Like many other guys and girls from his generation, Onno Schram got infected by the house-virus in an early stage. At the age of 7, he got his first cd called “Turn up the Bass volume 15”, a title that would become the motto of his life. The interest for house music continued, as he figured out that he liked the faster styles in dance music. He bought his first Thunderdome-compilation at the age of 10 and started collecting everything that dealt with hardcore music. At his 13th birthday, he bought himself a Soundlab belt drive turntable for 400 guilders ( the result of saving money for two years) and went to Mid-Town Records to buy his first record:  eophyte’s “Execute” went through his neighbourhood hundreds of times and the beginning of a new addiction had started.

Inspiration
Watching TMF’s “Hakkuuhhh” every week and reading all about hardcore in magazines like “Thunder Magazine” and “Strobe Magazine”, Onno knew that when he was 16 years old he just had to go to the parties he read and heard all about. He got a second hand turntable from his uncle: a disco-dj back in the seventies. An old Technics SL-1900 with wheel-based pitch control was joined by a basic Numark mixer. He came up with his alias DJ Mercenary: named after his favourite Game Boy game “Mercenary Force” and ambiguous for the definition of a mercenary. At the age of 15, he got his first appearance behind the wheels of steel at youth centre “Time Out” in Nieuwegein, where he learned more on dj-ing.

Gaining experience
The bedroom hobby got more serious when he was asked by the manager of dancing The Shaker in IJsselstein to become a resident DJ at the age of 17. He had to leave his hardcore records at home, but Onno took the chance as he got the opportunity to play for hundreds of people every week. However, when Onno’s sound became harder then the manager wanted him to play, he quit the dancing and focussed on other projects in the dancescene.

No nonsense, only hardcore
Some years later, he was asked to become part of the event promoter No Nonsense! Events: a group of friends that threw parties in the region of Utrecht. Because of his role in event promotion and production, he got the spirit once again. Onno dedicated all of his spare time again to the hardcore. His first appearance was on the 7th No Nonsense, followed by several performances at Utrecht’s number one club Poema and some DJ contests.

MOH Radio Live
In 2007, DJ Recype got the chance to host the worldwide acclaimed Masters of Hardcore Radio liveshow weekly. Due to Onno’s earlier experiences with radio, he asked him to become his sidekick, along with DJ The Menace. Due to the radioshow, DJ Mercenary’s popularity got bigger, this led to the amazing offer from Art of Dance to perform on Dominator 2007. Later that year, he spun at parties like Mindcontroller and Outblast – The 2007 Birthday Edition. Also, Onno got to play at many clubs and went abroad to play at Belgium and Germany several more times.

Dreams become reality
The crown on his work was the request to play on Masters of Hardcore – The Warrior Elite. The dream of the young 13-year old kid became reality: closing the event together with DJ Only, it became the most memorable set he ever played. Also, he performed in 2008 on Dominator, both editions of Mindcontroller and two times at the legendary Turbinnehalle of Oberhausen (Megarave and Army of Hardcore). His 2009 resume contains two performances on Masters of Hardcore – Design The Future ( a back to back set with Redemption and the incredible collaboration of the MOH Radio Live crew), Mindcontroller, Fantasy Island, Hardcore Gladiators, Army of Hardcore and more big events will soon be announced in his agenda.

Right now DJ Mercenary is focusing on the MOH Radio Live-show on Hardcore Radio, which is hosted by The Menace, Only and himself as DJ Recype decided to leave the team after two years of dedication to the show. Also, he started building an own studio and hopes to come up with some wicked ideas to put his mark on the hardcorescene. Watch out, as this versatile talent is destined to cause nervous breakdowns and mass hysteria!