BLOW UP DJ profile
PAUL TUNKIN (1993 – present)
Blow Up founder Paul Tunkin began his career as a DJ, promoting his own alternative / indie club nights in the Southend whilst studying photography at Southend Tech art college. His first club night was The Monkey House followed by The Wasp Factory and The Periphery all in Southend, whilst he was also a resident weekly Saturday night DJ and live promoter at the Pink Toothbrush Rayleigh before moving to London in 1991.
Paul launched Blow Up at the Laurel Tree Camden Town in 1993, with an aim for the club night to create a reaction, using the tag line “For the 90s Swinging London” – Blow Up, that would bring together the music sets he had being playing at concerts for London bands Suede, Blur and My Life Story and at his Southend club night the Periphery whilst bringing a likeminded audience together. Blow Up’s impact was swift and its influence subsequently felt globally. Whilst Blow Up toured the UK and hosting events in Europe, Japan, Russia and the US.
Paul has compiled five Blow Up compilations (Exclusive Blend Volumes 1-4 , a series dedicated to 60’s & 70s library music and the Blow Up club Classics album Blow Up A-Go-Go). He also launched independent record label Blow Up Records in 1994 primarily to release his band The Weekenders recordings but going on to release records for diverse artists including Big Boss Man, The Bongolian, Baltic Fleet, Add N To X and many others. He was the music director for the Metro Club Oxford Street, programming and booking the live show and clubs (Blow Up was also the resident club here from 2002-2009). He runs Blow Up Songs a music publishing company which publishes the majority of Blow Up Records artists as well as representing other writers.
With Blow Up career highlights: No.4 Time Out’s Top 10 Clubs of the ’90s (Blow Up at The Laurel Tree & The Wag); Time Out Live Venue of the Year (Blow Up Metro Club, 2003); DJing to celebrate HM the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee at The British Ambassador’s Residence in Moscow; ‘Parklife’ tour DJ for Blur; tour/ aftershow DJ for bands including Charlatans, Suede, Pulp, My Life Story, JTQ; DJing at MTV Europe Awards Milan; DJ at launch of The V&A’s Sixties Exhibition (2006); DJ for NME Awards and aftershows 5 years running from 1995; booking/promoting live concerts including Dion, Faust, The Killers, Kings Of Leon, Bloc Party and many more at the Metro Club.