Stu Phonik: Recent Episodes

When one thinks of California's Central Valley, thoughts immediately turn to its' plethora of agriculture, or perhaps the scenic vistas of Yosemite National Park. One does not expect to find one of America's last true stalwarts of the 'UK Hard House' sound. Nevertheless, it is among this stark contrast that Stockton native Stu Phonik has managed to carve out a distinct style that blends the best bits of the primarily UK based sound with aspects of the American funky house scene, and a spattering of techno just for good measure.

As one of the last active members of the SF Hard Dance scenes ‘old guard’, Stu Phonik (Tim Stephanic) has been carrying the flag for the harder sounds for over seventeen years. Raised on the stylings from local legends such as DJ D (Denise), DJ Morgan, & SKILL’S Tom Slik, his obsession with the genre soon landed him the gig as “Trance/NRG/Techno/Hardcore” buyer at Solid Grooves, the South Bay’s premier destination for all aspects of the underground electronic music scene at the time. Along with Michael Liu, he worked to push the harder sounds in an area dominated by house and trance, helping to bring in many labels/styles in on direct distribution that otherwise may have not seen stateside release. He was there for the rise of ‘Hard Style’; He was there for the great techno/hard house crossover; He was there when ‘Donk’ was king of the castle. And with each change in the sound, his style adapted. Equally as comfortable opening at 135 BPM as he is slamming it out at 155 BPM during peak hours, his style maintains an aspect of the classic UK Hard House sound throughout while continuing to push new concepts onto the dance floor.

In 2006, he left the SF Bay Area to pursue a career in Southern California and faded into the background of the local scene’s memory, reappearing once or twice a year for those who remembered while actively continuing to hone his craft until his relocation back to Nor Cal in 2012. After a trip to “Hard Dance Mecca” aka the Tidy Weekender in 2015, Stu Phonik found his silent passion reignited with a fury. Now replenished with an allotment of devastating dance floor destroyers from contacts made on his pilgrimage, 2016 sees Stu Phonik starting to leave his contributions to the scene. His first release, the “California Style EP” is available on seminal label “Cheeky Tracks” (https://soundcloud.com/cheekytracks/sets/california-style-ep) and was featured on “Cheeky Tracks: The Album - Vol. 1” and the forthcoming “Cheeky Tracks: The Album - Vol. 2” (forthcoming soon - available for pre order @ http://cheekytracks.bigcartel.com/) while a second EP is currently slotted for release in late 2016.