G-PAL Biography

[Chris.M]

George Pallikaris originally hails from Thessaloniki, one of the largest cities in northern Greece. George was first introduced to music at a very young age. By the age of 4 he was already training to play the piano. Although he was studying the likes of Jean Michelle Jarre and Vangelis he was also composing music on his first synthesizer. Once George reached his teen years, he got very involved with early dance music buying house and techno records and playing them for his friends. After graduating from high school, G.Pal stepped in a direction away from music for about 4 years. So instead, he chose to pursue the subject of physics. While in the University, G.Pal slowly drifted back to his true passion, musical production. If it wasn't for this almost complete musical void G.Pal may never have gotten so determined to earn a living producing music.

After a few years of developing his skills composing and producing tracks, G.Pal decided to move to New York City so that he could pursue a degree in music technology. According to G.Pal, he would have stayed in Greece, but not one of the schools offered a degree similar to the one available through NYU. And frankly, it is tough to argue with George's thinking. After all, there can't be a better time to get a degree in music technology. This educational experience, combined with his own interest in studio gear, hardware and software puts George way ahead of your average dance music producer. While attending NYU, George started shopping his tracks around the end of 1997. About a year later, a decent amount of respectable labels were knocking on his door. Soon after his first commercial record release, a double pack on the UK's prestigious Low Pressings label, he started preparing material for labels. On a cold night in November at Mike Bryant's Friday night party, G Pal brought a demo down for Plastic City A&R Rick Salzer. After some small discussions, both parties agreed that G.Pal should join the UCMG NY artist roster. Since then he released many singles for Plastic City and the critically acclaimed album "Life by G.Pal".

George had to leave New York City after six years of studying at NYU, to join the Greek military force for two years. At that time Swift recordings was founded as a joint effort by him and UCMGNY as an outlet for his club-minded tribal and progressive productions. Since its inception, Swift has steadily gained momentum and created quite a buzz within the dance music community. There have been four releases in the Swift stable and several waiting for release. This accomplishment seems even greater when one considers that the label's founder and principle artist served in the Greek military from spring of 2001 until December of 2002.

Even though he was limited in his civilian capacities, George still managed to produce a weekly 2 hour mix for a large radio station in Greece and organize a regular Swift night at Athens' premiere nightclub Plus Soda. Because of military restrictions though, George was not allowed to leave the country and play in clubs around the world.

Now that George is released from the army, initially his focus will be on building Swift into the label he has envisioned all along. Swift records will no longer be a part of UCMGNY, as George decided to run the label by himself from his own country Greece. Swift will be globally distributed by Intergroove UK. In Greece it will be represented by KLIK records. Concerning his productions and remixes, George will start to work at his studio full time again. Expect remixes and productions from labels such as Yoshitoshi, Shinichi, Low Pressings, Addictive and many more. With sales steadily increasing and licenses coming in from Deep Dish and Steve Lawler for their Global Underground mix albums as well as DJ mixes from David Duriez, Terry Lee Brown Jr., Oscar G. for the Space club compilation, Tim Fielding for JDJ, Hardy Heller, Pascal Feos, and Steve Bug to name just a few, expect big things from G.Pal and Swift in the near future.

From September 2004 to May 2005, G.Pal launched the monthly Swift Records nights at LUV club in Athens. Among him and his wife Anna Maria X, Christian Cambas, MOS, DJ Tim, Mr. Roussos and Cleopatra also joined the nights. You can listen to G.Pal's weekly, DJ Zone radio mix show every Friday night, from 12 to 2 AM at Best 92,6.