Chris Lockie

DJ and promoter

The simple act of listening to tape, given by a friend, of an illegal rave held in Leicester, in the early nineties started Chris Lockie’s love of house and his life long clubbing career regularly attending the likes of CREAM, GATECRASHER and GODSKITCHEN and hundreds of small nights up some of which along with new parties are still regularly attended The house music obsession in the early years finally led to the purchase of a pair of technics 1200SL turntables and a 2 channel numark mixer in ‘98 which were shared with his younger brother.
The 1200’s endured hours upon hours of practise, with Chris honing his skills, which led to playing at parties with friends then finally the running of two nights under the banner of ‘liquid nation‘ and in his own words ‘ it was all just so we could play at a bigger venue and party’.
Kicking it all off for Chris was an invitation from close friend Richard Dyer (skiddle) to play at Wickerman festival, in Dundar Scotland at Skiddle’s bass camp alongside the likes of X-Press 2, Mr. C, Greg Vickers and Sonny Wharton also on the bill in the dance arena we’re names like, Annie Nightingale, Meat Katie, Elite Force, Peter hook, and Graeme Park.
This year also saw Chris enter a DJ competition for the huge Carlisle promoters UBER, the mix Chris produced as an entry saw him qualify straight through to the final and play on the bill alongside UBER resident Ki Creighton and one of his long-time heroes, Danny Howells.
The performance at the competition saw Chris attain an invite to another Carlisle night STATIK, run by local DJ and promoter Gaz Foskett, then an appearance in Shoreditch for the lads at Gin palace Promotions at their night ‘into the washing machine’. More invites from the UBER guys due to his competition performance saw Chris on the bill alongside the likes of, James Ryan, Nic Fanculli, Sonny Wharton and again Danny Howells.
Chris, along with best friend, David Blacklock created GRU then later with long term friend Phil bridges on board, GRUUVE, all of this started off running small nights in the lads local west Cumbrian town of Whitehaven, this venture allowed Chris to play his distinctive style of techno and tech house with his GRU partners whilst showcasing lots of fresh and established local talent.
Another invite from the Skiddle crew in 2014 then again in 2015 to play the outdoor terrace at the ever growing Wickerman festival, 2015 saw Chris collaborate up with one of his close friends, established DJ and producer HelenM to play a sunset back to back set, both DJs using 2 separate controllers and Native instruments Traktor used this unique combination to create what was considered one of the best sets of the weekend.
GRU by this time had attracted the attention from local promoting legends MIGHTY BOOF PROMOTIONS and GRU was asked to host the dance stage at BOOFS ‘MILECASTLE 66’ festival in Carlisle’s Bitts Park, the stage hosted the likes of long term friend and Whartone records owner, Sonny Wharton also the likes of Whartone records Luke Stanger and House Meanz House, as well as tons of local talent over the full weekend.
FORTE 808 had picked up chris’s talents and offered him the chance to play alongside well established producer, DJ and ‘everyday hustlers’ label owner Dirty Secretz at their Feb 2017 party, this performance captivated and impressed the FORTE lads so much they invite Chris to be part of the FORTE 808 family and join them at ‘the elephants graveyard stage at Nozstock festival.