Previously known as W.I.G, The Notorious W.I.G, and various other monikers throughout the years, 2007 saw the latest and hopefully last rebranding of one Jeff Waye into the man called Ghostbeard (despite basing a name around facial hair guaranteeing he can no longer shave… he has no regrets…)
By day Jeff is one of the head folks at Ninja Tune Records (overseeing it’s North American operations) as well as being a partner in Third Side Music publishing… although his DJ career started well before taking the Ninja Tune position 13 years ago…
Having started out way back in the early 90’s Montreal rave days, he was one of the go-to DJ’s for the “2nd room”. After a year or so of trying to compete with the room bleed from the main room on sub-par after-thought sound-systems, heady ambient records gave way to hip-hop/jazz/funk and the ol’ jungle records played on 33 trip out.
Partnering with Ninja Tune in 1996 offered him various spots with lots of visiting artists, and the Ninja Tune aesthetic of playing a wide range of eclectic music through a set started to influence things more & more through the years. These days however, ever since adopting the Ghostbeard moniker, Jeff really just wants to play reggae, dancehall, jungle, dub-step, and all things ragga-related… Sure he’s got other jams on hand and will swing that way if need be, but it’s rare he has to… Having dealt with a wide range of classic reggae & dub labels at previous distribution jobs, been a buyer for some of the first jungle labels out of the UK, held down a reggae/dub night residency, and setting his credit card on fire every week with on-line dancehall 7” purchases, his collection runs deep and nerdy…but most importantly dancefloor rocking.
Residencies :
Sud-West (monthly with Poirier at St Ambroise Terrace) : current
Ninja Tune Clockout (2nd Saturday every month : Zoobizarre) : 2007 – currently
Dub Lounge (Blizzarts Montreal) : 2003-2005
Freezer (Angels Montreal) : 1994-1996
Recent High Profile Gigs :
The Bug / Kode 9 / Flying Lotus (Bug Launch Party June 2008, London UK)
The Bug & Flowdan (Bug Launch Party, June 2008, Montreal & Toronto)
Piknic Elektronik w/ Sase One, Bliss (July 2008)
Igloofest w/ Devlin & Darko (Spank Rock), Daedelus, Ghislain Poirier (Jan 2008)
Piknic Aquatik w/Amon Tobin, The Bug, Ghislain Poirer (September 2007 Montreal)
Igloofest w/DJ Food, Ghislain Poirer (January 2007)
Opening for Massive Attack (September 06 Montreal)
Shared Bill with (Montreal & International / partial list)
The Bug
Kode 9
Flying Lotus
Devlin & Darko
Spank Rock
Steinski
Diplo
Bonobo
Daedelus
Poirier
Massive Attack
Sixtoo
Panasonic
Autechre
Scanner
Prefuse 73
The Orb
DJ Vadim
The Herbaliser
The Mad Professor