“Elite Force unites the sometimes
warring factions of electro house, techno, and breakbeat,
like a peace keeper who values the spirit of cooperation and
tolerance. He was forged in the fires of breakbeat, which
has always had a habit of sucking in sounds that pass by.
Elite’s sets are like a team performance, with tracks
coming from all corners of the bass-driven sector, to create
a vibrant hodgepodge of boundary-pushing dance music….“
Simon Shackleton’s Elite Force project began way back
in 1996, debuting on his own newly founded Fused and Bruised
label with a series of peerless 12s and remixes. After five
successful years winning plaudits from the likes of Fatboy
Slim & Jon Carter, he put Fused and Bruised on the backburner
to concentrate on production work. After several years with
Whole9Yards and Moonshine he became a primary artist on Adrift
Recordings (formally known as Kingsize) before moving on to
build his own empire under the U&A Recordings banner.
Often credited for being a lynchpin in creating the tech-funk
'genre' (an amalgamation of breaks, house, techno and electro)
he has released a series of massive singles in the past few
years, finding broad support from DJs and musicians across
the board, including the likes of James Zabiela, Sasha, Crystal
Method, Laurent Garnier and Fatboy Slim to name but five.
He has also regularly collaborated with Meat Katie on a number
of chart-topping singles, as well as establishing a well-respected
techno alias, DUSTBOWL with the Lot49 chief.
As a remixer, Elite Force has always been in huge demand,
with legendary re-workings for the likes of Grandmaster Flash,
Crystal Method, Jungle Brothers, Stereo MCs, UNKLE & Infusion
all contributing to his reputation as one of the most creative
and effective remixers around.
Elite Force's music has also been the soundtrack to many
a movie, with a huge list of impressive A-list credits to
his name, including the likes of the Matrix, Charlie's Angels,
Arlington Road, Mortal Kombat, Crow, The Bone Collector, The
Jackyll, Spiderman 2 and his music has appeared on a wide
array of TV shows, from CSI to Top Gear, from Football Focus
to LA Doctors. He's also soundtracked a number of computer
games, including no fewer than 5 FIFA games, several of the
Wipeout series, The Matrix and Motorstorm 1 & 2.
On the decks, Elite Force has been a prime mover since 1990
when he cut his teeth playing huge student nights and self-promoted
acid house nights in the South West of England, before moving
up to London and ultimately gravitating towards his tech-funk
style, with which he now has a full diary of global bookings.
He has become known as one of the top technicians on a circuit
that has included massive shows in Belarus, Hungary, Australia,
Italy, USA, Czech Republic, India, Turkey, Spain, Japan, Georgia,
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and China, amongst others, as well as
numerous festival slots including Glastonbury, Coachella,
Burning Man, San Francisco's Love Parade, Wickerman and the
Glade. He was also responsible for the hugely influential
Strongarm Sessions webcasts which have become something of
an institution since their inception back in 2001, receiving
around 20,000 downloads per show.
Elite Force is at the top of his game right now. He's just
returned from a few days at the 'Burning Man Festival' in
Nevada which included a Saturday night headline slot to some
5,000 revelers at the largest camp, Opulent Temple. Last month
he took the headline slot at the largest breaks festival in
Spain, 'Summer Festival' in the Olympic Stadium in Sevilla,
playing to around 10,000 people, and went on to headline the
'Aeon Festival' in the West Country, where he smashed the
dance tent on the Saturday night.
The forthcoming ‘Re:Vamped’ mix album is a surefire
bet to push him to the summit. His incendiary DJ sets have
won him A-List admirers across the globe, and his re-workings
and re-edits of virtually everything that passes through his
studio have become the stuff of legend. ‘Re:Vamped’
finally makes these elusive & much-sought after works
available to the public, with a head-spinning DJ mix that
features upwards of twenty tried & tested exclusive mash-ups,
recalling some of the finest moments from the likes of Soulwax
/ 2ManyDJs. With numerous tracks scheduled for release from
the album, and a ramped-up DJ set being planned as we speak,
the ‘Re:Vamped’ tour is set to roll in 2010.
