Ben Annand began djing in 1996, shortly after starting work as a high-school substitute teacher. Writing Mr. Annand on the board when he entered class every day, he decided to use this as his dj name.
Ben started Tropical in 1998, with the goal of bringing quality production and music to a small house party, using tropical as the decorative theme. In the past 10 years Ben has organized 48 Tropical parties on land and sea, most recently featuring Dave Mothersole from London in a downtown warehouse, and Miles Maeda at the Tropical Beach party, right on the sand in Malibu. Tropical celebrates it’s 10th anniversary on October 18.
Since 1998, Ben has been resident dj at both Tropical and Moontribe, the famed full-moon gathering in the Mojave desert. He has performed frequently both nationally and internationally in his 12-year dj career, some highlights include the Labyrinth festival in Japan (2007 and 2008), Wiggle at Fabric in London (2007), 13 visits to the Propaganda club in Moscow (2001-2008), Rave Goa (2002) and Festimad (2001) in Madrid, and the Aca World Sound Festival in Acapulco (2000).
Ben is still actively teaching as well, currently he teaches English as a Second Language to as many as 74 students in one class.