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Biographies en anglais des artistes D'n'B: Ray Keith, Danny C et John Rolodex présents sur le label Dread Recordings.


Ray Keith

Ray Keith born in the heart of Essex, in the historic town of Colchester, started his career in the Dance music scene back in early 1989. Having an immense passion for underground music as well as funk and soul, lead him to buy some turntables and mix the music he enjoyed listening to. He eventually managed to get to know the then owners of a nightclub called Oscars in Clacton-on Sea (Buster Brooker) and they let him play his first professional gig, which he enjoyed it so much that he was hooked for life! This moved him on to local raves like L'aristos, The Venue, The Works and Andromeda and not forgetting the Hippodrome in Colchester. These venues were regularly visited by Ray in the early stages of his career and gave him the experience of what all DJ's know - hard work, unpredictability of the job and crowd satisfaction.

Before moving to the London club circuit, Ray held a residency at Cinderella's in Ipswich, giving him an idea of what the masses wanted at that time. The underground music scene was exploding and clubs were popping up everywhere in London and in the South East. The Crazy Club asked him to be a resident giving him knowledge of the London underground scene, and then went on to play for Future and Innocence at Lazerdrome in 1990-91.



Late 1992 saw Ray enter the world of music production, remixing tracks for Moby, Shades Of rhythm, St. Etienne and Orbital. This gave him the 'know how' to work with other labels in the scene like Labello Blanco and Moving Shadow. During this period Ray worked for Dave at City Sounds in Holborn, moving onto Black Market Records in Soho where he is currently today, keeping one ear to the ground, in charge of the buying department.

After a time of producing and re-mixing tunes, Ray decided to start his own label in early 1994 called Dread Recordings, followed by Penny Black and UFO Records later. With prolific tracks like 'The Chopper', 'You Got Me Burning Up', 'Yes Yes' and Something Out There on Dread he also managed to create another anthem for the Drum and Bass archives; 'The Renegade Terrorist' on Moving Shadow Records.

Ray is at the cutting edge of Drum and Bass, securing a regular show currently on Vibe FM and an occasional appearance on Kiss FM, covering the whole South East. Playing at all major parties such as Planet V, Innovation, World Dance, Helter Skelter, Slammin' Vinyl and a residency at Movement at Bar Rumba on Thursdays. His schedule is hectic with a string of worldwide tours in America, Europe, Asia and Australia under his belt.


In the latter part of 2002, Ray completed some major projects that involved working with chart toppers 'Big Brovaz', remixing known tracks as, 'Ok' and 'Ring a Ding'. He also remixed a beautiful vocal piece called 'Don't Get Me Wrong' on AK Records, which is still present on most dance floors. For Dread, 'The Latin Thing' was a monster single to end the year off. Twisted Anger feat. Danny C one of our main producers on our label constructed this track on a Latino vibe, unusual for the renowned releases on Dread. This went amazingly well that Ray continued the sound by making 'The Latin Quarter' at the end of 2002 ready to feature on the V Recordings Drum and Bass Fiesta that was released in April 2003 and later on Dread in August.

2003 has already been a very busy year for Ray and Dread Recordings. Starting with our first release from our increasingly recognisable producer John Rolodex with his second instalment, 'The Soldiers EP' which had such a magnificent response from our worldwide Dread fan base that he's back at the end of the year with 'The Industries EP'.

We continued production by releasing 'The Vintage Dread II' Album and Sampler in April, featuring Ray's selection of tracks from the Dread vault spreading the last ten years. Available on CD and Vinyl format, this album has had major exposure and featured on the Grooverider show with Ray attending at the end of April.

Another personal project close to Ray is the cover of 'No No No', originally written by Dawn Penn, Teaming up with MC Navigator and the luscious lyrics of Alexander, I & I's main singer, this track takes Dread Recordings on a different level completely. This soulful piece is a favourite with the ladies and a change from the dark and tearing sound of Dread, showing Ray in his versatile mode. To accompany the track a high quality video is being constructed to go with the song, featuring all the main culprits mentioned above, which will be due for a screening to the Music Industry in July.

Ray recently collaborated with Floyd Dyce, Co-founder of Redmaster Records, and the man behind classic tracks such as 'Let Me Be Your Fantasy' and 'Trip II The Moon'. Producing a catchy vocal track featuring the cleverly written lyrics from Melissa, this is to be released on Rays personal label, U. F. O. Recordings in July.

There is no end to Ray's talents; he is religiously in the studio every week producing and remixing tracks, constantly moving on to new ideas and looking to the future. Keeping a strong working bond with his engineer Nookie from Good Looking Records for the last ten years, contributes to making these talented individuals into a formidable team.

Ray has many interesting projects in the pipeline such as a website on Ray himself also one for all his labels. A merchandise range for his label will accompany this with the online music sales through the shop. An album could be on the cards next year, but with many tracks to complete, remixes and DJing every weekend around the U.K. you start to wonder if he has time to breath with the amount of work Ray gets through, leading me onto Rays motto 'hard work didn't hurt anybody' proving that he is one of the most hardworking artists in this scene.




Danny C

Danny C another native of historic Colchester, Essex, started to get recognition after producing music with is ex - engineering partner Mike Pears, but due to personal commitments he decided to take a break from the pressures of the music industry to concentrate on his family. However, Danny C who originally was the producer of the pair, took initiative and taught him self the art of engineering after locking himself in the studio for about a year. This time gave him all the ammunition to continue making outstanding tunes as they previously did before.

Danny's musical roots came from the mid - 80's Hip Hop scene making his Djing debut at the local youth centre when he was 15, the sound then eventually moved on to Rave music which he discovered a passion for and continued playing at small parties across Essex.


Playing this music took him to the place where he is now, Drum and Bass, and after early attempts of producing with DJ Digital, (who then in 1993 wasn't into Drum and Bass) made Danny thirsty for more…That's when he met Mike and after a time of saving money, both set up their studio. This was a basic set up to start with, but managed to make Paul Arnold from Certificate 18 take notice and put their music out. With the backing of Fabio promoting their tune, made other Drum and Bass head honchos such as Ray Keith interested in what Danny and Mike were doing, subsequently lining up their first release on Penny Black Records as Twisted Anger and the rest is history.

After numerous release on Penny Black and eventually Dread Recordings, it was time for Danny to branch off on his own and set up his own labels, Portica and Blue Box Recordings. Last years memorable track, 'The Mexican' put Portica firmly on the map and Danny C into the limelight leading on to the remixes on Dread this summer. Danny completed his debut album on Dread Recordings called 'The Mothership' last summer, a dark sci-fi styled album with hints of jazz creating perfect balance.
This gave him a taste of large projects and went straight in the studio and made another album under the alias as Primary Motive on Fabio's Creative Source imprint. This album shows Danny as a two-sided coin, tuning into his stored funk and filter disco influences on this one rather than his usual filthy hard style that we all know.

Collaborations with Metalheadz, Movement and Valve have all progressed Danny onto bigger things. He is hoping to complete another album on Portica in the future,
also linking up with Kaos and Basement Records is a possibility. Djing in places as Australia, New Zealand, America and Europe has recently been high on his agenda, this has helped to promote his sound and expand his profile, as his music gets more and more recognised all over the world.





John Rolodex

"Music was a main feature of the household growing up. I was right into all kinds of music throughout my life, but nothing compares to the first moment I heard those rolling amens." John describes a turning point in late 1995 when he first discovered jungle/drum and bass on a late night radio show. "It was Dillinja's 'Ja Know Ya Big' followed by Source Direct 'Snake Style'. I just knew. I had this feeling deep inside.

I still get it to this day when I hear a really fresh sound." From that moment he was hooked. Taking up Djing shortly after, John took the name 'Rolodex' from the rolling beats that began to consume him. "In those days there was nowhere to buy the records so I had to arrange for the distributor to put my local shop on their fax list." John soon began ordering records for the local shop. Combined with his influential sets, John Rolodex was an early pioneer for several generations of Djs in Western Canada. "To this day I get people coming up to me to tell about some set they heard me play back '96 or '97. It's a bit of a rush."

After years of dedication to the local Dj scene, John entered the realm of music production. "The years of Djing taught me all kinds of lessons about what works and what doesn't. At the end of the day it's about the beat. To me, it's that simple." Joining forces with Scott Cartridge, an old friend from public school, the pair began work on what would be some of their first Jungle/Drum and Bass experiments.


These early studio efforts met with success on dubplate throughout Western Canada and The US. However, it wasn't until 2001 when John's 'Dragon' caught the ear of legendary Dj and producer Ray Keith. "I spoke to him right after he'd listened to the tune. He was like 'Fucking hell, John. That tune is HEAVY.'" John's 'Dragon EP' (Dread Recordings 039) met audiences head-on with a heavyweight approach to rhythm. Receiving radio play on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 1xtra in the UK in addition to being charted by Djs across the Globe, the success of 'Dragon EP' was a surprise. As one reviewer put it "When 'The Dragon' drops, it drops, and no mistake - just check where he chops the drums up like great crashing sledgehammers… 5/5" (Seven Magazine, November, 2002).

'The Soldiers EP' was released in March 2003 following the success of his debut on Dread. 'The Soldiers EP' treats audiences to the Dread flavour they enjoyed in 'Dragon EP' with more elements of twisted funk. 'Rinse It' was the anthem track of this EP and still played on the circuit today also used in Kenny Kens mix CD in August edition of ATM Magazine UK!

What's next for John Rolodex? 'The Industries' EP will be out at the end of October promising dark dirty sounds with a hyped techno edge to it, not for the fainthearted.
In addition John has remixed the 'No No' vocal track by Ray Keith and a couple of unnamed back catalogue tunes on Dread Recordings all to be disclosed soon. Other projects include remixing 'Cold Ways' by long-time friend and now-legendary electro producer Sneak Thief for his Gingerbread House label. Also watch for more John Rolodex material in the near future on Dread. STAY TUNED.