From Raver to Dj to Producer 

Martin grew up in the raving 90's and 2000's with a passion for multiple genres of music including breakbeat, hardcore, hard house, trance, drum and bass, hip hop and house music of all varieties.
Always involved in music from a very young age he took to the mic to be an MC at age 14 and thrived on any house party or event that he could get involved in. Martin always wanted to be a dj but could not afford a setup for many years, so he practiced on his friend’s kit at every chance he could get. Finally in 2005 Martin acquired his first set of Technics 1210's and began to master his craft. When he felt he was ready to play out, he hit his local clubs in Bournemouth such as The Old Fire Station, Empire, Dusk Till Dawn and DNA.
Whilst studying for his degree at university he became friends with like-minded drum and bass enthusiasts and together they launched their first event Fracture at Dusk Till Dawn. Martin has never looked back.
Now with 15 years plus experience in the industry under his alias Dj Xj, Martin has achieved many of his goals and dreams. In the summer of 2017, he made his debut on the clubbing island of Ibiza, touring with the Parasol collective in association with Darkest before Dawn Records.
In the summer of 2018, he landed a dj residency in Cyprus with Ayia Napa House Party, hosted by House Party Events and performed alongside house legend Junior Jack plus 50 other national and international artists. He returned again in 2019 with his fellow residents joining line ups this time including dj's Craig Knight, Hot Like Detroit and Franky Wah. 
In the summer of 2019 he ticked another goal of his list by landing his first festival slot at Home Farm Fest in Somerset. To top off the year he was also booked to play at the largest dance festival in Wales, Logic Fest. Here he played alongside Ian Van Dahl, N-Trance, 4 Strings, Flip & Fill, Breeze, Scott Brown, Darren Styles, TechnoBoy, Andy Whitby, Judge Jules, Bliss, Dave Pearce, Marcella Woods and many, many more.
During the 2020 lockdown Martin applied himself to as many online live stream events as possible. He was spotted and approached by several charity event organisers, including BBC South News promoted Drum and Bass event Mental Health Matters; a collective initiated to help raise money for Mind charity. The event showcasing nationwide dj talent, including XJ, raised thousands of pounds for this worthy cause.  
Now Xj starts his next venture in music production as Manticore
Checkout his page here https://www.facebook.com/manticoreofficialuk
Checkout his first release https://soundcloud.com/manticoreofficialuk/manticore-lost-original-mix

For DJ XJ links below

https://soundcloud.com/djxjuk/

https://www.instagram.com/djxjuk/

https://www.mixcloud.com/martin-xj-lake/

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