| Futureshock emerged in
1999 from their label Urban Hero before tweaking the ear of
house legend Terry Farley who signed them to JBO. Phil and
Alex were nearing their 35th release for Urban Hero and had
conjured up numerous nom de plumes (best one: Alex In Wonderland)
before deciding that, perhaps, it was a jolly good idea to
stick with the same name and if the music they were making
didn't always come out the same way, so what All their music
from now on would be Futureshock music. And it would be good.
Phil (older, chattier) was born in the shadow of the Bull
Ring. So Brummi eis he that his first musical memory was "probably
UB40, Everybody in Birmingham knows somebody in UB40,"
he claims. He also remembers having "the piss ripped
at school for liking disco" though his formative years
saw him drawn towards linoleum and the nascent sounds of electro.
When the two eights clashed and house music emerged Phil gave
up his job selling electrical components after securing a
DJ slot at 'Ritzy' style club Pagoda Park doing housey hour
slots while the other DJ - whose main job was entertaining
hen parties 'on the mic' - took a break.
Alongside friend Adam Presdee, Phil worked for several years
on old school edits and cut'n'paste versions of house hits.
They formed the Urban Hero label for their multi-monikered
original releases and it was around this time that Phil bumped
into Alex in the corridor of the studio he was working in.
Alex (younger, less chatty) was also into electro and breakdancin'
when he was a kid though he grew up in the far more authentic
surrounds of East Coast America (Baltimore). He moved to the
Midlands when he was ten on the maternal promise that "all
the best musicians come from England ," the fact that
he liked Duran Duran sealed his geographical fate. As a teen
Alex had an ambition to host his own radio show and he met
a guy who recorded radio jingles. Helping out in his studio
Alex eschewed cash for studio time so he could tinker on his
own music. Now a fully-fledged studio engineer to Phil's pro-DJ
Alex has even engineered an Ozzy-less Black Sabbath in his
time. He's still the studio geek into spending inordinate
amounts of time on E-Bay shopping for old synths.
Alex became an honorary Urban Hero. Alex's most important
release from this era was an early UK garage hit 'Diamond
Rings' as Ex Presidents. Now afforded legendary status it
regularly features in classic UK garage top tens and is often
bootlegged. Phil and Alex also attracted a young Mike Skinner
to their studio. "Mike from The Streets used to come
by and play us demo's he'd done on his PC," Alex recalls.
"He needed to go to London to get the Cockney accent.
What he's doing now is amazing." Shame they didn't sign
him up to Fuju!
If Phil could choose three words that he thinks Alex would
pick to describe him they would be talkative, opinionated
and considerate.
If Alex could choose three words that he thinks Phil would
pick to describe him they would be moody, self-absorbed and
"hopefully" talented. "I know! I shouldn't
have said 'talented', that's so arrogant," Alex back-tracks.
Modest too then.
Whilst holding down the mantle of remixers du jour through
2000 Futureshock honed their sound. Phil: "Underworld
would send us their parts ('Jumbo' broken into it's single
recorded components) and it gave us a real insight into how
they'd made the tune. We'd break it all down to the elements
then put our twist on it." The remixes were made with
big rooms in mind, Futureshock cut through the progressive
and trance sounds by keeping it funky and making sure they
let their drums do the talking.
"We were so into Todd Terry's drum sounds. We wanted
to do drums like Todd and put electronic sound over the top.
No one else was really doing that. We bought the same drum
machine Todd and Mantronix used." The so-called euphoric
breakdowns of most tech-house and progressive records were
usually left wanting, wanting a beat that kicked hard. Futureshock's
kicked like a mule. Alex's favourite game is spotting who
has nicked their huge kick-drum from the mighty 'Sparc'. Tom
Stephan has so far 'fessed up.
The follow-up to 'Sparc' - 'The Question (Why, Why, Why)'
paid homage to Underworld sampling an old b-side. In the fall
of 2002 Futureshock embarked on tour with Underworld making
their live debut showcasing tracks from their fantastic album.
'Sparc' was reviewed across the techno, house and progressive
pages of the mags on its release - alongside a track "that
doesn't sound like anything we've done before", a track
with an MC from the Reinforced drum'n'bass stable, a track
featuring a rap that recalls the hip house era, a track written
by and featuring Ben Onono who was involved in the house hit
of two summers ago 'It Just Won't Do' and a track "that
is perfectly capable of clearing any dancefloor the world
over" (this is a good thing). No doubt all underpinned
with their booming drums.
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