Ever since I was a young un (back in the 1980's), I always loved and took an interest in music. Although I never learnt to play an instrument, I used to drive my parents mad by playing their records and tapes over and over again at all hours of the day and night.
My dad ran a record shop, "Aquarius Records" in Handsworth, Birmingham. The shop sold everything from Reggae, Soul, Lovers Rock, Hip Hop, Ragga, Dub and even the occasional Pop release. I spent many a Saturday in the shop, just listening to records and taking in the hustle and bustle of a busy record store on the most lucrative day of the week.
Then came the recession of the late 80's / early 1990's and my dads shop closed. This left a gap in my Saturday's and I spent the time chillin' with friends and making my parents life difficult. Then one weekend I was at home with my brother and he started scanning the radio looking for a local ragga pirate radio station that his mate at school had told him about. After painstakingly searching the FM band for a couple of hours we found a pirate radio station but they weren’t playing ragga!!!
At the time we had no idea what this music was that was coming out of the speakers. It had a little ragga influence but sounded like techno, so I grabbed a tape and pressed record. I listened to that tape over and over again and this is where my love affair with dance music began!!!
Over the years of early 1990's I followed the scene religiously and had a shrine dedicated to my love of dance music (my bedroom basically got covered in flyers). Then one day it dawned on me, what I really wanted to do was select the tunes on a tape rather than just listen to it. I wanted to be a Dj!!! So with this in mind, I began messing around with a couple of tape decks, a record player and a mixer and was able to fade one track into another. I thought this was great and started mentioning to my school friends that I could supply the music for birthday parties, sessions and generally any occasion that would more than likely have music at. A couple of my friends took me up on the offer and I started being the person who would supply the music for house parties of my friends. I really enjoyed what I was doing even if I didn't have a clue at the time.
It wasn't until the mid 1990's, when I left school and got a part time job that I was able to start taking Dj’ing more seriously. With the proceeds from the part time job, I bought a couple of crappy turntables and a well over priced mixer from Tandy. I was all set and ready to become a Dj, then I realised that I needed some vinyl.
My music taste had changed a lot since listening to that radio tape and Hardcore had changed to Jungle and Happy Hardcore, House music had moved to the Garage and to top it all off Ibiza was now in your living room. Faced with this dilemma, I decided to purchase only the records that I really liked the sound of. I soon amassed a large record collection including Hardcore, Jungle, US House, UK Garage, House, and Trance but I didn't have one specific genre that I played.
I stuck with that formula for a few years and got a couple of bookings from it; most memorable was Dome II Nightclub New Years Eve 1997/8. Although I was enjoying what I was playing, it wasn't really what I wanted to play.
In early 1998 I took some time off the decks and started searching for that eureka moment again. After a couple of months of doing nothing and my inspiration at an all time low, I decided to buy a drum and bass tape pack to see what the music was like "these days" and to see if I could get some of those early vibes back again. I was not disappointed!!! Before I had finished listening to the 1st tape, I was in the record shop buying Drum and Bass records!!!
With my new found inspiration, my purchases of vinyl went through the roof and I soon found myself immersed in a new world where all roads led to Drum and Bass. After a couple of years of buying drum and bass records I was hungry to "break into" the Birmingham Drum and Bass scene and started to hand out demos.
Through handing out demos, a friend told me about a little gathering he was having at his house and he asked me to bring some tunes. With my new found inspiration, I jumped at the chance. Shortly after arriving at the party, I got on the decks and it quickly got the party going and it ended up being like a mini rave!!! Everyone was feeling my tune selection and everyone seemed to be really enjoying the night. A couple of days later my friend mentioned that he was going to have another party for Christmas and would like me to play again. I explained that I had such a good time at the last one that I would be stupid to turn him down. He set the wheels in motion and the party was on!!!
Following on from the Christmas party, the same friend held a birthday party, only this time the party went off!!! The whole house was rammed; there were people outside, people in the front garden, people in the bedrooms, people waiting outside to get in, even people in the garage!!! Realising the potential of these parties they soon grew into small illegal raves where there would be around 150 party people enjoying all aspects of music we all liked at the time.
We soon realised that we couldn't keep doing these parties in my mates house/garage as the neighbours weren’t appreciating people around the house at stupid hours of the night and the police had also visited us a couple on a couple of occasions to warn us about the noise. So with this in mind, we decided to find a venue to hold our own event.
After discussing possible venues, I suddenly remembered about a venue that was used for an illegal rave a few years back. We made contact with venue owner and told him about our idea. He had no objections and we put the wheels in motion. After everything was arranged, the party was on!!! We got around 150 people into the venue and things were going very well until the police and environmental health turned up and closed it down for excess noise.
Following this we decided that the parties had run their course and we would end on a high rather than drag things out to the death.
After that decision, I decided to concentrate more on my Dj’ing and music production but still kept on handing out demos and doing what I was doing before. This lead to several bookings and lots of opportunities to play at parties came my way too.
Not fully content with just the occasional booking and odd party, I met up with an old friend who was on about getting an established pirate radio station up and running again. I offered my services and in early 2003 started a Dj residency on Mix Fm.
After working with the Mix Fm team for a while, it soon became apparent that the station wasn't going in the direction some of us wanted it to go and a few of the team left to start work on other projects.
The crew that left Mix FM started up a new pirate radio station - Fresh FM. Fresh FM looked like and exciting and new opportunity, so I offered my services and started a residency with them in March 2004. Fresh FM nicely filled the gap left by Mix FM and soon became a great success.
Following on from that, the team began working on another project. The team wanted to assemble a sound system with the aim of hosting warehouse parties in and around the Birmingham area. The team put lots of work in and got some kit together and, Kronik Soundz was born.
Over the last 4 years Kronik Soundz has gone from strength to strength. They currently hold around 4 warehouse parties per year; provide PA systems for several major event promoters as well as holding mini festivals and doing a weekly radio show.
The Kronik Soundz team and I have continued to work together on various projects, the most successful to date being a "The Last Rave of the Summer" festival, which took place in September 2007 at a secret location in Warwickshire. Around 3000 people attended the festival which saw Kronik Soundz host the main stage in conjunction with Scum Like Us Sound System. The Kronik Soundz team are also working with other major sound systems and promoters to carry on bringing the underground sounds to the Birmingham and the surrounding areas.
2008 has seen Kronik Soundz join forces with Skeptic and Lost Hours to bring the intimate party vibe back to Birmingham. To date we have held 4 successful parties at Rooty's (Custard Factory, Birmingham). The main aim of these event is to create a real party atmosphere with the music policy not just focusing on drum and bass but incorporating all aspects of dance music, new and old. We will also be have some very special guests along to grace the mic and spin the wheels of steel.
2008 has also seen Kronik Soundz collaborate with some of the biggest brand names in the Birmingham dance music scene to bring another dimension to their parties. We have collaborated with Stupid Underground, Masters of the Past and Club Azuli to name but a few.
A LIVE demostration of "Cap Dancin" feturing the Boldmere Massive
RIP STEPHAN BOND!!!
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we’d all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music." Kristian Wilson, Nintendo Inc., 1989
A/Katharsys-Mute (Counterstrike remix) AA/Dub Elements-El Momento
12" vinyl & digital download
After a short spell behind bars, Sanchez is back out and up to no good again... In between 2 horse thefts he's managed to get his unwashed hands on some of the most sickening beats out there!
The mighty Counterstrike add an extra layer of dirt to Katharsys's already disgusting "Mute"... This tune packs enough punch to blow up any bank safe with its terrorizing drums and earth-shaking bassline. Alternatively you can also use it to wreak havoc at your local saloon/club!
On the flip, new-skool Spanish filth-mongers Dub Elements bring more madness than a barrel of Mezcal with "El Momento". Hard-hitting drumwork combined with a bassline that has more twists than a telenovela will ensure a collective frenzy whenever dropped!
Sanchez says:"Listening to this 3rd release makes me want to set fire to things, I'm that happy! Enjoy, putos!"
Available at all good record stores, release date: 11/05/2009
sorry i didnt make it on saturday!!!hop eit all went well,i was thinkin it was gonna be well awakward!!! terminal sounds tho will be a laugh,can catch up then!!!shafe!!take care bab. x
@ THE WAREHOUSE (Behind The Rainbow) Adderley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham. B9 4EE
SATURDAY 24th MAY 2008 (Bank Holiday Weekend) 10pm - 5am
Arena 1 - Drum & Bass
CLIPZ TAXMAN STEPPA CALLIDE ALPHA GOLD & DIRTY RAW THEORY ASSASSIN
EKSMAN TRIGGA MAGIKA ACCAPELLO PM HIDRO TEMPO JAFF MENNIS ROBES
Arena 2 - Jungle // Future Stars
SHOCK C ARIES & BENNY MISTRESS MO SUBDUE (Lee Tempest) REPLAY CYBERGROOVE B2B ASTRO NOIZE B2B GRAVITY BLAIR (Competition Winner)
JAFF DAP WHITEY TAZ B G MAN HUBZY MG MOD
Arena 3 'The Courtyard' - Hip Hop // Reggae // Breaks // Electro // Liquid D&B//SMOKING AREA
Hakka JPM The Doctor Cemtex b2b Evolution Grom Darkside Mafia
Hosted by Bass6 (human beatbox)
Attractions // Info
Massive 'Funktion 1' Sound System Large Outdoor Smoking Area Fully Licensed Bar Intelligent Lighting only 10 minute walk from new street station, 5 minute walk from moor street station
OLD SKOOL DAZE 594 BRISTOL RD SELLY OAK B29 6BQ 0121 472 0777
advance tickets £9 + £1 booking fee ONLY FROM www. theticketsellers. co. uk or old skool daze door - £12 before 11pm // £15 after no hoods // no drugs // no attitude security strict but fair R.O.A.R.
Basement,Birmingham city centre, Horsefair, B1 1eg
(opposite Raddison Sas hotel)
Arena 1: Up front Drum & Bass
Xample - Ram Records Skitty - Renegade Hardware Escape - Muzik Hertz Dj Cemtex - Kronik Soundz Pez - Breakthru Ian F - Signal 2 Noise
Room 2: Electro,Breakz and Dubstep Hosted by Clinic Promotions and Therapy+
Boogie Dave Matt Montagano Gareth Willet Woo & Burns Daimen O'Dok Bensun b2b Lektrix
£5+bf adv £8 all night £7 NUS No Hoods, Caps or Hats 10 pm till 4am / last entry 1am I.d May be Required if you look younger than 18 info:07813 637959
Catch dj Escape Tuesdays from 8pm till 10 pm on silk 101.5 fm or www.silkcity.fm and catch dj Cemtex Saturdays from 8pm till 10pm on www.wrecklessradio.co.uk
www.myspace.com/kronikhertz
www.myspace.com/muzikhertz
www.wrecklessradio.co.uk
www.theticketsellers.co.uk
******FREE PRIZE DRAW INFORMATION******
We have loads of FREE ENTRY tickets up for grabs for this event. For your chance to win free entry for you and a mate, just send an email with "Kronik Hertz Competition 23rd Feb 08" in the subject line and your contact details email address and phone number to b.u.p.n@hotmail.co.uk The winners will be selected at random and notified the week beginning of 18th Feburary 2008.
