Manchild

DJ Manchild knows a thing or two about The Funk. He is on a lifelong mission to find that Funk and bring it to you. He will travel the world, scouring dusty basements and garages from Abidjan to Tokyo to Mumbai and back for The Funk. Nothing will stop him in his pursuit of The Funk. He happily gives up food for The Funk. He would gladly sell his body for The Funk. He will laugh in the face of danger and charge headlong into the jaws of ruin all for The Funk. It was in the discos of New York nine years ago that he and two conspirators were struck with the inspiration to found 17 piece afrobeat juggernaut The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra. The three friends travelled to Lagos to record with artists for their ARIA nominated album “Do Anything Go Anywhere” and after meeting Femi Kuti he invited them to join him and his band on stage at Fela's Afrika Shrine. The force of The Funk grew stronger that day my friends. The band have since solidified their audience all around Australia and collaborated with many unique artists from home and abroad. Their second full-length record will be released in January 2018. Both albums he co-produced and mixed as well as performing percussion and turntablism. You can also find him bringing the beats to the Scatter Scatter Tropical Soundsystem alongside emcees 1/6 & N’fa Jones and percussionist Nui Moon. The mixes he creates with the music sourced from his adventures blend heavy rare-grooves with seamless DJ mixing and cutting skills. His ‘Tropidelic’ series of mixes received praise from the likes of Cut Chemist and Muro, while his Disco Dandia mix (records sourced from an Indian digging mission) has been downloaded more than 35,000 times. His festival sets are the stuff of legend, having cut his teeth closing the Saturday night of the infamous Boogie Fest for the last 8 years. Recent times have seen him grace the likes of Meredith, Falls, Inner Varnika, Freedom Time and Wave Rock Festival. This year was his third consecutive year playing the closing DJ set of Strawberry Fields. The message of The Funk has been spread far and wide for the last 13 years on PBS FM on his show ‘The Breakdown’, every Friday taking listeners on an epic journey through his vast record vaults. Over the years he has built a dedicated radio following, not only in Melbourne but interstate and even overseas with Radio-On-Demand. The PBS funk and soul night he he helped start, Soul-A-Go-Go, recently celebrating its 10th anniversary and continues to go from strength to strength. He has supported the likes of Marva Whitney, Quantic, Nas, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, Eddie Bo, The Bamboos, Grandmaster Flash, Al Kent, Pharoah Monch, Roy Ayers, Four Tet, Prince Paul, Mos Def, Norman Jay MBE, Eddie Floyd, Ghostface Killah, The Jungle Brothers, MF Doom, Jamie XX, Talib Kweli, The Black Keys, DJ Roc Raida, Betty Harris and Madlib He has also played onstage with The Beatnuts, Jeru Tha Damaja, Nfa, DJ Z-Trip, Aloe Blacc and Femi Kuti.