Vernon nightlife continues to evolve with the booking of a number of internationally known DJs and electronic music producers.
The latest coming to town are husband/wife duo Lori J Ward and T.Orlando, who bill themselves under the label Ward founded, flavorite music.
Hailing from Victoria and Slovenia respectively, Ward and Orlando perform at Vernon’s Club 2929 Thursday with fellow DJ Matthew1626 from Vancouver.
One of the top ranking female DJs in Canada, Ward, aka the HiFi Princess, is an artist, producer, label owner and promoter who has worked all over Europe and North America.
“I have given half of my life to music. After 16 years, there is no turning back. (I) take the ups with the downs, the good with the bad and remember how lucky I am to be able to have my passion as my job. It is sort of an addiction,” said Ward, who started her career in 1995 spinning at Victoria nightclub, Limit.
Ward eventually ended up in London, where she held two residencies before heading off for six months to play as a resident in a club in Luxembourg. It was there that she met Simmer, from Shimmy Recordings, and her production career began.
In 1998, Ward relocated to New York City, where she plunged into the music industry and worked and interned for record promotion company LIFT, now a major player in the electronic music promotion scene. There she learned about music distribution, college radio promotion, and A&R, all the things that set her up and enabled her to be a DIY, solo force.
Ward also released her first vinyl album in 1999, which was followed by three more that same year.
It was while in New York that she started her own company, futuretech, which has since been reborn into flavorite music, a music label, booking and management company as well as the name for its monthly label parties in Europe.
Currently, Ward manages the bookings for five of her main artists on her label, and handles events in various cities in countries such as Slovenia, Croatia and Austria.
In 2010, she searched out and managed the details for 19 releases, and organized three-week tours for her Canadian artists. On top of all this, she managed to produce and release for her label as well as the world-renowned Kaato Music.
She is also lead singer, co-producer of the project Phonix, with Tobias Frick, who have 15 releases and have reached the European electonica charts and toured around Austria.
Now based in Toronto, Ward has also been working on a downtempo project with T.Orlando and Matthew 1626.
A well-known European DJ, Orlando has a unique style of house and tech music mixed with his old love of progressive rock. His mood can be described as deep and percussive, and always groovy.
Now an integral part of flavorite music, Orlando has had more than 15 releases since 2010 and is also in charge of mastering and sound design for the label.
Doors to the DJs performance at Club 2929 open at 9 p.m. For more info, go to www.flavoritemusic.com.
