Specific

Neil McIlwraith, a.k.a Specific, currently resides in London although originally is from Pembrokeshire in West Wales. During the early 90's he listened to early dance/rave music but was too young to reach any of the events at the time. Instead he spent most of his youth listening to compilation CDs in his bedroom as there were no pirate radio stations available out in the countryside. This was enough to gain a love of dance & club music that has stuck with him for his entire life. Around 2000, he had his first experience at DJing and was hooked. At first playing funky/progressive house and also spinning the soulful style of French acts like Cassius and Alex Gopher. It was only when he moved to Cardiff that he was able to frequent DnB nights and get more exposed to the music on a club level. High Contrast's 'True Colours' LP completely inspired him to turn his hand to producing DnB, spending the first year of university making tracks and passing them to local DJs for feedback. A chance meeting with Alix Perez (at the time also unsigned) though an internet forum led to the pair collaborating on a few tracks via AIM. These initial 4-5 tracks got great feedback from a lot of DJs and producers. One of the tracks was Drive By which was eventually signed to Progress Records. The collaboration partnership led to the most well known works together; Just Memories and Love Bug, which were both play-listed daytime tracks on 1xtra. Specific also worked with other Cardiff producers on the 'Coalition' project. The result of this was the track, True, released on Deep Soul Music in 2007. Specific's sound is soulful but still able to work on the dancefloor. Drawing on a lot on ideas from the house music that he used to listen to. His melodic use of arranging samples always create a unique sound that is recognizable almost immediately as his own. Recent solo releases have pushed Specific forward as a capable producer in his own right, with tracks gaining airplay on Radio 1 and 1Xtra as well as featuring in many major DJ sets around the World. Aside from production, Specific has also been DJing for many years. Playing frequently in the Cardiff scene aswell at his own night, Alliance, which ran for 12 months in Cardiff's Red Rooms. Alliance was a way of bringing some of the best new talent in the country to Cardiff, at a time when other nights weren't booking them. The night was the first to have Break, Alix Perez, Sabre, Survival, Kubik & Lomax and others play in Cardiff. The recent move to London has found Specific producing more than ever. Drawing upon the cities vibrant atmosphere and music scene and already starting to make a name for himself in the capital. If promoters which to book Specific for a DJ set, please leave a message on the Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/djspecific . Also check the Myspace for the latest updates and tracks. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.