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Tom Stephan

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Tom himself may be quiet and reserved but his transatlantic, big room beats are anything but! His inimitable, seamless blend of deep tribal, jerky rhythms and electronic bleeps creates a sound that is now recognized as Superchumbo.

Tom became enamoured with music at a very young age, through a combination of his own intrigue, and the influence of his father, a musician. He moved from upstate New York to London in 1991 to study at the London International Film School, but quickly became more interested in making the music for the films than the actual pictures themselves.

It was on a trip home when a good friend of his took him out to the legendary Sound Factory, where he was seduced by the dirty sounds of Junior Vasquez. “I had never heard music like this before - sounds like DJ Pierre, Cajmere, X Press 2- it was all new to me and I became a house-head overnight.”

His frequent trips to Sound Factory inspired Tom to learn the art of mixing, and try to recreate that sound in London. Tom’s own dj and production career kickstarted after warming up for Danny Tenaglia at London’s Ministry of Sound. This chance meeting with Tenaglia and Twisted’s Rob Distefano lead to Danny’s steady support of Tom’s productions and his championing “The Revolution” at the 2001 Miami WMC, and Tom signing to Twisted America. This indeed was a revolution for Tom, who was now also now answering to the name Superchumbo (literally super “leaded” in Portuguese- a nickname picked up at a petrol station outside of Lisbon after a very long night!). Arriving back in London he found his inbox full of emails from the likes of Deep Dish and Erick Morillo, begging for a copy of the track, and Pete Tong, who signed it to his label FFRR and declared it Track of the Year. Pacha Ibiza agreed and voted it Dance Record of the Year.

Things really picked up from there with Tom taking residencies at Substation, Crash, and hatching his own night, Roach, at Turnmills.

Now Tom is one of the hardest working dj’s in the industry flying all over the world to wow crowds with his unique style of music. Playing clubs the length and breadth of the world, he juggles his DJ commitments with his production and remix work while heading up his label ChumboMundo.

Both under his own name and under his Superchumbo moniker, he keeps scoring hit after hit filling up record boxes of every self-respecting dj in the industry. Tracks like ‘This Beat Is’, ‘Dirtyfilthy’, ‘Show’, a collaboration with Laidback Luke, and his latest project ‘Phreekn’ have all topped various charts. Furthermore he has worked his remix magic on both crossover and underground artists alike. Missy Elliot, Goldfrapp, Pet Shop Boys and Kylie, as well as Eric Morillo, Roger Sanchez, Danny Tenaglia and Peace Division ( to name but a few) have all received the Chumbo treatment at one point in time or another.

Over the years his various mix compilations allowed Tom to showcase his distinct sound and have been extremely well received by his army of “leadheads”. His joint project with Roger Sanchez as part of the Afterdark series on Stealth Records was released in the fall of 2005 and was an absolute smash. Tom followed that with his own “Let’s Go Chumbo” double cd compilation in 2006, and “Live From Asseteria NYC” is forthcoming in fall 2008 on Nervous Records.

The latest chapter in Tom’s recording career is the establishment of his own record label ChumboMundo. It launched in February 2005, and has received support from the likes of Pete Tong, Deep Dish, Tom Novy and Erick Prydz. “ChumboMundo was set up to feed the leadheads around the world with the freshest Chumbo beats. It will of course be home of Superchumbo productions, but I will also be collaborating with like-minded leadheads around the world such as Tokyo’s Toru S, Chicago’s Lex Da Funk, and Holland’s Fierce Ruling Diva, and showcasing new superleaded talent with the HEADZ EP series.”