At the beginning of 1990 I was still working for a Rock-Metal label owned by a famous Dance Record Company.
One Day I happened to meet Mr. Yoda and Max Matura visiting that company; the person in charge for the Dance Department forgot about their appointment,and it seemed they had came there in vain.
I was going to leave the office, my working day was finished so I decided to invite them for a drink at a bar outside the office. That day my professional life totally changed: they proposed me to contact Dave Rodgers since they were looking for some special Eurobeat songs.
A few months before this meeting I happened to work once with Eurobeat music in Japan when I was asked to be the tour manager of Aleph ( Dave Rodgers ) and Max Coveri. Therefore I contacted Dave Rodgers and planned a meeting in my house,in Milano, with Mr. Yoda and Max Matsura: the same day we created AbeatC; for that occasion Dave prepared " Your Body Lies" by Norma Sheffield, which was the very first song released by the new born label AbeatC.
'90-'91
During the second half of 1990 we started the new activity. I and Dave decided first to create a production team, and we invited Sandro Oliva, Gino Caria,Luigi Raimondi. At the same time we found 2 great female singers: Virginelle and Annerley Gordon ( who left us at the end of '94 for changing style and becoming Whigfield and later ANN LEE).
The impact of "Pocket Time", "Wild Reputation" and "Fantasy" into the Japanese Disco scene was very positive, and AVEX made a strong promotion with DJs and radios. By the end of 1990 AbeatC and AVEX were already well known in Japan, but all of us wanted to do more and more.
I invited in Mantova my old friend B. Sinclaire since I wanted to introduce a fresh talent, coming from Rock scene, into our team. In March '91 I had been invited in Tokyo for 2 weeks: I had to learn many things about Eurobeat, the Japanese Dance scene and the Japanese music in general; the very first day of my trip I had a dinner-meeting with all AVEX members, then,the following days, I visited many discoteques, recording studios etc…
I remember very well the meeting with " Red Monster" in his discoteque, the visit at "King and Queen" and the long discussion with DJ TSUYOSHI, and most of all, the night spent in Hakone with AVEX Friends.
When I came back to Italy I went straight to Dave's studio and I started a very intensive work with all members of our team: Dave, Domino, Luigi Raimondi, Sinclaire, Oliva and Caria. All of us decided to work seriously and intensively repeating all the times " We must do better and better, we can't sleep, we can't relax, our Eurobeat must be more exciting, more attracting etc…".
In the middle of '91 the Japanese DJs were still seduced by old hits by FCF and Time ,and they were considering AbeatC like a successful young label, but not a leader… until we produced "king and Queen" which gave a big shake to the Eurobeat scene: that song became the best Eurobeat hit of '91 but the whole Eurobeat scene was still small.
'92
At the beginning of '92, "techno" was becoming the leading genre in Japan: Eurobeat was very small in comparison with "techno". Juliana's Tokyo became the most fashionable discoteque in Japan; they were playing techno, techno and techno. Eurobeat was like an old fashion and Juliana's Tokyo decided to avoid it.
Even though the situation was not exciting, AVEX wanted to work for the success of Eurobeat and for this reason they planned a very prestigious project: they asked us to collaborate with Tetsuia Komuro. Producing Eurobeat covers of TMN songs.
We all worked very hard the whole summer of '92 and in Autumn " TMN songs meets Disco Style" by Dave Rodgers became a great success, as big as the best Techno Compilation. AVEX planned an Important promotional tour: we toured in Japan at the end of '92 with the following team: Dave, Domino, Sinclaire, Virginelle, Edo, drummer Helder and me. We had a memorable show in Sapporo and Osaka, but the most important event had been the evening-show with T. Komuro at Juliana's Tokyo. Eurobeat returned to success. The collaboration of our team with AVEX showed, since the very first years, its potential:all of us were getting stronger and stronger.
'93-'94
In '93 and '94 our team produced a lot of hits like " Hot Love and Emotion". "Try Me", "Tora Tora Tora", "Seventies" and many other famous titles. We also invented a particular kind of techno, a mixture of traditional techno with Heavy Metal and Hard-Core rap, with the collaboration of Bulldozer's guitarist Andy Panigada and the Newyorker rapper Dr. D.o.p.e. ; we became very successful also in this field. " Paint it Blue", "Yum Yum" ;"Power" became big hits. We invited the Japanese friend Maximizor and 2nd Function to our studios in Mantova and we co-produced a Techno-Pop album with TMN songs.
In 1994 many members of our team have been asked to perform at AVEX RAVE '94. We were: Dave, Jennifer Batten ( female guitarist of Michael Jackson),King & Queen,Dr. Dope and Bulldozer. While our team was getting more and more successful with Eurobeat and our aggressive techno, a new big project was ready to explode the following year; a new star was going to shine in Japan: NAMIE AMURO!
'95
This year began with the first J-Euro production,which exploded like a bomb in Japan: "Try me" byt Namie Amuro, a song produced by Dave Rodgers and written by Hinoky Team, a group of writers which includes D.Rodgers,L. Raimondi, founded by Mr. Yoda and me in '93. The following Amuro's singles "Season/Burning Love" (by our team) and "Stop the Music" (by another team) were not as big as "Try me" and Amuro left Eurobeat Style,joining Tetsuya Komuro team and having a very big success. The same year, when Eurobeat was very strong and we were very successful our team had some losses: B. Sinclaire,D-Essex and Gino Caria left our team.
Considering that we were not asked to produce new tracks for N.Amuro and that our team was smaller, 1995 seemed to finish in a bad way.
Fortunately another occasion had been offered to me and Dave, just at the end 1995: the debut single of 6 young Japanese boys: the V6.
I went to Tokyo with Dave and mixed "Music for the People" in Avex Studios; this song composed by Dave Rodgers, Jennifer Batten and myself, became a big hit. We had a short meeting with V6, the same day we finished our mixing and we whished them good luck: our dream came true again. So, we could get at the end of this successful and troubled year with another great event.
'96
To compensate the loss of Namie Amuro ( we could not produce song for her) we had the possibility to produce the most of the songs of Max's first album "Maximum" and at the same time we could write and produce new hits for V6 like "Made in Japan", "Beat your heart", "Take me higher" etc…
J-Euro became a leading genre in the Japanese pop scene,while traditional Eurobeat was getting weaker; the discothèques began to get tired of Eurobeat. Maybe we gave too much attention to the Pop side and we did not renew the dance side. During the summer of '96 we co-produced with Alfee and album featuring Dave Rodgers and Mr Takamizawa from Alfee.
This album, also successful, brought our concentration to the pop side of Eurobeat and we started producing song with pop taste rather than "dance-oriented".
The traditional Eurobeat Compilations did not lose much in sales due to the intensive promotion made by Avex and for this reason 1996 can be considered one of the most successful year for our team .
This year was very important for our team since the construction of the new Rodgers Recording Studios had been finished and thanks to the great project by Munro Associates (Uk) this studio had been considered since the beginning one of the best in Italy.
'97-'98
our="" activity="" these="" 2="" years="" had="" been="" regular,strong,="" even="" though="" not="" good="" as="" previous,="" due="" slow="" eurobeat="" decline="" which="" follows="" always="" great="" boom.="" the="" japanese="" pop="" artists="" were="" oriented="" to="" different="" styles:="" we="" produced="" only="" couple="" of="" songs="" max,="" one="" big="" hit="" for="" be="" yourself="" (="" v6="" returned="" n°1="" in="" oricon="" charts),="" and="" a="" few="" other="" songs.="">
SEB was loosing sales little but fortunately the promotional activity by Avex was so strong (especially SEB 70-80-90) that Eurobeat had never been out of fashion. In these years we made investments in order to get the leadership of Eurobeat.
We decided to concentrate creating songs attractive for car races fans and J Europop fans, considering also that Avex was sponsoring Formula One pilot Nakano and there was an animation project named Initial D which was matching the passion for the cars and the Eurobeat taste.
Dave Rodgers became a good friend of Nakano and dedicated a song to him titled "Go to the top". At the same time we did not lose our contract with Japanese pop: Dave and me met M. Igarashi ( Every Little Thing) in London mix together ELT debut single.
For those reasons the quality of Eurobeat did not go down, and the above mentioned decline was so small that only at the beginning of '96 the situation of Eurobeat was too calm, especially from the point of view of the sales.
Fortunately, that was the calm before the storm.
'99
AVEX started planning a huge advertising company for the release of SEB 100.
We had been asked to produce a song titled "100" and several remixes in Eurobeat style of famous Artists like Ayumi Hamasaki, Every Little Thing, etc…
Just before the release of SEB 100 the song "I Wanna Dance" by Domino had been used for a TV advertising campaign of a famous Supermarket company, "Seven Eleven".
Dave and Domino made a memorable show at Fisco Speedway at the end of August. SEB 100 sold so many units that the whole Japanese market got shocked.
Prophetically Dave and me along with our families visited Tokyo Disneyland. This year ended with the show of Dave and Domino at Velfarre on Dec 31st 1999.
2000
Unexpectedly we had been asked to produce Eurobeat version of the Famous "Mickey Mouse March" and honestly it took about two weeks to obtain a satisfactory result.
Tokyo Disneyland and Avex wanted to introduce Eurobeat into Disney World in Japan. Surprisely our production performed by Domino became a very big hit. The little kids with their parents started loving Eurobeat and Para Para dance because of "Mickey Mouse March" by Domino.
Eurobeat was so trendy that almost all famous Eurobeat producers had to remix a lot of Japanese pop Hits; in particular the Eurobeat album of Ayumi Hamasaki sold very well. SEB 110 became a best seller compilation even bigger than the previous "SEB 100".
The leading hit on SEB 110 was "Mickey Mouse March" by Domino.
Summer Paradise 2000 celebrated the new Para Para fashion and the crowd got the highest excitement with the live performance of "Mickey Mouse March".
Thanks to this success Domino got to the top of her popularity and for this reason she should create a song dedicated to the famous magazine "Popteen". Her album has been released in December 2000.
2001
By the end of 2000 the Rodgers Studios will get the very best digital mixing board of the World: the Solid State Logic Axiom MT.
In that year, Rodgers Studios was the only one in Italy with such a mixer, and that's why it can be considered the most advanced recording studio in Italy.
This is to confirm our policy: do always better and better. >
Oh My God. I palmfaced as soon as I noticed my picture among your TOP Friends. I.. am.. speechless. I'm truly honoured to have such an amazing friend as you *bows and starts crying in admiration and respect*
