Kniteforce Revolution

The History of Kniteforce - Chapter 5

Nov 22, 05:52 PM

Chapter 5


I was into a lot of different music by 1995 / 1996, and was also getting into trance in a big way by the time KF037 came out. So I set up a completely unsuccessful trance label called “Strange Room”. It turns out that, sometimes, liking something and being able to make it are 2 different things :o)
And I was running into problems creatively. The more records I was making, the harder it was becoming to be creative. I engineered and produced almost everything on all the labels (well over 150 tracks), and I was getting burnt out. I had too many releases, and they were starting to get backed up and delayed. I was making mistakes with paperwork, and I paid everyone much more than I should have, because I didn’t know how to keep proper accounts. It didn’t matter when we were making money, but when things went wrong, it really started to matter. At the same time, my personal life was imploding and I had a sort of desperation in me, craving a rest.


Lesson 7 – Many things can destroy friendships, but money is often the cause of a problem. If you are working with friends, always be clear about money – otherwise people will believe they have not been paid fairly. This happened to me and Brisk, and it is one of my greatest regrets. Although we are cool now, money affected and strained our friendship. And a friend is always worth more than money….Don’t be a fool. Learn what is due, and make sure you are clear about what will be paid to whom, and when.


The scene was changing swifty. New artists like Hixxy, and labels like Essential Platinum, were appearing. Older artists were moving to other scenes or disappearing altogether. Suddenly (it seemed to me) everyone wanted kick drums and off beat bass and stabs. The people that didn’t, stopped buying records or moved on to other styles. I had 10 – 15 releases ready to go, and they were out of date. When released, people didn’t buy them. Each release had cost me over ¬£1500.00, and I was quickly in debt by around ¬£20000.00 because there was a 4 or 5 month delay between the creation of a record, and when the money comes back from it. Plus the tracks I had ready were not as good as they could have been…I was tired, and you can hear it in the music. I had completed KF40, and for me, that was what I had wanted to do since day one. It looked and sounded to me as good as I would ever get. The only thing harder than reaching the top, is staying there. Beware of reaching your goals, because when you do, what next?
I was bored, and unimpressed by the latest releases on other labels – they didn’t inspire me. Where did Acen go? and Hyper-on-Experience? Where was the excitement? The new sounds? Why was everything a shitty rip-off of some crap chart tune? Or a bland self referencing repeat of already tame ideas?
Drum and Bass kept its integrity, but hardcore (now stuck with “happy” at the front of it) became its poor cousin. And I am sorry if this upsets people, but other than Bangs “Shooting Star” and Hixxy’s “Toytown”, almost everything around that time just didn’t do it for me. Okay, so Vinylgroovers “Let it be” was wicked – but it was a rip-off, even if its a well made, good quality rip-off. And so cheesy! From 1996 onwards, the music just got cheesier and cheesier. Now, I don’t mind a little cheese, but it should be the side salad, not the main course.


I always tried to sample vocals from unknown sources – that’s not to say I think I am better than other artists, but I did it because I want to improve on someone else’s work, and lets face it – your not going to improve on the Beatles, are you? Please don’t think I am dissing Vinylgroover – I’m not. Try to find the source of the vocals on “Six Days” – what a waste the original track was. A lame house choon with perfect vocals. We pretty much had to steal it, really. And to this day, most people think we wrote those vocals…
As for the live vocals at that time? They were…how to say this? Often the vocalist was great, but the lyrics were just childish. I think this is still the case, to be honest, only now I have a greater appreciation for the problem here. You simply cannot put the depth of a Radiohead lyric over a cheesy track. But I wished someone would try, lol! I guess I will have to do it. Not that I could write like Thom Yorke, of course…now I am just wandering about. Where was I? Oh yes…





Mounting financial pressure, boredom, lack of inspiration, and being burnt out all made the label and my music productivity grind to a halt. Ham teamed up with Brisk, and started Next Generation, and Dj Force and Evolution became Force and Styles and had UK dance going on. I was bitter at the time, resenting the fact that these people knew I was in financial trouble, and all of them got their first releases through me. And I was never offered any work from any of them. That upset me, but it taught me…

Lesson 8 – Don’t expect gratitude. Or sympathy. You have to be hard to survive a hard game like this – and in all honesty, it was one of the main reasons I took a back seat at that time, and stopped trying like I used to. I had been in the business for 11 years, and had been knocked down too many times, ripped off too many times, and just disappointed with the way people acted in their selfish greed.
At that time, there were only 2 people I have worked with (outside of KF people) who I could trust to be honest and pay properly. Ola at Stage One/Just Another Label and Lee Muspratt – who used to work at Mo’s Distribution. That’s a shitty score, when you look at how many people I have worked with. Since then, I have met others who have been superb – Kev Nu Energy, Sage, Chucky in Japan…quite a few in fact. I dont know if I am more secure in what I do, or less easily disappointed, or perhaps I was just an ass back in those days? Probably a mixture of all those things.

When I first posted this history in 2001 or 2002, I spoke to Brisk, who pointed out that at that time, I was pretty down on the whole scene, and that I was not really interested in making hardcore, or any music at all. Which is true. He also pointed out that the Next Generation label was new, and not yet in a position to offer work to anyone, and that I was very busy with sorting out my own life. I also received an email asking if I ever asked for work from these people – the answer is no. Pride perhaps, but I think I didn’t ask for the same reason I wasn’t offered – I probably would have said no, anyway.
All in all, I was a younger and more immature man. I made mistakes, and it took a while for me to be able to put my hand up and say “yep, I fucked up”. I think I slapped at the few hands that were held out to pick me up. I have considered this long and hard, and conclude that I was my own worst enemy in a number of ways. Sure, people could have been more helpful – but I could have helped myself instead of wallowing in self pity!


So, anyway, by the time we got to KF43, things were falling apart. And it just wasn’t fun anymore. There was much more competition, most of it shit (although, to be fair, I don’t rate the early KF stuff – when you first make music and put it out, it is hard to get it right.) and I felt that there was nothing I could do. I was out of touch, but thought everyone else had it wrong, lol. Ego? Yep.
Everyone went the same way musically, and I didn’t want to go in that direction. You cant be the only label to make a style – you cant sustain a scene on your own, and anyway, competition can, and should, be inspiration for the healthy artist. Which, obviously, I wasn’t. Instead of rising to the challenge, I gave up. I had no fight left in me, was angry about things I couldn’t control, and honestly felt the scene was going the wrong way and I had to make a stand by quitting. Which was convenient, as I couldn’t afford to do anything else anyway, ha ha! There’s nothing quite like time to make you understand yourself, if you are willing to look objectively :o)


So, I closed down, and just stopped the labels. As well as the burden of being ¬£20000.00 in debt, the Tax bill for Smartes came in at ¬£8000.00. You know why famous people get screwed by tax? (Bros, MC Hammer etc) . I’ll tell you. You need a specialist accountant if you make music, because most business is taxed yearly. You cant do this with music, because if you are successful, you may sign a contract and get an advance of ¬£30000.00, but not be paid anything else for the next 2 years. Which means one year you lose all your money to tax, and the next year, you get a tax rebate (supposedly). It is impractical, so they spread it out. This is fine, unless you start well (Sesames Treet) and then don’t follow up. Four years later, you get your tax bill….but you don’t have any of the money anymore. If you are lucky enough to sell a shit load of music, the most important thing you can do is SAVE YOUR MONEY. I didn’t of course, so I paid later. And how I paid….Ha Ha. At this point it is best to sack your good accountant and get a crooked one, because then you stop paying tax altogether….


What’s that got to do with Kniteforce? not a lot, just felt like saying it. Anyway enough of Chapter 5, me thinks.

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