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Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors,
United Kingdom
My career started back in the days when computers had 512k memory and you used to speed up
records to save sample memory. It was about that time that I harassed my uncle who was a sound
engineer to give me some studio time. So after turning up with a bag of records, and not being
able to play a note or turn a knob on a mixing desk. I came out with a track and very
frustrated at what had just happened. But not to be put off I still would go out week in week
out meeting people buying records. it was on one of these weekly excretions, that I met Errol
Frances AKA Dextrous AKA King of the jungle. (And how was my life going to change).
At the time he had a lot of jungle anthems that I had been spinning on Shockin FM in South
London,it was one in particular called King of The Jungle that I was really feeling. So after
striking up a friendship, I asked him if he could do me a special. He agreed and we got in the
studio the following week. The way we click creatively was the start of a successful co-
production team. After releasing a few singles with him on subversive. I started my own label
Riddim track records. It was about this time, that I also got introduced to Mark Mac and Dego
at Reinforced. I had started to compile my own studio and produce stuff on my own. They used
to listen to my music and give me sounds and give me production tips. Then one day talking to
mark in the little studio in the loft in Dollis hill, he suggested I should hook up with Dj
stretch at the time stretch had just produced worries in the dance as well as doing a lot of
remixes for Jet star Records. He had been using the Reinforced studio, but at the time they
both were helping Goldie produce his first album and did not have the time available.
I went on to produce Shoalin Style and do remixes of Pa Pa lover and Shabba Ranks Wicked in
the bed with him as well as recording as New Skool Society and Fusion Forum (With Dextrous) on
Reinforced Records. After releasing a good few singles on Riddim Track I had moved to east
London what was the hot bed for other jungle and drum and bass Djs,Producer and Mcs. I had
been doing a series on Riddim Track called Collaborated Artists. So I thought it was a good
idea to do my first album collaborating with all the people I had worked with to date. I
recorded Strictly Business co producing with, Dj Rap,Dj Randall, Kenny Ken, Shy Fx, Krome n
Time, Dj Stretch, Dream Team, Mc Fats, Mc GQ, Cool Hand Flex, Tek 9, Dj Kane, Leon Marwith
even Goldie making a guest appearance. Not long after the release of the album there was a
changing in the music, a transition. Goldie had brought a wider audience to drum and bass,
with the success of his album timeless, and it had become trendy. (Like his label and club
night Metalheads.)
The mainstream media started writing about the music they was hearing in coffee shops and wine
bars. As much as I loved the music I could feel I needed a new direction and challenge. A
little before this I had started going to a club night in the club coliseum called Twice as
Nice. It was full of all the old faces from back in the days of Sunday Roast But there was a
new soundtrack!! It was a mix of US House and Garage mixed with stuff produced by UK producers
like Tuff Jam, Dreem Team and Grant Nelson. Even though most of people there most probably did
not have proper jobs. (It was a Sunday night) Everyone was dressed to the nines in designer
clothes drinking champagne and having a good time. It is what had been missing for a little
while, where drum and bass had gone mainstream this was the raw underground at its finest. I
WAS HOOKED.
So still being based in east London and having a studio close by in the city. (Neighbour
Trouble). I set about starting a new label and producing Garage Music. This is when I started
Vital Essence and started producing and Djing under the name Templeton Peck. I did a good job
establishing myself. Producing tracks like Sweat Down Fever. And doing remix of what you gonna
do for public demand and artful dodger the B-Side of there fist release Rewind Because I had
spent years doing drum and bass and jungle I was enjoying writing songs and producing vocals.
Even though the music was starting to get a bit raw and a lot of old jungle producers were
making some of the new UKG, I was trying to stay away from the harder stuff and stay soulful.
But one day!! After bunning the stickiest of the ekkie. I made the one beat that changed my
life for ever!! It was a mix of all my old jungle sounds with a phatt processed 2-step beat
and a standard 808 bass that all the artists on Reinforced used At the time I lived in the
studio, and was making about 4 to 5 shells a week then finding artists to vocal the best ones.
But this one I knew was going to need a mc on it. Most Fridays I played at a night called
liberty in club coliseum. There resident mc sparks was someone that I had been planning to
working with. I told him I had a track I wanted him to feature on, so one night he came over
to my studio with Mc Kie to do an advert for cookies and cream. After we finished the advert I
played him the track and both him and kie said they wanted to vocal it. By the early hours it
was finished. After about six months it was being played by every garage club and radio Dj.
15000 copies later East West came knocking offering me an album deal.
In the two years that followed I started solid city records, releasing pay as you gos Know We
Roll Deeps Terrible as well as collaborating with So Solid on Best of Your Love And Mc Skiba D
Super S. I helped Maxwell D secure a publishing deal with EMI and sign Pay As You Go to Sony.
As well as remixing for Kc and Jo Jo,4 Hero, Eagle Eye Cherry, Me 1,J Magik, Ice T, Damage,
Artful Dodger, Lifford, and various other artists. After leaving east west I took a rest from
music, again feeling I need a new direction. That is when I started Creative Wrkz and started
Writing, Producing, And Directing. So far on my showreel, I have various projects, like the
Pendulum video Slam Two Shy Fx and T-Power Videos Feelings Everyday and a few documentaries. I
am still producing music and managing artists But after years in the business will I be
looking for a new challenge again soon?? One word of advice I would pass on to anybody
starting in this businessstay true to yourself.and as well as being your own worst criticmake
sure you are the first to praise your own achievements.BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE WILL!!!
Everyday - Shy FX, T.Power & Top
Cat
Pendulum - Slam
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