Biography
A jack of all trades and a master of many. When Melbourne dance whiz Jason Kelton aka Keltec turns his hand at something, you better brace yourself. Whether it’s through his Djing, production work, promoting, journalism and radio involvement or offering specialised IT solutions to the music industry through Deeper States Technology, the thirty-one year olds foresight in pushing the dance industry to the next level has made him one of the local scene’s greatest assets.
Growing up in Sydney, Keltec’s introduction to music came at an early age. His father played bass, saxophone and vocals in bands throughout the 60s, so sonic expression always ran strong in the family. As a youngster he embraced brass instruments and piano, honing a distinct ear for musicality that would hold him in good stead later in life.
Whilst drawing enjoyment from the more classical forms of music, Jason was only to truly find satisfaction when he made the switch to dance music in 1993 as an 18 year-old. Having made the move to Melbourne with his family for a fresh start three years earlier, Keltec found himself promoting local club night Sugar Shack. It was there that he met the legendary Phil K – then a fresh up and comer – and implored the spinner to teach him how to mix. Taking to the craft like a duck to water, Keltec soon found himself gigging across town at institutionalised venues such as Chevron, Crobar, Heaven and Star Bar, where he’d dish up a mixture of vocal house, commercial dance, even Indy rock and the odd slice of progressive.
From early 1995, Keltec continued his apprenticeship working for All-Star entertainment as a mobile DJ. The experience taught him one of the most important skills any performer can have; the ability to read a dance floor and propel them to the next level, a strength he turned into an art form in his ensuing years as a professional club DJ.
2000 was to mark Keltec’s pivotal re-entrance into the club scene. Whilst playing a gig at a private party, the talented spinner turned the place inside out with a devastating set of breaks and had attendees – many of them industry heads – gasping for more. No surprise that regular slots soon followed at the Lounge’s long-running Thursday nighter ‘Out of Order’ and the mental 33&1/3 parties. In the space of a year, Keltec went on to support the likes of 10-Sui, Meat Katie, Koma & Bones, the Stanton Warriors and local heroes Nubreed and Infusion, the latter of which he became their exclusive warm-up DJ throughout 2004 and 2005.
Then in late 2001, powerhouse event/tour promoters Future Entertainment welcomed Keltec into the fold as their unofficial breaks stable-horse which sparked a red-hot run of form, with the spinner landing slots on every major line-up in his home city of Melbourne; from Summadayze to Two Tribes, Godskitchen, Renaissance and Slinky, he played alongside some of the most respected in the biz. His natural talent for DJing and crowd-reading skills were such that it was not uncommon for Keltec to out-shine his international counterparts. This was the case when Adam Freeland came into town for the first Future Breaks shindig in 2001, with the cheeky champ dropping encore after encore, as he rocked the 800-strong crowd well into the morning.
Few could have been surprised then, when he was selected, along with fellow breaks don Ben Shepherd, to mix a disc for Future Breaks Vol.1 in 2003. Keltec’s mix included 12 locally produced works, laying testament to his ongoing patriotism for the rich local talent Australia has to offer. The mix would see the spinner’s profile skyrocket, with regular performances in Brisbane, Sydney, Byron Bay, Cairns and Hobart to follow.
A natural ability and aptitude for music as a teenager has translated well into production success for Keltec. Together with fellow DJ and Producer Dan Mangan, the pair’s Mortar & Pestle productions have gone a long way to establishing their names overseas. In 2004, they issued the ‘Concisio Abnotco EP’ on respected UK imprint 3Beat Breaks, with the stripped-back ambient vibe of ‘Clause 5.1’ finding its way onto Phil K’s DJ Magazine cover mount CD in May 2003. The flipside track ‘Voodoo in Space’ also caused a stir and went on to be championed by Satoshi Tomiie. The pair’s deft skills were also acknowledged by cosmetic brand Chick, who commissioned them to complete a promotional track aptly titled ‘Itsachickthing’ which was given out on a promo cd with the track also released on vinyl through Heavy Rotation in 2004, along with Keltec’s chugging progressive gem ‘DST Project’. Then in late 2004, James Zabiela became the next victim of their infectious production style, charting Exogroove at #3 in October, with the Brit rinsing the track everywhere from Singapore, to Miami, Moscow and the UK. So popular was this unreleased beauty, that punters at the massive 2005 Creamfields Festival held banners and placards requesting this house monster.
At present, the studio whiz is hard at work on a slew of new productions, collaborating with local house purveyor Sam Fraser on the electro-styled ‘Computer Love’, a remix of Sydney producer Tom Piper’s cut ‘The Drug’ for Bam Bam Music and a bootleg of Michael Jackson’s ‘The way you make me feel’ that is being used by Quazimodo Sound System as part of their live shows.
A musical experimentalist far more than a genre loyalist, Keltec may have been pigeonholed by some as a breakbeat king, but the vinyl stroker most certainly has multi-faceted aces up his sleeve. Catch one of the man’s sets around town and you’re likely to hear everything from electro, tech, house and progressive, with strong leaning towards jazzy vibes, piano licks and vocals. It’s only a matter of him adding Indy rock back in to his sets and Keltec will have taken the contemporary full circle in the evolution of dance music.
As well as playing regular gigs around town at Cho Gao, Crying Tiger and Tickled Pink, Keltec also runs regular Quality Control events with dance comrades Dan Mangan, Scott Feigan and Tahl as well as also playing gigs in Cairns every few months.
A dance scene all-rounder, Keltec is also a fixture at Melbourne’s 100% dance station Kiss FM, where he presents the weekly ‘it is what it is’ show with Sam Fraser and Katie Drover. The show has proved to be so popular that it is now syndicated monthly to Proton Radio in the USA. A keen observer of the local dance scene, Keltec also contributes a quarterly column for Resident Advisor covering news and upcoming releases.
His commitment to pushing the industry forward is strong, with Deeper States working hard to offer labels and artists digital promotion tools to increase the reach and ease with which they can have their music heard. Having worked so far with the likes of of Global PR, Warner, EMI, Sony-BMG, ABC Music, Liberation and Mushroom, its likely that this branch of Keltec’s tree is likely to grow considerably over the coming years as the industry makes the shift from physical to digital.
A true dance patriot, there isn’t much the multi-talented Keltec hasn’t involved himself in, with the man determined to raise the bar in every capacity he has available to him. With his enthusiasm and uncanny ability to give every project his own patented Midas touch, few could doubt he is headed for very big things in the coming years ahead.
For more info check out www.keltec.dj & www.myspace.com/keltec
