About Pauze Radio

Gav Pauze aka DJ Pauze started playing Jungle/Drum & Bass in 1995, playing clubs in England and Scotland. He studied music at Clarendon College (Midlands) in 1998 where he became a qualified audio engineer. His passion and drive for music was clear and the works progressed to playing Reggae on the radio featuring strictly positive, uplifting Roots Reggae with the “Unique Reggae Mix Show” based in London, UK in 2006. The popularity of the radio show grew and started featuring on stations in the USA from 2007, Germany & Philippines in 2010, Portugal in 2011, Bermuda in 2014 and now in 2015 the works reach out to 150+ countries and territories worldwide.

The Unique Reggae Mix Show was first aired on Unique FM (UK) in 2006 but in 2009 Gav moved on and set up Pauzeradio.com which then became the new home of the Unique Reggae Mix, archiving all the radio shows that he has made since 2009. The website premiers a new mix show every 2 weeks but listeners can delve into the archives to catch any previous shows they may have missed.

In 2011 Gav had his first book of poetry published, named “In Heart Mind & Soul” setting him off on his experimental journey with words. His hard hitting, real life poetry focuses on life struggles, love and social issues and forwarded him to becoming a fluent songwriter for known artists within the Reggae industry. Gav has worked directly with a number of known and upcoming Reggae artists including writing songs for; Mikey General, Peter Runks, Wild Life, VC, Torch Eva Burnin Flame, The Lambsbread, Carol Ellis. Bredren B and Karina Nistal.

Also he has recorded, mixed and mastered audio for artists like; Bunny Rugs lead singer of Third World Band, Mikey General, Luciano, Perfect Giddimani, Errol Bonnick, VC aka Valton Craige, Peter Runks, Percydread Natural-Ites, Chanter, Ras Penco, Matthew Radics, Philippa Michael, Verse iTal, Terry Ganzie, Blessed Barak, Fitta Warri, Pelican, Rholin X, Kerry Star and FutureMan.

Who is DJ Pauze?

I tend to use Gav Pauze now and I see myself as a music loving man just like you. Were all human beings regardless of race or skin colour or what language we speak. Using words to describe myself i would say I am a passionate friendly person who simply loves good music, that’s me through and through. See something I have been involved with from my early to mid teens is playing music. I first started spinning Rave/Jungle music in the Midlands, my place of birth. I had a fascination with turntables. In 1995 I met DJ Blaze who influenced me to play Jungle more they introduced me to Technics 1210 turntables and gave me the confidence to pursue music more deeply. It was around this time when I was introduced to Buju Banton’s reggae album Mr Mention and then in 97 Buju’s album Inna Heights that had a massive influence. Buju was one of the most sampled Reggae artists in Jungle music around the mid 90’s, along with record breaker Daddy Freddy so i was familiar with alot of their songs that had been remixed into jungle.

I treasure all my vinyls but certain ones not only lock in good memories of my childhood but also always create a great feeling inside as when i first heard them. My first reggae vinyl in my record box to play out was Lloyd Brown “Love You Down” but its was Buju’s Inner Heights album that was the most inspirational in my late teens i loved the sound of Buju’s voice and could really relate to most of his songs. More recently its been music like Dub Judah’s album “Better To Be Good” amongst other good reggae music really steered me into focusing on just the positive uplifting side of the music i now feature in the radio shows on Pauze Radio.

What is Pauze Radio?

Pauze Radio is the website that has developed into an online archive of the Unique Reggae Mix Show. Now with over 7 years of the Unique Reggae Mix running I have collected every show that has been on air and I wanted to share them with all the listeners of the radio show and also to attract new listeners too. In 2009 I teamed up with a web developer Mark Townsend in London and we have been working on developing the website.

Each show has its own page where you can listen to the show and also read the playlist of that show, you can leave comments on most of the pages on the site too, along with some album reviews and poetry amongst much more content. It takes time to build and develop a website of this scale and to be honest I am pleased with the progression and growth of the site in the past 5 years. Not only am I really pleased but also with Marks help I have learnt so much about web design and web development. In 2013 Luke Pollen also joined the Pauzeradio team. Luke, a search engine and digital marketing professional, has been working behind the scenes on the website helping to expand the online reach and is also a Google Analytics Qualified individual.

How did the Unique Reggae Mix Show get started?

In December 2006 in the Midlands I produced my first radio show entitled the Unique Reggae Mix show, this was aired on local station Unique FM. This opportunity to do my own radio show was a lifeline because at the same time I was suffering with depression from an accident, the press release called “Reggae Saves Life” is below. Positive reggae music had really helped with the depression and after reasoning with a few friends I decided the radio show would be positive reggae music only. I set to the task with dedication and focus on not just uplifting the listeners but also uplifting myself. Noticing there was not much support where I lived at the time I looked to things like the internet to promote the shows, playing reggae music and making the show available online enabled me to establish links with music producers and artists worldwide via the social networking sites, also email, msn and skype.

I have a strong philosophy of a “two way street” when working with artists, what I mean by that is you treat me with respect and I will treat you with respect, I tend to steer away from working with artists and producers if they come across disrespectful or pushy; and yes sometimes it does affect the selection of the music/artists I feature in the show, I am sticking to my rules though.

How did the Tribute shows start?

The word tribute suggests a passing, after life, why is it Reggae artists only have tributes made to the when they have passed, I feel an artist should have tributes while they are still with us. I have noticed that many listeners and artists agree with this too. The reason behind the mass of tribute shows I have made in 2011 is to change the trend, to show others its ok to tribute our reggae hero’s while they are still with us. I decide who I tribute in the shows by several factors, reasoning with the listeners and working off feedback generated online and by phone calls too. Any artists wanting to know how to get a tribute show or mixtape made should link me on facebook or by phone and hold a reasoning, yes I have plenty more tribute shows in the line to make.

The idea for doing tribute show came from a long reasoning I had with one of the artists regularly featured in the shows, resulting with a Bob Marley and Peter Tosh show and the feedback from that show was overwhelming so the idea of making shows for respectful artists that are still with us grew from there, tributing their works. One rule if your getting great feedback you don’t just stop, push harder explore more avenues be creative and always remember everything is always possible.

What are we to expect from the website?
At the moment the website is constantly growing with over 4400 pages of reggae shows, reggae music videos, reggae artists biographies, album reviews, free reggae downloads and not forgetting the Reggae Shop section with over 300 products, with more being added every week.

Even though the website is still in development you can access radio shows from 2009 to present. I plan to keep uploading a new show every two weeks and also archive some previous shows from 2008 extending the archives of the show on the site and allowing the listeners to hear reggae music they may not hear else where. More will be added to the artists album reviews, videos and biography sections too. There is so much more going on behind the scenes of the website but I cant give you all those details yet, mystery creates excitement…..

What current and new projects have you been working?

Currently I am continuing the Unique Reggae Mix Show and writing single and album reviews to go with the shows when I feature new music. Often I stick to reviewing works for those that help by sharing the radio show links they are featured in and those that treat others with manners and respect.

The past couple of years I have been writing poetry, releasing a book in 2011 called “In Heart Mind & Soul” a book containing uplifting poems and prayers. There will be a second book with over 45 uplifting poems in and some of the profit from the book will be donated to “Headway” the head injury charity in the UK that helped me after the accident in 2004.