Slick Steve

DJ Russell Ruckman

Growing up as a teenager in the early nineties Russell was heavily influenced by the likes of Masters At Work, Bobby & Steve, Tony Humphries, Gilles Peterson, Joey Negro and when it comes to proper U.S house & garage his biggest inspiration was Paul Trouble Anderson who’s Kiss FM show he tuned into religiously from early 95. From the age of 14 Russell was already starting to get his foot in the door of the Brighton dance scene by working on local radio stations Freedom FM & Dfm 101.4. Russell’s early days of working on specialist dance music radio taught him a lot about the industry, which was an amazing opportunity for someone so young, plus getting to rub shoulders with the likes of Norman Cook, Dave Clark and Marshall Jefferson while doing it was also quite an experience too! Russell took some time out for a few years to do other things but then in 2005 he hit the decks and picked up from where he left off, he was soon securing gigs around Brighton and London. In 2007 Russell moved to Bournemouth so he was focusing on local gigs in that part of the country. While in Bournemouth Russell got spotted by the South West's infamous soulful house event “God Made Me Funky” and soon became a resident DJ. After being snapped up by God Made Me Funky in 2008, the following year Russell picked up another residency, this time in Brighton at the Funky Buddha Lounge playing for London house music promotion Bobby & Steve Presents. During this time Russell picked up gigs from other promoters in the same venue. Then more Brighton gigs came in, including a Friday night residency at Heist. Bookings and residencies for venues included: Audio, Digital, Funky Buddha Lounge and The Coalition in Brighton. Bar 54, Stanza, Medicine, The C.A.M.P and Bar Vinyl in London. Not forgetting gigs in other parts of the UK including: The Midlands, Bristol, Dorset and Devon. Things blew up in no time and bookings from around the country were rolling in, all of the traveling from Bournemouth was too much so Russell moved back to Brighton. As well as DJing for some of the best events and venues in the UK Russell has also been lucky enough to play alongside some of his favorite DJ’s and producers which include: Karizma, Paul Trouble Anderson, Aaron Ross & Neil Pierce from The Fanatix, Lady Duracell, Suff & Maurice from Mange’ Le Funk, Grant Nelson, Victor Simonelli, Bobby & Steve, Spen, DJ Romain, Sarah Favouritizm, Brandon Block, CJ Mackintosh, Richard Earnshaw and The Aphrodisiax to name a few. In 2010 Russell created a new house music brand/ collective called Soul Damn Funky. SDF soon became a very successful event. SDF was the only event in Brighton specialising in niche US house and garage/ soulful house. SDF was also the only event bringing down such headliners as Paul Trouble Anderson and CJ Mac. In 2011 Russell launched SDF, the radio show which was weekly on Saturday mornings. In May 2012 Russell released a compilation album in conjunction with Bassline Records and a year later the album was still in the Traxsource classics top ten! Following on from the success of the first album, in 2013 Russell teamed up with house music superstar DJ/ producer Todd Terry and released another compilation on InHouse Records. Russell carried on putting on Soul Damn Funky events until 2020, then the world came to a halt! Due to the quiet period that started in 2020 and Russell's own unexpected health problems (unrelated) Russell has just been working quietly in the background. Russell created a new music brand called “Turn It Loose” TIL hasn’t yet hosted a party but has been running as a very successful radio show since April 2022. 2023 and Russell has just produced his first record called “For The Love” a very percussive upbeat house track, it's already got support from some of the biggest names in the industry. For The Love is due for release at the end of August 2023