FINWA
Finwa, Leeds born and bred, has focussed his musical tastes throughout the past few years working at Tribe Records. From the dark to the soulful with punchy interjections of dance floor bangers, Finwa takes you on a journey though the current sounds of dubstep.
Popularity: 3%
Shock Outlook 2010
Rewind 25 years to the mid 80′s where we find a teenager gripped in the fever of hip-hop and breakdance culture. Records like the Streetsounds Electro compilations were flying off the shelves to eager youngsters hungry for the latest sounds in this new and exciting era of youth culture. Best friends Shock, Countdown, Dj Greenpeace & Chippy formed a crew and began learning to cut, scratch and paint graffiti like their idols across the pond. Mike Allens UK Fresh radio show networked from Capital FM across the UK was the bible for the UK’s B-boys & Girls, the only place on the radio where you could hear the freshest cuts from EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, Public Enemy. After a chance encounter with a fellow pupil at high school Shock was chosen to play his 1st ever show on the radio from what was then the biggest pirate radio station in the area ABC FM 94.6fm in his hometown of Leeds. This was an exciting moment as he had been a listener to the station over the last year or so. Being exposed to other musical genres began to influence him, and it wasnt long before Shock began to play the sounds of Acid house with artists such as Adonis, Tyree, Fast Eddie, the new electronic sounds mutating into more breakbeat driven reggae sounds by the end of the 1980′s. This was the start of what we call the rave culture. After involvement with other local pirates Shock decided that it was time for him and his friends to start one of their own and NRG Radio 100.5 FM was born. This new station embraced the sounds of rave, and had a full weekend roster of DJ’s playing the best in Hardcore, Jungle, Drum & Bass. After 6 months on air they were approached by another local station that had also began to broadcast across Leeds, that station was Dream Fm probably the most influencial radio station to have ever happened in the North of England. After negotioating with Dreams managment it was decided that they would merge together to form one super station for Leeds. Shock was given the prime time saturday slot of 3pm – 6pm which he held for almost 5 years making him one of the longest serving Dj’s on the station ever. During that time he had put on various events in and around the local area, secured a short lived residency at D.O.P.E at the Mex (now Wire club), travelled across the country playing at some of the major clubs in the hardcore, jungle scene. Shock was the first person in the North to champion the releases of a then unheard of Dj Zinc after becoming friends via a mutual acquintence. Dj Zinc played 4 guest slots on Shocks Dream FM show over a 2 year period and also played at an event at the Gallery in Leeds which was Zincs 1st ever gig outside of London. Super Sharp Shooter was born and the rest is history for Zinc. 1996…. Dream FM suffered some internal disagreements after being chosen to apply for the new Yorkshire wide FM licence, this was a major blow at a time when history could have been made for Dream to become only the second pirate radio station to become legal, the other being Kiss FM in London. Dream never managed to follow through its application and it was awarded to Kiss FM north which later became Galaxy, now Capital FM. TBC
Popularity: 3%
Russ Richardson
Russ started his journey into house music while still at school back in 1991, when he was introduced to the music that
some girls who lived on his street would be blasting out after a night at the world famous orbit, which at the time was in osset wakefield before the move to morley, after hearing the sounds of altern 8,k-klass,love revolution it was time to ditch the happy mondays & move on to these sounds. after getting a pair of decks it was all systems go & his first gigs where school discos(you got to start some place), at this time he started going to the nights that were on in leeds phobia,organic,ark,gallery and was playing the styles of music that these nights had on offer,around about 93 he got his first resident slot at leeds first legal allnighter just out of town at a nite called u4ria, soon he was playing at other places like the gallery with the legend steve luigi, this lead him into working in the man likes record shops for many years,along the way he played all of the major clubs leeds had to offer,nato,music factory,warehouse and many more. turning more towards the vocal house sounds that he was hearing graeme park play at the mighty hacienda he was playing out more & more and played many a house night at their inception,glasshouse,casa loco’s,back 2 mine, a few which are still going today.. fast forward to 2011 and russ is the resident for the retro heaven brand & hosts two weekly live shows on www.radiofrequencyfm.co.uk & is in the studio remixing for artists like joe robert’s & suzi carr.
Russ Richardson
dj’s russ has played with
danny rampling
roger sanchez
graeme park
allister whitehead
jon pleased
dean white
marc leaf
steve luigi
stu allen
k-klass
dj sy
d&g
paul taylor
buckley
and many more
Popularity: 3%
Rusha is a producer from Leeds who really likes to explore sound and this can be seen clearly throughout his array of productions and live sets, mixing everything from sped up funky dance floor rhythms right down to slowed down atmospheric anthems his sets and tracks are obviously designed to take the audience on a journey. www.mixcloud.com/rusha
“Rusha’s sets look to incorporate the best of Dubstep, Grime and Funky. From big dubstep basslines right the way through to more mellow, funk-driven instrumentals, expect everything from Ruckspin to James Blake”
- Uncle Albert Blogspot (http://unclealbertsays.blogspot.com)
Rusha has produced many a beat and has had tracks played on Rinse Fm, BBC1XTRA, Radio Frequency, Sub Fm & Rood Fm to name a few.
Recently he has been known for his experimental remixes in the B-side Project winning not one but two cities competitions, giving him a release on both the Leeds & Sheffield’s forthcoming Releases.
to check out some of Rusha’s productions check out:
www.soundcloud.com/rushadj
Rusha holds down a regular slot on Leeds Station “Radio Frequency FM” you can catch him every Wednesday from Midnight till 2am GMT playing a mixture of tracks from across the spectrum of bass music: www.radiofrequencyfm.co.uk
If you would like to get in touch with Rusha for any Tracks, Bookings, Remixes or Co-labs you can get him here or also follow on twitter @Rushadj
Popularity: 3%
Hailing out of Leeds, Kid Dyson a.k.a James Price, like any artist, has always had music as a driving passion in his life. Drawing massive influence from his Mother and Father’s varied tastes, and growing up on a soundtrack of Reggae, Dub, Soul and Funk; Kid Dyson has always placed heavy emphasis on variety and versatility in his musical exploits. When taking up the bass guitar at the age of 15, he was quickly engulfed into a world of live music, playing in bands of contrasting genres, sometimes alongside his Father, and rapidly fell in love with performing and playing to a crowd. It was his Father, Mick, who also first brought a 14 year-old Kid Dyson, in early 2002, to Subdub where, over time, he built a friendship with Mark Iration from Iration Steppas and began to become intrigued by Sound System culture, going with Iration to set up and lock down the sound system for gigs. Beginning to hear a wealth of underground music, Kid Dyson first fell in love with Drum and Bass/ Jungle in 2004. After a surge of popularity DnB/ Jungle had become a mainstay at roots nights all over the country, with Subdub beginning the trend, and, after leaving for University in Newcastle in 2005, he began to attend DnB raves all over the North. After starting to DJ in summer 2006, he started promoting his first clubnight, ‘Easysteppin’. Within a year, he was a regular face on the Newcastle DnB circuit playing alongside the likes of Benny Page, J-Magik, Brookes Brothers, Taxman, Phobia, Jaydan and Leeds’ DJ Steppa to name a few. This progressed, when in September 2007, he was made the 2nd Resident DJ at ‘Rub a Dub’, Newcastle’s most popular weekly night dedicated to the sounds of Drum and Bass and New Urban Music and Kid Dyson ( Djing under the name ‘Pricey’) began to be exposed to roadblock crowds in excess of 600 on a weekly basis. Over the next 3 years, his energy and ability to work an audience saw him DJ further a field, playing frequently at nights in Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle and Sheffield to name a few alongside the biggest players in Drum and Bass including warming up for Fabio at a sold out Soul:ution event. On returning to Leeds in 2009, he was made resident at Gatecrasher’s ‘Dub Club’ event alongside great friends DJ Antix and MC Pean, and together they also ran their own event: ‘Frontline’: playing host to Serial Killaz, Chef, Sub Zero and Die & Jenna G whilst also Djing at various other clubnights around Leeds. The future looks bright for Kid Dyson as, in 2011 he was made resident at ‘Hangar’, rapidly becoming one of Leeds’ premier drum and bass nights. Catch Kid Dyson’s ‘Nu Dimensions’ session each and every Friday, 6-8pm, for the ideal weekend warm up with an ecclectic journey through the world of drum and bass music!!!
Popularity: 2%
