Chris Cox

aka Frank Booker

Martyn Pepperell

24 Jan 2025

For over two and a half decades, Chris Cox, aka Frank Booker, has kept dancefloors moving across New Zealand and Australia, and even as far afield as New York, London and Japan.

After falling in love with acid-jazz, jazz funk and progressive soul as a teenager in Christchurch, Cox taught himself to DJ and expanded his palette to include soul, house, and hip-hop, while playing gigs opening for his friends who were playing in the band Solaa at the time. From there, he discovered student radio via the local station, RDU 98.5, spent a stint as a resident DJ at Base Nightclub & Bar, and had some fledgling adventures as a promoter.

After a well-received DJ set at legendary musical festival The Gathering, Cox relocated to Auckland. In the big city, he became involved in the scenes surrounding the Khuja Lounge and Calibre venues, where he became fascinated with the emerging sound of West London Broken Beat. Along the way, he found love, taught himself the basics of hardware music production, and teamed up with his high-school friend Isaac Aesili in the future jazz-meets-house-meets-broken-beat group Thisinformation.

In the early 2000s, Cox played his first DJ gigs overseas and was invited to attend the Red Bull Music Academy in São Paulo. In 2004, he relocated to London, where he helped the Japanese-New Zealand jazz-electronica pianist and producer Mark de Clive-Lowe run a regular club night called Freesoul Sessions before returning home in 2006.

Back in Auckland, Cox started spending time with jazz saxophonist and producer Nathan Haines, who invited him to co-produce his seventh album, Right Now. Not long after, Cox started co-hosting a weekly Monday night show on George FM with Hit It & Quit It with the American electronic music producer, DJ and musician Matthew Chicoine, aka Recloose. Hit It & Quit It quickly expanded into a club night called Hit It & Quit It Revue, which gave Cox the freedom to explore his growing interest in disco-funk, boogie and uptempo R&B.

From there, Cox jumped into releasing his own slow-building original deep house and boogie productions and disco DJ edits as Frank Booker. Soon enough, he was releasing records on boutique labels around the world and touring overseas on a regular basis as a DJ. Around the same time, he found another calling in musical education, leading to stints working with MAINZ, Serato, Auckland Council, and SAE New Zealand.

In 2019, Cox returned to event promotion while working with London/Auckland-based producer, DJ, and promoter collective Flamingo Pier. Since the start of 2024, he’s been helping with the music at the Ponsonby Record bar Nami, running a new event promotion/record label project called Music First with his business partner Sam Harman, aka DJ Samuel Harmony, and fitting in long DJ sets wherever he can.

This two-part feature takes a deeper look at Cox’s story: a tale that involves following your instincts, the power of strong role models, the magic of nightlife, and so much more.

Close to 30 years into his journey playing music to dancefloors, Cox remains inspired, enthusiastic and encouraging. Although he draws deeply from decades of research and study into the rich histories of Black music and DJ culture, Cox’s focus is still very much on the present moment and what lies on the horizon. “I’ve got this idea in my head that the greatest party might be the next one,” he explained. “For me, the real question is always this: what can we do to keep things fun and constantly moving forward.”

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Read Chris Cox Part One: early days

Read Chris Cox Part Two: London Calling

Frank Booker playing a Flight Facilities support slot at the Sydney Domain, Australia, 2016.

Gilles Peterson and Frank Booker at the Hollywood Avondale in Auckland, 2018.

Frank Booker mixes four of his tracks using the Rane MP2015 mixer and Serato DJ (2015)

Chris Cox in London, 2004.

Frank Booker | Live in São Paulo, Brazil (2019) | Baile (Mareh) | Salão do Clube Homs na Av Paulista | (6:41:26 - 9:37:42)

Former MAINZ colleagues Harry Lyon (Hello Sailor) and Chris Cox aka Frank Booker enjoying a pint down the road at The Brewers Co-Operative on Victoria Street West, Auckland. 2018.

Chris Cox and Isaac Aesili during a Solaa practice, 1998.

Frank Booker in Amsterdam, 2017.

Frank Booker at the entrance of Las Vegas club on Karangahape Road, Auckland, 2018.

Bevan Keys and Frank Booker in Auckland, 2018.

Chris Cox in 1998.

Frank Booker | Room One Live x 121 Carlucci Land, Wellington (2019)

Frank Booker | Room One Live (2020)

Frank Booker in 2013.

Photo credit: Press shot by Cam McClaren

Frank Booker in 2015 at the Motown Museum in Detroit, home to Hitsville USA and Studio A where Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Supremes, The Temptations and many other Motown legends recorded.