Bonsai Hifi: Bringing Passionate Music Lovers Together...
- by The Lioncub
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
The Balearic Breakfast Family includes friends who deeply care about sharing their bottomless love of music. Pooky is definitely one of them...
1) Hi Pooky!! Thanks for joining us here on the Balearic Breakfast blog! How did you get into music? What were your first memorable musical moments?
Hi, and thank you so much for having me.
“Getting” into music never happened to me, to be honest. It was always there and has been my best friend since day one, something I don’t take for granted. It has never let me down, and there is a song for every mood I find myself in. Music to me is like petrol or electricity to a car: an absolute necessity.
Something I don’t really talk about is that I was profoundly deaf when I was born, and I wasn’t able to hear until I was about four years old. It wasn’t picked up on by anyone except my dear mum. It was a chronic case of glue ear and required my adenoids to be removed and various other procedures. Strangely, and wonderfully, I now have perfect hearing and am privileged to actually remember my first sound, which was leaves rustling on a tree, something I will never forget.
My first musical experience was hearing a band play live. It was 1975, and I had just received this gift of hearing when my parents took my sister and me to Edinburgh to see the Royal Military Tattoo. I was enjoying the whole spectacle and, in particular, the sound of the military drums, but, at the end, there was a lone piper playing up in the castle and the sound and enchanting atmosphere made me cry, not in a bad way but in a way I couldn’t describe. (much to my older sister's amusement, as she has never let me forget that moment). My mum was convinced that the lack of hearing in my younger years allowed me to develop an acute sonic sense and a hunger for new sounds.
This mixtape was made a long time ago, it sold many copies and gave me the confidence that people liked the music I played and would be happy to pay for it. Obviously not very balearic but it took me weeks to perfect in one take! Pooky
2) When did you discover the art of DJ’ing? Who were your favourite DJ’s? If you’d met someone who would be willing to start DJ’ing, what would you tell him/her about the craft?
I’d always loved sharing music with people from an early age on, and by the time I turned fourteen (1985), I was already running my own little sound system with my mate Rob. Crazy Daze Disco was our name, and rocking out church halls was our game!! We were truly bad at it and were often thrown out and not paid because of the inappropriate, expletive-laden hip-hop played at extreme volume. Haha!
We loved every minute of it, unlike the crowd !! About the same time, my first experience of DJ’ing, as we now know it, was when a friend introduced me to a guy called Mike Clark, who was publicly known as DJ Trix. Mike, by coincidence, lived in the same village and, unbeknownst to me, was already a world-class hip-hop DJ. I had a good knowledge of and deep affection for hip-hop culture and the art of DJing, but had never seen it performed live before.
One day we went round to see Mike and there he was with his two Technics 1200 turntables and a Phonic MRT60 mixer (he later went on to design his own for signature model for Vestax). It was a real eureka moment for me, and it literally changed the course of my life. Mike also used to play at a legendary night called The Defhouse, run by another great DJ, Desa, who later went on to form The Bassheads. There was also Stu Allan’s iconic “Bus Diss” radio show, a firm favourite. By 1988 I had bought my own pair of Technics and Gemini MX2200 mixer (a signature mixer from DJ Cash Money who I later got to sign it).
If I were going to give anyone advice on the craft, I would first ask why they want to be a DJ and what they expect from it. Those answers would inform my advice.
3) You run the Bonsai Hi Fi Sound System. How did the journey start? Were you influenced by David Mancuso? Can you tell us more about your journey as a musical host?
I guess the journey started around the late 1990s. I had heard whisperings of David Mancuso’s New York parties in magazines, etc., and in 1999(ish), I was working in a record shop when some boxes arrived from the Nuphonic record label titled “The Loft.” The track listing looked very interesting, so I bought both the vinyl box sets and the CDs, a double buy I’d been doing since 1995. I had transitioned to DJing with CDs since I started buying them in 1990, but I still bought the same albums on vinyl to maintain those analogue skills. I have a CD copy of nearly every album or single I own on vinyl, or records, as I prefer to call them. Mad but true. I had already made an immediate move to digital, as it was obvious to me that the future would be that way, something I would pivot from again when I returned to predominantly using records for the Bonsai Hi Fi parties.
I poured over the incredible liner notes for days, and my mind was absolutely blown away!! I wanted to build my own system and have complete creative and musical control. That was the genesis moment. I continued DJ’ing every weekend until 2015, when I sold my wine business to start Bonsai Hi Fi Sound System with the help and advice of Colleen’s wonderful husband, Adam. He invited me to my first London Loft party in 2015, and there was a moment when Colleen played a song called "Rushing To Paradise" (how apt). That was the exact moment (on that dancefloor) that I knew it was going to be my final chapter of DJing or musical presentation in this case. My thesis, if you like. I also happened to bump into the aforementioned Desa, whom I hadn’t seen in years, and some other friends on the dance floor that very special night. It felt like a sign.
I had achieved everything I wanted to do in nightclubs and wasn’t happy with the way the club scene was going, or the way DJ’s were presenting themselves; it seemed like ego had completely taken over from doing something for the love of it. Twenty people on a line-up, each playing for an hour, seems like trying to write a book where everyone writes a sentence. I love being a resident DJ; it’s so much more fulfilling to know the regulars and all the staff. Also, I do not like playing on stages; I prefer DJ’ing on the same level as dancers, so I can see the whites of their eyes and their gorgeous, big smiles. It is less important for me to be seen and more important to be heard, “Loud And Clear” as my friend Andrew Pirie might say (If you're reading this, Andrew, I’m sending you lots of positive energy!!!!).
Another person I would like to mention is Andrew. The Bonsai Hi-Fi parties are held in the most beautiful setting in the middle of pretty much nowhere, on his family’s farm on the Wirral. Andrew has been my best mate and partner for as long as I can remember, and landing on the farm as our venue (which took a while for the penny to drop for both of us) is very special. I’d bought and built the system without a thought for where I was actually going to put it. He creates an amazing atmosphere and is always centre stage on the dance floor when the work is done, alongside my incredible wife and daughter, who keep me sane and make it all possible, not to forget Kerry, who basically runs the event space like an absolute goddess!
4) I vividly remember the mix you did for Balearic Breakfast, as it is a perfect example of a well-balanced set, with ups and downs, a nice musical unity and a strong rhythmic feel too. How did you prepare for that one?
Thank you. I search for new music for about an hour or two every night, have been doing so for years. When I have enough new tracks that feel like they belong together, I make an old-school mixtape or CD for me and my wife to listen to. As a DJ, I am definitely against playing one genre. As the musical host at Bonsai Hi Fi it’s a little bit different as I don’t play much hip hop or drum n bass, it’s more of a delicate hedonistic vibe of disco, deep house, soul, funk and a dash of reggae, fairly organic to be honest. My brain likes the double-sided nature of going bat shit crazy on three CDJ’s in a club or the delicate playing of one song from beginning to end at Bonsai Hi Fi parties. I very much have my own take on the music, I don’t play many of the incredible records David Mancuso played, it’s more his party ethos and sound system ideas that I have been inspired by.
I don’t want to be seen as a tribute act; it’s more out of respect for his amazing legacy that Colleen helps maintain (you’re an incredible Lady Colleen!). Putting together mixes is something I’ve always loved doing and spend a great deal of time on, and if you visit my Soundcloud or Mixcloud pages, some of my work is up in the 50,000 listens count. That gives me a great feeling to share the music I love, and because of the nature of only playing four parties a year, it’s a way of keeping that line of communication open.
5) Can you tell us more about what lies ahead for you in 2026?
More parties, building Bonsai Hi Fi to its maximum potential whilst staying true to myself and the amazing family that Bonsai has become. I prefer not to talk about anything in the pipeline until it’s a done deal (I’ve always thought it loses its power when discussed), but I am very excited for the future. As long as the people come, we will be there!