Friday 10am - Midday with Ben Wah

Like a spy drone or stealth bomber, Auckland DJ Ben Wah constantly sneaks in under the radar to deliver thumpingly good music in the midst of outstanding DJ sets. He may be the city's best-kept secret, except he has the habit of popping up at clubs, bars and gigs to apply his innovative skills to move and soothe a crowd.

Ben should know what he's doing. He's been playing music for years, both as a DJ and in a band, Honey Claws, who were signed to a US label, releasing "one and a half albums", playing SXSW several times and appearing at such festivals as Miami WMC, Big Day Out and Rhythm & Vines.onstantly sneaks in under the radar to deliver thumpingly good music in the midst of outstanding DJ sets. He may be the city's best-kept secret, except he has the habit of popping up at clubs, bars and gigs to apply his innovative skills to move and soothe a crowd.

Ben's DJing endeavours have taken him on quite a journey. From scratching for rap/metal/hardcore band Nosebleed at Sweetwaters, then a residency playing hip-hop and drum&bass at Dragon Bar, he moved onto Factory beneath Squid bar, where he scratched and MCed over drum&bass. Meanwhile, discovering a love for house in the early 2000s set him on the path to become one of Auckland's pre-eminent house DJs, a position and passion he continues to develop.

If DJing is a great way to see the inside of clubs, it's also allowed Ben to travel far and wide to play, promote his record labels Public Access Beneficial Music Company and Donkey Punch and generally be amongst his peers. The list of international cities he's played in is impressive - London, Brighton, Chicago, Milwaukee, Houston, San Francisco, LA, Dallas, Austin, San Diego, Miami, Seoul, Phuket, Sydney & Melbourne. So too are the residencies he's held back home - Supafly, Insomnia, Hula Hut, Calibre, The Oval, Centro, Morrison, Ginger Minx, Ink. And he's played support for some of the best - Derrick Carter, Mark Farina, Dj Heather, Alexander East, Chez Damier, Iz & Diz, Brett Johnson, Q Burns, Johnny Fiasco, Greenskeepers, Dan X and Justin Long.

When not producing or playing music, Ben keeps it low-key by making computer graphics mosaics, brewing beer for personal use and raising his infant son. He's also a decent cook and devoted surfer, as you'd expect from a son of Mt Maunganui.

But music's what keeps Ben up late at night. It's so ingrained in his system it's a part of his DNA. And the turntables are his laboratory, where he likes to experiment with the sounds and textures that have affected him over the years.

"Originality and personal style are huge to me," he explains. "I think about what works on the dancefloor, use well made production and then mix it up, tending more towards worldlier melodies mashed up with the core roots of dance music."

Currently promoting his bi-monthly house, techno and minimal night, Free Thinking, at Ink, Ben's recent discovery of cosmic disco is tweaking all the right buttons, continuing the journey started at intermediate school, when he fatefully bought his first records. (For the record, Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Eurthymics and Fleetwood Mac.)

Keep on movin', don't stop...

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