DJ Chooky

House/Breaks/Electro DJ

THE STORY SO FAR: Starting out in the late 80s break-dance era, Gary Cook, AKA Chooky has been riding high on the DJ wagon for a long time now, (over 20 years) and still with all the passion and enthusiasm he began with. He has the hard to find ability to cater to a wide range of party goers, from rappers and rock and rollers to house lovers, ravers and everything in between, but holds a personal love for club dance styles such as house, electro and breaks.
The last decade has seen Chooky mixing up some of the freshest house, breakbeat and electro sets around weekly at clubs such as the Velvet Underground and Soho playing with a constant array of local, national and international talent.
From 1999 to 2004, Chooky spent 5 years as resident DJ, co-promoter and stage manager for the Reef Casinos Nightclub, 1936, and was to a large degree responsible for the clubs weekly transformations over 5 years from retro club to a Superclub dance venue before becoming the Velvet Rope.
He has also promoted and co-coordinated events with dance labels and clubs such as Ministry of Sound, Renaissance, Bass-Station, Plastic, Fuzzy, Central Station and RnB Superclub amongst others, still holding good stead with all the companies he deals with.
He has played in FNQ clubs with musical styles and patrons ranging from disco, club house, electro, break-beat, progressive and harder house styles. He also enjoys playing more obscure styles such as acid jazz, funk, rare groove, trip hop, dub, dubstep and some drumnbass if the time and atmosphere is right.
Chooky has played with an impressive list of local, national and international DJs over the past decade, considering he has stuck to his home turf of Far North Queensland, including internationals Roger Sanchez, Krafty Kuts, Axwell, Roger Sanchez, Chris Fortier, Serge Santiago, Elite Force, Supafly Inc., Tocadisco, Carl Kennedy, Tom Neville, Fort Knox 5, Superstyle Deluxe, Freq Nasty, Bodyrox, Hyper, Blim, Cut La Roc, Dave Seaman, Sharkey, Dave Lee (Slinky), Kai Tracid, Uberdruck and Kaylab as well as Aussie DJs Kid Kenobi, Phil K, John Course, Mr. Timothy, Grant Smillie, Ivan Gough, Jono Fernandez, Dirty South, Andy J, Andy Van, Archie, John Ferris, Peewee Ferris, Matt Kitshon, Mark Dynamix, Matt Nuggent, Sugar Ray, Ken Cloud, Sveta, Nick Fish, Declan lee, Jen-E, Thief, Goodwill, Tim McGee, Alex Taylor, Bexta, Sean Quinn, Odyssey, Aniki, Dexter and way too many more to remember over the past two decades.

In the club scene, Chooky has played almost every venue in Cairns, Port Douglas and Innisfail at some stage, with long term residencies at Magnums Nightclub, House on the Hill, Club 1936, the Playpen, The Nest, The Sports Bar, Tropos, Soho (and Club Five-Nine), and NuTrix as well as an extensive list of smaller venues who have benefited from his musical influences, such as Gypsy Dees, the Chapel, F.Js, The In Box, the Piranha Bar and (currently) The Lounge (downstairs at The Woolshed) to name just a few.
He has supplied beats at events such as the 1998, 1999 and 2000 FNQ Hair Awards at the Cairns Convention Center, the FMX Dirt Games at Kuranda Amphitheatre, the original Full Moon parties at A.J. Hackett Bungy site, Island parties such as Earthdance and local break-dance, in-line and skateboard competitions and demonstrations and corporate functions.
His obsession for dance music has seen him dissect it down to its bare elements, delving into studio and stage production with a stint in local electronic band, Cloud Nine from 1998 to 2001. This time gave him valuable experience in a studio environment using programs such as Logic Audio, Pro Tools and Abelton Live, as well as working with midi controlled keyboards, workstations, samplers, effects and automated mixers. Since then, Chooky has stayed busy writing articles for local press, pumping out remixes and the odd original track on his PC for his personal enjoyment, and programming mixed dance sets for everything from cabaret and fashion shows, flair bar-tending, skating and dance competitions, and podium routines, whilst synchronizing his time with his wife and three children.

THE NEXT CHAPTER: Always looking for something new to master, he has been delving into new territory with audio-visuals, laser, and venue and lighting design, with an ever growing knowledge of DMX controlled LED lighting, LED video panels and data projection systems, whilst keeping a firm hold on the latest DJ technology.
Now 41 years young, Chooky has no intention of slowing down, with the ability, respect and passion to bring Cairns into the future, and keep our dance floors full and pumping for a long time yet.