Serge Santiago--Serge Santiago for Electronic Beats Radio

Brighton boy but now Hackney (London) resident, Serge Santiago, is particularly known for his coloured vinyl re-edits of classic Italo/Disco tracks - including Kano ‘It’s a War’ on green vinyl and Grace Jones ‘Slave to The Rhythm’ on red. In 2005 – after splitting from Radio Slave, the remix/DJ duo he was part of for two years – Santiago started his own label ‘Arcobaleno’ (meaning ‘rainbow’ in Italian). His own ‘Atto D’amore’ was the label’s first release and one which gained huge support from the likes of Trevor Jackson, Damian Lazarus and the DFA crew.

"I started producing because I was clubbing so much and wanted some involvement, so, using my old computer I started to teach myself how to write beats. From there I must’ve written about 50 to 100 half tracks before I finished one… And that one was a track called 'Push it' (using a sample from the Salt 'n' Peppa track). It’s funny, listening back now I can hear myself learning within the track; it’s great! Anyway we decided it was a classic ‘Stompa Phunk’ sounding record so ‘Push it’ was released 1999 on Stompa Phunk."

After releasing ‘Push It’ in 1999, Santiago started DJing also… "DJing was the natural progression from producing; I made music so I wanted to play it out, and that’s why I became resident of Stompa Phunk. I partied there, I produced for them and this was the next step. First I started playing Disco in local pubs in Brighton, there was no major moment in time of me seeing a famous DJ and going wow, I wanna do that... I was on the Dole and needed a job that didn’t involve working in Co-op or Boots. I’ve never been a follower; I like to do things my way and work things out in my own time."

Through being resident for Stompa Phunk’s Brighton based club-night, Santiago’s reputation spread and he soon gained bookings throughout the rest of Europe. Whilst still producing and releasing tracks including ‘Impendence’ and ‘Come On’ on the Stompa Phunk imprint. In 2003 he hooked up with Matt Edwards and formed Radio Slave. The duo fast became sought after re-touchers, responsible for re-editing Kylie, White Stripes and Justin Timberlake, amongst others… Santiago, after over 15 edits under the Radio Slave moniker, split in 2005, started his coloured edit series – the first being Advance ‘Take me to the Top’ and ‘My Mine’ Hypnotic Tango’ (pink releases) - and formed label Arcobaleno to house his own productions.

Now, Serge Santiago regularly plays throughout London, Europe, Australia and more. In 2007, after playing Space for the first time in 2006, he became resident for We Love in Ibiza and mixed the first ever We Love compilation, alongside Riton. His label Arcobaleno is also fast becoming one of the best underground electronic labels in Europe and Serge Santiago is sure to be one of the most important artists for creating killer night spots out of radio tunes.