:. Biography .:

The following first draft has been authored by Shotty.

It started...

My cousin J Tyler used to play the organ as I was growing up, he was responsible for teaching me my first tune in C-minor when I was around 8 years old. Years later he passed down to me his old 80's Casio keyboard which I held on to for years while I practised playing tunes by ear.

And so it began...

School years went by and I never really followed the music route while I was there. Playing a recorder and clapping along to Jack and The Beanstalk, the musical, kind of put me off. I later started playing drums for a band in the final years of school. Drums! Because they were loud and it looked easy! It wasn't at all easy and I ended up having to get my own drum kit to practice until I had mastered it. Band practise left enough time in between songs to pick up one of the guitars and have a mess around on one string. At that time, during the summer, I used to water the plants for a friend of the family when she went on holiday. She owned an acoustic guitar and I always used to pick it up and have a go when I went round. I shouldn't have since I was supposed to be watering the plants! It was after this, and because of this, that I decided I needed a guitar, so big thanks Carol!

Eventually, I got a cheap 'Argos special' acoustic guitar. Many thanks to Big T who came round and taught me my first 3 chords, A, D and E. During this time I had been unemployed for quite a while, and as a result from having so much time I soon learnt all the chords and started writing my own songs.

Out on the streets in the evening; cider in the park; dark sparks and teenage hearts. Die Hard in Leicester; Happy Hardcore tape packs; Dreamscape and Public Enemy. I knew what I liked, but I didn't really know what music was about, especially the production of it. During the Christmas of `94, my mum bought me a CD from Woolworth’s!! Called 100% DNB .. I wasn't feeling it at all .. Just didn't get it! I had the CD for almost 2 years and had only ever listened to one track! It was full of intelligent, Jazzy, Liquid Funk style Drum and Bass. Featuring the likes of Goldie, Alex Reece, Photek and Roni Size.

I still have that same CD 16 years later, and it still gets played even today. I can't believe I wasn't feeling it back then, it featured Goldie's "Inner City Life", which is still one of my favourite Drum and Bass tracks to date. Now when I listen back to the Happy Hardcore and Techno I was listening to, I'm not quite sure where my head was at! ?

A random evening in 1995...

I ended up with about 8 people coming back from the town to my house, one of which was Mr Rye who I'd recently met for the first time(Rind). We realised we were at the same stage of learning the guitar as he picked up my acoustic and played a few chords. We linked back up for a bit of a jam session. He turned me to Oasis and the Beatles, I also got in to Blur; I bought “What’s The Story Morning Glory” on tape! I started learning all the songs, getting drunk with friends at the weekend and singing them at the top of our voices.

Not long after that I was involved in starting a band with a drummer who had never drummed and a bass player who had never plucked. I already had a drum kit set up so we got together as often as we could and practised. Within a few months we had our first gig in the town hall. After that we got a load more local gigs, and eventually we were invited to do a concert out of town. It was all onwards and upwards with the a fixed dream of fame and fortune.

Eventually we did our final gig before we all went in different directions. I carried on writing songs and I had numerous tracks that I knew I needed to finish. I had a room full of guitars and a set of drums, amps and also a microphone. I tried to record on an old Amiga 500 and a 'mastersound' sample cartridge, Rubbish! But nice one Froggy.

I could only do so much and decided I needed to go to a studio. So in 1998 I went to Far Heath Recording Studios and did an 8 track mini album, called "Individuality". I recorded some guitar, lead, vocals, keyboard and bass. I bought the bass guitar about 1 week before, practised as much as I could before spending a couple of days in the studio. "Some of the tracks I produced at Far Heath can be found on my website under the 1998 page".

I was trying to do some sequencing on the keyboard to make some beats and loops for the tracks in the studio, I had a bottom of the range Casio and to be honest it all sounded cheap and rubbish. It was Angus the sound engineer at Far Heath that suggested the Roland Groove Box would suit me for what I was trying to do; also recommend by my mate Gaz around the same time, nice 1 people.

Shortly after I got one, on a credit card, it was the best thing I've ever gotten into debt for! A Roland 303. £500 brand new so I got one second hand for £350, and that was it, loads of flashing lights, thousands of sounds and beats that sounded like the dance music components I was hearing on the radio. I then went on to discover midi sequencing.

I started making tunes on the 303 alone, and mixing in the tracks live. I did this for years until I knew every button and control inside out. Then I started to write hip-hop style lyrics and record them live over the beats. On cassette tapes to start with and then on to CDs.

I moved to Birmingham in early 2000 with my girlfriend who was in college while I was working a job in electronics. We had different people coming round to the flat enjoying a smoke and we started tuning into the city pirate radio stations, soon to become a regular listener to "Kool FM". Kool FM was putting out all the new D&B and sounds I’d never heard before, as well as giving out the names of the tracks, producers and DJs. The 3D Mode Show on a Sunday afternoon with DJ Devise was full of tidy intelligent Drum and Bass. Numerous tunes were like nothing I’d ever heard. I tried to get the same sounds out of my 303 and it just wasn’t happening. Luckily in 2003 my dad got a new computer and I ended up with is old PC. I didn’t really know what to do with it until a good friend turned up with 'Logic', the audio software. I got it installed and I’d seen it before back in the Studio at Far Heath; I didn’t sleep for nearly 3 days. I spent nearly all my hours messing about, importing samples and chopping up beats. By the end of 2003 I could safely say that I had made a fair few tunes in Logic, although they were built without FX or VST's because the PC just couldn't handle it.

I moved back home in 2004, and everyone around was about 2 years behind Kool FM, and Birmingham itself on the Drum and Bass scene. The same mate that brought me 'Logic' passed on to me his old PC that he referred to as his 'slow machine'. It was ten times faster than the PC I had previously been using and it opened up the world of VST's and VSTi's. The tunes got better and the sounds got clearer. I learned more and more about the software with every tune I made between `04 and `06, then I purchased another computer and the sound got better. The instruments in my possession over the course of time had transformed to 1 acoustic guitar and a room full of electronic recording equipment, effects units and midi devices. The drum kit and had also been replaced for digital equipment.

The tunes now are sounding Live and Heavy. I hit the Radio 1 station in 2006 with an album called "Logic in Motion". Huw Stephens played a few tunes from the album that gathered a very good response. In 2007 I started getting my tunes played on UK Bass Radio. Thanks to DJ CJ and United Mindz Records. UK Bass is the closest thing to cool FM I have found since being out of Birmingham. In 2008 I got the chance to play at the Dragonfly Festival in Sweden, I did a couple of hour long sets which went down well. I got my website up and running in 2009 to enable all to hear the past, present and future. To get the website up and running took more thank 6 months and a lot of effort, from conjuring up the idea in mind and getting it down on paper, to actually getting it online. I had to set up a merchant account with Paypal, in order to this I had to open a business account with a local bank! Endless emails and phone calls, meetings with a local business manager!! Then to find the server and buy a hosting package! I never knew there was so much involved. I had some good help from a friend with the code and getting the site up and running(without this help the site may not even exist! So big thanks SJS). I hope in the future to be expanding the website with additions such as hosting and managing downloads for other artists, photo gallery, podcasts and more.

The results of my progress within my musical accomplishments to date have enabled me to share this summarised biography with you ..

There is so much more to come, with electronic music the limits are endless. I get a buzz from knowing people have listened to and more importantly enjoyed the tracks I produce, essentially resulting in me being 'high' on 'life', which is how it's meant to be. Bit thanks expressed if you have taken the time to listen to any of my tracks hosted here or on my website. Extra big thanks if you have downloaded a track from the website, as this helps to support and sustain the operations of 4HF Records, and the production of music from the 4HF studio, which I hope you all enjoy. Nice 1.

Peace, always. To be continued...