Tony Hewitt

Tony Hewitt grew up in Manchester and came to the United States in 1988. In southern California he found LA's underground warehouse parties and the DJs who made him want to play: Doc Martin above all, along with Steve Loria, Barry Weaver and Michael Cook. In 1992 he moved to San Francisco. There he held a residency at the Gathering parties and Funky Tekno Tribe and played guest spots at Come-Unity, the city's longest-running underground club. He was part of the wave of British transplants who shaped San Francisco house. His influences ran from Derrick Carter and early Junior Boys Own to Andy Weatherall, Kraftwerk and A Certain Ratio.

In the studio his crew was the 6400 Crew, with Onionz, Hipp-E, Halo, Master D and Joeski. Its records landed on Soma, Yoshitoshi, Low Pressings, Shaboom, 20/20 Vision, Siesta and Primal, and on Pete Tong's Radio 1 show. In 2000 he founded Tango Recordings, opening with Onionz & Tony's "Summer," and he later ran Nightshift and Detour as well. He made "Ethnic Souls" with Halo, "Music From My Soul" with Doc Martin and "On the Strength" with Chus & Ceballos, and he has played fabric in London. Tango, now based in Oakland, still releases his productions alongside a roster of West Coast house artists.

On Red Melon he is the Tony on Dano & Tony's The Crawl EP from 1998. The EP has a pitched-down jacker, the phaser-soaked Phazer Dub and an Electrik Soul remix by Onionz & Master D. Sasha and Darren Emerson later played The Crawl, and it still turns up on DJ charts built around San Francisco and West Coast house. He, Dano and Onionz also made the Extreme Measures EP together for Moody.