To call Jo Mills a frequent flyer is certainly an understatement - constant flyer is more like it! The talented DJ and producer is in high demand worldwide, currently making the regular commute between her beloved home base of Ibiza and major clubs in the UK and Europe, before commencing her eagerly anticipated new weekly residency at Wonderland - Pete Tong’s new Friday night venture at Eden for summer 2008. Hosting her very own room here will no doubt keep Jo busy, but she plans to maintain her hot new bi-monthly residency at Manchester’s Area 51 and continue to tour Europe throughout summer. Add to this the fact she’s heading back into the studio to produce new tracks in time for summer and you’ve got one very busy DJ.
Ibiza is buzzing with the announcement of the all-new Wonderland at Eden. Jo - alongside her legendary Ibiza promoter husband Charlie Chester - will be hosting the White Room, dubbing it ‘The Looking Glass’ in keeping with the Wonderland theme. ‘I’ve got a unique buzz about the Wonderland concept, about working alongside Pete Tong and his team and about the chance to host and programme my very own room. I really can’t wait - it’s going to be amazing!’ she says. Expect to see up and coming talent, local favourites and some very special international guests share the decks with Jo who - along with Groove Armada - will be exclusive weekly resident.
This new venture follows an extremely successful year that saw Jo crossing the globe to play in clubs from Shanghai to Sydney, Portugal to Paris, Dubai, Romania and Hong Kong to name a few. Her 2007 summer residency for Azuli at Space Ibiza along with special guest slots at Eden’s Electric Sex saw her popularity with partygoers surge, resulting in demand for her sets across Europe and the UK - landing a residency at Vertigo London and gaining a major boost in Italy, where Jo saw in the new year (and continues to play twice a month) with two superb gigs at Le Sade in Milan and Turin’s Le Gare.
Jo describes her trademark style as house music with depth and fluidity, adapted over the years to suit current trends and her own taste. ‘I love deep house with good rhythms and melodies and I enjoy building my sets to draw people in as I play - a bit like telling a story. I love soul music, but I also like techno - even if it’s dark and minimal it has to have that element of musicality for me.’ It’s this style that has seen Jo develop and maintain an extremely loyal fan base over the years and combined with her love of residencies, recognising the same faces in a crowd and building up a relationship with each audience, it ensures Jo is consistently re-booked.
Jo’s success really should come as no surprise - she gained her extensive musical knowledge during the early 90s at London’s famous Flying Records working alongside DJs such as Clive Henry, Rocky, Ashley Beedle and many other talented artists. Becoming a DJ wasn’t her intention but between work and her regular visits to Soho’s Flying Club, it was only natural Jo developed the desire to ‘put two tunes together,’ as she describes it. ‘DJ Mark Wilkinson kindly put the hours in teaching me and soon I was holding my own behind the ones and twos,’ she says, citing DJ Pierre and his Wild Pitch sound along with Strictly Rhythm as her original influences.
It wasn’t long before Jo was asked to play at Club UK in London and became a regular behind the decks at the infamous Full Circle parties on Sunday afternoons alongside heavyweights Deep Dish and Tony Humphries. Jo clearly did more than just hold her own and went on to warm up for some of the biggest names in dance music, including Danny Tenaglia, Roger Sanchez, Sneak and David Morales.
By the late 90s, it was the dawn of a new era for DJs, when they began travelling all over Europe to play some of the greatest clubs in the world. For Jo, this was when she went from part-time DJ to professional, scoring main sets all across Europe - from Denmark to Amsterdam to Italy and of course, Ibiza.
It was here that Jo quickly rose to fame with her legendary sets on the terrace at DC10. After gracing the decks at almost every major club on the island, including Pacha, Space, Cream and Dance Valley at Amnesia, it was clear that Jo - dubbed ‘One To Watch’ by Ministry magazine alongside Smokin’ Jo - had firmly stamped her mark on the island. In 2001 she began the famous weekly Circo Loco residency that would eventually span five years and propel her to the next level, giving her the opportunity to tour the world over. Miami’s Winter Music Conference, Serbia’s Exit Festival and London’s SW4 are just some of the unique places Jo has wowed audiences and from South Africa to South America, Asia to Australia, Mexico, the USA and Canada and even Russia, her popularity is continually increasing. She is invited to tour these countries (and many more) annually, while maintaining her European residencies.
Not content with simply spinning in the world’s greatest clubs, Jo has a string of compilations to her name and it’s easy to see why her next project is so eagerly awaited. Her previous releases include the Pacha Ibiza 2001 album- mixed alongside legendary Pacha icon Pipi - followed by the first (often cited as the ultimate) DC10 Circo Loco mix, with good friend Cirillo. In 2001 this album went to number one, selling 7000 copies in Ibiza alone in its first three days. In 2007 Jo was invited as the international guest DJ to mix the latest Attica Shanghai compilation meaning her fans around the world can continually get a taste of Jo’s notorious underground house sound, no matter where she may be in the world.
Jo is definitely no stranger to the studio, and 2008 heralds her return. Previous studio credits include tracks under the monikers Pyroplastic Soul, Gingergrooves, Hill Sixty and a successful track with Steve Mac called House Arrest released on Junior Boy’s Own. Her most successful production outfit to date however is alongside Matti Schwartz as 4Tune500. Their track Dancing in the Dark was signed to over 30 compilations and sold 15 000 copies worldwide, loved and played by everyone from Radio 1’s Pete Tong to Circo Loco’s Cirillo.
In 2006 Jo’s hard work - though she’ll tell you a lot of it was fun - really paid off when she was awarded the coveted Best Ibiza Electro DJ Award at the M8 Ibiza Dance Awards - voted for by her ever-growing fan base. Recognised by the industry as an all-round Ibiza legend, last year Jo also filmed a short video for Ministry Of Sound TV, taking viewers on a tour of her favourite island haunts and she was also interviewed for the upcoming documentary 'And The Beat Goes On', scheduled to debut at this year’s Ibiza International Film Festival. In Ibiza this summer, Jo says she can’t wait to sink her teeth into her new weekly residency at Eden’s Wonderland - alongside husband Charlie Chester, she’s already begun programming and planning her themes and special guests - and one thing is for sure, you can expect to see a whole lot more of Jo Mills in 2009.
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