Alan Hartley
More than three decades since he was first bitten by the house bug, it is clear that Alan Hartley has lost none of his passion for the dance floor, whether he is playing to it or dancing on it.
Having fallen in love with house music the first time he heard it in a club in north west England in 1986, it would be another 10 years before he purchased his first pair of decks. But, in the time since, Alan has established himself as an eclectic DJ capable of reading and reacting to any crowd and a successful promoter creating one of the most glamorous brands of the Noughties with Twisted Elegance.
Always seeing himself as a clubber first and DJ second, Alan started out DJing in a backstreet of Liverpool at the now legendary G-Bar and the last 20 years have seen him play for some of the UK’s biggest house nights, among them Garlands, Venus and Miss Moneypenny’s.
As the new Millennium dawned, his flamboyant style and dynamic sets also made him the perfect booking for glamorous party brands like Chuff Chuff, Ultima and Peruvia.
In 2002 Alan turned his hand to promoting and co-founded Twisted Elegance at Manchester’s Ampersand nightclub. With its glam house soundtrack, lavish production and teams of entertainers it quickly became one of the country’s most popular dance floors. Indeed, in 2007, Pete Tong declared Twisted Elegance the ‘new kings of glam’.
However, after five hectic years promoting, Alan decided the time was right to go back to his roots and at the end of that year he gave give up the glitter cannons to focus on DJing.
It proved to be a wise move and one which saw his DJ reach widen dramatically.
Within months he would be making his debut for Creamfields.
Booked to play the closing gig in the VIP arena at the festival’s 10th anniversary in 2008, Alan left the crowd panting for more at four in the morning on a soaking wet Saturday and ensured himself repeat bookings for 2009 and 2010.
In 2011 he was asked to open the main stage at the festival, the same stage that just hours later would be taken over by none other than David Guetta.
Alan’s magnetic Sunday afternoon set enticed bleary-eyed festival-goers from their tents and filled the field with close to 5,000 clubbers winning him a whole new army of fans.
Four years later Alan had the honour of opening another Creamfields main stage – this time at the brand’s inaugural festival in Ibiza at Ushuaia, while this August will be his ninth time playing for Creamfields in the UK.
2011 also saw him achieve another of his dreams when he landed a set at Space, Ibiza, playing El Salon at Carl Cox’s Revolution night.
Recent career highs have included playing alongside his own DJ hero, Roger Sanchez twice, and for the past three years Alan has played and managed the Love House arena at Reminisce, one of the UK’s fastest-growing classics festivals as well as for the Heroes of House brand.
This summer will also see Alan return to Ibiza to play for Sin Sundays at Ocean Beach.
Versatile and skilled at steering the dance floor, Alan firmly believes clubbers’ satisfaction comes before musical education.
He is equally happy playing the anthems and classics – that create ‘those goose bump moments’ – as he is playing big room driving house, tech and techno.
In his own words ‘house without boundaries’.
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