Red Star Arcade

Melt together a sheet of melancholy indie with a plate of funky tech house & the result is an Amalgam of musical fusion: Red Star Arcade

Red Star Arcade (AKA Paul Johnson) is a house producer, DJ and musician. Whilst most DJs tend to follow the traditional route of bedroom DJ straight to the club, he has felt his way through many other genres before landing on the deep/tech house styling’s of his latest productions.

Paul is as influenced by The Beatles, Radiohead and Arcade Fire as he is by John Digweed, Dyed Soundorom and Tale of Us. In fact, he was initially more accustomed to plugging into a guitar amp than a DJ mixer through his formative musical years playing guitar and singing in bands such as Chemical Vacation, Vacuum and Elba. In these bands, he fine-tuned his skills in using music software and experimenting with genres and sounds.

Visits to Ibiza as well as clubbing across the UK instilled a desire to be a DJ and produce his own house music, equipped with his experience gained as a musician. It wasn't long before Paul was DJing at House Parties and other events.

In 2012, a chance meeting with Karl Frampton (Off The Cuff) evolved into the pair of them launching the Sidetrak Records label where Paul developed the commercial side of the music business alongside honing his own production skills. Through Paul’s A&R skills, Sidetrak boasts releases involving the likes of Andre Lodemann, Denney, Cristoph, People Get Real and other industry heavyweights alongside upcoming talent such as Red Star Arcade himself.

He has released original tracks and remixes on the likes of Comfusion Records, 4Beat Records, Good Voodoo Music and Kiss Dance Records as well as his releases on Sidetrak Records. DJ events include venues such as Middlesbrough’s Medicine Bar warming up for the likes of Adam Shaw (Toolroom/Mau5trap) & Denney (Hot Creations / VIVa Music)

Red Star Arcade’ productions have received support from the likes of Robert Owens, Andrew Grant, Joey Silvero (Distant People), Melvin Moore (Subliminal), DJ Jevne (One Thirty Recordings), Hippie Torrales, E-Man, Tiago Fragateiro (Composite Records), Wattie Green, Brazilian Soul Crew, Nick Maurer (Om/Get Physical) and many others.

In addition to producing straight up House music, Paul has also tapped into his vast musical background to produce ambient / film score music available for sync purposes which can be found on this Soundcloud page.