BIOGRAPHY

In 1994 Brian Boncher (aka “Breakdown B”) began playing public events, organized by family and friends, at only 12 years old. With a strong affinity for “inspired” electronic music, he went to work building his experience and credentials as a DJ and later as a producer, a process he continues to this day.

In ‘96 he entered a DJ competition on Chicago’s 92.7FM “In The Mix” radio show and took first place amongst many well-established artists – when he was just 16. This landed him a weekly gig on their Sunday night mix show as well as a number of residencies at bars and nightclubs throughout Chicagoland. By ‘97 he was working as a music buyer for one of Chicago’s best-known DJ-centric vinyl shops, SuperDance Records. SuperDance was recognized throughout the Chicago DJ community for exclusive “underground” vinyl, and an eclectic collection of mix compilations from the top DJ’s across the world. During his time there he immersed himself in a variety of music genres, adding anew layer of diversity to his music production efforts.

As he became more well-known in Chicago he began making promotional CD’s to hand out at the events he played. The CD’s were wildly popular amongst the party-going youth at the time, lending credibility to his name and giving him the notoriety he needed to land a deal with Flash Traxx Records, a subsidiary of Strictly Hype Recordings. The success of his first solo production effort “The Pro Tools EP” gave his exposure and notoriety with some of the biggest producers in dance music at that time. In 2000 he teamed with Chicago DJs/Producers Alex Peace and DJ Bam Bam and toured throughout the Midwest, playing at many famed electronic music festivals from the “Stardust” parties, “Boogie Down Christmas”, “Enigma”, and many others.

In 2001 he sent a remix to DJ Sasha (of Kinetic Records) for a remix competition, placing in the top 10 amongst thousands of entries. This small boost led to his pairing with renowned event production company Spundae, giving him an opportunity to play alongside many of the most respected names in electronic music at the height of their popularity, including Jimmy Van M, Max Graham, and Chicago’s Bad Boy Bill.

2002 was the year of Alex Peace’s Chicago-based “_FADEDMUZIK” record label. Brian’s debut on the label was a remix for Alex Peace’s EP “Inside The Speaker”, released with mixes from DJ Bam Bam (Original), Hatiras, and Alex Peace, which charted internationally and was licensed by Belgium-based Sonical Records, getting Brian’s name out into the European market. Following his entrepreneurial intuition Brian purchased SuperDance Records in 2003, launching a “DJ-Friendly” online store and sponsoring events at Chicago’s premiere nightclubs. Driven by his successes he launched his first record label, “B Down Records”, and his debut EP topped sales at many vinyl shops across the US.

In 2004 Brian created “DJ Workshop”, a classroom environment to teach aspiring DJ’s the inner-workings of the DJ business, from mixing techniques and music education to production, business management and marketing. Since then he has gone on to teach at Chicago’s #1 training class for electronic music production – the Music Industry Workshop (MIW). There he teaches everything from Ableton Live, Pro Tools, DJ skill mastery, studio engineering and more. Brian’s current class listing can be found at www.musicindustryworkshop.com.