If Dance music is the new religion of the masses then internationally acclaimed DJ Sasha is surely the messiah at whose feet they all worship.

To truly understand the worldwide legacy that Sasha has developed over the past 10 years it is necessary to review his impact in America along with his international accomplishments.

Born and raised in a small town in North Wales, Sasha was exposed to Motown records when he was a just a baby. His first exposure to house music was at Manchester’s Hacienda, just as dance music exploded into the summer of love. His first exploration into Djing was when a DJ in a local pub announced he was looking for people to play club dates. Sasha volunteered and now says that he “had about 30 records and basically just blagged it.” After honing his deck technique, his first big break came when he was offered a residency at Stoke’s legendary club Shelly’s. When all the other DJ’s were playing US House, Sasha’s style was much more uplifting, and he encapsulated clubbers with his mixture of piano led Italian house whilst playing acapella tracks over the top.

Shelly’s was the launch pad for the residency at Renaissance, where Sasha created his niche and helped to forge a new style in UK house music. At Renaissance two major things happened; Sasha mixed the first ever UK DJ mix album for Renaissance which has gone on to sell over 100,000 units, and he met John Digweed which cemented the partnership that is known as “Northern Exposure.” Together, they mixed the first of now three double CD’s, and toured over 5 continents all under the Northern Exposure moniker.

It was Sasha in 1991 that pioneered the UK sound of progressive house, and it was that same year that he broke into transatlantic territory catching America as it started to embrace dance culture on an unprecedented scale. The impact that Sasha made was passed on to DJ’s like Kimball Collins at the Beacham Theatre in Orlando, to Taylor out in LA. By 1996, Sasha and Digweed’s booking requests were so high that they included America in their worldwide Northern Exposure Tour playing in (need cities from Jimmy)

Then in April of 1997 along with good friends John Digweed and Jimmy Van M., Sasha began his residency at Manhattan’s premier nightclub TWIL0. In June of 1997 US label Ultra Records saw the potential in Sasha and John Digweed and released the first of their Northern Exposure CD’s. In January 1998, with the NYC residency rapidly gaining in popularity and interest in the duo spreading around the country from gigs they were playing around the NY dates, Ultra Records released their second edition of Northern Exposure.

Not content with touring the world as a DJ, Sasha extended his talents to become an internationally respected producer and remixer, remixing everyone from Seal, Pet Shop Boys, to Orbital and BT. His remix of the latter’s ‘Embracing the Sunshine’ earned him the accolade of “Remix of the Year” in 1996. He also hit the Top 20 the same year with his own production titled ‘Be As One’ with vocalist Maria Naylor. In 1998 he remixed Madonna’s ‘Sky Fits Heaven’ and ‘Substitute For Love/Drowned World’, born out of his relationship with producer William Orbit.

Although Sasha had clearly reached a celebrity status it is his generous personality, his love for his peers and of course his completely candid humor that has enabled him to maintain such a likable high profile in the often-fickle world of club culture. Always one to share what comes his way, Sasha invited long time friend and collaborator BT to take part in what he called “One of the most amazing musical experiences of my life.” He is referring to his experience out at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studio in 1998 where Sasha explains in a Mixer article “We were in there for a week and we were just going to do one track (during RealWorld’s annual recording week in Bath England where artists from all over the world are invited down to record at Gabriel’s famed studios.) There were so many talented musicians around and the vibe down there was incredible. People were walking in, hitting things, strumming things and slapping their goats. There was mad African people everywhere. We ended up recording five tracks and finishing four.”

Now, looking at 1999 it is clear why Sasha is one of the world’s most hard working, respected, and influencial DJ’s. He has bridged the gap between the UK and American music scenes by touring America each month, while putting in the efforts it takes to release CD’s in both markets.

This year alone Sasha has released and toured on the back of a third double Northern Exposure CD with John Digweed called Expeditions, (March 1999/Ultra Records/US) as well as his own mix CD ‘Global Underground San Francisco’ (June 1999/Thrive Records/US) which paid tribute to one of his favorite places to play. On New Year’s Eve Sasha play 3 gigs in the UK before flying over to NYC’s TWIL0 for Jan.1, 2000

Somewhere in between the international globe trotting for gigs every weekend; Sasha found time to get back into the studio. On July 5th, Sasha released the Xpander Ep on Deconstruction in the UK where he demonstrates a wide range of musical elements over four original productions, ‘Xpander’, ‘Belfunk’, ‘Baja’, and ‘Rabbitweed’. ‘Xpander’ has already reached critical acclaim in the UK among the top DJ’s, the press and of course his fans. “Rabbitweed”, a name derived from a computer program was written in his London studio in February 1998, and was designed with the sound system and the crowd at his monthly residency at NYC’s Twilo in mind. “Baja”, a unique ambient track that was written in 1997 while he was spending time with producer Andy Page in Port Douglas Austrailia, is as he says, “…one of my most personal and favorite songs I’ve ever written. “Baja” was written on a portable studio when returning from a diving trip on the barrier reef, and it captures the essence of what it felt like to be under water.” The Xpander EP has already hit #18 on the UK album charts, and Ultra Records in America will release it on October 19th. The “Belfunk” remix and “Xpander” are the first two tracks that Sasha has done in his new studio home outside of London with his full time musical collaborator Charlie May, (previously from Spooky).

With the word out that Sasha was back in the studio he was quickly to be the musical director for Sony Playstation’s biggest game release of 1999, “Wipeout 3,” scheduled for release at the end of September. The game is garnering amazing press coverage world wide including an award for Best Racing Game and Best Game of the Show at the E3 -the Electronic Entertainment Exhibition convention in Los Angeles in May 1999. Sasha has written five original tracks to soundscape Wipeout 3 and a CD will be released at a later date with all five of these tracks.

His special touch has also recently called upon by The Chemical Brothers, who singled him out as the only artist asked to remix a track (Out of Control) from their new album. “I just clubbed it out to a style like I would play, the elements and sounds that the Chems used were so wicked that I didn’t want to change them at all.” Sasha reports on the making of the mix that will be out Oct. 4th in the UK.

Mix CD’s, remixes, video game soundtracks, festivals and his many residencies keep Sasha in the center of it all. Not only has he, played all of the massive festivals including Homelands, Love Parade, and Creamfields while maintaining a residency TWIL0 (US), but he has also been a resident DJ in Ibiza this summer at SPACE, probably the most loved club on the island. In order to capture and spread the brilliant vibe that is created on the Spanish Island of Ibiza and share it with the rest of the world Sasha has just completed Global Underground Ibiza. The CD will be released on September 20th in the UK on Boxed Records and in November on Thrive Records in America. Additionally, the first weekend in October will be the first weekend of his new monthly residency at Fabric in London.

Busy? Yes. However, if you ask Sasha what his opinion is on his hectic schedule, he would tell you that it is really quite simple: he was born to make and play music and there is nothing else he would rather do.