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Meat Katie
Despite the confusing alias Meat Katie is actually a man, and in particular a man named Mark Pember from Kingston (Surrey, UK). He also happens to be one the most influential DJs and producers of the last ten years when it comes to dance music.
Heavily immersed in hip hop and b-boy culture as a youngster (a teenage Pember was an accomplished graffiti artist) his passion for deconstructing music and examining it’s core elements is something that has built his career from the ground up. The deconstruction of Hip Hop’s sample based productions led to a fascination with funk, soul and jazz which in turn ignited a passion to learn to play an instrument. The appeal of the bass guitar won through and by the age of 17 he was playing in his first band, Trafalgar.
His first experience of heavy touring (something which has stood him in good stead for his current schedule) was with Sandladder, a band which was signed to Iggy Pop’s Kill City imprint, but while doing this the draw of the burgeoning acid house scene was exerting it’s influence on Mark.
When Sandladder split Pember and a friend of his who owned a sampler started sampling breaks from his now large funk collection which led to the creation of a new band, Ceasefire. Comprising Pember, Derek Dahlarge and Jason O’Brian (who Mark subsequently did an album with for R&S) Ceasefire signed to Wall Of Sound and had a hit with “Trickshot” at the height of the big-beat explosion. Pember, however, left the band afterwards and created his Meat Katie alias.
The first of the Meat Katie output was released on Kingsize and was (and still is) the perfect combination of Pember’s dual loves, house and breakbeat. His house music contains the rough, gritty elements of breakbeat while his breakbeat takes the grooves and hypnotic vibe of house music. It doesn’t stop there, though, with Mark also taking cues from electro and techno too.
With two albums (“Off The Bone” and “Long To Belong”) and over 11 singles on Kingsize as well as releases on Mantra, Saw and Bedrock receiving plaudits from DJs, Press and fans whatever their genre bias, Pember has been credited with opening up the previously insular breaks scene with his unique brand of “tech-funk”.
A love of collaborative work has seen Pember work with Arthur Baker, Justin Drake (Peace Division), Dylan Rhymes, Elite Force, Roland Clarke, Aquasky, Holly Golightly and Kurt Wagner among others while his magical touch with remixes has graced the likes of Deep Dish, Stefan K, Unkle, Serge Santiago and Phil Kieran over the years.
Clearly not one for slacking, Mark also ran the hugely successful (and again, genre bending) Whole 9 Yards imprint before leaving to start his Lot49 label in 2004 – no mean feat considering he DJs the world over each and every weekend of the year.
Pember’s third artist album ‘Vibrator’ is released on Adrift Records. A mix of breaks, house, electro and techno it is a true reflection of his Dj style. The album features collaborations from artists including D Ramirez, Katherine Ellis, Aquasky, Jono Fernandez and Elite Force.
The Rogue Element
The Rogue Element is 25-year old producer Ben Medcalf. His fascination with music began with piano lessons at the age of seven, moving through various different instruments until his early teens, when he settled down behind the drum kit and started his first band. This band proved to be the embryonic stages of more than just Ben's career: playing guitars was the future electro-house producer and DJ King Roc, and on bass guitar was Jarman, now a successful drum and bass DJ and producer signed to Renegade Hardware.
The Rogue Element, aka award winning producer and DJ Ben Medcalf, was born in Portsmouth in 1979. Displaying an interest and aptitude for music from an early age, he played various instruments through his teens until becoming the drummer in Blindside, a rap/metal outfit playing the Portsmouth band circuit. Also in the group were Martin Dawson aka King Roc, the acclaimed electro DJ and producer, and Chris Jarman, aka Raiden, former protege of Renegade Hardware. All three were part of a wider social circle that also included Tom Neville and hard dance superstar Nick Sentience, brought together by a mutual love for the music of acts as varied as Underworld, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Deftones, RATM, and the Wu Tang Clan.
After moving to London in 2000 Ben began to learn the trade of the sound engineer, experimenting first with his own compositions and then in collaborations with Tom Real, who at the time was also new to the capital and effectively introduced Ben to the sounds of breaks and techno . After only a couple of years a number of tracks were signed to the alternative house offshoot Beautiful Records and the Rogue Element project was born.
Since signing a two-album deal with the reputable and eclectic Exceptional Records in 2004, The Rogue Element has taken the breakbeat world by storm. A string of singles received instant support from the Plump DJs, Freestylers, Stanton Warriors, Krafty Kuts, The Crystal Method, Hyper and Rennie Pilgrem and culminated in Ben being awarded the 'Best Breakthrough Producer' award at the prestigious Breakspoll International Breakbeat Awards at Fabric. In addition to this the acclaimed debut album 'Rogue Rock' was released in September 2005, which received a nomination for 'Best Album'.
2006 has seen The Rogue Element continue in a prolific manner with remixes of some of the biggest names in breakbeat (Stanton Warriors, Freestylers, Krafty Kuts, the Crystal Method) and drum and bass (Noisia). DJ tours have taken him all over Central and Eastern Europe, to the Far East, and to Australia and New Zealand. Continued collaborations with Tom Real, available on Functional, have been similarly lauded and have succeeded in crossing over to the electro scene (He's So Hot Right Now). A second studio album is currently in its early stages and is expected to be released in around September 2007. In addition to producing, remixing, and engineering, Ben writes the scores for TV and film.
Proxxy & Daniella Downs's Breaktastic Birthday Break-a-thonwith a side of bootyliciousness aka Lantern
DNB in the Mink Room
ODJ & Heider
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