CV of DJ Thoka
In 1969 Thorsten Kaiser a.k.a. DJ THOKA first sees the light of day in Münster/Germany.Like many other DJs he starts his career working as a party DJ until in 1990 his first big chance comes along: At the "Mönchengladbacher Kaisernacht" he deejays in front of a huge crowd and gets an overwhelming response by over 2.000 (!!!) enthusiastic party people. In the same year he becomes an established DJ at the Königsburg/Krefeld. 1991 sees him moving on to the Plastique/Duisburg where he takes over the coveted Saturday spot. From 1993 to 1996 DJ THOKA is the celebrated resident DJ in big room disco World Center/Kleve. Since then DJ THOKA is being booked for various clubs and big events all over Germany and various European locations, such as Tiefenrausch/Köln, Tarm Center/Bochum, Tarm Center/Frechen, Poison Club/Düsseldorf, Toy/Stuttgart, Sabotage/Dortmund, Riu Palace/Mallorca, Joy Palace/Mallorca, and many more plus various big events in Switzerland, Russia, Austria, France, The Netherlands and Poland.
During his time as DJ at the Platique he gets to know his first co-producer Stefan Heinemann. With nothing more than a guitar, a casio keyboard and two turntables they get going with THOKA supplying the beats to Stefan's sounds, recording everything on cassettes.
In March 1993 they take the risky step into professionalism by buying their own recording studio.
You Make Me Feel So Goood is the first release under the name of DJ THOKA (Rough Trade). The track goes straight through the roof, reaching top positions in the German dance charts, not least because of brilliant mixes by Interactive, Chill'n'Force and Wippenberg. Before that they had already released other projects with prestigious companies like BMG/Ariola, ZYX, Intercord and Dance Street.
Follow-up single What Is .? is an equally successfull chart conqueror with another Wippenberg remix on the vinyl and cd release.
Following these successes there are remixes for well-known acts like General Base, Magnetic Pulsar, Kosmonova, Mr. President, Interactive, Perplexer and DJ Quicksilver.
Apart from his own projects DJ THOKA, together with his partner, produces club smasher HYPERTROPHY – Just Come Back 2 Me that enters the German Media Control Charts straight at No. 51 and also causes a big sensation in the UK and France, reaching dance and sales charts in both countries (No.1 in French dance charts). HYPERTROPHY even breaks the USA charts and follow-up single Beautiful Day climbs to No. 2 in the Billboard Dance Charts, spending seven weeks in the Top Ten. Next there is another DJ THOKA release Party People/The One on the successfull Dos or Die lable (Krefeld) which is another full-blown hit that has enthusiastic crowds rocking the clubs. Next single Keep It Alive/Don't Stop Me also, you guessed it, reaches top positions in the dance charts.
As a producer DJ THOKA also shows his cutting edge skills by lifting Lady Tom's hit It's A Dream into the upper reaches of the charts. And of course the next two tracks by own project HYPERTROPHY called Eternal Flames & Pullover easily reach both dance and sales charts.
After an interval as lable manager at Netrecord-Z, DJ THOKA is now back on the creative front of the business.
First result is a new 2003 version of his hit You Make Me Feel So Goood which is a co-production with Austria's top producers Taylor & Flow. The record shot straight into all dance charts and the track, both original and fantastic remixes, got sensational responses everywhere.
Next up is the March 2004 release of G&T – Pullover vs. Close Your Eyes, first on Attacke then on Underdog Records. The track is a co-production combining the talents of Thoka and Gino Montesano, one of the masterminds behind top act Aquagen. Reaching the top five of all relevant dance charts, it just shows how successfull this collaboration is.
In May 2004 a new DJ Taylor & Flow vs. DJ Thoka track hits the streets: Happy Song, a remake of the Boney M. classic from the 80ies, reaches top positions in the dance charts and is also released in various countries such as Italy, Japan, Russia and Taiwan.
Thoka also produces energy driven trance monster DJ Black vs. 1-0-1 – What .? that causes a sensation on dancefloors all over Germany.
December 2004 sees the release of C-BASE meets DJ THOKA – Into A Fantasy on brand new lable Tigers & Tomatoes. With brilliant dance chart positions (amongst them No. 1 in Switzerland) and releases in many territories, Into A Fantasy is (not least because of the fantastic CJ Stone vs. Mr. Phillips Remix) yet another example in a long row of successfull tracks.
In 2006 he released the project Here & Now – Bizarre Love Triangle, a remake of the famous New Order Hit on Dos Or Die Records and made a great remix for Sami Dee & Freddy Jones vs Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman.
His newest release is the latest single of the Royal Gigolos – Tell it to my heart, which is a big success in the dance charts all over the world and his actual DJ Thoka Single "Pullover" together with Hypertrophy.
There's still loads to come, like the next DJ THOKA single (which is in progress right now, so watch out for it) and new tracks by HYPERTROPHY, TRI-MODE and various other projects.
Today producer DJ Thoka lives in London and has much more on his mind than just his own projects.
Apart from his productions, Thoka has also founded publishing company edition freshmoove, administered and supported by ROBA, one of the biggest independent publishers worldwide. With edition freshmoove Thoka discovers and develops new talent, helping them on their way up.
First result are releases on Pulsive Media and Tigers & Tomatoes in mid 2005 for project Nick Storm by production team Jochen Mayer & Tilo Niemann.
This two producers also created the Project NUMA, which had 2 releases so far on Tigers & Tomatoes and on Dos Or Die.
Another talent is DJ/producer Frank Starr who is with edition freshmove since day one, having worked with DJ Thoka on You Make Me Feel So Goood 2003 and various other tracks. He's also caused quite a stir with Conya Records release The Analog Signal, a collaboration with Groovemaster K. Other members of the family are DJ Black and the guys from 1-0-1. There'll be many more success stories to tell .
