Alex M. formerly of New Republic (Miami, Florida)

Born to a Billboard Chart-topping, Grammy nominated father, Alex M. has been performing since his early teens. Starting off as a vocalist & drummer in hardcore bands, he became obsessed with the sounds of drum in bass in 1995 after hearing a mix-tape from AWOL. Shortly thereafter he became a member of the legendary BeatCamp crew, controlling the crowd with his lyrics and energy. Remaining with BeatCamp, he ventured onto another project with Evilbase recordings, performing as an emcee and touring throughout Puerto Rico, the North and Midwest. He later became a member of the Live PA “Thorns.” The short-lived PA gave birth to drum and bass group, "New Republic."

After a flight to New York and a visit to BreakBeat Science, New Republic's tunes “Hell Can Wait" and "Risky Business” were quickly signed and released. Moonshine Music featured “Hell Can Wait” on one of the best selling dance music compilations, “Total Drum & Bass.” New Republic's music was also played live by Reid Speed on the Jamie Kennedy experience, a U.S. hidden camera show. Since the breakup of New Republic, Alex has obtained his Audio Engineering degree from SAE and released "Jawbreaker" with Rawtee. Alex also assists in his father's full production recording facility with a roster of impressive, high profile clientele.

Devoe (Los Angeles, California)

Hailing from Los Angeles, Ca. Devoe (aka Jeff Ricards) has been participating in the drum and bass scene, in one form or another, since 1998. Being a musician (saxophone since age 9), Jeff was always eager to delve into different realms of music. In 1998 he discovered drum and bass while learning about electronic music. Almost instantly Jeff felt connected to drum and bass. The complex rhythms and raw emotion are just some of the many reasons why drum and bass became so important and vital in Jeff's life. In the winter of 2001 Jeff began sharing the music he loved by Djing at local parties in the Santa Barbara area. He also started to sow the seeds of production, learning all he could about producing drum and bass.

Moving to the Los Angeles area in 2002, Devoe secured a residency at Club Adrenaline, an all dnb weekly in the Orange County area. Here he played along side artists such as John B, Infiltrata, Reid Speed, Silver, Mampi Swift, etc.
 
Zen (London, England)

Zen St George, a skilled producer and DJ from Fulham, London, began listening to hardcore at school at the tender age of 13 years old and began buying records at the age of 15. Soon after, he started saving up and got hold of his first pair of Technics along with a mixer. From here on, he taught himself to mix, becoming confident enough to start recording his own mix tapes. He continued to spend his entire wages from his part time job on records, finding himself out of cash at the end of every week, but this was to pay off in the long run. In 1995, Zen met Lee Greenaway AKA Twisted Individual on local radio show Shadow FM. Lee was producing at home on his PC back then and inspired Zen to create his own music. While at University, in between studying Print and spending many nights under the influence, Zen decided to put his student loan money to good use and bought himself a PC. He got hold of all the hardware required and was finally in business and ready to start making tunes.

By now Lee had started his own label Grid Recordings, and took on most of Zen’s early work including Illusions, Tentacle, Jazz Drive, Cyclone, Mindframe and Turnstyle (most recently re-worked by Baron) tunes that were going to shape his future at the Formation Camp. It was shortly after this that Zen sent a demo to DJ SS and as a result of this Electrolysis / Inside Your Mind were released on 5HQ Recordings. DJ SS was already the driving force behind some of the finest talent now established within the scene, including Twisted himself by then, and after hearing more of Zen’s new material SS decided it would be best for him to become a part the team and convinced him to take the plunge and move from London up to Leicester.

Although Now settled in, Zen has found his feet and has his studio set up within the Formation building. He has already finished a number of releases for Formation and its sister labels, including Discotech for Jazz Bass Part 4 Part 1, plus Discotech (Remix) and Summer In London on Jazz Bass Session IV CD LP on New Identity. Appearing alongside were Flipmode b/w Mmm Bongo, After Party b/w Time Crisis (featured on the second half of the Drum Bass Arena CD mixed by Grooverider, a man that’s always been proud to back Zen, and Ed Rush Opticals ‘Out Of The Box’ CD) together with releases on the Reformatted EP’s Part 1 and 2 and the Straight Outta Leicester LP for Reformed Recordings. Most historically, his Formation debut Minefield was his offering to the Formation 100th Release celebrations; alongside remaining a major contributor to the Months series.

 
 
© 2008 by safeinsoundmusic.com - All Rights Reserved.