, a small bar called the Telegraph. The telegraph became a legend in Newcastle’s clubbing scene, quickly establishing itself as the number one pre-club venue.
these days paddy has spread his wings, packed up his studio and moved to london to set up Universal Vibes....
initially conceived as an internet radio station 5 years ago, the site has gone on to attract around 50,000 hits per month, featuring regular shows from Fabric, Freerange, Compost, MN2S and many more, guests on the site have included Dixon, Francois K, Jazzanova, Domu and many more…
From summer 2007 universal vibes became a record label with a packed release schedule worked out over the next 12 months. We're currently on our 10th single release and have been picking up props and radio play across the board, we'll be releasing a few more singles over the summer and then we'll be dropping the first label compilation album around September
Universal vibes has also hosted events across london and our growing reputation (and indeed Paddy's DJ sets) has resulted in several residencies around the city and dj appearances for Paddy at some of the capital's best known venues, including the End, the Key, Canvas, Turnills and Egg in the last year. He's also been highly active on the festival circuit in the last two tears playing at events such as Secret Garden. Bloom, Bestival, Snowbombing and the Lake Of Stars in Malawi. This summer is looking equally busy as Paddy has just been appointed one of the residents on the Strongbow Cider bus/stage that will be touring various UK festivals. He has also lined up gigs further afield in Croatia, Athens, Dubai and a return to the Lake Of Stars Festival in Malawi
last year paddy was also made a member of the ecler pro team and demonstrates the techniques and creative possibilities afforded by their equipment in live sets performed with ableton that see him re-mixing and re-editing on the fly, blurring the boundaries between dj and live performance
paddy sound can best be described as freestyle, loosely based around deep and soulful electronic beats, taking in deep house, soulful techno ,broken beats, latin flavours, new jazz and sometimes more downbeat styles such as hip hop and dub, all held together with an ear for quality and a depth of sound.
However, no stranger to an East End warehouse party, Paddy can also devliver a straight up set of 4/4 deep and electronic house, as featured on his monthly show on universal vibes, "the shakedown sessions", and these sessions have been hitting the spot lately resulting in a busier and busier diary as more and more people fall under the electronic groove
The first step in this career was setting up the legendary OCP collective in the early 90s, A group of artists and DJs (including drum and bass artists Hidden Agenda and Elementz of Noize) who joined together to organise parties and push the new music that was coming out of the collective.
Some of this music was picked up by labels such as Metalheadz (Hidden Agenda)and SOUR/Emotif (Elements of Noize), leading to the collective reaching beyond the local area. DJ slots followed around Europe. Meanwhile back home, with the crew's profile reaching ever greater heights, OCP were busy organising some of the area's earliest drum and bass parties, including appearances by Goldie & Doc Scott, LTJ Bukem and Grooverider, all supported by Paddy Freeform. A radio show (Freebass) also started on the North East's only all dance music station Ice FM, which saw Paddy Start to dabble in music outside the drum and bass genre. this eclecticism was further explored at OCP's longest running residency, a small bar called the Telegraph. The telegraph became a legend in Newcastle’s clubbing scene, quickly establishing itself as the number one pre-club venue.
these days paddy has spread his wings, packed up his studio and moved to london to set up Universal Vibes....
initially conceived as an internet radio station 5 years ago, the site has gone on to attract around 50,000 hits per month, featuring regular shows from Fabric, Freerange, Compost, MN2S and many more, guests on the site have included Dixon, Francois K, Jazzanova, Domu and many more…
From summer 2007 universal vibes became a record label with a packed release schedule worked out over the next 12 months. We're currently on our 10th single release and have been picking up props and radio play across the board, we'll be releasing a few more singles over the summer and then we'll be dropping the first label compilation album around September
Universal vibes has also hosted events across london and our growing reputation (and indeed Paddy's DJ sets) has resulted in several residencies around the city and dj appearances for Paddy at some of the capital's best known venues, including the End, the Key, Canvas, Turnills and Egg in the last year. He's also been highly active on the festival circuit in the last two tears playing at events such as Secret Garden. Bloom, Bestival, Snowbombing and the Lake Of Stars in Malawi. This summer is looking equally busy as Paddy has just been appointed one of the residents on the Strongbow Cider bus/stage that will be touring various UK festivals. He has also lined up gigs further afield in Croatia, Athens, Dubai and a return to the Lake Of Stars Festival in Malawi
last year paddy was also made a member of the ecler pro team and demonstrates the techniques and creative possibilities afforded by their equipment in live sets performed with ableton that see him re-mixing and re-editing on the fly, blurring the boundaries between dj and live performance
paddy sound can best be described as freestyle, loosely based around deep and soulful electronic beats, taking in deep house, soulful techno ,broken beats, latin flavours, new jazz and sometimes more downbeat styles such as hip hop and dub, all held together with an ear for quality and a depth of sound.
However, no stranger to an East End warehouse party, Paddy can also devliver a straight up set of 4/4 deep and electronic house, as featured on his monthly show on universal vibes, "the shakedown sessions", and these sessions have been hitting the spot lately resulting in a busier and busier diary as more and more people fall under the electronic groove