Aquasky
are from Bournemouth, UK. They started their
career in 1995 when they were signed to Moving
Shadow Records for a 3 record deal
on the back of their massively sucessful 'Dezires/Images' single
which was remixed by DJ Krust .
But before then they individually
had sucess under their individual projects. Dave
Wallace was known for his early jungle
tunes as Rave Doctor/Fugative on Underdog
Recordings . Keiron Bailey for
his Artinis/New Vision work
also on drum and bass label Underdog and Brent
Newitt for his hip hop releases as Jaziac
Sunflowers on Bob Jones' Black
on Black label .
In 1996 Aquasky signed to Polydor/Polygram where
they recorded the Orange Dust LP .
This contained the singles 'Raw Skillz (Featuring Big
Kwam and the first ever Scratch
Perverts adventure onto vinyl) and
the drum and bass track Opaque which
made an appearance in the UK national charts.
Also on the LP was the hip hop track 'Rough' featuring Big
Shug from the Gangstarr Foundation.
Whilst signed to Polydor the
trio also released on Reinforced Records
(Concrete Boom EP) and R&S (Dave
Wallace under his own name with the 'Future
Realties' single and Keiron and Brent
worked as Skin Divers where
2 singles were released) and Dave put out the Soul
Motive EP on Nuphonic Records .
In 1999 Aquasky returned to
their drum and bass birthplace Moving Shadow
where they recorded 2 LP's 'Bodyshock' and 'Aftershock'. Bodyshock
contained drum and bass tracks such as 'Sonix' and 'Battlestar' and
a funky breakbeat number titled 'Blue
Thunder' that was made world famous
when it was featured on the first Tony
Hawk game. The Aftershock album was
the first time that Aquasky ventured into breakbeat
back in 2000. This was a remix LP containing
mixes by London Electricity, Adam Freeland (his
first ever venture onto vinyl) and Aquasky
themselves.
A series of 12"s also
came out on Moving Shadow during the years
1999-2002. These included tracks such as 'The
Stalker', 'Bulletproof' (which was
remixed by Higher Sense out
of the RAM crew), 'Spectre',
'Subdivison' and 'Nightvision'.
Whilst these singles were being
released, Aquasky started a new project and
new name. Tenth and Parker was
in essense a live jazz/house/latin band and
an LP was released called 'Twenty:Twelve' on
the renowned Mr. Bongo label.
This vocal project contained many famous names
including Mark Murphy (US
Jazz singer who has recorded on Muse,
Atlantic, Prestige and Riverside to
name a few) Snowboy ( Percussionist
who spearheaded the whole Acid Jazz movement
and is world famous for his group The
Latin Section and for his work with Lisa
Stansfield ) and the band also contained
the bassist from Fairground Attraction and Blur's horn
section. 3 singles came from this outing including 'Kool
Down' which was featured on a Norman
Jay compilation for Nuphonic .
This later was remixed by King Britt .
In 2001 Aquasky started their
alias Aquasky Vs. Masterblaster .
This was after a meeting with Vini
Medley of Botchit and Scarper
Records and their first breakbeat
12" surfaced on his label titled 'Sureshot' later
that year. This was followed up by the mighty
force of the '777' EP which
turned out to be the biggest selling single
for the label. In 2002 they were asked to record
an LP, their 5th. Titled 'Beat the
System' this was a benchmark album
which announced that Aquasky had arrived and
that they were here to shake things up. Bringing
the dance ethos of drum and bass into breakbeat,
Aquasky created a new genre of the scene. A
sound and vibe that was made to make a dancefloor
shake. With influences taken from their drum
and bass/hardcore background this was an orginal
concept that many copied and many were inspired
by.
In 2002 Moving Shadow decided
to remix some of their extensive 12 year back
catalogue and Aquasky Vs. Masterblaster were
asked to pick 2 tracks that they were influenced
by . 'Lord of the Null Lines' by Hyper
on Experience and 'Renegade
Snares' by Omni Trio were
chosen and remixed to now legendary proportions.
These sold so well that the label decided to
start a sister label titled Shadow
Cryptic to support the breakbeat scene.
The obvious step was to ask Aquasky to record
another album. So in 2003 their 6th LP 'Stayfresh' was
made. This time the emphasis was to make a
new, fresher album with broader influences.
Stayfresh has already been checked as the most
important breakbeat LP so far. New ideas were
presented and the guys turned the scene on
its head making them now one of the hottest
producers in the world of Breakbeat.
There are also a host of remixes
that Aquasky have played apart in including
Master Ace, The Freestylers, DJ Deekline, 4
Hero, Sneaker Pimps, Art of Noise and A
Guy called Gerald.
Aquasky are also all accomplished
DJ's and have travelled the world many times
exciting clubs and festivals with their broad
approach to music and a good ear for a bit
of bass. This has assisted them in establishing
their own labels Passenger, Sonix and Incident which
they use as a base for their productions and
a home for many other artists from Finland
to America to New Zealand. |