Al Mckenzie

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Resident at The Great Outdoors in Birmingham and his own Retroforward night, Al plays a varied mix of house, disco, soul, funk, dub and whatever takes his fancy. Just don't ask him to do a club classics set

Al Mackenzie started out dj'ing at various warehouse parties around London in the late eighties. His big break came after running several successful parties at the notorious Brain Club in 1990. He then moved on to be resident at the legendary Love Ranch In Leicester Square. He was also one of Danny Rampling's resident djs at his Pure night at the Milk Bar in London. During this time he formed a musical partnership with Peter Cunnah and D:ream was born. They captured the number one spot in the U.S. and U.K. dance charts in mid-1992 with their first single, 'U R The Best Thing'. The follow up single, 'Things can Only Get Better' hit No.1 in the UK and several charts worldwide in 1994 when re-released. Their first album, 'D:ream On Vol 1', went platinum in the UK. During this period they remixed EMF's 'They're Here' which was included on the first seminal Renaissance Mix Collection CD and Duran Duran's 'Drowning Man' which made No 1 in the US Billboard dance charts. Baby June's classic 'Hey! What's Your Name' was also one of their remixes.

At this time Al was dj'ing at some of the finest clubs all over the world, including, Back To Basics, Miss Moneypenny's, Cream, Up Yer Ronson, Clockwork Orange, Gatecrasher, Love To Be and Rise. He left the band to pursue his dj career whilst still doing the odd remix, including Helicopter's classic 'On Ya Way' and his own Kitsch In Sync project which was signed to Polydor's Hi Life.

He then moved to Birmingham setting up the very successful Retroforward, bringing in some of the world's finest underground djs to the 2nd city that had previously never appeared there. He bought the venue and got into restaurant/club management. It was, however, not for him.

Fast forward a few years and after chance meeting with his old partner in D:ream, he decided to sell up in Birmingham and get back to London. A new D:ream album came out in 2011 and remixes for Reza, Alan Prosser, Eric Ericksson and Jay Kay followed. They are currently working on some new material for 2017

He is currently one of the resident DJs at the hugely popular Great Outdoors in Birmingham, guesting wherever they are willing to listen. His night, Retroforward, at the Hare & Hounds in Birmingham sells out every time and have two new EPs with Chris Kentish as Field Of Dreams, both out on Pleasure Unit in April 2018 and one with Clandestino late July 2018. Their massive remix of Les Crocodiles 'La Nuit Des Tropiques, caned by the ALFOS crew, amongst others, is also due out in April 2018. They also have their own EP, Nothing Is Perfect, including and Andrew Weatherall remix out in June on their own label