Monday, 12 July 2010 07:10
Another Cornerstone Music Festival has come and gone. Once again, we came, we saw, we conquered. We ran the stage with yet another small budget cut, moved to a new location within the festival and had a new stage partner, Raging Storm Records. In the end, this may have been the most significant year we have had running the EDM stage at Cornerstone. The very first night out, we had over 1500 pass through the stage and for well over half of them, this was their first Afterhours.
Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Stryke began his music career at an early age. He started playing classical piano at the age of four. Moving to Miami, Florida (where he still resides) when he was ten, Stryke became heavily involved in early electronic alternative scene. His love for Beethoven and Chopin were quickly joined by his new love for groups such as Depeche Mode and New Order (not to mention an unhealthy addiction to video games, which he still has to this very day). Buying his first synthesizer at age 12, Stryke quickly learned the ways of synthesis and began writing electronic music with his trusty monophonic Roland SH-101 synth. He soon discovered house and techno from a mix tape given to him by his cousin, a DJ in New York. He was hooked. At age 14, the young Stryke had already begun DJing to make money to buy more synth equipment. But after discovering this new underground dance music, he became as passionate about DJing as he was about making music.