Dj Pauze aka Gav Pauze started playing Jungle/Drum & Bass in 1995, playing clubs in England and Scotland, then progressing to play Reggae on the radio with the Unique Reggae Mix Show based in London in the UK in 2006, USA from 2007, Germany & Philippines from 2010, Portugal from 2011, then reaching out to 150+ countries and territories worldwide in 2012 and 2013……
I tend to use Dj Pauze aka Gav Pauze now and I see myself as a music loving man just like you. Were all human beings regardless of race or skin colour or what language we speak. Using words to describe myself i would say I am a passionate friendly person who simply loves good music, that’s me through and through. See something I have been involved with from my early to mid teens is playing music. I first started spinning Rave/Jungle music in the Midlands, my place of birth. I had a fascination with turntables. In 1995 I met Dj Blaze who influenced me to play Jungle more they introduced me to Technics 1210 turntables and gave me the confidence to pursue music more deeply. It was around this time when I was introduced to Buju Banton’s reggae album Mr Mention and then in 97 Buju’s album Inna Heights that had a massive influence. Buju was one of the most sampled Reggae artists in Jungle music around the mid 90’s, along with record breaker Daddy Freddy so i was familiar with alot of their songs that had been remixed into jungle.
I treasure all my vinyls but certain ones not only lock in good memories of my childhood but also always create a great feeling inside as when i first heard them. My first reggae vinyl in my record box to play out was Lloyd Brown “Love You Down” but its was Buju’s Inner Heights album that was the most inspirational in my late teens i loved the sound of Buju’s voice and could really relate to most of his songs. More recently its been music like Dub Judah’s album “Better To Be Good” amongst other good reggae music really steered me into focusing on just the positive uplifting side of the music i now feature in the radio shows on Pauze Radio.
Pauze Radio is the website that has developed into an online archive of the Unique Reggae Mix Show. Now with over 6 years of the Unique Reggae Mix running I have collected every show that has been on air and I wanted to share them with all the listeners of the radio show and also to attract new listeners too. In 2009 I teamed up with a web developer Mark Townsend in London and we have been working on developing the website.
Each show has its own page where you can listen to the show and also read the playlist of that show, you can leave comments on most of the pages on the site too, along with some album reviews and poetry amongst much more content. It takes time to build and develop a website of this scale and to be honest I am pleased with the progression and growth of the site in the past 4 years. Not only am I really pleased but also with Marks help I have learnt so much about webdesign and webdevelopment.
In December 2006 in the Midlands I produced my first radio show entitled the Unique Reggae Mix show, this was aired on local station Unique FM. This opportunity to do my own radio show was a lifeline because at the same time I was suffering with depression from an accident, the press release called "Reggae Saves Life" is below. Positive reggae music had really helped with the depression and after reasoning with a few friends I decided the radio show would be positive reggae music only. I set to the task with dedication and focus on not just uplifting the listeners but also uplifting myself. Noticing there was not much support where I lived at the time I looked to things like the internet to promote the shows, playing reggae music and making the show available online enabled me to establish links with music producers and artists worldwide via the social networking sites, also email, msn and skype.
I have a strong philosophy of a “two way street” when working with artists, what I mean by that is you treat me with respect and I will treat you with respect, I tend to steer away from working with artists and producers if they come across disrespectful or pushy; and yes sometimes it does affect the selection of the music/artists I feature in the show, I am sticking to my rules though.
The word tribute suggests a passing, after life, why is it Reggae artists only have tributes made to the when they have passed, I feel an artist should have tributes while they are still with us. I have noticed that many listeners and artists agree with this too. The reason behind the mass of tribute shows I have made in 2011 is to change the trend, to show others its ok to tribute our reggae hero’s while they are still with us. I decide who I tribute in the shows by several factors, reasoning with the listeners and working off feedback generated online and by phone calls too. Any artists wanting to know how to get a tribute show or mixtape made should link me on facebook or by phone and hold a reasoning, yes I have plenty more tribute shows in the line to make.
The idea for doing tribute show came from a long discussion I had with Elijah Prophet resulting with a Bob Marley and Peter Tosh show then the feedback from that show was overwhelming and the idea of making shows for respectful artists that are still with us grew from there. One rule if your getting great feedback you dont just stop, push harder explore more avenues be creative and always remember everything is always possible.
At the moment the website has recently grown with over 2500 pages of reggae shows, reggae music videos, reggae artists biographies, album reviews, free reggae downloads and not forgetting the new Reggae Shop section with over 250 products, with more being added every week.
Even though the website is still in development you can access radio shows from 2009 to present. I plan to keep uploading a new show every week and also archive some previous shows from 2008 extending the archives of the show on the site and allowing the listeners to hear reggae music they may not hear else where. More will be added to the artists album reviews, videos and biography sections too. There is so much more going on behind the scenes of the website but I cant give you all those details yet, see mystery creates excitement.....
Currently I am continuing the Unique Reggae Mix Show but started writing Album reviews to go with the shows when I feature songs from new albums. Often I stick to reviewing works for those that help by sharing the radio show links they are featured in and those that treat others with manners and respect.
The past couple of years I have been writing poetry, releasing a book in 2011 called "In Heart Mind & Soul" a book containing uplifting poems and prayers. There will be a second book with over 45 uplifting poems in and some of the profit from the book will be donated to "Headway" the head injury charity in the UK that helped me after the accident in 2004.
I will also be concentrating on writing more songs this year. Currently I have written songs for and with artists like Mikey General, Peter Runks, Wild Life, Bredren B, V.C, Torch and Carol Ellis. Also since opening the studio in 2011 I have took up more producing and audio mixing and mastering. Working with artists like Bunny Rugs (lead singer of Third World Band), Mikey General, Percydread Natural-Ites, Terry Ganzie, Chanter, Verse iTal, Matthew Radics and many more.
I'm lucky to be able to do what I love - Life's been tuff still is tuff but music help so much - people do not realise the power of positive music
I feel I have a good story to share with people as it is about how positive, uplifting music really can heal. A lot of people do not realise the true potential of music. I would like to share what I have experienced as I feel it could change a large number of peoples attitude towards music. My story could happen to anyone we never know whats going to happen when we set out on foot or in car. Life is very unpredictable,
In 2004 I suffered a head injury. I had an accident in the Midlands (u.k) on a BMX.I fell of and landed on my head, my neck taking my whole body weight. From this accident I managed to cycle home but was severely concussed. I have memories of it but also lost some memories. I knew I had been lucky but didn't realise how serious it actually was. It took me about a week to go to hospital as once i had got home I stiffened up. All the aches and pains set in after the shock had slowly gone. It had taken a few friends advising me to go hospital before I actually visited A&E, by this time I was walking a little better. The hospital said to me i had broken ribs, they gave me some pain relief and i went home again. I didn't feel right though so I went doctors constantly. They sent me on several rehab courses but never treated my head injury the doctors I had seen didn't listen to me when i said there was a problem.
It was a hard year but a local dj helped me by letting me do a guest slot on his radio show, as I was finding it hard to get back into my previous job as a chef. After a couple of years he moved radio stations and asked if I wanted to take over his old show this was in december 2006. I accepted as music had really helped me through serious depression after the head injury. For a number of years I had Listened to a cd I had acquired by an artist called Dub Judah. I was blown away by this cd, I found it really help pull me out of depression. With this knowledge I wanted to be able to give listeners of the show and my friends an uplifting healing experience, Two close friends (Marcus & Dj Phasix) had also guided me towards featuring positive uplifting music, they helped me focus so much.
In the past I had dj in many clubs and pubs up and down the u.k, I even promoted club nights of different genre. This genre is closely linked with the music i now more regularly play and always feature in the radio shows.
The first artist I met on the internet via myspace that took me seriously was King Ali Baba. The interest on the internet grew. An artist i had met on the same music social network, Iyah Lazer had asked if he could listen to the show with his music featured. It was Iyah Lazer and also female singer Kris Kelli that influenced me to set up a download so artists could download anytime. They could even give it to their friends to listen to the show.
As well as getting to know local midlands reggae artists most networking was done on the internet. I spent over a year doing this. Due to the health problems i found it hard to get back into a normal life again.I generated interest from a radio station in California called Shockout Radio. They asked me if i wanted to record some shows for their website i was happy to. During my first show for them I interviewed U.K Reggae veteran Percydread former Natural-ites which can still be listened to on the Shockout Radio website.
My personal circumstances changed in the midlands in 2007 making me homeless and with no chance of getting rehoused or being able to afford housing in the town I was in I had to consider what I was going to do. Previously this year I had met up with a studio in london through the same social network. This recording studio in South East London had given me a lot of feedback on the shows and had also started to send me music to feature artists regularly. Some of the artists I worked closely with Andrew Sloley, Govnor Tiggy and Carl Melody all london based reggae artists. I had spoke to the owner a few times and wanted to meet him as I had a good feeling from our conversations. A very good friend living in london saw my situation at the time and said to me that I could stop at their house for a short time. So in December 2007 I left Nottingham.
Since living in London the following of radio listeners has really grown. It is now on a worldwide scale and i have made links with a variety of artists, production teams and producers. All these artists are involved in Conscious, healing music and many of the artists have also become good friends. Local artists as mentioned above (apart from Iyah Lazer and Kris Kelli as they live in jamaica) but also include Doktah, Stickz, Carol Ellis, RoleModel, Mikey Murka, Solo Banton, Fadah Noah, Tony Roots and many more also a lot of international artists including Wild Life, Ossie Dellimore, History Man, Adrian Clarke, Torch..... there are so many to mention male and female! These are just a handful of artists that have featured and continue to feature in the shows. There are so many reggae artists that are unheard, unknown but have such great music. There are links on my myspace page to these artists and also the bigger artists too. Sadly a lot of the lesser known artists struggle to push through even though their music is very positive and very uplifting.
Music can be healing I feel so strongly about that and I feel people need to realise the true potential that conscious music can have on their lives. Especially in illness like depression or stress. I feel this is a testimony to the healing power of conscious music.
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