Raindance: 5 Steps With Sonny Wharton

Sonny Wharton has emerged in the past couple of years as one of the brightest prospects in the UK. Described by The Shapeshifters as “one of the most prolific producers out there” he’s remixed the likes of Fatboy Slim, Frankie Knuckles and The Temper Trap. Releasing singles on Size, Toolroom, Spinnin’ and Skint Sonny has received regular support from house music heavyweights Pete Tong, Steve Angello, Roger Sanchez and Mark Knight whilst continuing to push his own label Whartone Records and dominate the download charts. As a DJ Sonny shot to fame by winning a DJ Mag mix-tape competition for Renaissance leading to sets in Ibiza at Amnesia, a weekly residency at the infamous Manumission and quickly went on to establish a formidable reputation as a DJ whilst racking up slots for the who’s who of club land with sell-out shows at Space, Pacha and Ministry Of Sound to name but a few.

Known for his technical abilities both in the studio and in the DJ booth Sonny has been able to call us at DT fans of his for a while now. Thus after enjoying a stellar 2013 that saw him continue his indomitable rise through electronic music and with an even bigger plans for the coming year for both him and his label it was only natural that invited Sonny to revisit 5 pivotal moments in his fledgling career. The fact that he also delivered us an exclusive mix to go with it was just a bonus!

Winning Renaissance DJ Mag Ibiza mixtape Competition

Since first going to Ibiza I’d always dreamed of DJing there and quickly decided that one day I was going to go over for a full season, at whatever cost, and try my hardest to get a gig – even if it was just in a bar. With the summer of 2002 fast approaching and all my travel plans in place I recorded my first ever “3 deck” (vinyl) mix with plans to using this as a demo for getting work in Ibiza that season. A couple of weeks later and sat in Departures at East Midlands airport waiting for my flight out I was reading the latest issue of DJ Mag and came across a competition that Renaissance we running with the prize to play at their Amnesia parties that season. Before boarding I called my dad and asked him to pop one of my CDs in the post to the competition address and then, to be honest, thought nothing more about it as I was off on an adventure with my brother to explore a whole new world on the white isle of Ibiza.

A few days later my mobile phone rang – I was using a pay as you go mobile at the time and had very little credit left on it and with the number calling showing as ‘unknown’ I very nearly didn’t answer it… I’m VERY glad I did! At the other end of the line was Marcus James from Renaissance telling me I’d won their competition and asking me if id like to play on the terrace at Amnesia for their opening party with Sander Kleinenberg & John Digweed the following week! This was the catalyst for everything that followed and by far one of the best summers of my life.

My first guest mix for BBC Radio 1

This was all down to the lovely Annie Nightingale after I met her at a place called The Underground in Ibiza the same summer I was playing for Renaissance and Manumission. She interviewed me for her show during the infamous Radio 1 weekend and then invited me to do a guest mix on her show the following month which was aired alongside a mix from one of my heroes, Josh Wink. I really can’t begin to thank Annie enough for this – she’s renowned for championing underground music and giving new artists a platform and I feel very fortunate to have been one of the lucky ones to have her support along the way. 

Setting up my own label Whartone Records

Setting up my own record label was something I wanted to do for a long time but for some crazy reason took me about 3 years to get the concept and name together before launching Whartone late in 2009. The main reason I did it was because I was getting sent so much great unsigned music from producers that had no real platform for people to hear their stuff and I wanted to try and help with this.

Obviously it’s a logical thing to do for producers nowadays and it certainly gave me a good base for my own tracks as well but predominantly the original focus was about producers that were making music I really loved and through the 4 years its been running we’ve had some amazing artists come through and go onto huge success in their own rights. It’s been great to see this and more importantly make some life long friends from it too – everybody on the label help each other out and seem to really support what each other are doing which is brilliant to be a part of. We’ve just celebrated our 100th release with myself X-Press 2 and Marco Lys and I’m really excited for what the next 100 releases will bring.

Signing to Skint Records

As a producer this has been by far one of the most pivotal points of my journey so far and having been a huge fan of Skint’s releases for so many years its something I still can’t quite believe I’m now part of. The opportunity came about because of Rocky, Diesel and Ashley Beedle of X-Press 2 who, after DJing with them at the Wickerman Festival one year, very kindly gave me a shot at remixing their track “Opulence” and off the back of that Skint offered me some more remixes and the chance to come on board as one of their artists.

Since then it’s become a home for me and now being managed by them as well its allowed me to really develop as an artist and push things forward much more musically than I ever thought possible.  I genuinely feel so lucky to be able to work with such an amazing label and have the backing of fellow artists like Fatboy Slim and X-Press 2.

Raindance – BBC Radio 1 “Ibiza track of the summer 2013”

Making “Raindance” was purely a labor of love for me; my personal homage to the rave sounds that inspired me to fall in love with dance music back when I was in school and first watched Carl Cox live from The Eclipse on MTVs “Hit Man & Her”. I’m still not entirely sure how he got a copy but ironically it was Carl that really championed this record and gave it a life of its own after hammering it in his sets all year.

Just for him to hear it would have been enough for me as he was the original inspiration behind me making it so for it to become such a big track purely because of his support still feels a bit surreal. In July last year Carl Cox chose “Raindance” as his tune for the BBC Radio 1 Review Show Ibiza Special – it was up against tracks from the likes of Hot Natured and Avicii and after a public vote from the listeners of the show somehow we came out on top… for a track that means so much to me personally this was a dream come true and forever be one of those “pinch me” moments that just doesn’t seem real!

Check out Sonny’s exclusive mix for us below: