Da-Real
Role: DJ / Producer
Years behind the decks from Tokyo to Berlin, Ibiza to London.
Before Aftershock, there were two friends, Da-Real and ShawnJ, and a lot of airports. For years they played clubs all over the world: late sets in Tokyo, warehouse nights across Germany, Berlin mornings that refused to end, sunrise in Ibiza, packed basements in London and Amsterdam, and dancefloors all over Europe. Different cities, different languages, same feeling. The lights go down, the room holds its breath, and when the bass finally hits, a floor full of strangers moves as one.
They lived on jet lag and adrenaline. Sleep happened on planes. Home was wherever the speakers were loudest.
Then they tried to stop. They came home, unpacked the bags and gave the quiet life a real chance: regular hours, slow weekends, records boxed up in the corner. It held for a while. But every time a car rolled past with the bass up, something pulled at them. They missed the crowds. They missed the drop. Most of all, they missed who they were behind the decks.
So they stopped fighting it. They took everything the road had taught them, how a room breathes, when to hold back and when to let go, and went looking for a voice to carry it. They found it in Kiana, a singer and a friend whose voice can hush a room or set it on fire.
That's Aftershock 868: two selectors and a singer, a sound system and a band, made in Trinidad & Tobago for any dance that's ready. The drop is the earthquake. What you feel after is us.