DJ
ANTOINE BIOGRAPHY
Antoine
Konrad, alias DJ Antoine, began his DJ’ing career in 1991 playing
Hip Hop, Disco, Garage and House Music in locations such as the ‘Babalabar’,
and the legendary Nights, with full Art Exhibition Décor, at ‘Bimbo
Town’, ‘Bell Areal’, ‘Downstairs’, ‘Z7’
and the cult, ‘Planet E’.
Diverse Parties and Events followed in and around the Basel area, and
since 1995, the now established Profi-DJ, had broadened his appearances
to the whole of Switzerland. There is hardly a Club in Switzerland in
which DJ Antoine hasn’t played, and even the biggest House Parties
and Raves couldn’t exist without his name on their line-up. Also
abroad, he began to draw attention, and further bookings succeeded in
Cannes, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Köln, Frankfurt, Lorret
del Mar, Napoli, Rom, Ibiza, Korfu… to name just afew.
At
the end of the Summer of 1995, whilst DJ’ing at the ‘Garage’
Club in Zürich, he was asked to appear at the ‘Oxa’ Club,
also in Zürich. From this point on, developed more appearances for
the Tarot Organisation (www.tarot.ch), which besides the Oxa, also in
the Clubs ‘Sensor’ and ‘Grodoonia’, both of which
unfortunately, don’t exist anymore. Today, DJ Antoine is one of the
most popular DJ’s seen and heard at the ‘Oxa’ club.
DJ’ing alone wasn’t enough for this busy DJ, and towards the
end of 1994, together with two colleagues, he decided to open a Record
store. But after just three months in business, the two colleagues had
lost their interest and decided to call-it-a-day. Not to be thwarted,
Antoine decided to start his own Vinyl Distribution Company, and what
started as a small venture, grew in the mean-time, into Switzerland’s
leading vinyl distributor, employing eight personnel.
In
1997 Antoine Konrad opened the ‘Global Recordstore’ in Basel,
and not long afterwards followed the opening of a branch in Bern. Soon
a location in Zürich will complete the chain of record-stores, and
who knows, maybe one day there will be a Global Record-store in every
major City in Switzer-land.
Besides his many Bookings, the running of the Vinyl distribution and Record-store,
the active businessman also finds time to organize his own Club nights.
In addition to the House Café, there is also the well known ‘Houseworks’
Tour, which is highly approved in the clubscene and is allocated in only
the best and exclusive locations.
Attention is not only focussed on the best Sound Systems for these events,
but also on Styling and Decoration. They are head-lined by the master
himself, DJ Antoine, plus guest appearances from Top DJ’s from native
Switzerland and also from abroad. The Houseworks Parties are programmed
to take place on regular dates, in such clubs as, Kauf-leuten, Pravda
and Terminus, and there are always new locations which are eagerly awaited
by the party masses.
Likewise,
in his native homestead of Basel, to be found on regular dates throughout
the calendar, are the mega ‘Discodrome’ Events. What differentiates
these Parties from the rest, is that they are held at the exclusive location
of the UBS Bank, at the educational centre to be precise. Here, Antoine
chooses only the most successful performers to satisfy the public’s
taste.
Antoine is also the proud owner of his own production Studio. In the Summer
of 1999, together with his friend and DJ colleague Fabio Antoniali (DJ
Mad Mark), they formed the ‘Global Productions GmbH. Tracks of his
own plus other artists, are here produced and mixed down for mastering.
In the future months and years, a lot will be read and heard from Antoine
Konrad and Fabio Antoniali.
He describes his music as Pumping House, with a definite Organ-ring to
it. Over the past, a vast amount of Productions can also be added to his
name, on Labels like Work, Polydor, Zeitgeist, Spinnin, Oxyd, Fresh Fruit,
2 Play, Clubstar ... Remixes for the Labels AMPM, Incentive, Champion,
East West, Sony, Delirious, Peppermint Jam, D:Vision ... and also for
such well known artists as, Robin S, Cunnie Williams, Mary J. Blide, First
Choice, Spike, Roberto Blanco and Sabrina Johnston. Besides all of this,
a numerous amount of mix CD’s have been released, such as ”DJ
Antoine - The Pumpin’ House Mix” through Fresh Music/Phonag,
both of the “Partysan” CD’s from EMI, and the albums “Houseworks”,
“Mainstation” and “Rave Park” via MUVE/Musikvertrieb.
Within
just afew weeks of it’s release, the current CD Production, “Houseworks
#2“, has already sold no less than 30'000 units!! This Compilation
advanced to the remarkable achievement of reaching the No. 2 spot in the
Swiss Compilation Charts, and thus, for the first time ever, Gold status
for a House CD.
It doesn’t surprise anyone that Antoine, besides all his other business
enterprises, also runs his own DJ Booking Agency, called “Global
Bookings”. At the moment, there are more than 60 artists, native
and international, who are regularly booked through this agency.
Presently, DJ Antoine can be heard on Radio 105, Radio Energy Suisse and
Couleurs 3 with his ”Live Mix Shows”. On ‘105’ his
shows are broadcasted every Tuesday (23:00 24:00 hr) and Friday
(22:00 23:00 hr) and on Sunday (20:00 21:00 hr) on Radio Energy
Suisse. He can also be seen regularly on the television stations, VIVA/SWIZZ,
SF1, SF2, Tele 24, Tele M1, Star TV ... or there are often cover stories
in such Newspapers as, Tages Anzeiger, Blick, Cash, 20 Minuten, Tele,
Schweizer Illustrierte, Trend Magazin, Forecast, Partynews .....
The energy he requires for his musical and business enterprises, he receives
from his family, in particular from his one year old son, Sebastian, who
not only gives Antoine immense pleasure, but also, as Antoine himself
says, “his positive energy”.
Who knows what kind of business adventure that Antoine will surprise us
with next …
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