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DJ Yousef & The Power Of Dreams

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Sunday, November 14, 2004
"I remember one time at a party back in my flat some girl who I found out afterwards was some kind of psychic clairvoyant, grabbed my hand and told me many details about my future. Everything she said, even to this day has come exactly true. Which is a bit odd, but it makes me believe that some people have got some sort of connection."

7 years after he became Muzik magazine's first Bedroom Bedlam competition winner, Liverpool based DJ Yousef has become of Britain's top house DJs, regularly spinning across the world as well as running his own acclaimed monthly club Circus. He also produces his own tracks, runs his own label and has just completed a new mix CD for Underwater Records, Circus versus Chibuku, featuring a link up with equally acclaimed Merseyside club Chibuku. Though as recently as ten years ago, he was a simple punter at Liverpool's then top club Cream, busty visualising himself rocking the club.

"A lot of people think this is bullshit, but when I used to go to Cream I used to see the DJs playing and I'd pay so much attention to them, not just listening to what they were doing but also how they were mixing and what equipment they were playing on," he admits.

"I remember when Cream had the whole place done up with a new sound system, this was five or six years before I even won Bedroom Bedlam, and I used to lie at home in bed fantasizing about playing on these new decks. They were spring mounted and I used to dream that I got the crowd bouncing up and down. I used to convince myself that was going to happen, and eventually it did," he says.

Chatting down the line to Jonty Skrufff this week, he's clearly more than just a dreamer, revealing that he's also currently pre-occupied with broadening his education.

"I just did A levels at school then I took a year off to concentrate on DJing and I never really looked back, though now more then ever I feel compelled to go to university," he reveals.

"I just feel there's a level of education technically that I missed out on. For me it wouldn't be the classic experience of going to university, since a lot of people just go to get away from home, I just want to study. I'd definitely take music in some capacity, probably business and more certainly psychology. That's what I'd really like to do."


Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): You're 29 now, are you feeling a sense that 30 is rushing up and you're facing growing up-

Yousef: "No, not at all. I just want achieve a level of education that I feel I've missed out on, that's all. I feel that I've studied life so much and now I'd like to listen to other people for a change, instead of just listening to myself. I think there's definitely value in education. I read a lot, a wide range of books, but I haven't exercised my brain in an exam for nine or ten years and I think it's time I should start exercising it. Having said that, I still run Circus and take care of the business side of my record label, so it's not as if my brain is like a dead weight, but on the other hand I just feel compelled."

Skrufff: Do you think you're going to do it realistically-

Yousef: "I think if I would have had this idea maybe 6 months ago, I'd have probably been signing up to John Moores (University) already but maybe I'll structure my life around being able to go next year."

Skrufff: Your DJing career has developed incredibly fast since you won Muzik Magazine's DJ competition Bedroom Bedlam in "97, how much has your whole vibe of being a DJ changed in that time and how much has it matched what you thought it would be-

Yousef: "The reality has actually excelled my expectations. I thought it was going to be good, but I didn't think it would be so incredible. Though at the time I didn't really understand how smart, hardworking and dedicated you need to be. One thing is being able to work a set of decks, but it's completely different keeping up with the pack and relentlessly having to find more ways of "keeping your head above wa
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