DJ Pauze otherwise known as Gav Pauze started playing Jungle / Drum & Bass in 1995, playing clubs in England and Scotland. He studied music at Clarendon College (Midlands) in 1998 where he became a qualified audio engineer. His passion and drive for music was clear and the works progressed to playing Reggae on the radio featuring strictly positive, uplifting Reggae Roots and Dub with the “Unique Reggae Mix Show” based in London, UK in 2006.
VP: How did you get your start in the business?
GP: I started in music in 1995, playing Jungle music in clubs and house parties and reggae in the chill-out rooms. In 2004, I had a life-changing accident and had to learn how to read, write, walk and talk again, and roots music was one of the things I used as a healing tool. Then in 2006, I was given a radio show on Unique FM in Nottingham UK. I decided to focus on roots reggae to give back to the genre thanks to it had helped me through my tough times. If it could help me in that way, I knew it could help others, as roots and dub music is a healing tool.
VP: What was your first notable project?
GP: My first notable project with reggae was starting the Unique Reggae Mix Show, my radio show in 2006. Still to this day, I create this even though it has evolved into more than just a radio show, it inspired me to build a website for the show and now features exclusively on that website Pauzeradio.com – which is an archive for the shows I have created. The website streams the audio of the Unique Reggae Mix and then links to all the vinyl / cd featured that we hold stock of in the vinyl shop on the site.
It has inspired all the works I do now, even becoming a poet and having books published, I attribute all the works I do now to the radio show, it’s all been a natural progression, as the music has and still does inspire my works.
VP: What was your first breakthrough
GP: The first breakthrough with reggae was with the radio show in 2006. MySpace was a key to creating that breakthrough. I met many artists, producers and reggae lovers there and that website gave me access to speak to them, get music and keep up to date with everything new. Nowadays I tend to use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to make those connections, but I will never forget the MySpace days of 2005/6 for what it did in terms of progressing the works and getting the message out there.
VP: What are you working on now/ next?
GP: I have a lot of things going on at the moment; the evolution never stops, I guess that’s part of being a creative. Currently, I’m working on progressing the independent vinyl shop on Pauzeradio.com that Mikey General inspired me to set up in 2012, always looking for new stock for the vinyl/cd shop.
Pauzeradio.com will be expanding our DJ roster, as this year we had Selecta Stix join us, and I am in talks with another DJ from Ghana, and if those talks go well, he will be joining the site soon. Would also like to find more DJ’s that focus on conscious reggae to join the site.
This year I have put a lot of focus into expanding my brand as an author, I completed a journalism internship with the Canary UK online newspaper here in the UK. I’ve also been planning out my next poetry book, this will be the third book to be published, but it’s early days for that as a lot of planning goes into a book.
There are a couple of other projects I am working on that I am unable to mention fully but I am extremely excited about them but they are all music related.
VP: What songs are you listening to on Spotify / Apple Music / Pandora / Audiomack?
GP: This might sound controversial but I do not own a streaming account on any platform. I am an avid vinyl collector and with my radio shows, I am sent a lot of music for those shows. One place I do find new music is Bandcamp, this is an excellent place to find new reggae artists’ digital and vinyl releases.
When we take on PR projects for artists that come to us, we do advertise their music on Spotify and Apple Music. But personally, I feel there are a lot of issues regarding artists getting fairly paid for their works being streamed on the major platforms.
I wrote an article about streaming this year and came up with solutions in hope to inform and inspire artists and streamers. As there are more ethical streaming platforms, here is my article that went out on independent UK media this year: https://www.thecanary.co/amplify/2022/07/21/suppression-in-the-music-industry-leaves-artists-voiceless/
But as for new artists I am listening to right now; Nga Han, Nadia McAnuff, Princess Linn to name a few. Also, I am really feeling some of the veterans, names like Prince Alla, Dub Judah and Fred Locks again to name a few, who are all releasing some incredible works at the moment, and the bonus is a lot of their releases come out on vinyl.
Stream Total Reggae: Roots on Spotify