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Professional career stuff
1986 - St Peters Secondary School - O level grade standard (6)
1989 - St Peters Sixth Form - A level grade standard (3)
1990 - Scandecor - Marketing Assistant
1992 - Open College of Art & Design - Art Foundation 2 years
1994 - Huntingdon Regional College - City & Guilds Photography - 2 years
1996 - Princes Trust sponsored business owner
1996 - Shell Livewire Business Awards Finalist
1997 - Shell Livewire Business Awards Finalist
1998 - EPP Ltd - Printer
2001 - One Click Solutions (Internet) - Manager and Co-owner
2003 - CLE Print Ltd - Web Design and Development
2003 - Core Developer on Mambo CMS Project (part-time)
2005 - Cambridge Webworks (Internet) - Manager
2005 - Core Developer on Joomla CMS Project (part-time)
2007 - The School Planner Company Ltd - Project Developer
2007 - Part time voiceover artist
2008 - Label Manager - Eclectic Kingdom Digital
Some personal and DJ related stuff..
I am the youngest of five, born in 1971 and I grew up in Huntingdon, cutting
my teeth on the streets of the Oxmoor (which has improved so much since those
days). I grew up going to school at St Peters, and didn't really have much interest
in academia, I was more interested in playing and listening to music. A select
group of 2 or 3 of us would regularly skip school when we had no lessons and
go home to listen to music - they were golden days - kicking back and relaxing
to stuff like Roy Ayers and Azymuth while sipping on freshly made latte in the
golden sunshine.
I started DJ'ing at the pub my brother and his mates used to drink at (The
Cromwells) and I ended up playing Thursday and Saturday nights. I also started
working with Zodiak Disco who used to the Ivo regularly - I even played at some
of those dos, which was quite a risk as I was quite young at the time (I was
about 14). From there I started playing a lot of private parties, as well as
private discos. I also started making some music with some friends based on
the American Estate in Huntingdon. We were called "Poetry in Effect"
and we narrowly missed signing for a major label in London (Street Sounds).
That time passed, and I became more and more interested in house music, which
was really making waves back then.
Then I also began playing regular night in Peterborough at Ribs Wine bar on
a Thursday Night, and from there we founded Tekno Dreem at Canters Night Club
on Bridge Street in Peterborough, where we played upfront house grooves. On
the playlist were myself, Rayan Gee from Shades Of Rhythm and Dave Allen. Those
nights became really well attended by people who knew about the music, and we
had some wicked nights there. I remember one night in particular, when Rayan
played the last hour and a half and just rocked the place by spinning old soul
tunes for the entire set - the roof came off the place. From there we also started
playing Friday nights at the Attic Nightclub, and we had some wild New Years
Eve parties there, and we also had some high profile PA's from the like of Shades
Of Rhythm and NJoi. On the tail end of that era I played in Coventry, Manchester
and several times in London,
I started releasing records at about this point (the discography below gives
an account of this timeline).
From then, I started DJ'ing all over the place - regularly down the Broadways
in St Ives along with Jeremy Norris, Tim Coombs and Lee Coombs. It was there
that I was head hunted by Chris Corbett, who was a promoter based in Cambridge,
and was creating quite a stir with his house do's. I ended up playing in Cambridge
for a lot of do's including the Quay Mill outdoor events which were just awesome.
That lead onto playing at regular spots for the Dance Hall in Newmarket and
then to Histon Football Club where we had some legendary nights.
I spent six weeks in Crete based in Ag Nick (Agios Nikolaos) and worked as
a DJ out there, at the Crazy Horse Bar, Studio Club and a couple of others..wicked
place. This was the year that I got together with Angie (we're now married).
I played less and less as we started a family, and DJ'ing is not exactly compatible
with having kids.
These days I am heavily into making and producing dance music, and I have promised
myself that I will release an album and some singles this year.
Nick Annies – Discography
1990
Law 101 – Everyone Loves The Sunshine – Reality Recordings – 1990
[Collaboration
with Lance Nicholson, Will Burns, Dawn Dawkins & Lanx]
This release was a 4 track EP that I wrote and produced with two friends (Lance
and Will) from the US Air Force who were stationed at RAF Alconbury. We recorded
a lot of tracks at a studio in Hilton near St Ives over about a two year
period, and decided to release these tracks on an EP because they were well
received by every dance floor we played them on. One of the tracks features
the talents of Dawn Dawkins, a very talented female vocalist who was living
in Peterborough at the time. One of the tracks (Lunar) was written and produced
by myself and Lanx from Shades of Rhythm – we recorded that tune at his studio
in Whittlesey.
We had about 1000 records pressed and sold them pretty quickly,
but we could not afford a re-press.
1991
The Invisible Men – Self Indulge EP – Orbital Records – 1991
[Collaboration with Lee Coombs]
This was the first of many releases that I had with Lee Coombs,
who has gone on to become a big name on the scene. We recorded
these tracks at a studio in Bedford , run by the man behind M17
(Rockin Down The House). We were originally due to release the
4 tracks on an EP with Hardcore Records based in Stevenage ,
but that fell through (and he later bootlegged the record prior
to our proper release). We then signed a deal with Orbital Records
and released the EP, which rocked dance-floors everywhere. Lee
remembers being at a massive rave and hearing Fabio playing one
of the tracks…heady days indeed, there
was more to follow.
Shades Of Rhythm – Sound Of Eden/Armageddon – ZTT
- 1991
[Collaboration with Nick Slater, Shades Of Rhythm]
Perhaps the biggest track I have ever written appeared on the flipside of one
of Shades Of Rhythm's biggest records, ‘The Sound Of Eden' (here's another
chance for you to dance with me..). I remember speaking with Nick Slater (Shades)
and asking him if I could pop round with a couple of samples and make a track.
He obliged. Several hours later we had created one of the biggest hardcore
tracks of the time…and the icing on the cake was the vocal sample ‘I can't
think why we haven't thought of this before..' which actually came from a Enid
Blyton album…it might have been the famous five.
The rest is history, suffice to say that it was caned by all
the big names, played constantly on local radio and got into
the top 40. That experience culminated for me when I went with
Shades to one of their live PA's at the flea market in Birmingham
. They dropped Armageddon as the last tune. I have to say that
nothing has come close to watching thousands of people dance
to a record I co-created through a 40K sound system...
ADI (Alternative Dance Indulgence) – Lovebeat/Testify – ADI
Records 1991
[Collaboration with Chris Corbett, Sean Calvey, Gareth Williams
and Twink]
When I began DJ'ing in Cambridge , it was for ADI (Alternative Dance Indulgence)
a collective of DJ's and promoters who organised underground parties all over
Cambridge . They were responsible for the legendary do's at the Quay Mill Hotel
and also that party at the Love Ranch, one of the best house parties
I have ever played at. They also put a lot of do's on at the Dance Hall in
Newmarket , and I have some wicked memories of playing up there.
I had been doing some live mixing of Art of Noise's Lovebeat
with house tracks at some of the do's and it was so well received
that we decided to make a track and release it, so the concept
for ‘Lovebeat' was created. We recorded Lovebeat in Cottenham
(at Gareth Williams place, called the ‘Groove Factory', where
we would also record the early Exodus To Paradise stuff). We
took the Art of Noise sample and put it to a house beat, then
we added some other samples, including Beltram's might ‘Energy
Flash' and produced an awesome tune, which was played on Radio
1 by Pete Tong on release and caned by many other DJ's.
1992
The Invisible Men – Over Indulge EP – Orbital Records – 1992
[Collaboration with
Lee Coombs]
This was the follow up EP that we released through Orbital Records. Though
this was more mature sound it never really quite met the level of the 1 st
EP. All of the tunes were again recorded at Tony's studio in Bedford .
Exodus To Paradise – Rok-Et/ Rhyde The Rithum – Paradise
Records - 1992
[Collaboration with Lee Coombs]
This release was a departure from the ‘Invisible Men'
techno style sound to the more breakbeat influenced sound. I
had recorded a lot of tracks with Lee and we decided to release
these two tracks ourselves on our own label Paradise Records.
Since we had such a nightmare with releasing tracks through other
labels we decided to do it ourselves. Both of these tracks were
recorded at Gareth's Groove Factory studio in Cottenham. I have
fond memories of those days, recording tunes whilst playing dual
machine Wing Commander on Gareth's PC's, monitors back to back.
We also have ‘Ledge' to thank for the immaculate cuisine and
the odd sojourn every now and then…
ADI (Alternative Dance Indulgence) – Come & Indulge EP – ADI
Records 1992
[Collaboration with Chris Corbett, Sean Calvey, Gareth
Williams and Twink]
This was a long awaited follow up to the massive ADI
release. This time we released 4 tracks on the EP of pretty varied
flavours, from the almost handbag style ‘I Need You' to the throbbing
dance floor destroyer ‘Freebass' – styluses beware…'Can't You
See' received some unexpected pressure from the London Pirates
too, and we received frequent info that it was being caned in
the capital.
1993
DJ Unity – Tru D'Light EP – Pure White – 1993
[Collaboration with DJ Unity and Twink]
I had known DJ Unity for a long time, and had been introduced
to him by Nick Cullum (miss you Nick) and Chris Corbett of ADI
some years previously. We had DJ'd at countless do's and played
house parties at his place in London on more occasions than I
can remember – perhaps some of the best memories I have of ever
being involved in the dance music scene, we met such a lot of
wicked people through those connections and those do's. Unity
hooked up with me and Twink (Paul Noble – previously ‘Here and
Now Band', and we were recording at the time as 39 Orbits) to
make some tunes, as he wanted to release a record.
We spent about
2 weeks recording some tracks and came up with 4 finished tunes,
only 3 of which were eventually released on ‘Pure White'.
The 4 th track was actually the best one in our opinion, but
it was never released. Unity had that 4 th pressed to a dub plate
and he dropped it at one of the ‘Little Downham' do's and it
absolutely rocked…maybe one day the world will be ready for it…I
hope so, I have lost my copy on tape!
39 Orbits – Afterlife EP – Red Seal Records – 1993
[Collaboration with Twink]
I had been recording with Twink (Paul
Noble) for quite a while before we got any official
releases. We had released an album on cassette
ourselves which sold pretty well and was a collection
of some of the best tracks we had created. On his
numerous travels, Twink hooked up with Simon from the ‘Dance
Collective' clan in Norwich , who ran the ‘Red Seal' label. Twink
played Simon a tape and he loved it, and so we got to release
our 1 st EP. That was take off point – Sasha used ‘Orbits Theme'
as the first track in one of his mix CD's, and Moby went bonkers
over it saying that he could craft a whole night around mixing
two of the EP's together, and of course ‘Girls on Top' gave it
4 dancing men in their Mixmag review, so we had praise from on
high indeed.
We recorded all of the tracks at Twinks in Guilden Morden near
Royston over a long period of time.
39 Orbits – The Outer Limits EP – Red Seal Records – 1993
[Collaboration with Twink]
This was another release of some of the 39 Orbits tracks
which we really enjoyed making. perhaps not as seminal as the
first release it was none the less received well on the scene.
Following this release we performed a couple of live PA's at
a very secret venue in Cambridge called the ‘VES' (‘Village of
Experimental Sound' – more to come on that later – let's just
say it was one of the most important venues in the history of
underground dance music in Cambridge…if not the most important…it
was the house of perpetual groove.
1995
Exodus To Paradise – Rock-It Remixes (inc SOR Remix) – Pumpin
Vinyl - 1995
[Collaboration with Lee Coombs]
Lee wanted to release a remix of the Rock-It
tune so in 1995 we did just that – we also asked Shades to do a remix
as well for the flipside. We took inspiration from the piano
riff on the ‘Lovebeat' track I had recorded years before and
used that in the remix, as well as adding some Todd Terry style
house beats. We also used the Adrenaline vocal sample which ended
up costing us quite a bit for sample clearance. Come to think
of it, I don't think I ever made any money out of those records…
Energy Trax – Energizer – Pumpin Vinyl – 1995
[Collaboration with Lee Coombs]
This release was a blinder – me and Lee decided we wanted
to just make an all out dance tune, four to the floor raw dance
house music, no pretence, no agenda..just dance. Energizer was
the end product. Our inspiration for the track came from the
Italian style of dance music that was so big at the time – piano,
thumping beat, odd cheeky vocal sample and loud! We recorded
some trial versions using samples and they sounded wicked, so
we ended up recording the tracks at the new Shades studio in
Whittlesey near Peterborough . Lanx kindly re-created the whole
piano riff on the fly, awesome to watch, and Nick twiddled the
knobs and created the massive sound that still sounds good today..really
fat. After this release, Lee and I went our separate ways – Lee
wanted to make music his career and I did not, I had other things
I wanted to do. We stay in touch from time to time, and he has
gone on to become massive on the scene…just as I told him he
would do all those years ago…
2003
Divine Inspiration – The Way – Tekno Dreem Remix – CD Promo – 2003
Things
went quiet for a while and other things took centre stage (family,
career etc), then in 2003 I had the fortune of meeting one of
the people behind the Divine Inspiration outfit which had gone
massive with ‘The Way'. I met Paul Crawley through some
other friends and was surprised when he played me the remix that
Svenson and Gielen had done of their tune – he kept that one
quiet. I told him right away it would be a top 40 record – sure
enough it was. At that time, before it was released, he passed
an acapella to me (an acapella is a recording of the vocal from
a tune, without the music behind it…this is what remixers use
to do remixes) which I used to create a rough remix. I played
it to him but he didn't seem too impressed – don't think it was
his thing.
I went away, refined it and worked on it some more, calling
in my good ol' mate Stuart Fisher with his Korg keyboard to add
some class to it. By the time I had polished it up, I had lost
contact with Paul (he had moved to Manchester ) and so I sat
on it for a while. On the off chance I did a copy of the tune
and sent it to Ric Grooves at Vibe FM. He sent me an email a
few days later saying it wasn't really his thing (see a pattern
here?) but he had passed it to Nicky Ellise. A few days later
I received an email from Nicky saying that she had played it
on her show and it went down a storm, so much so that she would
be playing it on her Saturday show that following weekend. I
tuned in and sure enough she did play it – and she hyped it up
big time all through her show till she played it. I am still
looking to release it, but I have to clear that with Paul first!
Thanks to Nicky Ellise for playing it..I owe you one (or a few).
2006
During 2006 we put on some Eclectic Kingdom events including Millers Arms which turned out be a very retro soul do and a really good night. We also did the Wyboston Ski Club which was also a really good night. The final do we did that year was at the Bloc Bar, Regent Street Cambridge. Unfortunately we chose to do a do on the night that England got knocked out of the World Cup, so it was basically empty...we left it there and went on to other things...
2007
2007 is a year when I have been busy remixing, as well as planning for the launch of the Eclectic Kingdom online label. Remixes included;
Kosheen - Overkill - Teknodreems Anthem Mix
This was for a remix comp. I took the vocal from the track and placed a house track around it. Charles from the record label initially said they might be interested in using it, but then things went quiet and i heard nothing more, even after submitting a modified version, which was a bit of a let down, but hey ho, that's the world of music and remixing.
Lange - Angle Falls - Teknodreems Euphoric Dub
This was for a remix also for a remix comp. I did not really spend enough time on this one and it ended up being a bit rushed, which is shame, still it sounded OK and was a good technical workout.
Lustral - Satellite - Teknodreems Generate Power Mix
I enjoyed working on this mix. The vocal was not what I expected at all, and took me by surprise, but made me work things a bit differently to the normal way. I had to think hard about what sounds to use and how to build the musical progressions. Good stuff.
Degrees In Motion - Shine On - Teknodreems Anthem Love Mix
Cayenne Recordings gave us the opportunity to re-work this classic and I jumped at the chance. The mix I came up with lets the original piano and vocal shine through but adds an up to date beat and bassline.
2008
2008 begins and continues on the remix tip. I am currently working on a remix of Fever for Julie Dennis, so we'll see how that one goes. It's sounding really fat!
Julie Dennis - Fever - Teknodreems Discotronic Dub
Came out nice, in a dub house style, can't wait to hear it on the big sound system...
Launch of Eclectic Kingdom
My new online label Eclectic Kingdom is launching at the end of march 2008 with a debut release from the New Funk Brothers called "Ambassadors of the Weekend" which is a fat, smooth tune. There will be some nice remix pressure as well with the likes of Nick & Lanx (Drumattic Twins) and Lee Coombs getting involved...
Soul II Soul vs Naadastrom Bootleg (just in time for NYE 2008)
I didn't really like what Nadastrom had done with the Soul II Soul vocal - it sounds promising for a bit then goes off on a tech house fadge tangent. I took and reworked the vocal in a neu/retro style - check it out - http://www.mediafire.com/djnickannies
2009
2009 has been a very interesting year so far, with the most DJ work I have done for a long time and also with the Futur8 production "Good Friday" (released on 28th Street Recordings) climbing the DJ Download Top 100 Chart to number 6 and topping the Tech House for several weeks - shit really does happen! Other highlights include:
Miamik - Insatiable Remix
A top vocal house track that was given the treatment for a Back To Fundamentals remix project - as with pretty much all remixes you can get it here - http://www.mediafire.com/djnickannies
Martin Solveig - One 2.3 Four
Another top tune given some treatment - this one went far, but fell at the last hurdle because I did not upload the mix to the correct server location (doh!)
Madison Park - Another Yesterday
Nice track, here given a mellow direction on the remix tip...
Futur8 - Good Friday
This track was finally released on 28th Street, having been recorded almost a year earlier on Good Friday (I am sure the pun is not missed on you). This track went far, holding 1 on the tech house chart on DJ Download and peaking at 6 in the top 100 - that's some result for a debut track...more to follow soon!
Steve Stone - Wounded Heart
Due to be released on 28th Street in latter 2009 - more to follow
Mark Knight - Mannheim Remix
So the latest project in a remix for Mark Knight's Mannheim track. I have to say that the supplied files were a bit thin on the ground, and I had to scrape some stuff together to add some fatness, but I think it works...and has now been submitted...watch this (My)Space
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