Biography

Quextal started DJing in 1993. As an impoverished student
he only had one ancient belt-drive turntable with no pitch control, so
he learned to beatmatch his eclectic selection of breakbeat hardcore,
techno and house records against taped copies of the same, by balancing
the turntable’s belt lever between 33 and 45…

Over the next few years his kit was gradually upgraded until it featured
two actual DJ turntables (one Technics SL1200, one Gemini PT2400). But
he remained primarily a bedroom DJ — mixing was a hobby, a way of listening
to music at home, and he wasn’t really motivated to play out very often.

With the birth of his children, priorities shifted and Quextal was no longer in the
mood to mix. The club scene in Southampton had largely faded away and he
just wasn’t hearing any music that he loved enough — breaks was the closest
thing, but most of it seemed far too dull: it could move his feet but it didn’t energise his mind or excite his spirit.

However, on his birthday in 2007 at Sunrise Festival, he caught a
psybreaks set by Giani, and was inspired to start DJing again.
Within three months he had bought a few dozen tunes, invested
in CDJs and a new mixer, and put together this website. The
original plan was to specialise solely on psybreaks, but Quextal has
never settled on one style of music in his life: if it feels good,
he’ll play it. Right now, what feels good to him can be generalised
as journeying music, or tripping tunes. Whether the beat or style is breakbeat, house, trance, techno or chillout, what matters are the feelings and visions it evokes, and the movement it induces on all levels: body, mind, and spirit.