CamelPhat

CamelPhat
Also known asWhelan & Di Scala, Wheels & Disco, Shake n' Jack, Mancini, Pawn Shop, Da Mode, High Society, the Bassline Hustlers
OriginLiverpool, United Kingdom
Genres
Instruments
  • Keyboard
  • guitar
  • synthesizer
Years active2006–present
Labels
MembersDave Whelan
Mike Di Scala

CamelPhat are an English DJ and production duo, consisting of Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala, formed in Liverpool in 2006.

Initially they released music under various names but found success with their 2017 single "Cola", which peaked at No. 3 on the UK Dance Chart, and at No. 18 on the UK Singles Chart.

They have released two studio albums and many singles and EPs.

Biography

Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala met each other in a Liverpool record shop 3 Beat Records and both were disc jockeys in the city. Di Scala had previously released music as a member of Rezonance Q (with Lee Butler and Les Calvert), Ultrabeat (with Ian Redman and Chris Henry) and as a solo happy hardcore artist using the name Re-Con. Dave Whelan hosted his own Jubilee club night since 2004 and the two were resident DJs at Society nightclub.

They began producing music together as members of The Chosen Few, along with Les Calvert. The trio also managed the Adhesive record label as a subsidiary of All Around the World. The Chosen Few released a cover of Tears for Fears’ "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (Adhesive, 2004) and also remixed the original song for the 2005 reissue of Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82–92).

As a duo, Whelan and Di Scala released several remixes and bootlegs as under various names such as The Bassline Hustlers, Men from Mars and Da Mode. Using the name Pawn Shop, they released the single "Shot Away" (All Around the World, 2006), based on a sample of "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, which peaked at No. 100 on the UK Singles Chart. Following this, they released several more singles as Whelan & Di Scala on various labels, including their own Bachelor Pad Recordings, and also using other aliases such as Wheels & Disco, Mancini and Shake n' Jack. From 2008 to 2014, Dave Whelan was a radio presenter on Juice FM.

In 2010, they released their first recordings as CamelPhat on their own Vice Records label. As CamelPhat, the duo initially wore wrestling masks to conceal their identity because they "just wanted the people to judge the music and not us". In 2011, Dave Whelan and Mike Di Scala became owners of a Liverpool nightclub Mansion. The duo released numerous singles and EPs on various record labels and some CamelPhat songs appeared on the Ultratop charts in Belgium, such as "The Act" (Spinnin' Deep, 2014), "Paradigm" featuring A*M*E (Axtone, 2015), "Constellations" (Spinnin' Deep, 2015), "Make 'Em Dance" from Light Night EP (Suara, 2016) and "Hangin' Out with Charlie" from Hangin' with Charlie EP (Suara, 2017).

Their collaboration with Elderbrook on "Cola" (Defected, 2017) was an international hit single which peaked at No. 17 on the U.K. Singles Chart and No. 1 on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and was nominated for Best Dance Recording at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. Further UK top forty hit singles followed with "Panic Room" (Loudmouth Music, 2018), a collaboration with Au/Ra and "Breathe" (Pryda Presents, 2018), a collaboration with Cristoph featuring Jem Cooke. In December 2018, CamelPhat signed to RCA Records and released several singles on the label such as "Be Someone" (2019) with Jake Bugg, “Rabbit Hole” (2019) featuring Jem Cooke, “For a Feeling” (2020) with Artbat featuring Rhodes and “Hypercolour” (2020) with Yannis Philippakis of Foals. In October 2020 they released their debut studio album Dark Matter which reached No. 23 in the UK Albums Chart.

Discography

Awards and nominations

AIM Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 CamelPhat Most Played New Independent Act Nominated

DJ Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2016 CamelPhat Breakthrough Nominated
2017 "Cola" (with Elderbrook) Track of the Season Won
2018 CamelPhat House Artist Won
2019 CamelPhat Tech House Nominated

DJ Mag Best of British Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 CamelPhat Best Group Won

Grammy Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 "Cola" (with Elderbrook) Best Dance Recording Nominated

International Dance Music Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 "Cola" (with Elderbrook) Best Song Nominated
2019 "Panic Room" (with Au/Ra) Best Electronic Song Nominated

Ivor Novello Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 "Cola" (with Elderbrook) Best Contemporary Song Nominated

UK Music Video Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2019 "Be Someone" (with Jake Bugg) Best Dance Video – UK Nominated
2019 "Be Someone" (with Jake Bugg) Best Editing in a Video Nominated

WDM Radio Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2018 "Cola" (with Elderbrook) Best Dancefloor Track Nominated

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Johnson, Emma (22 March 2018). "Phat Beats... Emma Johnson catches up with Grammy nominees CamelPhat". The Free Library. Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  2. ↑ "From panto to club hit". The Free Library. Liverpool Echo. 21 February 2003. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  3. ↑ "Scouse in the house". The Free Library. Liverpool Echo. 30 May 2003. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  4. ↑ Dias, Alexander (10 August 2021). "5 House Acts With Surprising Pasts". Gray Area. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Emma (3 June 2005). "Clubs: Jubilee is toast of high society; Marky J and the rest of the team are on the move". The Free Library. Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  6. ↑ Calvert, Les (24 March 2005). "Les Calvert's Miami Blog". BBC. BBC. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Emma (14 April 2006). "DJs just a Shotaway from chart success". The Free Library. Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Whelan & Di Scala on MySpace Music". MySpace. Archived from the original on 26 January 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  9. ↑ "Dave Whelan on Twitter". Twitter. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2020. Sooo after 8 years at @JuiceFM my services are no longer required.
  10. ↑ "RA: CamelPhat". ResidentAdvisor.net. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  11. ↑ Di Scala, Mike (4 September 2017). "CamelPhat interview". Skiddle (Interview). YouTube. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  12. ↑ "Manion Concepts Limited". Companies House. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  13. ↑ "Discografie CamelPhat". Belgium (Flanders) Charts Portal. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2 March 2026.
  14. ↑ "Dance Club Songs – November 11, 2017". Billboard. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.[permanent dead link]
  15. ↑ Randall Roberts (7 December 2017). "Vocalist Elderbrook: Lyrics to his and CamelPhat's Grammy-nominated dance song 'Cola' are 'strangely specific' — but not about spiking a drink". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 December 2017.
  16. ↑ "CamelPhat & Elderbrook on 'Cola' Success, Unexpected Grammy Nomination". billboard.com. 8 December 2017. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "Who Will Win Best Dance Recording?". GRAMMY.com. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  18. ↑ Paine, Andre (5 December 2018). "'2019 will be their biggest year to date': RCA signs CamelPhat". Music Week. Future Pic. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  19. ↑ "AIM Awards nominations announced". completemusicupdatre. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  20. ↑ "DJ Awards 2016 Winners and Nominees". djawards.com. DJ Awards. Archived from the original on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "DJ Awards 2017 Winners and Nominees". djawards.com. DJ Awards. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  22. ↑ "DJ Awards 2018 Winners and Nominees". djawards.com. DJ Awards. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  23. ↑ "DJ Awards Announce: 2019 Categories and Nominees". djawards.com. DJ Awards. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  24. ↑ "Here's all the DJ Mag Best Of British Awards 2018 winnerst". DJ Mag. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  25. ↑ "60th GRAMMY Awards: Full Nominees List". The Recording Academy. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  26. ↑ "International Dance Music Awards 2018". Winter Music Conference. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  27. ↑ "The International Dance Music Awards". Winter Music Conference. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  28. ↑ "UK: Everything Everything and 'Cola' nominated for Ivor Novello Awards". BMG. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  29. 1 2 "UK Music Video Awards 2019: all the nominations!". Promonews. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  30. ↑ "WDM Radio Awards 2018 by LOS40". Los40.com.mx. Retrieved 19 May 2019.