AQUASKY [step back]

Aquasky are from Bournemouth, UK. They started their career in 1995 when they were signed to Moving Shadow Records for a 3 record deal on the back of their massively successful 'Dezires/Images' single which was remixed by DJ Krust.

But before then they individually had success under their individual projects. Dave Wallace was known for his early jungle tunes as Rave Doctor/Fugative on Underdog Recordings. Kieron Bailey for his Artinis/New Vision work also on drum and bass label Underdog and Brent Newitt for his hip hop releases as Jaziac Sunflowers on Bob Jones' Black on Black label.

In 1996 Aquasky signed to Polydor/Polygram where they recorded the Orange Dust LP. This contained the singles 'Raw Skillz (Featuring Big Kwam and the first ever Scratch Perverts adventure onto vinyl) and the drum and bass track Opaque which made an appearance in the UK national charts. Also on the LP was the hip hop track 'Rough' featuring Big Shug from the Gangstarr Foundation

Whilst signed to Polydor the trio also released on Reinforced Records (Concrete Boom EP) and R&S (Dave Wallace under his own name with the 'Future Realities' single and Kieron and Brent worked as Skin Divers where 2 singles were released) and Dave put out the Soul Motive EP on Nuphonic Records.

In 1999 Aquasky returned to their drum and bass birthplace Moving Shadow where they recorded 2 LP's 'Bodyshock' and 'Aftershock'. Bodyshock contained drum and bass tracks such as 'Sonix' and 'Battlestar' and a funky breakbeat number titled 'Blue Thunder' that was made world famous when it was featured on the first Tony Hawk game. The Aftershock album was the first time that Aquasky ventured into breakbeat back in 2000. This was a remix LP containing mixes by London Electricity, Adam Freeland (his first ever venture onto vinyl) and Aquasky themselves.

A series of 12"s also came out on Moving Shadow during the years 1999-2002. These included tracks such as 'The Stalker', 'Bulletproof' (which was remixed by Higher Sense out of the RAM crew), 'Spectre', 'Subdivison' and 'Nightvision'.

Whilst these singles were being released, Aquasky started a new project and new name. Tenth and Parker was in essense a live jazz/house/latin band and an LP was released called 'Twenty:Twelve' on the renowned Mr. Bongo label. This vocal project contained many famous names including Mark Murphy (US Jazz singer who has recorded on Muse, Atlantic, Prestige and Riverside to name a few) Snowboy ( Percussionist who spearheaded the whole Acid Jazz movement and is world famous for his group The Latin Section and for his work with Lisa Stansfield) and the band also contained the bassist from Fairground Attraction and Blur's horn section. 3 singles came from this outing including 'Kool Down' which was featured on a Norman Jay compilation for Nuphonic. This later was remixed by King Britt.

In 2001 Aquasky started their alias Aquasky Vs. Masterblaster. This was after a meeting with Vini Medley of Botchit and Scarper Records and their first breakbeat 12" surfaced on his label titled 'Sureshot' later that year. This was followed up by the mighty force of the '777' EP which turned out to be the biggest selling single for the label and is credited as the original Bassline Breaks tune which has influenced a whole generation of new artists. In 2002 they were asked to record an LP, their 5th. Titled 'Beat the System' this was a benchmark album which announced that Aquasky had arrived and that they were here to shake things up. Bringing the dance ethos of drum and bass into breakbeat, Aquasky created a new genre of the scene. A sound and vibe that was made to make a dancefloor shake. With influences taken from their drum and bass/hardcore background this was an orginal concept that many copied and many were inspired by.

In 2002 Moving Shadow decided to remix some of their extensive 12 year back catalogue and Aquasky Vs. Masterblaster were asked to pick 2 tracks that they were influenced by. 'Lord of the Null Lines' by Hyper on Experience and 'Renegade Snares' by Omni Trio were chosen and remixed to now legendary proportions. These sold so well that the label decided to start a sister label titled Shadow Cryptic to support the breakbeat scene. The obvious step was to ask Aquasky to record another album. So in 2003 their 6th LP 'Stayfresh' was made. This time the emphasis was to make a new, fresher album with broader influences. Stayfresh has already been checked as the most important breakbeat LP so far with it’s wide range of influences and dj friendlyness. New ideas were presented and the guys turned the scene on its head making them now one of the hottest producers in the world of Breakbeat and voted within the Top 5 Breakbeat Producers on the planet (Breakspoll 2004).

There are also a host of remixes that Aquasky have played apart in including Master Ace, The Freestylers, DJ Deekline, 4 Hero, Sneaker Pimps, Art of Noise and A Guy called Gerald.

Aquasky are also all accomplished DJ's and have travelled the world many times exciting clubs and festivals with their broad approach to fresh music (ranked 12th best breaks/d&b DJ on www.thetop100djs.com and 17th on www.thedjlist.com... When slimmed down to just uk breakbeat producers they are ranked 3rd on top100djs.com and 6th on djlist.com) This has assisted them in establishing their own label Passenger which has gained great importance within the breaks scene. With the help of the guys A&R skills along with some of the scenes best up coming talent and also more seasoned producers Passenger has made a huge impact on the scene and helped to distinguish its own unique sound. The label is also trying to push the vocal side of breakbeat, whether that be ragga, rap or singing. Releases so far have come from The Breakfastaz, Chris Carter, The Freestylers, Backdraft, Baitercell and Schumacher, Infekto, Autobots, Darqwan and Kool Keith. Due to the success of Passenger and its busy release schedule, it became necessary to set up a sister label “777” which runs on the same principles as Passenger but tries to also cover as many genres of the scene as possible with artists like The Ragga Twins, Transformerman, Aquasky, The Breakfastaz, MC Jakes and Baobinga. Also there is a brand new CD mixed by Aquasky entitled “Breakbeat Bass” which is the debut CD release for Passenger and will assist moving the labels sound into a wider market.

2005 is all about moving Aquasky into a live band and a new LP is presently being written with a strong rock influence. As well as this album Aquasky have also spent the best part of this year so far recording a collaboration LP with Meat Katie, Drummatic Twins, Spyda, Kool Keith, Ragga Twins, UK Apache, Spee (Dreadzone), Phil Hartnoll (Orbital), The Breakfastaz, FreQ Nasty, Backdraft, ElHornet (Pendulum), Tayo, DJ Icey, Autobots and Diane Charlemagne (Moby,Goldie).