Brooklyn-born David Leander Banks, known as DJ Disciple, has DJed and produced house music since the late 1980s and founded Catch 22 Recordings in 1997. His UK chart peak is number 67, with ‘On the Dancefloor’ in 1994; his US hit ‘Caught Up’ never charted in the UK. He published a New York house memoir in 2023.
A UK chart peak of 67, not the reputation you’d expect
DJ Disciple has four confirmed entries on UK charts, according to the Official Charts Company. ‘On the Dancefloor’ peaked at number 67 on the Official Singles Chart in the week of 12 November 1994, and at number 8 on the separate Official Dance Singles Chart the same week. ‘It’s Easy’ peaked at number 96 on 4 November 2000 (number 10 on the Dance chart). ‘Super Drum’, credited to Robbie Rivera featuring DJ Disciple, peaked at number 85 on 20 April 2002 (number 20 on the Dance chart). ‘Work It Out’, featuring Dawn Tallman, reached number 27 on the Official Physical Singles Chart and number 10 on the Dance chart, both dated 14 June 2008; it never appeared on the main Official Singles Chart.
His best-known US record never charted in the UK at all. ‘Caught Up’, featuring Mia Cox and produced with Jeremy Sylvester for the Groovilicious label, reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 2002, and Wikipedia, citing Billboard, states it was nominated for a Grammy that November. A direct search of the Official Charts Company’s database for ‘Caught Up’ against DJ Disciple returns zero results, so despite its US profile the song has no UK chart history.
Brooklyn radio to Wild Pitch: a house apprenticeship
Banks was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 2 September 1965, according to Wikipedia and Last.fm. His father played piano with Miles Davis and his brother Stanley played bass with George Benson. He grew up in the Farragut Projects and played drums at the Greater Refuge Temple in Harlem. He graduated from Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in 1984 and attended Baruch College, switching from an accounting major to journalism.
He began as a radio host and mixer for WNYE-FM in 1987, hosting a show called The Best Kept Secret that played underground house and early UK garage before the UK sound had broken through. His first professional DJ booking was at Studio 54, and his first nightclub residency followed at The World in 1989, after which he became resident DJ at Wild Pitch. He also played David Mancuso’s Loft and Choice parties in lower Manhattan and Club Zanzibar in New Jersey, following Tony Humphries, part of the New York and New Jersey club lineage that shaped early house music.
Twice a year at Ministry of Sound, and Catch 22 Recordings
Between 1993 and 2001 he played Ministry of Sound in London at least twice a year, and also appeared at Lakota in Bristol and Cream in Liverpool, according to Wikipedia. The same article credits him with playing London’s Notting Hill Carnival every year from 1994 to 2010. A 2023 interview with UK dance-music site Juno Daily separately documents a wider UK club circuit going back to March 1993, including venues in London, Cardiff, Leeds, Newcastle, Middlesbrough, Hull, Bristol and Belfast.
He founded Catch 22 Recordings in 1997; its first hit was the Black & White Brothers’ ‘Put Your Hands Up’, according to Wikipedia. The label has released more than 300 tracks since, per Discogs and his Resident Advisor biography. His debut full-length album, My True Colors, came out on Catch 22 in 2000. Discogs lists Catch 22, House Trained, Vendetta, Blanco Y Negro, Nets Work International and his own Nympho Soundz as labels he has recorded for or run; no label by the name Dis Lexic turned up in any source checked for this record.
The Beat, the Scene, the Sound: a memoir, and one Ibiza note
He co-wrote a memoir with journalist Henry Kronk, titled The Beat, the Scene, the Sound: A DJ’s Journey through the Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of House Music in New York City, published by Rowman & Littlefield on 15 June 2023. Wikipedia and DJ Life Magazine both describe it as covering New York club and street culture from disco’s decline through the crack cocaine epidemic and the HIV/AIDS crisis to the rise of EDM.
The only documented Ibiza connection found in this research comes from his own Beatport artist bio, which states that ‘Work It Out’ ‘generated momentum at Ibiza’ in 2006 and received BBC Radio 1 support from Pete Tong, two years ahead of the track’s confirmed Swiss vinyl release on the Egoiste label in May 2008 and its UK chart entry that June. That is a single, artist-supplied source; no venue listing or second source corroborates an Ibiza date, and no 2026 booking exists.
Discography
| Year | Release | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | On the Dancefloor | Mother Records |
| 2000 | It’s Easy | Azuli Records |
| 2000 | My True Colors | Catch 22 Recordings |
| 2002 | Super Drum | Azuli Records |
| 2002 | Caught Up | Groovilicious |
| 2008 | Work It Out | Egoiste |
What the night is actually like
No 2026 Ibiza date was found for DJ Disciple in any listing checked, including hi Ibiza, Ushuaïa, Amnesia, Pacha, DC10 and UNVRS, and neither Wikipedia nor his Resident Advisor profile lists a current residency there. His old djdisciple.com domain is now a parked Namecheap listing rather than a working site; Resident Advisor gives his current site as disciplenyc.com, which this record could not open and confirm directly. Anyone looking for him now is better served by Catch 22 label releases, Beatport and SoundCloud than by an Ibiza listing.