Sunday
It is over 30 years since Ian Ossia's first professional gig, at the then hugely influential and extremely cool 'Venus' night in Nottingham (run by then Sasha's manager James Baillee), followed soon after with a spot at the up-and-coming night in Mansfield 'Renaissance'. This night took many elements from Venus but extended it until 6am (or later), which gave it the ability to get top guests, such as David Morales, Danny Rampling, Jeremy Healy, Ten City, A Man called Adam, and Dina Carrol as late night clubs were a rarity at the time. It also gave Sasha his first residency after the 'Shelley' phenomenon of the early 90s where he first made his name in a big way. All these factors combined to make something rather special and Ian's residency started in June 1992, shortly after the opening of the club. Having left behind a university degree to embark on his DJing career, many precedents were set during those first 2 years at Renaissance, and the 'Progressive House' scene was born. Labels such as Guerilla Records (brainchild of later super producer William Orbit) and Strictly Rhythm became huge, and the scene began to grow exponentially. From here on in, Ian's name grew along with the club, and the sound that Ian helped develop started to become an international scene. Renaissance started the now commonplace event of a club tour, and these tours took Ian and his sound to all corners of the globe including US, Australia, Asia, South America and throughout Europe both east and west. He also had strong ties with the Ministry, including a slot at the 2000 New Year's bash at the Millennium Dome, where Ian played the main slot before Paul Oakenfold. After a long hiatus for the early years of his daughter's childhood, Ian rediscovered the love for the scene on a different tangent with the rise of Nu Disco. This led to holding an event to bring over some of his favourite artists Dr Packer and Late Nite Tuff Guy, and Downtown Disco was born. Ian's sets as resident are the solid underbelly of the events, with his setswinning big plays on Soundcloud and getting the Downtown parties moving from opening doors. Downtown Disco has won #1 Disco Event in the UK in the OGV public vote awards two years running, and has been quoted as being the favourite event of the year for Dr Packer and superstar resident Michael Gray. Ian is a real DJ's DJ, known equally for his knowledge of music, his phenomenal technical ability and his knack of feeling a crowd and taking them with him on his blissful journey. His recent production 'Papas Stoned' received huge acclaim and was #1 on Greg Wilson's '20 Choice Edits & Reworks 2020-2022'.
