LL Bishop
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Biografía
- Veteran Club & Underground DJ/Producer with 25 + years of service... Pioneer & innovator of Colorado's electronic underground dance scene... Owner & operator of Colorado's first full scale DJ specialty shop Soulflower Records... Releases on U.S. lab..- DJ LL Bishop's career started more than 20 years ago after moving to Colorado from Texas in the summer of 1990. He embarked on his first DJ job in Boulder Colorado at the Express Club and his time there would seem to end almost as soon as it began. In the words of club owner Bart,"your too ahead of your time". He soon was introduced to Julian Bradley who had just moved to Boulder from San Diego. Julian and his business partner Mike-e had transplanted to Colorado with aims to introduce the state to a "rave culture" based upon the experiences Bradley had while living in England and Southern California. Bishop wasted no time in hooking up with Julian and his newly formed Poorboy Productions. Not only becoming a resident deejay, but a vital part of Poorboy's day to day promotions & production. - During 1992 & 93, Poorboy Productions & Energy Posse Productions would lay the foundation for the Colorado rave scene. Bishop and the Energy Posse DJ's found themselves in the role of innovators. His affiliation with Poorboy led to monthly one offs such as Electrified, Colossus & Enchanted Forest as well as weekly events including The Kitchen Club & Sunshine at the Marquee Club in Boulder. Bishop became a regular alongside Hipp-e at Fab Afterhours as well as a resident DJ for Rock Island in Denver. - In November of 1993, Come Together Productions broke on to the Denver scene with their debut event named Come Together and included LL Bishop as resident deejay. With the eventual addition of Brad Roule (of now Manufactured Superstars fame) as a partner to Jason Bills the company would quickly evolve into Colorado's leading production company. It would earn respect locally and throughout North America for it's creative vision & leadership with the help of eventual resident deejay's Fury, Vitamin D, Nique & Beekay. In the winter of 1994, Bishop and Bobby Brown created Linear 3 Productions. This union led to such events as Baron, Pure, Nectar, Paradise plus Unity 1 and would introduce Colorado to such DJ talent as Terry Mullan of Chicago and San Francisco's D.R.C.. Bishop also collaborated with Merrick of The Tribe to throw Honey featuring Markie Mark of San Francisco's Wicked Crew. - LL Bishop became the music buyer for newly opened Fat Tuesday in the early spring of 1994. Differences in philosophy between owner Merrick and Bishop quickly ended the honeymoon and led to his departure. Soon after in August of 1994, friend Alan Cowley approached Bishop about joining him at his recently opened Soulflower vintage shop and expanding to include a vinyl department. By November, Soulflower's success was apparent and quickly growing with the addition of Denver's first fully DJ owned and operated specialty shop. The success of the music department and the state of Denver's rave scene at that time would see Bishop make the decision to severe ties and end his partnership with Brown and Linear 3 after the Paradise event . Visions of a alternative to the weekend raves had made Bishop begin to put his energy toward creating a more intimate environment that would appeal to the more mature party goers. Only the best in talent would be showcased. This led to the creation of "Flavour", a bi-monthly series which first introduced Colorado to the notorious Richie Hawtin (a.k.a Plastikman). - In 1995, Alan Cowley and Bishop started "Strut", a Soulflower Production. It was a Thursday night club event with rotating local and out of town deejays such as Dan, Doran, Mystic Bill, Mark Farina and Derrick Carter. By this time Bishop had played numerous gigs out of state which included Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, Akron, Toronto and Greensboro, N.C.. He would soon decide to venture into the studio and try his hand at recording an producing. This lead to Bishop's first studio project "Backhand" which was on California's Rampant Records 7th release, the "Roundtrip E.P.". It would be followed with the release of "Lucifer's Halo" and included the "Kickin The Dog Mix" in February of 1996 and was later signed to the U.K. label Subversive. The "Kickin The Dog Mix" appeared on Keoki's "Disco Death Race 2000" mix c.d. on Moonshine Records. Each release can also be found on the Planet Rampant LP Vol. 1 & Vol 2 respectively on Subversive (U.K.). In 1996 the first Rampant Tour was booked & would be followed up with Planet Rampant Tour 2 in 1997. The end of 1996 had seen Bishop make return appearances to Chicago, Fargo, Madison, Milwaukee and Toronto as well as first time appearances in Vancouver, St. Louis, Atlanta, Knoxville, Austin and San Antonio. - Soulflower's success was now getting national attention in addition to what it had been getting locally. Constant networking while in other cities with the national advertising in publications like URB and XLR magazine's would help make Soulflower's mail order business a huge success. Customers grew to depend on the Soulflower music department & it's staff consisting of D.J.s' Greg Eversoul, Craig C., Aquatherium, Nique and Bishop for their weekly vinyl needs. The Rampant Tour 1 began in the summer of 1996 and included stops in Toronto, Winston-Salem, N.C. and Gainesville, Fla. (Simons). - In October of 1996 Bishop married longtime girlfriend Wreath Rose. Shortly there after in May of 1997 she suddenly passed. This would be a defining moment for Bishop and those closest to him. The Rampant Tour 2 started in the winter of 1997 and included dates in cities such as Toronto, Detroit (Motor City Lounge), Phoenix & Charlotte, N.C.. Some other bookings that year included visits to Atlanta, Kansas City, Oklahoma City and San Francisco (Spundae). After many successful years, a difficult decision was made to close Soulflower's DJ/vinyl area. A solo venture would begin with the opening of N'Motion Records. Soulflower and N'Motion were both known for their DJ friendly atmospheres and there strong following amongst both veteran and the up and coming DJ's. - N'Motion was closed in the summer of 2002. Some much needed healing and time to reground himself led to his move back close to family in Texas. Colorado would become home again in 2006. L.L. currently can be found playing at limited local & out of state gigs including Austin & San Francisco.̸RAM007 Roundtrip / SHOP Roundtrip E.P. (12") 1995 RAM011 Lionheart / SHOP Untitled (12") 1996 SUB 01D Various Planet Rampant Vol. 1 (Mix CD) 1995 SUB 07T Lionheart / SHOP Solid Solution / Jabberwocky / Lucifer's Halo (12") 1996 SUB 10LP Various Planet Rampant Vol. II (2xLP) 1996 SUB 10D Various Planet Ramapnt Vol. II (Mix CD) 1996 MM 80045-2 Various Superstar DJ Keoki – Disco Death Race 2000 (Mix CD) 1996
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