Dave Bichard

Producer, writer, multi-instrumentalist & DJ from Manchester, England. Diagnosed as transgender in 2007 and now better known as Rachel James. BIOGRAPHY – UPDATED JULY 2012 Rachel Ellektra AKA Rachel James. Musician, song-writer, producer, remixer, sound engineer, DJ and much more besides. She’s written music for and with artists like Angie Brown, Joy Malcolm and Steve Strange, produced for labels like Sony Music and Neo Records and has been recommended by the likes of Danny Tenaglia, Redanka and Eddie Gordon. Multi-instrumentalist and multi-genre producer, she is almost impossible to ‘pigeon-hole’. So who is she and how did it all begin?… Rachel started out as a musician at just 5 years old playing keyboard, violin and guitar and was already in her first rock band at 13. When the dance music bug bit her at the tender age of 15, she began DJ’ing and progressed quickly music production. With borrowed and blagged equipment, Rachel soon had the basis of a small studio set up at home and was putting demos together and sending them out to labels eventually attracting the attention of Grant Nelson. She headed to London and co-wrote a couple of tracks for Nice ‘n’ Ripe alongside Grant. Rachel went on to produce for several labels and in the late 90’s she hooked up with Eddie Gordon of Neo Records who started putting remix work her way. These mixes gained her the attention of the A-list DJ’s and several BBC Radio 1 plays for her music. In 2001 Rachel’s cunning mash-up of David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’ with DSK’s ‘What Would We Do’ got tongues wagging and dance floors moving. Aczess’ cheekily titled ‘Do What We Would picked up the attention of many a big name DJ playing it in Ibiza that summer and went on to get signed to Sony’s dance off-shoot INCredible. The track went on to be a massive club smash topping many well-known dance charts. In more recent years Rachel's label Axis Trax was born. It was initially a label to push out Rachel’s own musical doodles but it fast developed into a magnet for fabulous, undiscovered as well as well-established dance artists. The label though started on a zero budget soon attracted a large fan base celebrated it’s 1st birthday with a big bash at Ministry of Sound, London. Month on month Axis Trax grew and so did Rachel’s reputation as a producer/remixer. Over the past 3 years she has remixed for a host of artists including Jessie J, Black Eyed Peas, Marvin Gaye, Flash Brothers, X-Press 2, Redanka, Angelic, Amanda Wilson, Peyton, Graeme Park, Nightstylers, Mazie Williams, Joyce Sims, N-Joi, Pete Doyle, Freddy Bastone, Pepper Mashay, Rita Campbell, 7th Heaven, Banderas and Awesome 3 to name a few. Rachel is currently working on new projects with Blue Amazon and also co-writing and producing her debut album under her guise of Avro. RECENT INDUSTRY COMMENTS ON RACHEL... “Rachel, you are DA BOMB!” (Sterling Void) “You can clearly turn your hand to anything and produce quality.” (Lee Softly aka Blue Amazon) “You are truly multi-talented! Where have you been all my life?” (Andy Holt aka Redanka/Tarantella/DATAR) "I've a lot of time for Rachel and admire her hugely!" (Andy Wetson - Almighty/7th Heaven) "What can we say about Rachel’s mixes except A+!" (K-Klass) "I love your work!" (Kenny Thomas) "Rachel, are you related to King Midas? Everything you touch currently turns to gold!" (Jules Little - Global Dancefloor Radio show) "Rachel, I literally cried when I heard 'Halo'! It sounds AMAZING! Best thing I've ever heard myself on!" (Colin Waterson) "Been loving your 'Stella' remix! Playing it pretty much every gig! Really good job!!" (Jody Wisternoff - Way Out West) "Keep on trucking luv, you are doing well!" (James Blond) "I really do love what you're doing!" (Pete Doyle, Defected/Daddy Funk) "That Marvin Gaye remix... I think it's stunning!" (Robert De Fresnes) "Great work! Keep them coming Rachel!" (Danny Rampling) "I love everything that Rachel does!!" (Brandon Block). "Champion want to sign 'Replay' as our follow up single! So much is down to you, so thank you again for doing such an amazing job on engineering and co-production!" (Jason Gardiner - White Knights, Champion Records). "Rachel is a great producer/remixer!" (Peyton - Hed Kandi/Fierce Angel/Strictly Rhythm). "I think Rachel is very talented." (Joyce Sims - Singer/songwriter). "With your multi, multi-talent, and my vocals we could be really good!" (Angie Brown).