Fracture

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Born in West London, Charlie's parents moved to Hackney in East London when he was still a baby. Charlie's musical heritage can be attributed to his father's record collection: "I used to listen to and now sample from lots of old blues and rock records, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and stuff like that. Dad is a guitarist, so naturally I started playing guitar. Dad was mortified when I started to listen to all this bloody hardcore music on Pulse FM and stuff!" says Charlie, laughing. "I used to listen to techno, too. Everything, really!" Like many within the scene, the pirate radio network that sprang up in London in the early 90s drew Charlie into the newly forming dnb scene "I used to listen to pirates in like 91, and it just grew from there really. I played on Rude 88.2 FM for a few years, from about 1999, I think."
These days, Charlie spends a lot of time checking for jazz and funk. "I'm after that break that no-one has used, or the original of a break that most people have from some dodgy sample CD. The sample CD is a swear word in our studio! Breaks are what motivate me to make music. " Hip hop plays an important part of Charlie's musical heritage, too. "The whole RJD2 LP is amazing," he says. "I'll still be listening to that in 30 years time, for sure." Drum n bass wise, Charlie listens to a lot of older material. "I'm starting to listen to newer stuff now, too. I never listen to my own stuff, though!" he states.
" Hooking up with his partner in crime, DJ Neptune, at 6th form college, Charlie got his own EMU sampler, and things just built up from there. These days, Charlie uses a combination of software and hardware: "We use EMU samplers and all the usual software stuff. We have a few bits of outboard too.
Fracture + Neptune's first release (2000) was on the legendary Droppin' Science label. The Offshore/Ohm Resistance joint 10" series holds their second release Normality Complex (Parts 1 & 2). Since then the pair have gone on to release on a number of well known lables, and 2006 looks as though it will be no exception
Text by Rob Phokus