World of Drum & Bass - DC

One of the UK's finest DJ/Producers and one of the founders of Formation Records, DJ SS aka Leroy Small is an original breakbeat pioneer who has made an immense contribution to today's drum & bass sound.

SS is one of the very select DJ / Producers who has been there right from the start, due to the hard work and dedication that he puts into his music. When the hardcore scene exploded SS was there and hasn't looked back. He and his partner Eidris started promoting their own parties called Total Kaos every Friday in their hometown of Leicester. They also put on one of the first large indoor parties at Donnington Park in the summer of 91. It was an amazing success and 6000 people danced till dawn.

DJ SS himself born and bred in Leicester is a self-taught scratch DJ and found fame scratching his way through the era along with break-dancing his way on the streets of Leicester. He progressed onto the "rave scene" and was one of the first on the worldwide scene to DJ his own produced tracks. Things moved quickly from there – SS taught himself how to produce a high calibre of music and also coached others to produce to equally high standards.

DJ SS has an enormous list of tracks and used various aliases. Over the years he's had countless releases on Formation Records as well as doing remix work for other artists. He has released such tracks as 'The Psycho E.P', 'Rhythm For Reasons', 'Breakbeat Pressure', the Drum & Bass anthem 'Black', with the highlight being ' Lighter' which was Formation Records best seller, reaching the number 1 spot in the Music Week dance chart and reaching number 68 in the music charts. It is a track that has remained incredibly popular and still continues to be played years on.

Not only has his label Formation during the years had many big tunes released, they have also had many big DJ/producers release records on the label. The list is strong, big and endless including Carl Cox, Grooverider, Shy FX, Ray Keith, Bryan Gee, Frost, Roni Size, Krust, Kenny Ken, Ratty, Matrix, John B, Mickey Finn, Twisted Individual and Distorted Minds.

In between this huge success he has also been the driving force behind some of the finest talent now established within the scene, his most recent sensation arriving in the form of Twisted Individual, who had made a huge impact on the scene with releases on Formation Records and sister labels Reformed and New Identity, as well as his debut album Tooled Up. He has also convinced Zen, old friend of Twisted Individual, to take the plunge and move from London to Leicester to join the Formation team after several releases on 5HQ Recordings and the last couple of years has seen his debut appearance on Formation Records with Minefield as part of the 100th release, and sister labels Reformed and New Identity.

rum & Bass would not be the same without Drumsound & Bassline Smith (aka Andy Wright, Benjamin Wiggett and Simon Bassline Smith). Together the trio have body-slammed dancefloors from Derby to Durban and established themselves as three of the finest Drum & Bass tastemakers on the planet, courtesy of the blue chip label Technique Recordings – an imprint that celebrated 10 years of killer dancefloor joints in 2009.

The magic has been bubbling ever since Wright and Wiggett met Bassline Smith at one of Derby's mentalist Technique club nights in the summer of 1998. The Drumsound pair had been crafting beats for a year, having originally started as a crew of six artists, while Bassline Smith had carved out a reputation as one of D&B's most influential players, with a career stretching back to the early '80s.

Together, they enjoy an impressively diverse arsenal of music that's ensured their place atop the D&B scene for over a decade. A peep through Wright's background and you'll find he's a classically trained musician with a strong background in indie rock – an ideal platform for harnessing the energetic groove that makes Drumsound & Smith's productions slide over the dancefloor. His Drumsound compadre Wigget has been a diehard D&B head since the womb, while also tipping his hat to his Jamaican roots. Veteran Bassline Smith has been a funk and soul connoisseur for over 25 years and knows his way around a dancefloor blindfolded.

Drumsound & Bassline Smith are also in hot demand from the most respected heads at Radio One and 1Xtra and enjoy regular flogging on the airwaves from the likes of Zane Lowe, MistaJam, Annie Nightingale and Annie Mac to name a few. Something which has led to the trio being playlisted across both BBC Radio 1 and 1xtra. The group are also one of the few artists to complete multiple mixes for the famed Radio 1, with a whisper of a request to complete a coveted Essential Mix in 2010. "We love them and have been supporting them since day one," Mac tells.

As their popularity begins to steamroll, so do the requests and as such Drumsound & Smith have issued re-rubs of songs including VV Brown's 'Leave' at the request of Warner/Universal and Fugative - Supafly for Ministry of Sound. Radio 1's Annie Mac also personally requested the crew complete a remix of Chipmunk's no.1 anthem 'Oopsy Daisy' for her Mash Hitz segment. They also achieved an unlikely feat when they made the Eastenders theme dope, completing a re-rub for the E20 Music Competition set up by the BBC. Recent notable remixes include DJ Fresh's #1 single "Louder", Afrojack's "Take Over Control" and even remixes for Daft Punk and Moby.

No surprise that demand has seen the guys independently tour all corners of the globe setting the standard across America, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, Iceland, Spain, Holland, Sweden, Ireland, Czech Republic, Brazil, Poland, Switzerland, Uruguay, Norway and Italy.

2011 saw two of their own singles, Freak & Close both get Radio 1 playlisted & Record Of The Week for Mistajam & Zane Lowe. In the first few months of 2012, the group entered the UK charts with Ministry Of Sound released single "What Can You Do For Me", alongside Utah Saints.



The Prototypes are Brighton-based producers and DJs, Chris Garvey and Nick White. Having exploded onto the scene over the past few years, there's been no looking back for the production duo with their polished, dancefloor- destroying drum and bass. With releases on Shogun, Viper, Ram, UKF, Infrared - along with remixes for the likes of Avicii, Ed Sheeran, Bingo Players, Hadouken, Modestep, AlunaGeorge, Fleur, and many more, it's not hard to see why The Prototypes have become in such high demand. Entering into the next chapter of their careers, The Prototypes have now signed with Viper Recordings and are setting their sights on their debut album, to be released in 2014. With their latest offering 'Just Bounce' featured on Andy C's 'Nightlife 6' album, and their first album single due on Viper in the new year, the future has never been brighter for one of the most exciting production outfits in recent years