Artists

Audio X is Joel Wright, 21-year-old import from the USA. He discovered rave music in 1992 with the release of The Prodigy's first album, Experience. Since then, electronic music has been a huge part of his life, and he began producing his own tunes in the late 90s using tracker programs and samples. In 2001, he upgraded to a more modern studio and began toying with MIDI, and by 2006 he had several upfront hardcore releases under his belt with labels such as Addictive Vinyl and Audio Reanimation.

Becoming bored with the lack of diversity in the upfront hardcore scene, Audio X turned back to his roots and began producing Hardcore Breaks once again, taking influence from the piano house style of the late 80s and early 90s and the various old skool hardcore artists he had grown up with.

Brainstormer has been producing since the 1980s, starting on his trusted Commodore 64, as well as a range of analogue hardware. First getting his music played out in a club called 'Tekno Dreem', back in 1989. That was the early days.

Since then, he teamed up with several other artists as a producer, forming groups such as Digital Kaos, Mysticism, and the better known Brainstorm Crew. Their first release was in 1992, entitled Southey Woods EP, which clinched the group a deal with Formation Records, releasing the Plastic EP, and also the Storm EP on Formation's subsidiary label; F-Project. After leaving the Brainstorm Crew, he teamed back up with the other member of Digital Kaos for another release, Wise Ones, which was also on F-Project.

Since then, Brainstormer has used other aliases, for each of the various styles he's been involved in, such as Electro, Nuskool Breaks, Drum & Bass, and Uplifting Hardcore. He engineered in various studios through the '90s, and also done remix work under the name 'Sola' in 1999, for some well known Trance producers. Some of the main releases also charted.

After this, and working on Nuskool Breaks projects of his own, he happened upon a growing scene known as 'Hardcore Breaks', which is basically the original early '90s sound, made with modern technology. Since this is the sound which had influenced Brainstormer's sound, he felt completely at home writing this style once again.

Robin originally got into music through the legendary Dream FM and was immediately buzzing off the early sounds of Happy Hardcore. In 1996, Robin got his first set of decks for his 13th Birthday. From there he went on to play predominantly Drum & Bass and Old Skool Hardcore, with a spell in Breaks last year which led him to discover that new Hardcore was being made in the form of "Hardcore Breaks". In mid 2005, Robin got into what he'd always wanted to be involved with and that was producing his own material. He has reached a level he is begining to be happy with and now has his first release on Mert Wax.

Robin is also resident at the UK's only 100% Hardcore Breaks dedicated night Dance Energy and will hopefully be getting his own night "Rusty Needle" back up and running soon after a year break away from promoting. Past events played at include: Dance Energy, Unification, Rusty Needle, Overload, Jungle FX, Fraktured, Phixation, Break!!!, Rave On, Ricochet, Giant Robot plus many more alongside artists such as Randall, Sy, Andy C, Slipmatt, Vibes, Enzyme and Malice, Vinyl Junkie etc at events around Bristol, London, Brighton, Leeds and the rest of the UK.

The love affair started back in '89-'90, with such classics as Snap "Rhythm Is A Dancer", Candi Stanton "U Got The Love" and Lil Louis "French Kiss". A chance meeting with a group of old friends from skool in early '91 led to a trip to Universe "Out of this World" in August '91, from then on there was no looking back, spending the next couple of years taking in various big outdoor raves like Universe, Vision, Fantazia and a whole heap of illegal raves including the legendry Castle Morten in the summer of '92!!

This kind of changed Eddie's outlook on partying and being from rural Wales led to a group of people putting on parties in the Welsh hillsides from around '94 onwards. During this time a staple diet of Hardcore was to be had in the legendry Martha’s Vineyard in Swansea where Eddie was treated to a top class line up of djs every Friday without fail, with a particular Carl Cox night sticking in the mind for many years to come!! The free party scene carried on for Eddie until around '98-'99, but his input dwindled after that due to the arrival of his son, work just seemed to take priority and left little time for partying. Eddie continued to play Hardcore until early 2000 but had become disillusioned with the whole sound, too much cheese and the lack of upfront tunage pushed him into the Hard House scene.

Around 2000, Eddie also had his first thoughts about production, which came to fruition around '01–'02 when he decided to sell all his cheesy Happy Hardcore to fund the purchase of his first music pc and keyboard. Eddie began trying to produce Hard House and continued to do that, learning the tools and becoming a little more competent each month as he got used to the software and such. Then whilst trawling the net in 2005, Eddie came across Hardcore Will Never Die and Back To The Old Skool and saw that people were making new old tunes, and they were being received well. Eddie started tinkering with some Old Skool tracks and suddenly found inspiration, discovering that if you're making music, it is better to make something you love - this showed straight away in the output!!

Hard House was cast to one side and his love for all things Old Skool was rekindled with a passion, and he hasn't looked back since, although if you catch him playing anywhere its just as likely you will find him playing breaks, he is a sucker for a broken beat!!

Early 2006 saw Eddie's first signing, "Little Bit `O` Something" on Mert Wax 003, quickly followed by "Without Doubt" on Sharkfin 003. This is the start of things to come and is the realisation of a dream held for years to get tunes on vinyl, a very proud moment for Eddie and some vindication for spending all those hours learning the ways of the Old Skool!

Christian Favager lost the plot in 1991. The discovery of rave set him on the path towards the darkside. He played his first rave in early 1991 and became a regular DJ at many events around the South Wales area for years to follow, and still appears at events to this day.

As his interest in the d’n’b scene began to fade in 2000/01 it suddenly become fashionable to go “back to the old skool” and he found himself digging through his crates of tunes from back in the day. This re-newed interest helped rekindle his love of Old Skool Hardcore. The revival continued, DJ appearances along side the scenes biggest legends spurred him on further. Over the next 2 years his site Hardcore Will Never Die developed into the biggest old skool site on the internet, spawning a record label in 2004. His show on Battlestation Radio is into it’s 3rd year bringing Old Skool Hardcore to a new breed of raver.

As a producer Fav has been twiddling knobs since 1998, although finally found his niche in old skool hardcore. Influenced by the sounds of Top Buzz and Ratty, producers like Doc Scott, Bizzy B, Technical Itch, Decoder and others, he has been tagged “King Of The Darkside” by some. A relentless pursuit to recreate the dark and moody sounds of 1993 sets him apart from other old skool producers. Tracks have appeared on his own HWND Records, with another well-received track "Give Me A Break" featuring on the premiere Mert Wax release.

DJ Flashback AKA The Flashback Project is Farrukh Wasiuddin, London’s very own award-winning Old Skool Hardcore and Breaks DJ and one half of The Breakz Alliance. Since starting DJing in 1990 he has played regularly at sell-out parties all over the UK and around Europe with the scene’s leading artists and in 2006, was voted Best New Era DJ at the prestigious Old Skool Awards.

He has been producing tracks for the last 10 years and to date his efforts have remained exclusively on dub-plate. Recent time spent in the studio though has resulted in him producing tracks signed by Slipmatt’s Ravebreakz label, Ministry Of Sound and of course Mert Wax! His remix work includes a recent re-working of DJ Vibes’ classic ‘Obsession’, also collaborations with DJ Malice / 2Fresh are due to hit the street soon.

Watch out for more fresh sounds from The Flashback Project in 2007 – big tings a gwa’an!

For info / bookings contact +44(0) 7960 326 286, also check www.djflashback.org

Back in 1993, whilst living in Tenerife, Alex started listening to Hardcore on tapes featuring local DJ’s. Four years later he bought a set of decks and started mixing early house music, playing at a few one off events on the island. Towards the end of the 90’s, Alex hooked up with some Spanish DJ’s who were spinning Old Skool Hardcore, and after doing a few sets in a couple of small villages in Tenerife, regained his interest and love for this music.

Summer 2000, Alex returned to the UK and found there was still a good community of loyal ravers dedicated to this genre. Meeting some very interesting people, and becoming involved with Stress Factor, an organization dedicated to Hardcore music, Alex took his interest further and began producing Hardcore Breaks.

June 2006, Alex set up Repeat Offender Records with good friend Wax. The ethos of the label is very simple, both DJ's love the sound of the raw 1992 hardcore tunes that had influenced them both for so long and wanted to recreate it with their own twist!!

Follow this link for Inferno’s discography.

Mole & Recluse met at a rave at the Camden Palace, and recognized each other from being out & buying records in Watford. Mole, AKA Stu Chapman, is one half of the better known Enormous Mouse Records alongside DJ Nee. Recluse AKA Stephen Brown has been producing for about a year, so fairly new to the game and is yet to release any material as a solo artist.

First a DJ, having played Old Skool Hardcore since ’91, Stu only began producing 2 years ago. He has already had success with his own record label, and is improving with every release. Stu has played Drum & Bass on London’s pirate Ruud Awakening FM, and has also played Old Skool Hardcore at a breaks night in Surfers Paradise (Australia).

Stephen has always been into Old Skool Hardcore, but has played a variety of genres, including Garage, Drum & Bass, and Hip Hop. But no matter what he played, Hardcore is what he always came back to and got the most enjoyment out of.

And now the boys have started to work together a bit more on some new material, and with any luck will have more releases penned for Mert Wax & other new Hardcore Breaks Record Labels in the not too distant future.

Mole & Recluse & DJ Nee (AKA The Mouse Crew) also have a track forthcoming on Hardcore Projektz Records run by Darkus.

For further information on Stu Chapman, check out his discography.

Mafunktion are Robert Sansom and Graham Taylor who originally come from Southampton but have sinced moved and are now based in Guildford and Bristol. They have been good friends since they met at school when they were 13 and immediately discovered they had a taste for similar music styles.

After initially playing around with some equipment when they were 17 it was not until they both went to university in Bristol that they seriously started producing music, spending every penny they earned on equipment to set up the live p.a. Malfunktion.

Initially writing upfront 'Freeform' hardcore they were discovered through the internet by Tilted Recordings where they have full releases as, well as remix work under their belt. Shortly following this the boys had two digital releases with Lee Outrage's Addictive Download and Psyddictive labels.

More recently they have turned there attention to some Hardcore Breaks with their first release being on Mert Wax records.

They have played at a number of events including Jellybeanz, Natural Born Ravers, Xcessiv, and some illegal party in a field in Somerset to name a few - with dj sets at Rusty Needle, Excessive, Play People, Plummet, Miguels Gabber Kitchen - supporting the likes of Chris Liberator, Pranksterz and The Outlawz, Weirdo, Sol Ray and Luna-C.

DJ Nee, real name Neil Spicer discovered the 'rave' scene in 1991 and has been hooked on Hardcore music ever since. He has played at numerous events throughout the South West of England including Techno Rush, Spiritual, Flying Time and Run To The Sun.

His first production to get a full release on vinyl was the infamous Johnny Jungle Remake in 2004 on Hardcore Will Never Die Records

From doing that he soon hooked up with Stu Chapman and they began writing a few bits together via the internet and Enormous Mouse was formed! DJ Nee has also written a couple of exclusive bits for DJ's such as Vinyl Junkie & DJ Wink.

Nervous+Anxious are Joonas Vähämäki and Niko Virta, two electronic music enthusiasts from Finland. They share a common interest in electronic music, especially for the old kind. They both have been composing music for almost two decades on their own, Niko has released music as Gameboy together with Imatran Voima. Joonas has released records and net label releases under names General Compact and Substance. Joonas is also half of the Finnish drum’n’bass live act Samuel & Nasley.

Nervous+Anxious is a project dedicated to Oldskool Breakbeat and Hardcore, and yes - they do love pianos!!

For further information check out their MySpace and Discogs pages.

Shifter became obsessed with electronic music in 1997, and since 2000 has been writing music on his own. First it was Dutch mainstream Hardcore, a couple of years later Shifter became interested in a softer side of music, like Hard Trance, Hard Style, and UK Hardcore. Since 2002 he has taken part in several parties in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and Obninsk, playing his own tracks - one of the biggest events - "The Real Happiness" - with DJ Brisk (UK) and DJ Dougal (UK).

In 2006 Shifter made an Oldskool Breakbeat tune just for fun, and since then Hardcore Breaks is the style of music Shifter is trying to focus on. Since 2007 Shifter is officially a proud member of 'Erbal Essence Records. Follow the links for further information on Shifter's other releases and his MySpace page.

Having been producing dance music since 1991, Sparky is one of the most prolific engineers in the scene at the moment. Whilst you might not see many records with the "Sparky" name on them, you will most certainly have heard some of the tracks he has engineered/produced/written/co-written. Sparky has worked with the following (amongst others): Sytronik, Cynix, Petruccio, MC Keyes, Flyin & Whizzkid, Lord, Dandy Crouch, Xero, Rampant, Spenno. His clients have had tracks signed to labels such as Nukleuz, Raver Baby, Next Generation and Graffitti Trax.

As well as working with others, Mark prodces his own work under a number of guises including Sparky, Kinematik, Black Lab and S-Scape.

When not in the studio, Mark also DJs out now and again....so if you see him on the flyer, go and check out his set, and don't be shy to say hello!!!

You can book time in the studio by visiting : Fast Music.

Stu Chapman co-owns Enormous Mouse Records with DJ Nee. Over the last two years of working together they have had tracks released on most of the new hardcore breaks labels - one of the first being Mert Wax's 1st release - MERT001.

Stu & Nee have been DJing a lot more since those early days and have been showcasing many tracks from all of the hardcore breaks labels in their sets both on Net radio's and at various clubs & events across the UK; and with the success that Enormous Mouse has brought them, also saw them tearing up the decks in Seville, Spain.

Stu Chapman also records under the alias of Lethal Formula, who's tracks have thus far been released on Hardcore Projektz, and is also part of 2 groups - Mole & Recluse, and The Mouse Crew.

Essex based Toby Jones started producing in 1999 after discovering websites such as Bassquake and Back To The Old Skool. Having been into the hardcore sounds from 1991, following the progression of different musical genres over the years, he got back into breakbeats and began producing and collecting records in a serious way.

As a producer, Toby has been inspired by the originality and creativity of artists such as Acen and Krome & Time. With a preference for emotional tracks, be they uplifting or dark, he has not limited his talents to a single genre having produced breakbeat hardcore, nu skool breaks and also hard house tracks.

Toby hopes to get more tunes in different styles out over the next year, and would like to release his own material, possibly starting a label of his own. He also keen to remix more material by other artists, to put his mark on the tunes he loves. As far as DJing goes Toby is still getting into it at the moment, aiming to get a slot on radio as well as playing out.

For further information, visit Teknotik’s homepage and discography

Luján started to make tunes at the end of 1998. In 1999 he discovered sites such as Hardcore Music Alley, Bassquake and Back To The Old Skool, and learned a lot more about the scene, making his interest grow. In 2000 he released a tune on Seven Records Vol.1 (2000 Years of Breaks), a cd compilation of spanish producers. He then started collecting records and got more involved in the production.

In 2003 HyperCore is launched, a personal project dedicated to the scene, trying to promote the Hardcore sound in Spain. Through HyperCore, Luján has done some parties in Tenerife, such as HyperCore – Hardcore Revival, and HyperCore – Hardcore Revival II.

He is influenced by producers like Liam Howlett, Acen, Altern-8, Andy C, Ellis Dee, Phantasy, Blame, Hype, Neil Rumney, Orca and Nebula II, and the sound of DJs like Ratty.

For further information, visit Hypercore, Xperience’s MySpace and Xperience’s discography.