Sheen is somewhat of a pillar in Sydney DJ society. With in excess of thirteen years behind the decks he really is part of the furniture.

In that time, Sheen has seen various genres come and go. Playing house and acid house at inner city clubs such as the Freezer in the late 80s were the starting point of his career.

The warehouse scene began to kick-off in the early nineties and was the catapult for Sydney rave culture. Sheen became involved and got together with a group of DJs that some may remember as “The Cartel”. Together with Joe 90 (who now runs Vibes), Robin Knight, Sugar Ray and Ming D they promoted various events individually and booked each other to play dominating the warehouse scene.

At this time Sheen was pushing Detroit Techno in a period where piano driven house was strong. He continued to get behind the sound, educating the punters with what he terms as “the beauty and subtlety of Detroit techno”.

By the mid nineties however the scene became a little stagnant with hard techno dominating. Sheen found himself going back his roots of a US house and garage sound. He continued along that path, championing the house sound in Sydney.

With the opening of Chinese Laundry, the house and garage scene began to change. Their open music policy gave resident Sheen the opportunity to “mix it up and break it out.” He was still very much into house, but with this freedom to experiment he played with Nu-Skool breaks, bigbeat, drum’n’bass and the like.

It was really the drum’n’bass that has led him to UK Garage/2 Step and as he says, “I found the fresh sound different. It is a great progression and amalgamation of styles, and really hit the right note for me.”

“Sydney never really accepted the garage and speed garage phase, so for many people there is no frame of reference for UK Garage/2 Step,” Sheen says. The beats are sparse yet strong, with melodic garage elements that makes it very easy to listen to, yet with some drum’n’bass darkness.

“UK Garage/2 Step certainly doesn’t shy away from nice vocals and isn’t afraid to be a little “girlie” in its sound”, he proffers with a smile.

At the moment, the UK Garage/2 Step scene in Sydney is virtually non-existent, yet with some exposure, this genre will surely take off. It is very accessible, so Sheen and his crew are going to bring it to the people, with Premium, in what may be a party that really boosts the UK Garage/2 Step phenomenon in Sydney.

“This is no marginal ‘Turkhistan deepwater minimalist trancebreak’ type genre. It is a style that is very real and popular and Sydney deserves to really experience it.”


You can catch Sheen at Premium at the Dendy on Easter Sunday.