Kniteforce Revolution

The History of Kniteforce - Chapter 7

Nov 22, 05:55 PM

Chapter 7


So I found myself in a strange position. I had been making music for 6 years, and I had been mostly successful, but I had lost interest in the ever shrinking Hardcore scene. And I was skint. And in debt. What should I do I wondered – I didn’t want to start a regular job – but you have to earn a living! And a regular job would not pay a debt of ¬£20000.00 off – at least, not quickly! In many ways, the music biz is like a lottery with better odds – if you keep putting stuff out there, you always have a chance of scoring big time…It might not be a million, but you never know! However, if there is one rule I have always obeyed, its this – Never do anything with money as the sole reason. If you enjoy it, and get paid, okay. But money alone is not enough of a reason. This is why I didn’t start to make Garage – I hate it (sorry!). And its why, in these later years, I have never tried my hand at Hard House. It just doesn’t move me.
I love Drum and Bass – I have always played and bought it, so I thought I would have a go at making it, hence Influential, Dyne and the other not so good labels I released in that scene. Plus I was always into Hip Hop, so I had the beats and samples.


Around 1997, after selling the hardcore labels, I was looking for something that made me feel like Hardcore had…and I found it in a track called “Tower Bass” by Aphrodite. What a tune! It was the first record to inspire me for a long time. So, with no shame, I copied it. I wanted to learn how to make Drum’n‘Bass – although it grew from the same scene as hardcore, D’n‘B is a different thing entirely when you are making it…And I knew that I needed to learn the feel of it. I set up a label with an acquaintance of mine, called Dj Influence. We decided to call the label “Influential” and started to release stuff.

It sold well, and with each release I became better at holding the right sound. Dj Influence left the label after 5 or so releases, as our working relationship wasn’t so good, and I continued making tunes with a few friends, once again going under a lot of different artist names. I always did this, because I believed the tune should speak for itself, and sell because it is a good tune, not because of the name on the label.
In this, my attitude was out of date…The scene had changed, and it was all about the name. And now, in the 2008 era, and with the decay of the dance music scene in general, the scene has finally reached a point where an artist can diversify under their main name, and not be persecuted for selling out. Which is fantastic. And why I rarely use other monikers on KFA…they just aren’t needed any more.


One of the best things to happen on Influential was the opportunity to work with UK underground rapper Blade – who is now doing very well, working with Mark B. I had bought his records since 1988, so it was a real pleasure to meet and work with him. He is a good example of amazing talent being ignored…so I am please to see him finally getting the credit he deserved. But eventually, the jump up sound ground to a halt, and I stooped with the label at INF17 – and started Dyne Records, for tougher D’n‘B – the word dyne means “a unit of force”. A pointlessly clever joke that no one understood or cared about, although it makes me happy even now!


I also tried at various times to release break beat hardcore…I put out a few whites, engineered for Dj Whistla, and started the KIF label (Keep It Fresh), which had 2 releases on it…and sold under 500. People kept saying “we want breakbeat hardcore”, but people were not buying it. Maybe the tunes were crap…If you get to hear them, let me know what you think.


Eventually, I just stopped making music for a good year or so. I rented out my studio to various people, but I was not inclined to make new releases.


At some point, Dj Evil from Japan came to stay, and asked if he could remix Six Days or Take Me Away. I thought “what the hell, Why not?”. Jimmy had left to live in Spain (where he remains in married bliss, with children and a pleasure boat, as far as I know!) and had said to me “do what you like” before he left. So there was really no reason not to remix the tracks.
As I didn’t own the rights to the Jimmy J And Cru-l-t tracks, we renamed them and as I couldn’t release them on Kniteforce, I designed a label that screamed Kniteforce in every way, yet never claimed to actually be Kniteforce. I called Spennie Trip and asked him to design a label logo based on the weird little hex thing I always put under my Luna-C tag…




And thus, KFA was born.
There was no real plan for more releases, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. A few months after that, I got to thinking…
The release of this record had a few effects, some subtle and maybe not so apparent to outsiders looking in.
For a start, I realized that I could remix and release old Kniteforce tunes. All I had to do was change the name of the tracks. The Artist names weren’t owned by anyone, and the samples in them were often not cleared. So while DBM owned Kniteforce, I could release “Sicks Daze” by Jimmy J & Cru-l-t on KFA without breaking any deal with DBM.
The pressing plant that originally made all the Kniteforce labels had gone bankrupt, meaning that there were no masters left to repress on the old school releases. So DBM couldn’t cash in there. And I wasn’t making tracks for DBM any more, so they no longer had a presence as Kniteforce in the scene.
This in turn changed the balance of power between them and I. DBM had a label with a back catalogue that they couldn’t exploit on vinyl. And I had all the disks with the samples and arrangements, so without me, they couldn’t remix anything. I could. And more, I could get the original artists back into the studio. I could release new tracks, should I choose to, on a new label that was obviously the old label in everything but name.
So these ideas were rolling about in my head when other things started to happen. I received a call from Dj Deluxe about setting up a Kniteforce website. I had pretty much ignored the internet up to this point, having no idea how to set a website up, and no desire to do so myself. So, having known him for a few years and knowing he was trustworthy, I said fine!








And Dj Kingsize, who had been trying to get me to repress on KF stuff, called me and said he was doing well with an internet store he had running. Did I have any new releases I might like to sell through him?
At which point I remembered Luna-C Project 8, which was never released. And thought about making a new track or two…with the eventual result that KFA2 was released. It wasn’t the most amazing track ever made, but it was a start. Promoted online and sold to distributors via Kingsize’s network. It sold well enough to make me think about doing more. I felt the old enthusiasm well up inside me. I could feel the time was right – a more receptive market awaited me. And I wanted to do it. I wanted this. I was rested, and full of ideas and possibilities.
The Website had fired me up. The forum was full of old skool KF fans and new skool people who were keen on breakbeat hardcore. And the website generated Dj work in the UK and Germany, playing old skool. I wanted new tracks to play…And in a relatively short period of time, I found myself drawn back into the scene….

<< Previous Article Next Article >>