Music is the Answer Presents Summer Days 2026

The story of DJ Graeme Park really mirrors the story of the evolution of dance music and club culture itself. Graeme found himself working in a Nottingham record shop called Selectadisc in the early 1980s, when the very first house records began to filter through from Chicago, Detroit and New York. When the shop’s owner opened a nightclub, it was only natural he should turn to Graeme to select the discs. Determined to showcase this new style of music, his reputation as a house pioneer soon brought him to the attention of The Haçienda in Manchester, who asked him to cover for Mike Pickering while he went on holiday in 1988. Simply put, there was no-one else in the country who could do the job. The Summer of Love followed and Parky quickly became one of the biggest names on the emerging dance scene. Aside from his nine year residency at The Haç, he was one of the first British DJs to play places like Australia, South America, the USA, Asia and beyond as well as producing and remixing tracks for the dancefloor, including The Brand New Heavies, Inner City, Eric B & Rakim, New Order, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and others.

The Haçienda was a club without a purpose until house music filled its cathedral-sized dimensions. It undeniably defined Graeme as a DJ, but after more than three decades as a DJ that can only be seen as one chapter in an on-going tale: ‘Yeah it was a very big chapter,’ says Graeme. ‘I guess the first was when I realised I could DJ and discovered house music from the US. The Haçienda was chapter 2, then chapter 3 was when it re-opened after closing for a couple of months in 1992. Chapter 4 was when it closed not long after I left and I played all around the world. I suppose Chapter 5 was the turn of the century and continuing my journey to where I am right now, with more variety to my gigs and music selection than ever before. Chapter 6 sees my return to live performance, which is what I did before I became a DJ, with the Haçienda Classical show’

As far as Graeme’s concerned, things are as fab as ever. But where is dance music and club culture headed? Well, who better to ask directions than the man who wrote the disco A-Z? ‘I started doing it purely by accident,’ he details. ‘And then realised I was actually pretty good at it. But I never thought I’d end up doing it for over 30 years. And I see no need to stop either. I still love playing fantastic tunes in a variety of different clubs all over the place and people still want me to do it too.’

And where we are now is a very interesting place to be with regular gigs around the UK, Europe and beyond playing a selection of lesser known classic house cuts as well as new and current tunes to audiences made up of die-hard regulars and new clubbers too. There’s also a variety of occasional productions, remixes and collaborations under various guises with people such as legendary Ten City vocalist Byron Stingily, Juan Kidd, Natasha Watts and more. As a respected DJ Graeme regularly delves into the thousands upon thousands of tunes he has collected on vinyl over the years: “House music has made people channel their tastes, so I went back to my roots and pulled out some forgotten classics,” he grins, still in love with process of mining those rich seams of vinyl. “I love seeing a crowd go wild to a tune they haven’t heard for years or playing something really obscure from 20 years ago that people think is new.”

In the past few years Graeme has performed alongside a host of legendary DJs such as Todd Terry, David Morales, Derrick Carter, Louie Vega, Danny Krivit, Marshall Jefferson and others for a variety of FAC51 The Haçienda club nights playing a selection of contemporary tunes alongside a variety of forgotten classics. “We want to try and recreate the excitement of the original Haçienda when nobody knew what we were playing from one week to the next. I’m also a massive fan of the current crop of young house and dance producers who are making scores of huge club tunes that take their references from over 20 years ago. Response to our occasional Haçienda club nights has been massive from both young and older clubbers alike and it’s an absolute joy to play alongside legendary DJs that I’ve known and respected for decades.”

Graeme has been a major part of the critically acclaimed Haçienda Classical shows which have performed around the UK since 2016 to rapturous response where he performs live alongside the Manchester Camerata Orchestra, Peter Hook and special guest vocalists to a set of classic and contemporary club tunes. This euphoric show has had rave reviews and gives you the chance to hear classic club tunes like you’ve never heard them before with a full orchestra, live percussionists and a choir. Graeme even performs some lead vocals at some shows too. The show opened the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival in 2017 and has also performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Castlefield Bowl in Manchester, the Isle Of Wight Festival and lots of other arenas and festivals around the UK as well as in Dublin, Dubai and Switzerland.

Graeme’s recently released compilation album “Long Live House Volume 01: 1980s” is a triple CD or double vinyl album of early house cuts from 1985 to 1989 which were all massive tunes for Graeme in the early days of house. Released in December 2018, reaction to the album was huge and led to Graeme launching his own Long Live House club nights.

Graeme is also producing a forthcoming music documentary called “Embrace The New” with director Glenn Hanstock which features Marshall Jefferson, Johnny Marr, Shaun Ryder, Peter Hook, Rowetta, Clint Boon, Melanie Williams with others lined up too.

Celebrating over 25 years on the radio with shows on Kiss, Galaxy, Key 103, Radio City, Juice FM, Forth One, BBC Radio Manchester and more, Graeme’s years of experience help him understand the specialist skills required by a radio DJ: ‘A lot of radio shows or DJs just play the same big tunes. You can’t simply pretend you’re in a club, you have to talk to the audience and put your personality and knowledge across without sounding like an idiot.’ His weekly Graeme Park presents The Long Live House Radio Show airs on scores of radio stations both in the UK and overseas and brings in a big audience with his mix of new and older tunes mixed together like only he knows how. He recently produced a documentary “The Making Of The Haçienda Classical” for BBC Radio Manchester and in July 2021 Graeme returned to daytime radio as the Breakfast presenter on Mom’s Spaghetti radio, the home of hip hop, house and happiness, until the end of 2023.

Throughout the global Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 Graeme kept himself busy livestreaming and he was an integral part of Stream GM, which broadcasted three online Haçienda House Party events to a global audience of millions. Each show featured a massive line-up of DJs as well as Haçienda Classical performances with the Camerata Orchestra, musicians and singers all performing remotely. Graeme also DJ’d on the Stream GM platform for 12 hours as part of his All Day Long live stream. As well as performing online throughout 2020, Graeme has been busy setting up Haçienda Recordings and the new label will launch in 2021. In November, Graeme was very proud to receive the Innovation Award at the annual Scottish Music Awards for his work with Haçienda Classical. The awards took place online with Graeme performing remotely with the Manchester Camerata.

This year, Graeme is celebrating his 40th Anniversary as a DJ with a series of special extended DJ sets throughout the year.

Whether through his live DJ sets in clubs or online, his radio shows, his productions and remixes or simply by getting to know his audience, Graeme has spent more than three decades getting his personality across. He was there before it all started, he was at the forefront of the dance scene when it was at its zenith and he’s still there, still rocking it, years later – longer than some of the people on the dancefloor have been on the planet! And the best thing is he still loves it, still loves the music and still loves to play it for people to dance to.

‘Yeah, for my entire career I’ve been finding good tunes that I want other people to hear. The reason I keep doing it is simple: it’s my mission in life to let people hear good music.’

The Haçienda is now an apartment building (the developers asked Parky to DJ at the launch; he politely declined). At the back of the building there is a time-line, carved into steel, detailing the history of the club from Madonna‘s early performance to its closure. And there’s Graeme’s name not once, but twice, carved into the metal for time immemorial. What other DJs (what other venues?) have had that significance in clubland?

With a career spanning four decades, which began in what many consider to be

the birthplace of the British House and Techno music scene and the UK’s music

mecca, Fac 51 The Hacienda, and a busy UK and international schedule that

shows no sign of abating, few of today’s DJs can boast a pedigree like Jon

Dasilva, who was recently voted in at #25 in Iconic Magazine reader’s poll of All

Time Top 50 DJs.

The Hacienda in Manchester, circa 1988, was a special place - a convergence of

post-modern architecture, cutting edge music and out-there youth culture. It

was home to Factory Records (arguably the best record label of the decade),

and some of the greatest bands for decades to come, including New Order, the

Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses. It was also home to three DJs - Mike

Pickering, Graeme Park and Jon Dasilva - who in the words of the great Tony

Wilson of Factory Records ‘pissed petrol on the fire’, sound-tracking the whole

affair with a freshness of attitude that launched many a club... and even more

DJs. You’ve probably read the books, seen the films, bought the albums, and

yes, worn the Tee shirt.

Considered to be Hacienda’s most singular resident DJ, Jon Dasilva was fresh to

the scene in '87, finding DJ inspiration in the House and Disco DJs of deepest

New York and Chicago, amidst a sea of influences, from Bowie to Dub Reggae to

Kosmische Musik to Disco. His broad musical tastes and ability to work so many

genres into proper dance floor action mark Dasilva out as a next level DJ, taking

his cues from the greats that inspired him, including Francois Kevorkian, Ron

Hardy and Lil Louis.

His greatest legacy from that period, alongside championing the early Chicago

and Detroit sound, was his imaginative take on the idea of the DJ set. Not

content with simply mixing one track into another, Dasilva wove acapella and

sound effects into a broad selection of House, Acid, Disco, Techno and Breaks,

intuitively mixing in key, building a set dynamic that until then was rarely heard

on UK shores.

In the words of Sasha, who regarded Dasilva as his mentor:

‘Well Jon to me was the most influential DJ in my career really. He showed me

the way. Not only did he give me my first breaks, my first proper, proper

breaks, he taught me how to build DJ sets. I used to go and watch him play from

9 pm and follow the whole night, listening to the way he crafted his DJ sets...

his use of acapella and sound effects was just mind-blowing. He was so ahead

of the game. I don’t think there’s another more influential person on my DJing

career, really.’

A lesser-known side of his influence was Jon’s inspired warm up sets at the

Hacienda. Realising he could play anything he felt like for the first hour or so

after the doors opened, he went about mixing up Dub Reggae, Latin, Disco and

Post Punk oddities, interspersed with BBC sound FX. Word spread and soon

these mixes would become the inspiration for another set of DJs who later went

on to form the backbone of the soon-to-emerge Balearic DJ scene... as well as

artists like the Chemical Brothers, The New Fast Automatic Daffodils, Matthew

Herbert, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays and more.

A regular headliner at illegal warehouses all over the UK as well the 90’s

‘Superclubs’, such as Ministry of Sound, Cream and Renaissance. Jon was one of

the first guest DJs before guest DJs became a thing. His other achievements are

no less remarkable. Aside from taking his singular sets across the globe from

New Zealand to Ibiza, New York, San Paulo, LA and Tokyo, he was the first guest

DJ to be booked by Slam (Soma Records) in Glasgow back in 1989, and the first

UK DJ to play Tresor in Berlin in 1991. He was also one of the first British DJs to

play China in the mid-90s and was resident on the first Strictly Rhythm Records

Tour alongside Todd Terry and a young Roger Sanchez, who described Jon at the

time as ‘the UK’s answer to Tony Humphries’.

Thirty years after first making his mark on the industry, Jon shows no signs

slowing down. Before lockdown, Jon managed two 30+ date tours with The

Happy Mondays. This follows his long history as tour DJ for bands including

New Order and A Certain Ratio... Another example of the respect he is held in

and his remarkable versatility.

November and December 2025 Jon will be joining 808 State as their support on

their UK tour.

Jon still retains a freshness in approach, and this can be heard in his recent DJ

mixes. His penchant for the varied shades of acid, techno and house, as well as

his keen nose for sniffing out the most interesting modern producers, are

evident.

Since 2016 Dasilva has forged an ongoing relationship with the then London

based club night, I Love Acid and the club’s architect, Posthuman, becoming a

resident and regularly doing back-to-back DJ sets with Posthuman. Joshu

Doherty from Posthuman said of Dasilva:

‘Legend is a word used way, way too often, but I think it's fair to say Jon has

earned that title. Resident at probably one of the most important clubs in

history, literally at the absolute pinnacle of Acid House - 1987 to 1991. But what

has surprised me about Jon compared to many others of that era, he continues

to play new music, always digging and pushing underground artists...’

I Love Acid won the Best Club Event in DJ Magazine’s “Best of British” 2019.

A mercurial producer, he has had a string of cutting-edge productions to his

name spanning over two decades, on labels including Ellum Audio, Rush Hour,

Soma, Mute, Deconstruction, Better Days, Eskimo, and many more. His early

productions were considered seminal works, combining breaks, African

influences, Acid and Bleep culture.

He is in the process of finishing several electronic projects for labels such as

Balkan Vinyl, Mighty Force, I Love Acid and Hottwerk.

Feel So Good Feat. Donald Waugh - Jon Dasilva was released on Hottwerk -

01/08/26

I Got Some - Jon Dasilva & Skyskrapa was released on Mighty Force - 08/08/25

Look At The Owl - Jon Dasilva is released on Balkan – November 2025

NVR SRNDA 2 THA EVL – Jon Dasilva & Skyskrapa is released on Black Dragon

Sound – February 2026