
Website: www.ramrecords.com
Myspace: www.myspace.com/andyramrec
Last year saw Andy C crowned Best DJ for the 6th successive
year; a record for the drum and bass industry. He was the highest drum
and bass representative
at DJs top 100 DJs Poll at number 26, and started the year getting the
ultimate accolade from the bible of dance music Mixmag listing him in the
top 10 of their Club lands Ultimate Power List. While running his label,
signing new talents, producing and traveling across the globe to play some
of the biggest clubs, Andy C is a busy man, and one of dance music’s
best ambassadors. Andy’s musical background started with nothing
more than a drum kit that he was bought by his parents when he was five
years old. Like most things Andy tries, it quickly became an obsession
practicing at any given opportunity. Andy’s fascination with dance
music and its culture came about largely thanks to his older sister who
was at the heart of its emergence in and around 86/87. One of the first
tunes he heard was the legendary Voodoo Ray by A Guy Called Gerald. When
I heard that something clicked and that was the start of everything. Andy
recalls. Andy considers himself lucky growing up in Essex, as there were
a few good pirate radio stations to choose from including Centre Force
and Sunrise, broadcasting 24/7 and playing the latest dance music on offer.
It became an obsession. To Andy’s sheer delight it wasn’t long
before his sister took him to his first rave when he was only 13! However,
it wasn’t until 1991 that Andy decided he wanted to become And DJ
and create the kind of vibe that was making dance floors erupt. He became
obsessive and quickly managed to get a slot with the late shift on his
local pirate station Cyndicate FM. Andy would play almost every night of
the week, which was usually followed by him falling asleep in the studio,
before he would walk home around the same time that the majority would
be getting up and going to work. His first club slot was for a club night
on Shaftsbury Avenue. On the night his car broke down on the way in to
town, and he had to hail a cab and get a night bus back! Soon Andy was
opening at Telepathy, where he stayed from 10pm-6am for every event, so
that if someone didn’t turn up he’d fill in. This loyalty paid
off, and Andy rightfully earned his residency at Telepathy. It was in 1993
that the scene started to explode; jungle club nights and raves were packed
out every week and Andy saw his bookings soar, and he became part of the
drum & bass family; every Thursday he would meet up with Hype and Brockie.
They would go to Section 5, Black Market, Unity Records and end up down
at the legendary Music House cutting dubs. __In parallel to his thriving
DJ career, Andy was becoming an excellent producer, teaching himself the
basics of computer programming and experimenting with beats. Friend of
the family Ant Miles a talented sound engineer heard one of Andy’s
rearrangement of Voodoo Ray and offered help. They quickly became a team:
from his relentless DJing Andy knew what music to do, and Ant knew how
to make it. Their first release together was as Desired State. Soon Andy
was confident enough to produce on his own and, at 16, his first solo effort
the Sour Mash EP became the first release on his label Ram Records, created
thanks to a 1,000 loan from his uncle. Ant and Andy went around the shops
selling the EP themselves and to their delight, it sold a promising 2,500
copies. However, nothing could have prepared them for the consequences
of their first track as Origin Unknown, a piece of drum & bass history.
Valley Of The Shadows released in 1993 - became an absolute all-time classic.
The track was so popular that Andy was even being booked to perform live
PA’s of the track which he confesses involved nothing more than playing
a DAT whilst standing next to unplugged keyboard! The unstoppable rise
of Andy C as a DJ, producer, A&R and label boss kept on through the
nineties. The Origin Unknown remix of Busta Rhymes Woo Haa in 1996 added
another skill to the 20-year-old producer, and was followed by many more,
for Reprazent and Adam F amongst others. Enrolling new members, including
old friend Shimon, Ram compiled their first album Origin Unknown presents
The Speed Of Sound, in 1996. Another showcase of the Ram stable, Sound
In Motion, was released in 1998 with No Reality, another landmark 12, produced
by Andy, Ant and Shimon as Ram Trilogy. An album Molten Beats followed
it a year later. 2001 was another stepping stone for Andy C as a track
he recorded with Shimon, an insanely catchy instrumental called Bodyrock,
crashed into the national charts at 28. The same year, Andy started to
capture the energy of his DJ sets through a powerful mix of Ram singles
and EP called Ram Raiders, and some stunning remixes such as Adam Fs Stand
Clear (featuring MOP) as Origin Unknown. It was followed by a Drum & Bass
Arena and a Fabric Live Mix CDs. The concept stepped up with the release
of the hugely successful Nightlife mixed compilation in 2003, followed
by Nightlife 2 A Drum And Bass Odyssey a year later, getting the Mixmag
LP of the month accolade. The 2003 Knowledge Magazine Awards were a consecration
of Andy, winning Best DJ for an unprecedented third time in a row, while
Ram were nominated for Best Single and Best label. Since then, Andy has
been in the studio, producing as part of Origin Unknown (including Dynamite
MCs Hotness in 2004) and Ram Trilogy. He has traveled around the world
a few times, and spends a lot of energy looking after the Ram stable, signing
new artists including the likes of Subfocus to the ever-expanding roster.
2006 sees the release of another installment of the classic Nightlife series,
packed with exclusive gems by the who’s who of drum and bass worldwide.
When looking over Andy Cs career to date it quickly becomes clear that
he has worked extremely hard to get where he is today. Now known as drum & bass
superstar DJ who spends most his time touring the world playing the music
that he loves, it is important to note that he has done every menial job
there is in this scene just to be part of it. Handing out flyers, selling
records, reading instruction manuals, doing night shifts, opening and graveyard
slots, Andy has done it That’s why, even widely acknowledged as the
ambassador of drum & bass worldwide, Andy is still working hard for
the love of the music and the respect of his massive audience all across
the globe.
|