Australia’s Anthony Pappa is considered one of the nation’s biggest electronic music exports. From launching his illustrious career at the young age of 15 years old in his home town of Melbourne to rising to the top of the global DJ elites, Anthony’s journey has been a personal and infectious ride, a ‘love letter’ to his fans and the music he has devoted himself to for over 30 years. In 1989, a youthful Anthony entered the prestigious Technic’s World DMC championships, the pinnacle of global DJ skills competition, the coveted event and a revered award. At only 15, he closed the gap between the old guard and new talent emerging out of the rising electronic music scene. Dropping his signature house music sound, for a traditional Hip Hop approach, he took home the accolade of winning the DMC Championship, until 2017, was the youngest winner of the award. Noticed by the industry, he started playing in clubs at the age of 16.

“I won the competition when I was 15, I started playing in clubs straight after that. I was underage playing in clubs. Legally l shouldn’t have been there. My Dad would drop me off and I would play and when I’d finished he’d pick me up. They were over 18 venues, and I was just a kid. So I started playing clubs at an early age here in Australia and, by the age of 21 I had already achieved a lot.”

It wasn’t until mid-1994, after a successful Australian DJ career, that Anthony took the opportunity to enter the Mixmag & Ministry of Sound DJ competition, an off chance that would propel his career to a stratospheric trajectory. It boasted a prize of playing at the legendary London club from the submission of a DJ set. It was this competition that he won and went on to play at the club in October in 1994. The experience of playing at the Ministry of Sound was to have such an inspiring impact, that he soon decided to relocate to the UK.

“After spending 3 weeks in the UK and playing at a few other clubs l then decided that this was what I wanted to do so in May 1995 l moved to the UK.”

The move was not in vain as it wasn’t long before his talents were recognized by a core group of the UK’s biggest DJs along with his close friendship with Dave Seaman, who together forged a strong squad of players that would shape the sound of the emerging UK sound of Progressive House, with the likes of Sasha, John Digweed with Anthony fast becoming one of the scenes big contributors. He soon became quite a prevalent name and important player within the UK whilst touring up and down the country at many of the major clubbing venues such as Renaissance, Cream and Ministry Of Sound. He also went on to work alongside Dave Seaman who was A&R at Stress Records (part of the Mixmag / DMC organisation) and become part of the team.

The rise of the DJ mix albums had started to play an important factor in the UK and the international circuit, and once again Anthony was playing a role in its progression whilst contributing crafted mix compilation albums for series such as – Global Underground, Renaissance, Balance, Platipus Records, and DJ Magazine.

In 1999 a meeting with Andy from Global Underground, quickly culminated in a discussion of a new series to be released by the much-lauded and iconic label, Nubreed, with an invite to kick off the series, instantly took Anthony Pappa to new heights in his career and set the scene for the next 2 decades.

“Doing the first Nubreed album for Global Underground was massive for me. It certainly did help shift my career up another level for sure. I was already touring the world before this album but after the release in 2000, it got busier with more and more international gigs.” – “It was such an honour to do the first mix in the series and the exposure was massive.”

With a long and esteemed list of recordings and various iconic mix compilations with scene stalwarts such as Renaissance, Stress Records, Bedrock, Platipus, Yoshitoshi and Balance, Anthony also naturally gravitated to the recording studio early in his career, producing some of the most iconic singles in the last 20 years. With countless releases credited under various guises, selling over 500,000 records, singles and compilations, Anthony has consistently raised the bar in Progressive House and electronic music globally, earning his revered status amongst fans and DJs alike.

Following the success of his Global Underground album “Nubreed” this then led him to the top tier, A list level of international touring DJ’s. Residencies at iconic clubs such as Renaissance (Nottingham UK), Twilo (New York USA) and Womb (Tokyo Japan) became monthly visits for him amongst the other hundreds of gigs he was doing year in year out, racking up thousands of air miles.

Festivals such as Glastonbury UK, Creamfields UK, ID&T Holland, Extrema Belgium, BPM Mexico, Tomorrowland Belgium, SAMC Argentina, Ultra Miami USA and Exit Serbia became a regular gig as part of his touring schedule.

In 2014, with over 20 years of touring the globe, reaching across almost every country, Anthony decided to head back to his hometown of Melbourne to seek a new direction in his career. “It just felt like it was the right time, I wanted to tour on my own terms, to call a place home”. After a few tough years adjusting to a new pace of life, scene and ‘finding himself’ again, tragedy struck in 2016 when Anthony suffered a life-altering accident.

“Going back over the last couple of years, it’s been a huge roller coaster for me. In May 2016 l was involved in a very serious car accident which l was very lucky to survive. I broke both my legs, my arm and my back in 2 places. Was hospitalised for 4 months and confined to a wheelchair. After 18 months of Physiotherapy and learning to walk again l rebuilt myself physically and mentally and have only been back to DJing in the last 4 years or so. It’s been a challenge but I’m grateful to still be here and this second chance of life.”

Covid had thrown many challenges to the music industry and with a halt on touring, Anthony dug deep into his extensive record collection and created a weekly streaming session for his fan base, which quickly became a highly anticipated saviour for those in lockdown, drawing in a new fan base globally, along with his renewed drive for music and life. “DJing and music for me is my love, my passion and has been what l have dedicated most of my life too. It’s what l do, it’s who l am, it’s just me. I could not imagine or see myself doing anything else. I love what l do, it makes me happy and l love the fact that what l do gives so many people so much joy. This is what keeps me driving forward as a DJ.”

Post Covid, Anthony has once again begun his global touring schedule, captivating old and new crowds alike, continually pushing boundaries of electronic music in a way that has garnered fans and industry for over 30 years, coupled with his renewed music production. Anthony has joined forces in the studio with iconic producer and stalwart Jamie Stevens, (also known as one half of live electronic act – Infusion) to bring a fresh approach to the sound they have championed over the last 2 decades. Together drawing on their years of experience and long friendship, passion and for making music has led them to recently release music on the Selador label. They have done an assortment of remixes for labels such as Recovery Collective, Flow Music, Mango Alley, Ugenius music and Re:Sound Music as well as a soon to be released collection of new projects.

INSTAGRAM