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Bio:
I have always
been interested in two things: computer games and music. Having
dabbled with basic programming as a kid I was fairly certain it was
not the thing for me. I have always been a huge fan of electronic
music and spent the bulk of my youth listening to Electro, Kraftwerk
and seminal British acts like John Foxx. Unlike most people who were
frustrated by the lack of detail in computer games, I was inspired
by it.
I never really
considered music as a possible career path until the influx of House
music from Chicago began making its way into the UK in the late 80s.
I went out and bought these obscure records spurred by my amazement
at the originality and complexity of the sounds, which I later found
to be produced by machines like the TB303 and Juno 106 (both of
which I am proud to say, I now own in my analog keyboard
collection). It was around this time that I started writing my own
music at home. But it wasn't until I met my partner in music,
Jonathon Donaghy, that I found the perfect collaborator and what was
missing in my music.
With Jonathon
already having strong music industry connections, we immediately
started to record our tracks in the studio. With the single ambition
of aiming to hear our record in the Hacienda (a local nightclub that
helped shape the modern international dance scene), we pressed our
own records and distributed them ourselves on a "white
label", the name given to the type of record that has no
printed label or cover to minimize cost (hence the name), something
that was quite rare back then in early 1990s.
Within a
matter of weeks our dream came true; not only was the Hacienda
playing our record frequently, but also their DJ, Mike Pickering,
was trying to sign us to Deconstruction Records, which had a very
strong reputation for taking underground records and putting them
into the mainstream charts.
As other
labels got wind of the track, we found ourselves in the middle of a
virtual bidding war amongst the major record companies. Mixmag
the dance music magazine spread across its front page
"Together: signed at last! Or are they?" We had to make
the right choice for our careers to progress in the direction we
wanted and this wasn't about money but credibility.
Pete Tong, now
famous in the UK for his Radio 1 Essential Selection show
contacted us, claiming he knew of us before he heard the record and
wanted to sign us. His label FFRR was part of Polygram and,
therefore, had more muscle in the industry. After weeks of
protracted negotiations, FFRR won the bidding and our single Hardcore
Uproar was rushed into shops where it ended up number 12 on the
UK singles chart for eight weeks despite no support from Radio 1,
which is rather ironic today as Pete Tong is now one of their main
guys. It was the 2nd biggest dance record of the year and because of
its lack of availability just prior to its release it became the
most sought after dance record of the year. The original white
labels still change hands for silly figures.
There were
many more Together records and some rather minimal techno tracks
under the name of "The Ultimate Escape Project", among
other guises. I became involved in many live performances and
remixes, one of which was for a computer game called Inferno
on which I collaborated with Goth band, Alien Sex Fiend. Although,
strictly speaking, this was my first game project, it was more music
industry than game industry as I had no exposure other than simply
handing over the master track recordings of Alien Sex Fiend's work.
Wanting to
further my knowledge in music and studio technology, I joined a
college called the School of Excellence. After completing the course
there I was offered a position teaching studio technology. Always
looking for new and interesting experiences, I took the position
while still managing to record dance records.
As my career
progressed I had almost forgotten my videogame roots until the Art
Director of Software Creations, Ste Pickford, contacted me. We had
met at the Hacienda and were good friends. He wanted to speak to me
about the possibility of scoring the soundtrack to a game was
working on called Venom Spirit. It involved mapping rendered
graphics onto sprites years before the release of Rare's Donkey
Kong Country on the Super Nintendo.
After meeting
Ste's brother John Pickford, the creative director the company, they
explained that they felt the electronic nature of my writing style
fit perfect with their vision. They showed me some of the ideas
they'd put together for the main character and as they explained the
idea to me, I realized that I absolutely had to take this
opportunity.
I was expected
to learn how to program the sounds and sequences using a language
similar to Z80/assembly language. Although the package called
Creations Music Driver was very flexible, it was a rather daunting
experience that required months of training. Eventually I finished
the project, and after some time passed, I began my first solo
project called Spiderman and Venom: Separation Anxiety,
which, lucky for me, was a dance project.
Incidentally,
Ste and John Pickford left Software Creations not very long after I
joined to set up the hugely successful development studio Zed Two.
Although I was working fulltime for Software Creations, I was lucky
enough to work with them again on their first game Wetrix.
In the eight
solid years of work I did for Creations I worked on no less than 21
titles. I am now specializing in sound design at Warthog where I
have been given the opportunity to give games a new kind of realism.
Coincidentally, Warthog recently acquired Zed Two, so there may be
new work for me in the cards someday with my old friends.
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Game
Development Gallery
Hardcore
Uproar