Kniteforce Revolution

The History of Kniteforce - Chapter 1

Nov 22, 05:25 PM

Kniteforce / Luna-C History Chapter 1


Author: Chris Howell / Luna-C


Year Of Birth: 1973


Pseudenyms:
Luna C, Cru-l-t, The Timespan, A Thief A Terrorist And A Lunatic, Dj Flame, Dj Psycangle, Garion Fey, Tailbone, U.T.I, Hired Gun, Isis, Shive, C.How, Careful Grey, Eko, U-Clan, and more…


Involved in:
Smart’es, Future Primitive, 2 Croozin’, Kerve, Refuse & Resist, Sanity Collapses Here, Destroy & Demand, Def Wish, Loose Cutz, Cut Loose, The Trip, 2 Xperience.


Producer for:-
The majority of KF and KFA artists, with the exception of Dj Ham, Dj Brisk, Wonter and a few others…


This is a revised history from the last website history. The good thing about revising history is you can edit out the bad bits (not really!) I have just run through this taking out the stuff that is no longer relevant, such as how the history page originally started by saying I was new to the internet. Well, Im not any more :o) So I have replaced that with this intro paragraph. Its not as catchy, but it is more accurate. Also, I can type much faster now, so I can add things as I feel, and if I think you guys will find it interesting! Anyway, lets get on with it…


I thought I would tell every one the real (slightly biased) story. When my good friend, and constant KF supporter, Stevie T (DJ Deluxe) said he would help me set up an internet site back in 2001? 2002? I thought “Here’s a good chance to tell everyone what really happened, and also a good chance to upset people”. So as you came to this site, which I (perhaps wrongly) take to mean that you are interested in this stuff, here is my somewhat odd musical career to date.











I was, and am still, a skateboarder. In the last few years I have stopped skating quite as much because I get hurt to easily and spend the rest of the week staggering around like the old man I will inevitably become…but I still roll around sometimes.
I mention this only because there is a certain attitude amongst any true skater which my friends and I tried to bring to Kniteforce Records, and which remains with me up to the present day. This attitude is one that basically says “The normal rules do not apply. All that matters is the desire to experiment, create and advance”.
Anyone who has skated for any length of time will immediately recognise some of the track & artist names on the label are lifted from Old Skool skate videos etc. I skated with many of the people who became the Kniteforce crew. We were called Kniteforce because we all lived the true raver/skater lifestyle of meeting up early evening and hanging out till morning, then crashing out for 12 hours before the whole cycle started again. Understand – we were a crew for a couple of years before the label. The original KF crew were Darren Maycock (Alk-e-d), Spencer King (The Trip), Sam Bullman (The Trip), Rebecca Try (She who designed the logo and label), and two friends who have been like brothers to me my whole life, Julian Slatter (Dj Poosie, Future Primitive & 2 Croozin) & Alex Crossley (Bertie, Future Primitive). Although I funded the label with money made via Smart Es, it was only because of these people that it happened.
I was Djing Hip Hop for many years before I got into raving. As soon as I went to my first rave, I was converted (although I have never stopped loving hip hop) and the next day went out to Music Power in Ilford and Boogie Times in Romford where I immediately spent every penny I had on a load of choonz. My first rave was the infamous Labyrinth, at the Four Aces club in Dalston, London. This was to become my main place to rave. It was 1990 / 1991.




Do you remember your first rave experience? It changes you, doesn’t it! The sheer euphoria of the crowd made me feel that you couldn’t find a better place on earth. That feeling is what I try to capture in all my tracks even now, and I have only managed it once or twice! At this time there was no jungle/house/gabba nonsense. It was all one music, and I loved it. Silver Bullet into Prodigy, into Geneside 2, into Shades of Rhythm, into Joey Beltram, into Moby….Dark, Happy, Rapping, Techno, Breakbeat, singing – all mixed into each other, displaying a huge variety of emotion and style. And it was all underground – you felt like you were part of a select few people who new the best secret in the world. The club itself was dirty, dark, in the heart of the rougher part of London, and exactly like the Labrynth of its name, with passages that lead to walls, rooms that had outside staircases to other rooms, smoky chaos and often shoddy sound. All in all, it was absolutely brilliant. White trainers came out black. Good clothes were destroyed. There was no style or rave clothes like now. You would be rocking out next to a guy in a Prince shirt, someone wearing army pants, and girls in dungarees. It was the only time in my life that I remember a feeling of unity and open mindedness. I miss it.


Anyway, I was doing the totally absorbing and life defining job of stacking shelves at a local supermarket, (where Alk-e-d also worked) when I met a guy called Tom Orton, who Dj’d as Mr Tom, and helped run a weeknight rave called “Ultimatum”. As we were both into the music, we quickly became friends, and I began to Dj with him at the parties. It was a good opportunity to try Djing live, and I played the worst set ever as my mixing was poop. It didn’t help that Dj Hype had been booked to play after me, and arrived early, therefore enjoying the privilege of hearing the worst scratching ever, followed by me spinbacking the wrong deck (I shudder to think of it…). Anyway, Tom knew a guy called Nick Arnold, who was extremely talented musically, and owned his own studio. This was a rarity in those days, as they cost a fortune and could do less than a free demo of Fruity loops can do now.
To put it in perspective, my first studio had a Allen & Heath mix desk, NS10 speakers & amp, an Akai s1000 sampler, a Yamaha SY85 keyboard, an effects module, and an Atari. The single piece of software was Cubase. The Atari was black and white, saved to floppy disk, and had a massive 64k of processing power. You had to do ghost copies of each part or it wouldn’t be able to handle more than about 40 seconds of music without freaking out. And the Akai could store a paltry 2 meg of samples.





Anyway, I am moving ahead of myself…before I bought a studio, Tom and I went to Nicks house to use his, which was an M1, an Atari and a Akai s950. None of us knew how to get a record released, and as far as I recall, when we first went into the studio, we didn’t really think about the actual making of a record at all. We just thought it would be a fun thing to do on a Saturday afternoon, I guess. We got together one day, and recorded a track called “Bogus Journey”, a hardcore tune which sampled Bill & Teds excellent adventure. It was, and is, crap. Well, its not that bad, but it didn’t deserve to sell more than 500 copies. And, remarkably, it didn’t, selling around 440, as far as I can remember. It was released on Boogie Times Records, an offshoot of Suburban Base Records. We called ourselves “The Smart’es”. It was my first experience of the record industry, and I liked it. It seemed simple to me. Make a choon, have a laugh, put it out, and get paid as if you were working! What could be better…


So we decided to make another track, and we sampled Sesame Street. Here’s where things started to get a bit weird, and have stayed that way up to the present day. This was 1990 / 1991, and there was no dance music on any of the major Radio stations. Most people didn’t realize there was music made without a guitar and a band, let alone know about the rave scene. There was no internet to spread the news. Pirate radio stations and mix tapes were the only way. Raves were often illegal, in derelict houses or warehouses, and flyers were found at underground record shops and clubs. Word of mouth was the rule, and there were no CDs, and no MP3s, and certainly no superstar Djs – we often didn’t know or care who was playing. And really, it didn’t matter – the music was so varied and not yet divided into sections or styles.
It was like two worlds, totally separate from each other. Radio 1, Capital etc. played Kylie, Jacko and all that nonsense (a really daring Dj might even play Dee-Lite) but as you scanned through the radio dial, you would pick up snippets of little pirate radio shows playing music from our world.
About the only time you even heard about dance music was when the Sun newspaper (a U.K tabloid for the non thinking many) would do a thing about “The Evil Acid House Drug Music” which, incidentally, had ceased to exist about 2 years before that headline.
Then, the previously pirate radio station Kiss FM became legal. As an underground station, it had a good reputation. When it became legal, it went a bit, er, commercial. Understandable, really, but at the time its effect was a 50/50 sort of thing. It was good, because now our music was getting an outlet and the recognition it deserved, but it was crap, because the money men forced it to be less than it was trying to be. So instead of rave music, more often it was detroit house, Hip House (don’t ask), garage, R & B, and then, every now and again, something a little better :o)
And it is still the same now, funnily enough.
However it was one of the DJs, Steve Jackson, who somehow got a copy of “Sesame’s Treet” and started playing it on his daily morning show. People started asking about it, and it quickly became apparent that it was going to be a big tune.
“Oh good”, we though innocently, maybe we can sell a few of this one. Danny Donelly, who owned Suburban Base, was quick to invite Steve Jackson to do a remix, reasoning, quite rightly, that it would generate more airplay. We didn’t know any better and thought that was a great idea, and a day was set. Austin Reynolds (Phuture Assassins, Austin) was brought in to engineer it, and we all got together at Sub-Base studios to do the mix. Did I say all? I meant to say me, Tom, Nick and Austin met at 10am and started work. Steve Jackson turned up around 4pm, (just as we were finishing it) said hi, and promptly fell asleep on the sofa. I kid you not. The next day he was on the radio saying “This is my new tune, that I recorded with the Smart’es”. Not that we cared that much, after all, we got the air play we wanted, it was getting played on all the pirates and at all the raves, and it was very exciting for us all.


Here’s a lesson we learnt about the music industry. Steve Jackson, when he was awake, asked us what we planned to do as a follow up, to which we replied, Trumpton (another kiddie program). About 2 weeks later we heard “Trip 2 Trumpton” featuring Steve Jackson. Interesting coincidence don’t you think? So remember, ideas are precious. If you have one, keep it to yourself, and act on it as swiftly as you can. Other people will steal that idea, or will have the same idea and do it first!


Anyway, the hype around the track started to get a little ridiculous. The Pre-Sale, which is based on how many the distributor expects to sell to the shops, went from 1000 copies (not very good) to 10,000 copies (big underground choon) to 50,000 copies (top ten, possibly number one, if there isn’t a bloody crap Jimmy Nail track selling more than you each week) and when it was finally released, we entered the charts at number 2. At that time it was the highest debut single entry ever. That record lasted about a year before Gabrielle’s “Dreams” single entered at number one.


Now, this might come as a bit of a shock to some people, but us 3 young Essex boys were not really prepared for the ensuing mayhem, and neither was Sub-Base. We were kids playing at music, suddenly faced with all the Major labels and Music Industry nonsense that we knew nothing about….Danny Donelly tried to guide us while lining his pockets at the same time, but it was really him and us trying to navigate an unfamiliar ocean without a map while the sharks circled. Nowadays, everyone is a little media savvy. Back then? We had no idea, no idea at all! Small labels are common place now, but in those days they were few and far between – after all, this was the first time in history that home studios existed, enabling the whole industry to emerge.


Smart Es Promo Video

Smart Es Top Of The Pops

Live PA

Smart Es Radio 1 Roadshow

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