"Richie is Brighton’s Lee Scratch Perry!"
Rob Da Bank BBC Radio 1
"Phoe’s music is bouncy dub at it’s very best"
Huw Stephens BBC Radio 1
"Maybe not pop as we know it, but it should be""
Music Week magazine
"Roll on the album we say."
DJ Magazine
Richie Phoe is a south coast dub-lover who produces the kind of music that’s more Kingston Town than Brighton Pier.Following the critical praise he received for last year’s ‘Heartical Behaviour’ single, Richie returns this summer with the ‘Eye On The Prize EP’. Four tracks of sunshine ready goodness already being championed by radio tastemakers Rob da Bank, Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens.
Lead track ‘Eye On The Prize’ is a dirty skanking offering from Richie. Saxon Sound System member and general UK legend Tippa Irie takes time out from working with the Black Eyed Peas and adds his distinctive toastings to the track. Vocals so good that they also provide the opener to second track ‘Eye On The DUB’, which takes inspiration from the classic dubs of King Tubby and Scientist.‘Step At A Time’ provides a bubblin’ backdrop for Mango Seed to drop his sing-jay style over. Currently resident in Jamaica, Seed and Phoe crossed paths at Brighton’s Roots Garden Sound System where the Bermudan MC also hooked up with other Brighton stalwarts Black Grass and recorded a track with EZ Rollers. ‘Way Back When’ meanwhile draws on elements of 1980’s disco and reggae to create a sun-drenched, feel-good instrumental, crying out to be accompanied by a long cool glass of your favourite tipple.Richie’s first forays into the world of sampling began on his Amiga 500, back in the early ‘90s; by 1999 he’d progressed to an MPC 2000 and began making his own beats, inspired by the likes of De La Soul and D.I.T.C. As his style progressed he started collecting reggae vinyl and began DJing at reggae and hip-hop nights weekly in clubs and bars in Portsmouth. In 2006, having relocated to Brighton, Richie sent out his first 5 track demo not expecting too much but received instantaneous plays across Radio One’s specialist shows and caught the ear of numerous record labels, including Rob Da Banks’ Sunday Best Recordings. Richie was personally commissioned by Rob to remix Max Sedgley’s ‘Celebrity’, a Jon Kennedy remix for Grand Central soon followed, and yet more support from Rob Da Bank would come, as ‘Sinful’ was included in his esteemed “Rob Da Bank And Chris Coco Listen Again†compilation.