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Hixxy

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UK hardcore lifer — the Bonkers compilations were his, and the piano-over-breakbeat template still is.

Hixxy is the working name of Ian Hicks, born in 1975, who started DJing at 15 under the mentorship of DJ Ramos and quickly built a name on the English rave circuit. His rise through local clubs gave him the grounding that later fed into the Bonkers compilations and his own productions.

In 1995 Hixxy released "Toy Town" with DJ Sharkey, a track built from scruffy breakbeats and sped-up vocals that is often cited as marking a shift in rave music. Its impact led React Music to commission the first Bonkers compilation in 1996, mixed by Hixxy and Sharkey together.

The Bonkers series ran to nineteen volumes, with Hixxy a regular contributor throughout, and is credited with opening UK hardcore to a much wider audience. By the early 2000s his own productions had shifted toward a more trance-influenced sound, still driven by hardcore tempos and breakbeats.

In 2004 Hixxy founded Hardcore Till I Die, an events business run through his Raver Baby label. That year BBC Radio 1's John Peel invited him to record a mix for his show, later released on CD as Bonkers: Hixxy Mix as Heard on the John Peel Show.

The following year Hixxy teamed with Darren Styles to launch Clubland X-Treme Hardcore, a compilation series that picked up where Bonkers left off. He has toured extensively since, playing shows across the UK and internationally in the United States and Australia.

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