Team
John LommersJohn Lommers (Bad Motherfunker) begon op zijn twaalfde met het draaien van plaatjes op de voetbalclub. Timmerde de speakers en DJ set zelf in elkaar, net zoals zijn eerste FM zendertje. Op zijn 15e (dat was in 1980) kreeg hij een enorme kans om als light jockey te gaan werken bij Discotheater Galaxy in Den Bosch. Op die leeftijd samenwerken met dj's als Robin Albers , Arjen de Gram, Jan van Son en Joep Gersjes gaf vleugels aan zijn ambitie om ook zelf te draaien. In 1984 mocht John zelf als DJ aan de slag bij Galaxy, eerst op de zondagmiddag, later als weekend-invaller en uiteindelijk als een van de vaste DJ's. Al snel kwamen er ook allerlei andere clubs als Broadway (Erp), De Rodenburg (Beesd) en Toys (Uden).
John verruimde zijn werkterrein en ging ook draaien op grote landelijke roadshows van Veronica, Tros Popformule drive in show en Philips Moving Sound Sound show. John heeft ook een enorme liefde voor radio en heeft flink wat jaren gewerkt bij stations in Amsterdam (Extra 108) en België (Fantasy FM). John Lommers en Rene Vercrussen zijn de organisatoren van de jaarlijkse Galaxy Classics Party die sinds 2012 wordt georganiseerd. John is ook met Oemar Joemann, oprichter van Starguardz. Een disco house label met een eigen radio station, dj management en events in binnen- en buitenland. |
Rene Vercruyssen (vd Meer)In 1979 he started working at the pirate station Radio Benelux, very famous in the Netherlands. That same year he also started as a DJ in the Karrebar, Den Bosch. From that period he worked in many nightclubs and worked throughout the Netherlands. At that time he also did radio programs for various radio stations, also in Belgium, Fantasy Radio and Radio Seven Brussels.
The most famous program was Disco Factory which started in 1978, later renamed Dance Factory. This program featured hard-to-find classics, special mixes and remixes, interviews with major artists including Sharon Redd, Young & Company, Joe Bataan, Kid Creole, The Trammps, Gwen McCrae and many others. Unique for that time, especially on an illegal radio station. This program included also the Galaxy top 10, which was compiled weekly by means of cards with the top three, which the visitors of Galaxy filled in every weekend. After the radio period he continued to work with various roadshows and in nightclubs/clubs. Still active at private party’s, and every year during the big Back to the 70's & 80's Party in Den Bosch, Tilburg and Eindhoven. He organized those party’s with Radio 8FM, a big radio station in Brabant. Later Disco Factory came back as it is today and he is still one of the hosts in the Thursday evening live show. |
Peter Schouten (PIR)From 1977 till now DJ Pir (Peter) has have been working as a club DJ. His styles are very eclectic, starting with soul, disco and pop music in the 70's and through funk, new-wave and hardrock evolved to house, nu-disco and trance at current.
His most recent career highlight? Being asked to join the Disco Factory DJ’s in their love of funky music . . . DJ’s who greatly influenced his musical tastes and style were Ferry Maat, David Mancuso and Larry Levan. Some of Peters mixes can be found on: https://www.mixcloud.com/peter-schouten2/ and of course in the homebrew programming of Disco Factory radio. |
Robbie Koster (Robbie K)
I was introduced to Disco Classics in the early 80’s through radio programs such as the Soul Show and import music I heard in The Galaxy, a club in Den Bosch (The Netherlands). Mixing records was still rare and I was inspired by year-mixes made by Ben Liebrand and programs such as “de Bond van Doorstarters” and “And the beat goes on”. I started mixing at home on vinyl, two turntables without pitch control, a mixer and a tape deck. And in this way I created a lot of mixes at that time. After years of absence, I restarted making mixes in various styles a few years ago. No longer the old fashioned way, but variously sometimes digitally with MixMeister or with MP3s & a DJ Controller Set. Especially for this program I started making mixes for Galaxy Classics Radio and now Discofactory FM. Weekly a 15 minutes mix in a mashup or theme. And weekly mix for the program “And the beat goes on”, where plates are completely mixed together.
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Sef Gruijters 'G-in-the-house'
Born in 1962 in Amsterdam at the age of 15 he immediately knew what he wanted to become, a light jock. The lights that he saw in Saturday Night Fever made his jaw drop.
Not like his other colleagues of Disco Factory FM he wanted to become a DJ, he wanted to entertain the crowd with visual effects / laser / strobes and other effects. Some 30 (?) years ago he met John Lommers when he was working as a lightjockey in Broadway in Erp, for that time one of the leading (along with the Galaxy of course) disco’s in the Netherlands. Tv formats like “Countdown” and “Nederland Muziekland” were filmed there. Later Sef and John played together in the Galaxy as well, John mixed the music while Sef made the crowd go mad with the effects and for that time very special laser equipment. Later on John and Sef got back on various other venues. The main reason for Sef to do the lightshows by hand is that he is convinced that a human is better for playing the buttons than a computer, can interact quicker and does not need a reboot at some time, Sef also is not a fan of pre-programmed lightshows. A pre-programmed light show means (in his eyes) that the music for that evening also is pre-programmed, thus not interacting with the crowd on the floor. In 2010 Sef heared of the initiative of the “Galaxy Classics Party” and asked if he could do the lights, that was the time he teamed up with Robbie Koster and René Vercruijssen, later on Maarten, Peter, Dion, Michael and Oemar joined the Disco Factory crew. Although “lights” were Sef’s first love he was also a homebrew mixer for many years and with the birth of Disco Factory FM he was asked to team up with Robbie Koster to entertain the listeners with their mixes. Want to follow SefG in tha House? www.mixcloud.com/discofactory www.mixcloud.com/sefgruijters @discofactoryfm |
Oemar Joemman. (You Mann)Hij is de benjamin van de Disco Factory FM-crew. Begonnen met mixen in 2016 en sloeg alle digitale systemen zoals tractor, Auto Sync of alle back-up dingen over. Hij ging old school, 100% puur analoog! Slechts twee Technics SL's 1200 LTD (Limited Editions natuurlijk) en veel (echt) veel vinyl. Oemar houdt van muziek. Van Kiss tot NWA, van Stephanie Mills tot Jeff Lorber. Hij is een jongen uit de late jaren 80 en we houden van hem.
Oemar is ook mede-oprichter van Starguardz. |
Dion Vugts (Mr. D)
I am playing as resident DJ for Soulmates Maastricht. Playing and mixing soul, funk and disco from the late seventies and early eighties. Soulmates Maastricht is celebrating there 12,5 year existents and this shows the success and the popularity of the party’s over the years. It started out as a reunion party for people who visited the old and famous clubs in Maastricht Djinn and Ohio. Just like the Galaxy classic party did in The Den Bosch area. My love for the classic disco tracks I developed listening to the Soul Show and visiting epic and legendary disco Galaxy Den Bosch I am mixing the classics for Disco Factory FM. Inspired by the old masters who created the bootleg mixes in the eighties. Disconet year mix of 1981 and the big Aplle mix vol1 1982 are epic and influential for that time. Although i have a big passion for the classics i have been involved in the trance seen of the late nighties. Listening to great masters as Paul Oakenfold playing legendary sets for Cream as resident DJ. I have been composing lounge, ambient cd’s in a format i highly believe in. There is a lot of lounge and chill music out there but it is just produced and not composed from the hart.
To put the right songs together is not done by so many people. Jose Padilla and Ramon Castells are Unique! To put ambient, lounge, singer songwriter, seventies folk songs and vocal acoustic trance songs togheter so they make their own story is what i am trying to do. Favo classic tracks are: France Joli – gonna get over you Third world – now that we found love Chewy Rub’s Dub Edit Billy Ocean – Nights feel like getting down. (Re-edit 7.08) Geraldine hunt – can’t fake the feeling.
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Michael Halve (Mezza)
In the early eighties, Mezza (Michael Halve, 1966) becomes infected by the disco virus. Every guilder earned goes directly to record stores in The Hague and Rotterdam. Inspired by his mixing heroes, Ben Liebrand and especially Peter Slaghuis, he teaches himself to mix. In 1984 he had his first show on Radio Eldorado (mix hour 'On The Beats Tonight') and became the resident DJ in the Delft discotheque Soos Dinguss.
More and more Michael specializes in the Italo genre, but he also continues to buy disco from the USA, Canada and England. The monthly magazine DISCO/DANCE publishes the Italo Disco Top 100 of All Times for three consecutive years, of which Michael is the initiator. In the eighties and nineties he is the right-hand man of Marcello D'Azzurro in compiling the hit list and later the magazine I Venti D'Azzurro. Italo becomes a common thread in Mezza's life. During the legendary I Venti parties in Le Mouton (Rijswijk), Michael is behind the turntables. And during the I Venti D'Azzurro anniversary party in 2016 in Milan there is also room for him in the DJ line-up. A few years before that, his book 'Mad about Italo' was published, of which the English version ('Mad about Italo') is expected in 2022. In the Italo scene, the book is received with enthusiasm, so Michael is constantly asked when there will be a sequel. That will not happen, because he has now plunged into a new project. Together with two friends and also Italo enthusiasts from the very beginning, he brings one of the greatest Italo artists to the Netherlands: Aldo Martinelli and Simona Zanini. A little over a year later, on Martinelli's birthday, the Italo documentary 'Starting a Revolution' is released. Michael Halve is the creator and maker of this documentary. Michael has been affiliated with Italo station Fantasy Radio since 2005. In the foreground with his Italo mixing and in the background in various roles. Despite the common Italo thread, the love for disco has always been there. In 2016 Mezza came into contact with the makers of Disco Factory. In no time he will be added to the crew of that station. You can hear his MezzaMix every Monday at 19.00 CET. And he currently plays a role in programming and format monitoring of Disco Factory. |
Maarten Cordewener
Born in 1960. Never did any professionel DJ work. Only on party’s f friends and family. Music has always been a hobby (I even played electrical organ).
From 1979 i started to collect Vinyl and later on CD’s. Nowadays it is a vast collection and they are often played in the Disco Factory broadcasts. I’m also interested in the human behind the artist and wat his/her history was. ABBA also played a great part in my interest for music, everything they have relased i’ve got. It is great fun to see al the colleagues every Thursday |
