Music / Visual art / Press & broadcasting
Alan Oldham
born 1963 · techno DJ, producer, graphic artist, painter
Detroit radio host, comic artist and techno DJ known as DJ T-1000, who drew techno's early record art and toured with Underground Resistance.
- Born
age 63- Birth name
- Alan D. Oldham
- Also known as
- DJ T-1000
- Detroit years
- 1980s–2000s
- Field
- Music, Visual art, Press & broadcasting
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Alan Oldham got his start in radio: from 1987 to 1992 he hosted Fast Forward on WDET-FM, Detroit's public radio station, playing techno and industrial alongside hip-hop and punk after landing the job through a college internship. An illustrator as well as a DJ, he drew the artwork for Derrick May's “Nude Photo” (1987) as Rhythim Is Rhythim and went on to create hundreds of pieces for the Dutch label Djax, from record labels to comics. In 1992, after Jeff Mills left Underground Resistance, Oldham, who had been working in the UR office, was asked to be the group's DJ on its Australian tour; he took the code name DJ T-1000, after the liquid-metal cyborg in Terminator 2. Mike Banks then asked him to run the Generator label through Submerge, and in 1996 he launched Pure Sonik. He has released on Tresor and other European labels, created the comics Johnny Gambit and Vectra: Black Girl from the Future, and exhibited his paintings in Europe.
Highlights
- Hosted Fast Forward on WDET-FM, 1987–1992.
- Designed the artwork for Rhythim Is Rhythim's “Nude Photo” (1987).
- Toured Australia as Underground Resistance's DJ in 1992.
- Founded the Generator (via Submerge) and Pure Sonik labels; debut album Progress on Tresor.