Posted by sunset regime on 11/06/07 12:20:
When I look back now, playing Bass in bands was the best thing in the world. At the time, though, I hated relying on other band members – especially the singers!. But I suppose that was good because it led me into other forms of music. That's when I started hearing Italian House with their amazing pianos. When you’re on the dance floor nutted and DJ Professor-Rock me Steady is playing...well, oh my god!. So two months later and I pressed up to two thousand singles of 'Come on People' and 'I’ve got the Real Feel'. So what am I going to do with them? I peddled them around to a few distribution companies in London - that was the easy bit – until none sold! London in 1992 was getting into what is now Jungle/Drum & Bass. Uplifting piano is out! This isn’t easy! So what was I supposed to do - get a real job? Then something strange happened. One of the distribution companies telephoned me: "Hey, Rik, we want every copy you have! They're going mad for them up north!" Until then I’d only thought of London for sales. So here I was in the south, seemingly on my own, with the whole dance scene going 'dark' on me. Yet I was selling records miles away (OK its not that far but it seemed like it at the time!) So I got some of my band members to go out with me as a PA around London. With hindsight that probably wasn't the best of ideas, playing uplifting piano house in places like the Lazerdrome in South London, we’d clear the dancefloor in a flash! Life changed one weekend when touring up north. We did the usual things, went on stage and started playing. Everyone went crazy! Singing along, jumping around, coming up and saying ‘Thank you!’ It's obvious now, with all my sales up north, they not only knew the songs they loved them! I’ve since played all over the world, even at Wembley Arena - but nothing will ever compare with that weekend. Over the years I have teamed up with the likes of Ramos, Supreme, Hixxy, Billy Bunter, Vinygroover and many others. It’s been a privilege to be involved in hardcore from the beginning . It’s a brilliant scene - especially now. The one thing I’ll always remember was a girl - coming up to me at a club saying she had my record at home which she just played repeatedly and would cry listening to it! Moments like that made life worth living! When I'm not playing synthesisers nowadays I'm driving Landrovers or Hovercrafts. In the evenings I’ll be fishing or playing Dungeons and Dragons!