Good for the Soul are Jamie Scahill and Keith Griffiths. Since the formation in 2003 they have been booked to play at bars and clubs throughout the UK and Europe. Based in Manchester England they have played extensively in and around the North West at venues including: One Central Street, J2, Lime, Label, Barca, Cord, Rossetti, Living Room and Prohibition to name a few…

Music policy is eclectic and includes funk, disco, soul, classic RnB, hip – hop and house classics. They make the link between quality music with a rich vein of funk and soul, and a serious party vibe.

In addition to guest spots they promote a number of very successful parties including the Manchester institution that is Funkademia , which is now at the Mint Lounge every Saturday night. Good for the Soul have also promoted a number of sell out one off parties working alongside The Slammin Boys, Stylus and with sponsors such as Selfridges, Galaxy FM and WKD.

Jon has been mixing since 1982, inspired by the then fledgling Greg Wilson on Mike Shaft’s Piccadilly Radio show. His first 12” purchase was Donna Summer “I feel love” (Patrick Cowley Remix) for a house party and he has been rocking dance floors ever since. He runs Busstop Records and www.cheshiredjs.co.uk by day, even finding time for the odd funk & soul wedding during the summer. Jon also compiles and mixes the legendary Funkademia mix CDs. A recent convert from vinyl to MP3, he uses a Vestax VCI 100 to blind the kidz with science.

A man who loves Manchester night clubs, dressing up, meeting friends, and dancing. A Dj who believes its about making choices and having a record box full of the best records. His unique style of disco has graced a lot of legendery  clubs  from Manumission to the Hacienda and the greatest one of all the Man Alive. His aim is always be the best, never to copy others and play the funkest tunes.

Trafford says…“The starting point is always playing tunes that make me want to get on the dance floor.”

Well established Manchester House/Funk dj, Promoter\Resident of successful deep house night Stylus that spanned for 5 years. It resided at clubs such as Music Box, The Attic, One Central St with one-off parties at Sankeys, Dry Bar, Fat Cats, Electric Chair, Mint Lounge, AlterEgo, Rossetti Hotel, Club North, The Northern, plus many more to mention including a small tour of Oslo Norway in 2005 and special guest slot at Southport Weekender VIP room.

Invited to play at Manchester’s Dpercussion on 2 successive years in 2005/06, also hosted event for Futuresonic Festival in 2004.  Now producing music with studio partner Andy Sant and dj’s frequently at Funkademia showcasing his roots in Funk/Disco/Classic Hip Hop and Beats.

Annually runs Yellow Reunion at various venues across the City with Dave Haslam, Jason Boardman and Elliot Eastwick including, Music Box, Urbis, Mo-Ho and Ruby Lounge. Look out in 2010 for Les & Andy’s LoveStruckRecordings, Manchester’s newest House/Disco/Electronica label.

RedSoul is UK DJ/Producer David Wareing. Gets his kicks playing across the board disco, funk and house classics alongside his own trademark mashups and edits!

David has also guested at the majority of the UK’s finer clubs over the years and as a producer has worked with artists such as Beyonce, First Choice, Mary J Blige, Kelis & Jody Watley.

With a lifelong passion for music ranging from soul to pop to rock to hip-hop & then dance Jason started DJing in the early ‘90s. After moving to Manchester his first break came when a demo tape (no mp3’s back then!) landed him a gig at the Hacienda for a new night & so his first club appearance was behind the decks of one of the most famous clubs in the world! Over the years he’s played most venues around Manchester (including starting a long standing residency with Funkademia), has done guest mixes for local dance stations Kiss/Galaxy/Key103 and appeared further afield in the UK & Ibiza through working with promoters such as Retro & Garlands.

Since 2005 he’s been a part of Hed Kandi as one of their resident DJ’s continuing with a national/international gig schedule which has seen visits to Ibiza, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Norway, Vancouver, Zagreb, Barcelona, Dubai, Rotterdam, Turkey and Amsterdam as well as most of the major UK clubs.

Musically there has always been two main sides to his DJing – house and soul/funk/disco but with an eclectic taste in music and an open mind there’s not much he won’t listen to. Outside of Hed Kandi gigs there’s a liking of the deeper/techier house sound and in soul/funk/disco sets he goes across the board including more of the Nu Disco/Cosmic sound in recent years.

“I only got into dj’ing because I couldn’t dance and I figured chicks would ignore me otherwise.”

So says Kid Blast aka James Wilson, the latest addition to Funkademia’s dj roster, a reclusive guy who seems to have more aliases than MI5. With a history stretching from the late 80s, he has been spinning records now for 21 years under a variety of names (“I change my name each time I start playing a new style of music, don’t ask me why!”), and has played at pretty much all of the venues that kickstarted the Northern rave scene, before taking a break in the late 90s, re-discovering funk and old school hip hop, and reinventing himself as a block party dj extraordinaire.

With three dj names, a resume containing such well known clubs as Angels in Burnley (birthplace of the Retro brand), Sankeys and the Hacienda, and more recently For No Reason, the Wickerman festival, and Liverpool superclub Circus, and having supported such a diverse range of artists and dj’s as the Prodigy, 808 State, A Skillz, Krafty Kuts, Rob Da Bank, Unabombers, Nipper, and Pete Gooding to name a few, it’s fair to say he gets around.

“As a kid I regularly used to get into trouble with the police for dj’ing at dodgy parties, then when I hit 18, (and after a bust too many), I moved into club dj’ing where I used to play at loads of raves in the early to mid 90s, until I got bored of it all.  I still keep my hand in with current house music, but now I’m a bit older I really enjoy getting to play old funk and soul classics mixed up with newer fresher versions of some of the older stuff  – the one thing with this sort of music is people will always dance to it. I still can’t though, I’m still rubbish, I just hide it better these days!”

And so there you have it, a brief history of Funkademia’s newest recruit in a nutshell, Kid Blast, a true funk soul brother. Check out his MixCloud account for a variety of funk based mixes from 1998 to the present day at www.mixcloud.com/KidBlast/

With over 20 years’ DJing experience, Mark Hogg certainly has an ear for a groove and his ability to move a dance floor is second to none.

Mark is well known as one half of DJ duo ‘The Slammin Boys’; under this guise, he has travelled the world, entertaining crowds in New York, Miami, Moscow, Tenerife, Munich, Hannover, Palma, Hamburg, Izhevsk, Kazan and Vienna. Mark also knows his way round Ibiza…he’s played such well-known venues as Pacha, El Divino, KM5, Kanya and Savannah.

But it’s Manchester that Mark calls home and that’s where he made his name. He’s had residencies at Home Nightclub, Club Code, Generation X, Berlin, Elemental, Ampersand, Babushka, Club V, as well as various monthly residencies throughout the UK. He also co-promoted the famous Bank Holiday Sunday Parties that graced many Manchester venues featuring the very best guest DJs

One of the highlights of Mark’s career was co-presenting a weekly Manchester radio show on Kiss 102/Galaxy 102. This then led to him being promoted to the Galaxy Network and broadcasting to the nation. Mark did this for over nine and a half years, during which he showcased the very best in upfront dance music, and was joined by a who’s-who of guest DJs. He also released a Galaxy collaborated Mix Compilation CD and successfully toured the UK to promote and support its release.

Mark can regularly be found playing at some of the UK’s finest clubs including Turnmills (London), Beyond (Newcastle), Ministry of Sound (London), Bambu (Birmingham), The View (Frodsham), Hush (Middlesbrough), Hustle (Sheffield), Tall Trees (Yarm) and Thompson’s (Belfast). But if this wasn’t enough, Mark still plays – under The Slammin Boys guise – in Bacardi’s B-LIVE Arena’s at some of the UK’s biggest Festival’s including; V Festival (Stafford), T In The Park (Scotland), LoveBox (London) B-Live (London) and Oxygen (Dublin) playing to capacity crowds every time!

Phil has ten year under his belt as founder of trail blazing eclectic indie night, The Rock+Roll Bar. He has DJed at every major Mancunian Club over the last 18 years including The Hacienda, Home and Paradise Factory and has honed his sets to take in funk and cool indie, ska, punk, 60s ModPsych and New York sounds, Northern Soul, New Wave, classic house and rave. Phil has DJed for Oasis and John Squire, opened for Ian Brown, Twisted Wheel and Cherry Ghost. He also mixed and compiled The Hacienda Classics CD, with New Order’s Peter Hook. This eclectic master craftsman is more than up to the job.

Mark & Leon have been best mates for nigh on 20 years, when they played together in a long forgotten band called ‘The Twisted Wheel’.

After deciding that ‘making music’ was not as fun as making people dance whilst ‘playing music’, they formed their DJing partnership15 years ago with the aid of mentor/DJ DaveTurner. They have played clubs across the North West at venues such as ‘Brickhouse’, ‘42nd Street’, ‘Smile’, ‘South Nightclub’, ‘Tiger Lounge’, ‘Leeds University’, ‘Liverpool’s L2′, ‘Tokyo Project’, ‘Amp Bar’, and ‘The Roadhouse’. THE CANTEEN was also a late night radio show on 96.2 The Revolution playing rare funk, soul, psych and undiscovered classiscs, and they are now part of the new ‘Radio Republic’ radio station, soon to be launched.

THE CANTEEN currently have a weekly ‘free entry’ club night every Friday at ‘Abode’ in Chorlton, Manchester.

“CLENCHED FISTS CAN’T SHAKE HANDS!”