Donovan's drum and bass career exploded in the summer of 94 playing massive gigs to ravers up and down the country in venues such as the Brunel Rooms, where he was friendly with the manager and then on to massive raves like Fantazia, Obsession, Roller express, Elevation, Life, Utopia and the Astoria.  

At this time Donnovan Bad Boy Smith was also managing the Jungle section of the Record Basement in Reading. It was here that he teamed up with Vinyl Distribution and was given control of the Street Beats label. This gave him a platform to start his own recording project with Reading engineer / producer Knowle Newton, which was to become Astral Vibes. They went on to debut on Rough Beats and then followed on with Street Beats 11. After a period of A&R'ing the label, Donovan hooked up with Blue, which led on to the partnership that is still going strong today.

Donnovan Smith's DJ'ing career has been exceptional, spinning high profile slots such as the original 'One in the Jungle' show on BBC Radio One, Movement at Bar Rhumba, The Mass in Brixton and a Knowledge Magazine cover CD. Donovan is Street Beats most travelled DJ, having played places such as Canada, Switzerland, Australia and the USA. He has recently completed producing projects with Markee Substance, Decoder and Blue, to be released on Street Beats in the near future. Donovan has a lot of respect for his close friends Bryan Gee and Jumping Jack Frost and having witnessed their success feels that in time Street Beats will reach a similar level of achievement.

Interview with Donnovan "Bad Boy" Smith 1993

Out On The Town With Donovan “Bad Boy” Smith

So here we are, the time is just coming up to 1.00am and I’m standing outside Busby’s in good old London Town. I’m waiting for the “Bad Boy” and he’s a little late. Still there is plenty to see, standing on the pavement. London never seems to sleep and it’s buzzing. Suddenly I get a slap on the back and Donovan “Bad Boy” Smith has arrived. With him are 3 good friends, who I’m quickly introduced to before we go inside. There’s “Nobby”, “Bear” and then “Buster”, who’s the “Bad Boy’s” brother and No. 1 M.C. Downstairs we go to the 1s and 2s. It takes the “Bad Boy” about 5 minutes to choose the 1st tune, he’s going to play in his set. He’s already had a word with the DJ he’s following to find out the last tune that he will be playing. Tonight here in Busby’s there’s about 1,000 kickin ravers and the “Bad Boy” wants to give them the best.

While he’s waiting to do his stuff, me and the “Bad Boy” have time for a quick chat. I asked the “Bad Boy” what time he had left Gloucester this evening. The “Bad Boy” told me left Gloucester around 8.00pm and went to the “Gold Diggers” Club in Chippenham to play the 10-11pm spot. He reckons there was about 1,100 people in the house tonight. He then left “Gold Diggers” at around 11.30pm and drove up to London via the M4 to “Busby’s”. After playing “Busby’s” he has half an hour to get across to Holloway to play at the “Rocket” Club at 3.00am. I then went on to ask the “Bad Boy” how long he had been a DJ, he told me he had been DJ’ing for 16 years. So the next logical question was how old are you mate? Over 21 he replied. The first venue that he played many years ago was the “Roundabout” Club in Gloucester and the first big venue that he played was “Fantazia”. He told me that this was his 7th or 8th appearance at “Busby’s” and along with Milwaukees, Sterns, Interdance and Gold Diggers this was one of his five favourite clubs that he likes to play. His best night ever was at “Elevation the Payback II”. He said that it was the maddest, baddest most kicking night he has ever had.

He then went on to talk about the music scene at the moment. The “Bad Boy” thinks that at the moment it is a bit mixed and muddled up right now, and thinks that over the next coming months the scene will become more progressive and a lot more originality coming into the music scene, because in his words at the moment it’s all sample sample and not a lot of originality. The “Bad Boy” told me that he has just released a tune of his own called “Obsession” on the “Ruffbeat” Label. So any of you “Bad Boy” fans out there should rush out to their nearest hardcore music store and give this tune a listen. I then asked the “Bad Boy” how many spots he placed on an average weekend, he told me he plays between five and six on average, obviously sometimes there are more and sometimes there are less. The “Bad Boy” told me that he gets booked to appear at various venues between three or four months in advance. This is not surprising as he is one of the country’s most popular hardcore DJ’s.

I then asked the “Bad Boy” what other DJ’s that he admires, he told me he has four – “Topbuzz”, “Fabio”, “Randall” and thought “Carl Cox”, “Ratty” and “Easy Groove” were probably the best in the country at the moment. The “Bad Boy” reckons that the best up and coming DJ to keep your eye on is “Swan E”. We then talked about the other types of music that the “Bad Boy” likes to listen to when he is relaxing, he told me that soul is his favourite, after all he said, I started out as a soul DJ playing all them great tunes from way, way back. Me and the “Bad Boy” then reminisced over our favourite Otis Reading tracks. At this point it was time for the “Bad Boy” to go and rip up some wax. The club MC announced him to the crowd and the house went wild. During the set he played the “Bad Boys” brother and the House MC done their stuff as well. In my opinion the “Bad Boy” played an absolutely blinding set. The hour that he was on seemed to fly past and all too soon he was digging into the 80 or so tunes that he had with him to find the last tune in his set.

As we got outside “Busby’s” I managed to drag the “Bad Boy” into that all night café next door for a few more questions. I asked him what he thought of the club scene; he replied it’s a lot better than the big time raves at the moment, and that is how it should be, back on the ground because that is where it should really be happening. I asked the “Bad Boy” what his ambitions were for the future, he told me that he would really like to travel the world. He also said that he had just come back from Australia and he had a blinding time. The “Bad Boy” said that he would like to put the record straight about the Australian scene at the moment. Over in Australia they have ripped off every name that the British have got i.e. “Fantazia”, “Dreamscape” etc. This is because the British have set the trend for raves, and the Australian promoters are going to use these big names to promote it out there. The “Bad Boy” reckons that this is a bonus to all the U.K. DJ’s because it gets then work out there with “LTJ Bukem” and “Lisa” were the best of his life. The Aussies are much more laid back than over here and although he was working it was more like a paid holiday. One of the things that the “Bad Boy” said will stay with him from out there. The word rave is not a dirty word to the Aussie Authority’s and people can party as and when want. I could see that his car had pulled up outside and although it was 2.35 in the morning he really had to leave now if he was going to get to the “Rocket” Club for this 3.00am spot.

Donnovan Bad Boy Smith's links to Fantazia

Donnovan "Bad Boy" Smith has played at the following Fantazia parties:

Fantazia New Year 1991
Fantazia Second Sight 1992
Fantazia One Step Beyond

To buy the sets from any of these parties click here