Randy Katana (NL)
Artist
1992 - 2003
Randy Katana has been pioneering the Dutch dance sounds for well over two decades now. He founded the legendary Jinx and BPM Dance label collective (2 Play, Silver Premium, Tri Lamb, Smoke Free DJ Tools, Bango) that spearheaded the development of Tribal music as we know it today, finding & developing production talent such as Signum, Mac Zimms (Starkillers) and Mark Norman along the way.
2003 - 2007
Randy is no stranger to the studio himself, and is one of the most influential and forward thinking Tribal producers of our generation. Producing under the name Katana at first, then DJ Randy, and more recently Randy Katana, there are few producers who can claim to have been in vogue and in demand in what is a rapidly changing scene. It wasn't until the summer of 2003, when Randy's involvement in label management reached a crossroads, that made him decide to become a fulltime DJ.
After a tryout at one of the biggest clubs in Amsterdam, he was immediately accepted as resident DJ at XL (Kingdom), and his DJ-ing progress since has been nothing short of phenomenal. Randy Katana became one of the fastest growing artists in the Netherlands over the next year, the most booked international DJ in Spain, and he played countries like Poland, Malta, Crete, Sweden, Norway, France, UK, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Romania, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, Morocco, Colombia, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia, South-Africa and Australia. In Madrid he headlined the Fabrik White Party together with Judge Jules for a capacity crowd of 7000, while in the Netherlands he performed at some of the biggest festivals, including Dance Valley (Summer and Winter editions), Trance Energy, Beachpop, Almere Free Festival and loads more. Randy's rise through the DJ ranks was in overdrive and fueled by some of his biggest productions to date.
Hot on the heels of his massive releases 'Fancy Fair', 'Alesis' and 'Dulce Vita', that were hammered by every A-list trance DJ on the planet, Randy followed up with the awesome track 'In Silence', awarded 'Best Track Of The Year' in the 2004 in the www.tranceaddict.com poll. In 2005 came 'Pleasure Island', remixes of 'Fancy Fair' and one of the biggest dance anthems of the year in 'Play It Loud'. Moving into 2006 and Randy's DJ diary features virtually every major events in Europe, including Planet Love, Goodgreef, Ministry of Sound, Gatecrasher, The Gallery, The Vaults, Inside Out and Slinky in the UK, plus massive one-off events in eastern Europe, South-Africa, Scandanavia, Ibiza, Australia and beyond.
2007 - 2011
After releasing his album 'Spirit of the Drums' late 2007 and focusing on re-inventing his typical KATANA-sound in 2008/ 2009, he charges effortlessly to number one in the charts again with the massive tracks You & I, The Hype & Derp, and became the 5th DJ in the world in 2010 ever to play in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (the coldest city on earth).
2012 - 2013
Since the closing of BPM Dance in 2003 Randy has been secretly working on plans to go online with his record labels Katanabeatz, Dutchbeatz, & Silverbeatz. Due to the fact, that he didn’t have any knowledge of the workings of the Internet, he dedicated the whole year of 2012 to studying. Starting from the bottom with Photoshop all the way to hosting multiple websites online. He then got the opportunity to realize his dream, and launched his new Record Label online in November 2012: ComBeatz, smashing the charts with the first releases with the popular “In Silence” remixes, and Randy’s own new track:Randy Katana - Dot Com. At present Randy is webmaster to the ComBeatz network containing the following websites: Randy Katana, Ruben Vitalis, Sander van der Burg, ComBeatz, ComBeatz Bookings, ComBeatz Releases, ComBeatz Downloads,
All these new activities did not stop this 15 hour a day working musical genius. He used his newly acquired technological knowledge to seek new boundaries in the DJ field, and switched over to digital after more than 30 years spinning discs. Using the latest Pioneer technology he is now paving the way again to a new way of DJ-ing, giving him the opportunity to play more often, longer and even better sets than ever. For more information on Randy’s setup, please consult the Ryder.
After setting up more than 5 companies in one and a half year, the time has come for Randy to return back to his roots, into the studio, to do what he does best: producing music. At present time, he is working on several new tracks, that will make the ground shake in the music industry once again. On August 19th 2013 is the release of Randy Katana's 'Welcome to Pleasure Island'.
Crowds all over the world flock to experience his pioneering, surprising, captivating and energetic uplifting sets, that keeps them craving for more, and provides him the true & well-earned worldwide recognition.
Always trying to bring something new & refreshing to the dance scene, he keeps on looking & moving forward, re-inventing his unique sound along the way.
Read more