CARL NICHOLSON/NICHOLSON

There are few that can say they were there when the acid house boom fully erupted in the early nineties, most artists have a very short career span and many ride the wave that they have caught until it reaches fruition, then pack up their headphones and return to their everyday life. But there are a small handful of artists whom never seem to disappear, these few, are the true soldiers of sound, the ones that no matter how hard things get, and how tough the hills are to climb, they always manage to stay on their path whilst others fall by the wayside.

London born & Bred Carl Nicholson is without doubt one of these people, Carl started his journey way back in 1990 as an Hardcore MC, and after months of watching top end DJ’s at the time such as Micky Finn & Carl Cox, Carl decided to see what all the hype was about and give it a shot himself, and after 6 gruelling months of his very own brand of ‘Wild Horses’ mixing, Carl got a feel for it and the rest as they say is history.

In the summer of 1994, Carl came across a tape, a tape that was to change his life forever, this tape was the Tony de Vit mix on the massively popular ‘Retrospective of House’ compilation by Fantazia, and Carl simply could not believe his ears. From that day forward Carl lived, ate, and slept all things TdV, he used to follow him around London whenever he was playing, find a good spot near the decks and just stand, watch and listen.

After about 6 months, Carl finally got the courage up to speak to Tony, and bear in mind to Carl, Tony was a musical God of monstrous proportions, so this was no easy task to say the least, but after a few minutes of chatting with him, Carl realised that this man was just like any other guy, he wasn’t a god, he was a normal friendly bloke who had just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and that gave Carl a confidence, something he had lacked in early years, and it dawned on him that with hard work, dedication and a burning passion for the music and the people it attracted, anything was possible.

Since 1995 Carl has been on the forefront of the UK Underground dance scene, he began his journey living in a doorway in the west end of London, learnt his craft from the undisputed king of Hard House, Tony de Vit. He’s played alongside everyone from Fatboy Slim, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Frankie Knuckles & Chemical Brothers to Judge Jules, John ‘OO’ Fleming, Paul Van Dyk & Lisa Lashes for virtually every major hard edged brand and festival in the UK & Worldwide including Cream, Judgement Sundays, Frantic, Fevah, Glastonbury Festival, Insomniacz, Bulldog Bash, Miss Moneypennys, Soundscape (NZ), B2T, Traxx (SA), Timeless, Hard Dance Ibiza (IBZ), Sundissential, Trance port Festival (ARG), Round Bass (NL) & Tasty to name only a handful, plus he is the only Hard Dance DJ to have received a residency at the world famous Fabric nightclub in London for DTPM.