The PDMA Committee and Industry representatives would like to congratulate the 2011 Hall of Fame Inductees. Thank you for your contribution to our scene.
Diamond D (Deon Mellican)
When people think of Drum N Bass in Perth – what do they think of? Guaranteed the majority of people would say “Loaded Dice”. Deon Mellican aka Diamond D is the owner and founder of this successful brand and promotional company which after nearly 15 years in the business is still going strong. As one of the premier promotional outfits in Australia, Loaded Dice is today still responsible for bringing the biggest acts in
DnB to our very shores.
After first listening to mix tapes of early UK club nights and raves given to him by his best mate from London, Diamond D started attending the early raves and warehouse parties in Perth, sometimes sneaking in to the clubs with his older sister’s friends. This fuelled his hunger for dance music further as he started to get more mix tapes sent over from the UK as well as becoming a fan of local DJs like Bonk, Miggy, Greg Packer, Size, Dave Jackson, Big Mac, Lily, Space Ace, Bex, Darren Briais, Hubba and Mario Tavelli.
The music Diamond D heard from these DJs had a huge influence on him and made him want to be involved in the scene as more than just a punter. He began putting on his first gigs in 1995 in bowling clubs before launching the brand “Loaded Dice” in 1997. Riding a huge wave of success as a promoter, Diamond D gave up his job as a boilermaker/welder to concentrate on putting on events and bringing out the most influential names in underground dance music. It wasn’t a hard decision to give up his day job and start doing something that he loved. He has been responsible for bringing the likes of Andy C and LTJ Bukem & MC Conrad to Perth as well as more recently helping to put New Zealand DnB acts on the map.
Proving he is stayer in this cut throat industry, Diamond D has shown he has business savvy as well as a humble nature and kindness that many of his peers speak of. It has been said that Perth has one of the biggest Drum n Bass scenes in the world next to London and there is no doubt that Diamond D and his Loaded Dice have played a major part in putting this city on the DnB map.
Simon “Hutcho” Hutchinson
Simon “Hutcho” Hutchinson is one person that has seen two generations of ravers dance to his tunes. At the early raves in Perth, parents of today’s clubbers were probably dancing in a field to one of his epic sets. It all started back in the early 80′s when Hutcho would use his parents stereo to make his own radio show before he progressed onto creating his own Hip Hop, Dance and Hip House mix tapes for his friends. In 1988 the fledgling dance music scene was really beginning to gain momentum in London and Hutcho was there for the mind blowing experience of the first raves.
He began buying records and DJ’ing on 6UVS-FM (the old RTR-FM) with mates he had met at the old Firm Nightclub – one of the early underground clubs in Perth. As well as going religiously to these clubs including Berlin Nightclub and E-On, he was also going to the early underground events like Biology, Ohm NRG before putting on his own raves in the early 90′s with DJ In-E-Fekt, Mental, Manic and BPM. This was the birth of the famous TeKnoLoGy CoRpS Crew. Since then Hutcho has played with and looked after some of the worlds first and best such as DJ Ratty, DJ Easygroove and Liam from The Prodigy.
Not only has Hutcho been in the top 3 every year since the “Best Hardcore DJ” award started but he has also won category three times (2001, 2003 & 2004). He speaks generously of the crew that have always been behind him and the underground rave scene. Those that have helped keep this niche scene alive through years of music politics, standing up to the attitude that a only a few people control the scene.
Since 1995 Hutcho has kept a history of events in Perth with his famous Rave Pages. Initially it was a personal webpage with links to sites of interest and audio software then odd bit of event news was posted as there was nothing locally to cater for the Perth scene. From there it snowballed into a scene-driven information page. It is now considered to be a true comprehensive history of events and raves in Perth.
Hutcho is a someone who always has time for everyone and has always shown incredible support for the Perth scene. He is looked up to by the younger generation of DJ’s who are still keeping the rave scene alive in Perth with his support and guidance. He has always loved getting to play for as many promoters and clubs as possible, as he doesn’t stick to one genre and he has the skill and love for music to play each genre with the same high intensity passion as always.
