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Ben McAvoy‘s (Ben Mac) has been in love with music since back in the Bob-Marley-on-your-Walkman day. His teenage years were spent in Holland, enveloped by a wave of European electronica.
On a six-month visit back to Perth, Ben Mac passed the Dutch to the left hand side and tasted dance music thanks to a Sasha mixtape.
The lust for electronic beats was cemented.
 Back in Holland Ben bought his first pair of decks in 1995 from an ad on a supermarket notice board. Teaching himself to mix was grueling – but the passion was there and it soon paid off. He took his Techno, Deep House, Hard House and Trance records to any party just too play in front of other people.
In 1998, Ben moved back to Perth and made things happen.
During the 90’s, Perth’s underground dance music scene took on the bloodline that was the pub-rock-band staple diet and began to gain ground. Ben Mac was there; records in hand and ready to grab regular bookings at Perth’s premier venues. Just beyond the turn of the century, Ben discovered two new things that’d change his life: Ambar and Breakbeat. Neither have looked back since.
Fresh and fantastic, his sets flow in and out of Hip Hop, Breakbeat, House and good old Tech/Tribal House. One of Ambar’s longest serving residents, you can catch Ben Mac rocking it out ‘til the wee hours of the morning as a key member of Ambar’s award-winning Saturday night crew, Japan 4, on all Bootleg nights and most Boomtick events, as well as a number of various venues throughout WA. So loved is Ben Mac, he took out Best House DJ at the Perth Dance Music Awards in 2007 and 2008.
He’s been on every festival lineup: Parklife, Breakfest, Good Vibrations, Seriously Sound System, Good Vibrations and Future Music Festival. Ben’s also sat in support slots for touring artists the Plump DJs, Lee Coombs, Crystal Method, Meat Katie, Pete Tong, DJ Sneak, Hyper, Hook n Sling, Bass Kleph, Aquasky , Chris Lum, Soul of Man, Peo de Pitte and Krafty Kuts and many, many more.
In 2006, Ben and partner DJ producer Philly Blunt launched their own club night at Ambar, Bootleg, celebrating bootlegs, mashups and remixes. The night was a success and now celebrates a monthly slot at the Home of the Underground, as well as hitting the national circuit in 2010.
Away from the turntables, Ben Mac has hosted some of Perth’s coolest underground radio station shows, including Liquid FM’s 2 Hours For The People, Base.FM’s The Push and Full Frequency on RTR FM (which he still co-hosts alongside fellow Ambarian, Micah).
What’s next to attack for Ben Mac? Producing his own rhythm and releasing Ben Mac music. He has the talent to give any style of music the attention it deserves and when Ben Mac spins the tunes he loves, there’s no wonder the crowd is always left shouting ‘one more!’.
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Bootleg Blog
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