Biography
Elod Csaszar was a well-known pop artist in his home country of Hungary for almost a decade when he decided to try his production skills in the international electronic dance music scene. Back in his pop days as an artist and/or producer he released 8 albums, sold more than 300.000 records whilst scoring numerous national number ones.
Whilst he felt he was totally ready for some dance music making, one crucial element was still missing: a good name.
In the Hollywood film "54" he saw a scene of the new car of main character Shane O'Shea (played by Ryan Philippe), who is the bar tender at 70s New York Superclub Studio 54. This car's licence plate said:
"Shane 54"...
He knew straight away this is what he hunted so long for his new project. Shane 54 was born.
His first remix was made through a Dutch trance forum for Finnish producer Matti Laamanen. "I Love You" (under his Cosmicman alias) became number 10 in Finland and the Shane 54 remix got rave reviews all over the net's trance community.
His second mix for the same Finnish label "Ibiza Sunrise" (from Swedish act Labworks) ended up immediately by UK superlabel ATCR, and found its way onto compilations like Gatecrasher or Creamfields.
Two remix competitions got him the chance of getting his hands on Madonna and Lenny Kravitz tracks, but as a non-American citizen, he wasn't allowed to apply with his works. However the remixes appeared on the internet, and all the big djs reportedly started to spin them.
His "Music" remix got released on several bootleg vinyls and got mislabeled as "Steve Lawler" or "Quiver" (sic!) remix... But curiously enough if you listen to them it's the same Shane 54 mix.
The mix for Lenny's "Believe In Me" was so popular, due to the increasing number of compilation requests (of course none of them could be fulfilled being an unofficial remix) Shane decided to replace the original vocals to his own (thanks to his pop singer background it didn't take too much to do them by himself), so Sun's "Believe in Me" cover finally got released by NEWS in Belgium.
One day Shane got a phone call from Paul Oakenfold requesting for a remix on his "Bunkka" album track "Time Of Your Life" featuring Perry Farrell (of Jane's Addiction fame) on vocals. Not a bad company for an unknown Hungarian guy! The track was finally released in 2004 on Oakie's "Creamfields" album, and even got mentioned on the cover sticker!
His remix for Lange's "Don't Think It (Feel It)" landed immediately on Tiesto's playlist and stayed there for a long time. The Shane 54 On-Spec mix of Above & Beyond's "Far From In Love" was a big favourite of Judge Jules' Radio 1 show, and still an often-played tune for the guys themselves!
The next single was a remake of one of his all time synth classic: Jean Michel Jarre's "Equinoxe 4". The original song sounds perfect in a trancey context, and this new version got to number 13 in Holland, and 12 in Spain. Even Dj Quicksliver found it good enough to turn the single's B-side, "Mat Silver vs Tony Burt mix" into his very own (means it sounds pretty much the same) "Equinoxe 4" single and made it a big hit in Germany. How original... :o)
As a remixer he has worked with labels like Vandit (PvD used his remix on 2 mix cds), Nebula, Black Hole, Captivating, Lost Language and many more. His voice also getting "borrowed" from time to time, Mr. Sam, Beam or Misja Helsloot are already had their "call of duty" for a vocal collaboration.
A dj gig in Madrid (his first international appearance) brought him together with Abel Ramos, the Spanish superstar dj, who later flew to Hungary to work on a new track called "Kippenvelmeter" (The phrase comes from Armin, kippenvel is the Dutch word for "Goosebumps". It seemed ideal for a Spanish and a Hungarian guy...) It's been released in Spain, and a new edition with superb Alex MORPH/Woody Van Eyden and Misja Helsloot mixes is gonna be out on Getz! early 2006.
The Anjunabeats connection got Shane hooked up with Carrie Skipper, the wonderful singer-songwriter for a collaboration. The track, "Vampire" got the guys from Nu Nrg so excited, they did a remix! This version alongside the new Shane 54 remix is just released on his second artist album "Laptop Dj" yet available in Hungary only.
As a dj he's known for ignoring the boundaries and conventions traditionally associated with dance music. (Honestly, who would've think of playing Iron Maiden in a dj set...) His own "Laptop Dj" radio shows are a great example of shameless mashing-up and the fact that virtually any kind of music could be implemented into dance music. It only takes a few clicks to subscribe to his (free) podcast, where every single episode of the show can be easily accessed.