Lee Softley
Progressive / House / Techno
Blue Amazon, Blue Amazon, Blue Amazon
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Member Since 10/9/2006 Band Website www.blue-amazon.com Band Members ME & a Nord Lead Synth, banjo + gramophone !!!!!
Influences Mark Knight, Lee Coombs, Pete Heller, Funk Agenda, New Order, Depeche Mode, Deepgroove, Dave Seaman, Oliver Klein, Joey Negro .....too many Sounds Like House music with an electronic twist.!!!!!
Record Label Unsigned
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About Lee Softley
I started out with a desire for DJing at young age after hearing tracks like "stakka. humanoid", "Adonis . No way Back", and "Inner City . Good Life" as well as well as being influenced by early Chicago, Detroit & acid house I also was influenced by hip hop artists and scratch DJs such as Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff , DJ cash money and other DMC Champ contenders.............................................................................................
In my last years of school between the age of 15/16 I started playing music on a pirate radio station in Bradford called PCR. Back in those days (1989/ 1990) Pirate radio was a big thing because in many ways other than going to a club it was the only way to hear underground music.
I had my own show which I presented twice a week and played an eclectic mix of US house, Hip Hop, Acid house and a few soul numbers too. (Back in those days its was normal to hear such a mix of genres in one show or club). I didn't own my own pair of turntables or anything then so I was basically playing music off the cuff without prior practice.................................................................................................
As the 90's progressed on a few years, the Piano House and the Rave era begun! DJs Like Sasha, Nipper, Carl Cox John Da Silva were starting to emerge. I was still playing music on PCR, eventually got a pair of my own turntables and the odd few gigs here n there. One of my first real gigs was warming up for Sasha & Nipper at a party called bedlam in Bradford. At that time I went through phases of playing vocal piano house tracks through to full on Break Beat rave tracks. I have great memories of playing in front of 2,000 + raved up clubbers with bobble hats & whistles in Peterborough ........................................................................................
I was also interested in recording and started tinkering with recording equipment at a studio in Huddersfield called Beaumont St. I completed a short course in recording there and I also met my future recording partner "James Reid" who was working there. We attempted to record a few tracks....................................................................................................
Me and James kept in touch quite frequently and I'd often hassle him to go into the studio and record music.
Around 93 / 94 "Progressive House" was on the rise with acts like Underworld, Fluke, Spooky, Justin Robertson, Sasha, The grid all enjoying releases.................................................................................................
Both me and James were influenced by the progressive sound and also the energy of European techno released around that time. This common interested sparked a desire for more visits to the studio and eventually the act "Blue Amazon"................................................................................................
We started recording our own interpretation of progressive house and sending on demos to labels, as you do! We targeted labels like Warp who unfortunately at that time were more interested in releasing Techno and experimental. We released a limited amount of vinyl with a label called Creative Records and released the title "Blue Amazon . Hyper Sleep"...................................................................................................
As time moved on locally in Huddersfield, another act called "Shiva" had started making way in the record industry and landed a management deal with 7pm management and went on to sign with London Records/Pete Tong. 7pm management was also management for Sasha and producers like "Tom Fredrick's". Since James worked with "Shiva" on recordings and we both knew band member "Paul Ross" it was only natural that our demos were passed on.........................................................................................................
At first 7pm said that they could possibly help us out by pitching our tracks to labels like "Stress Records" but were not interested a management deal. We continued to send them demos and it was this second demo set which sparked off our first release with 7pm/Jackpot records. Title tracks "Four Seasons & The Runner" became the first release on 7pm's own label "Jackpot"........................................................................................It was an exciting time for releasing progressive house and to be a part of a new label launch! Our first release "Four Seasons & The Running" was far more rewarding than we expected and more than what we felt we deserved. We instantly had support from Sasha, John Digweed, Pete Tong as well as press from the likes of Mixmag. We continued the series and released a second single called "Star Of David and The Blessing" . This release again sparked off more interest and club support again from the likes of Sasha, Digweed, Dave Seaman, Danny Howells etc. We were now being asked to remix other artists and completed a remix of "Seal . New Born Friend" as well as "Balouga Boys" for Stress records..................................................................................................
Further releases included number one club record "No Other love" featuring vocalist "Vicky Webb" and remixes of Sasha, Jayn Hanna and we were being labelled one of the leaders of Epic House along with the likes of BT, Sasha etc........................................................................................................
We were shortly signed up by Sony who released our single "Then The Rain Falls" and debut album "The Javelin". We continued to remix other artists and were now getting involved Indie projects like "Skunk Anansie"! The Javelin Album was also released in Europe, Australia and the US.
We performed live shows at the big festivals in the UK like "Tribal Gathering, Phoenix festival(radio 1 Live), Cream Fields as well as clubs in the UK and overseas................................................................................................
I also enjoyed DJing at various UK venues and overseas including, Cream, Ministry Of Sound, Bedrock, The Rubb(Tampa Florida), Paradiso(Amsterdam), Stern Radio(Berlin) to name a few !......................................................................................................
After our album release with Sony and with new management in place (Guy Ornadel) we continued releases with Subversive records and remixed acts like of "Placebo, Blackgrape, Vast and Inspiral Carpets.
We started our own record label "Convert Recordings" and produced remixes for several artists on the label predominately under the progressive banner.
After a few releases from the label and our own on Subversive, around the year of 2000 for many reasons(some personal and some industry related ) James decided to take a break from Blue Amazon / Convert and a fresh start......................................................................................................
He has since gone on to record projects under the guise of "Forbidden Planet" , "Darcadian" as well as working as a recording engineer/producer role for other acts.......................................................................................................
I continued with Blue Amazon and Convert Recordings and enjoyed remixing artists such as "New Order", "Madonna", Inner City and for labels such as "Maelstrom".......................................................................................
My take own take on the "Blue Amazon" sound was surprising more underground than most expected. I've absorbed influences from the Berlin / German club scene through to breaks and tech house. I still have an influence of the original sound and am not scared to use Piano riffs , vocals n strings like we originally did........................................................................................................
The Convert label has been diverse in its releases from Progressive to Breaks and even Techno at times. Good music is good music no matter what the style.
I've released mixes from Meat Katie, DJ Emerson(Berlin), Ocean wave through to acts like Transa...................................................................................................
I'm still actively enjoying DJing and have been lucky enough to experience the club scene in Germany, US through to India. I play house music, progressive, breaks and some hints of techno!...................................................................................................
As an artist & DJ coming from a Progressive background I have been labelled in that style accordingly but in the current context of Progressive I feel its not always fitting.....................................................................................................
Progressive to me is forward thinking or none traditional, moving forward and embracing something new........................................................................................................
House is club groove music designed for spirit lifting , a release, escape, emotion, to dance and express..................................................................................................
If the above is true then progressive style house shouldn't conger up thoughts of being dull, boring or none entertaining.
I like to play groove driven house music with a progressive electronic edge, music which builds and breaks.............Influences include Mark Knight, Funk Agenda, Oliver Klein, Pete Heller Etc........................................................................................................
Throughout my time in producing music and DJing, I have experienced lots of new industry fashion trends and phases, met some great people, visited some great places and had some high and lows!............................................................................................................
What's important in all of this is the music itself because that's the original source of inspiration for being involved, without that, the rest of it becomes pointless.
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