Please introduce yourself..
Hi my name is Eleni aka DJ Bonnie Blaze.
I’m originally from South East London now currently situated in Peterborough UK.
How many years have you been Djing out in clubs?
I’ve been DJing since I was 19 years old since December 2001.
My boyfriend ( who I was seeing at the time ) brought me my first pair of decks for my 19th birthday.
I taught myself to mix in 2 weeks and got to play my first ever live set in 2002 at Jamm in Brixton
How do you balance being a parent and Djing?
Although it is quite difficult at times I still manage to fit my DJing and goals around parenting because luckily like their mother they are junglists and don’t mind me playing my music or following my dreams just as long as they come first so I have to prioritise well.
I would like to be able to start doing radio shows from home or at a studio and I plan to do some guest appearances or some radio shows too very soon.
What my goals for the next few years will be getting my head down in the studio and stuck into music production.
Who has kept you motivated & inspired you over the last few years within D&B?
When I started out mixing I had two goals one to bring the Old Skool sounds back into the raves as I missed them and wasn’t hearing them out much back then and that I wanted to inspire more and more females to want to DJ as you got to admit they wasn’t enough females in Jungle and Drum and Bass back in the early 00’s.
In regards to my sets I use to play a lot of 94-96 Jungle mainly, I was lucky enough to have borrowed a lot of my cousins records so I could practice and use to play out when I finally got to that point in my DJing.
Back then I was playing a lot of tunes from 1991 hardcore right up to 1996 Jungle and Drum and Bass because I wanted to start from the beginning due to being an Old Skool lover.
My inspirations go way back to some of the originators like Fabio & Grooverider, DJ Hype, DJ Randall, Micky Fill, Aphrodite and DJ Rap to name a few.
More recently I’ve been inspired by the likes of Bladerunner, DJ Hybrid, Aries, Epicentre, Benny L plus many more also artists that are working hard as DJ’s in the scene like Andy C and Nicky Blackmarket pushing boundaries and are out there playing through the whole spectrum in their 5 hour sets.
Plus we cannot forget all of the female artists doing their thing in the scene right now, they inspire me the most to keep doing what I love.
Where can we see and hear you next?
Here’s a list where you will be able to catch me playing out next.
So far confirmed are…
– Jungle Revival @ Club Aquarium, Old street on 5th April 2019.
– T Promotions 1st Bday Bash @ Protocol, Vauxhall on 20th April 2019 (Day time event).
– Unity in the Sun 2019 repping Jungle fever in Corfu, Greece from 20th May – 27 May 2019.
– Lakefest 2019 (More details to follow soon) dates between 8th – 11th August 2019.
Do you prefer 60 minutes sets or 90 minutes?
I’m going to say I really prefer 90 min sets.
When I’m playing out live in clubs I enjoy seeing people dancing and smiling to your live sets and I like to have plenty of time to express myself through my sets, plus time always goes so quick when you’re having fun.
If I’m mixing at home I prefer 60 mins sets as it isn’t quite as liberating and I just want to hurry up and finish my recording (if I’m making one at the time) and get it up on my mix cloud so others listen and enjoy the music too.
Which Dj/Producer are you enjoying at present?
The DJs/Producers I’m feeling at present have got to be Mrs Magoo, Frenetic and Holly-May, Euphonique, DJ Jessie Jo, Lady V Dubs.
DJ CALI, Aries, DJ Hybrid, Bladerunner, Veak, Benny L, DJ Blacklist, Jaguar Paw & Yush, Lydia Briggsy, Dizzy Blonde, DJ Choppah, Spectrasoul, DJ G Luis, Operator M, Mantra, Djiin.
Sista-Matic, DJ Bagpuss, DJ Relm, Lavery, Uncle Dugs, Billy ‘Daniel’ Bunter, The Fat Controller plus too many more to list right now…
Any final words,special thanks,mentions?
Finally…. I want to send some shouts and special thanks/mentions to all my family and friends and people who have booked me and supported me over the years plus more.
All these special mentions are in no special order D.V.S MC for booking me (one of my first epic bookings) Grant Epidemik, MC Deefa and Mr Joseph for organising me to play at Fizzy Wednesdays.
DJ Chalkie White for giving me my first set on a boat on the Thames, my friend Marc (Owner of the event Rave Utopia)
Funki and Simon for booking me for Moondance events, Billy Bunter, Sonya and The Fat controller for believing in me and booking me to play out in Corfu at Unity in the sun in 2018 and now again May 2019.
Lisa Dizzy Blonde for our b2b sets at Moondance and getting me up on Kool fm as one of her guests.
DJ Bagpuss and DJ Relm, Briggsy, Papa Gee, Uncle Dugs and Sarah, Luke DJ Skyz, Lavery, Rachel EC and Vinyl Junkie, Aaron V, Clayton Hines aka Mr Renegade for believing in me and giving me bookings the last two Renegade hardwares.
DNBE Girl sisters DJ Kisscut, Basscake, Bassline Beanie, Lady Niki and Kan Jacca, Barry from Swoop promotions.
My brother from another MC Deanie Rankin, my friend Jay for making so many this possible for me right now doing what I love in the music also DJ Operator M, DJ G Luis, DJ Reggie Ryder, MC Testsite, Cara, DJ Gravity for my booking at Blueprint, Kyx, DJ Lady Eliza, 7EVEN, Dubplate Bass, My partner in crime Theo Luis, another brother from another Roger Gateson, and so many more people I could be here all day….
Thank you all for all of your support….
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