About Me
TRACK INFO FOR MUSIC STORE
Killa (Remixes) Fatal Flow/Dig Sig
Ransack (Remix)/Headjack Ransack (Original)/Geltab Vape Gun/Ruckus Burner Root Down Stop Thief
Rest of tracks are all unreleased
Back in another lifetime I used to be a famous Drum n Bass DJ (whatever "famous" really means in that context!) based out of San Francisco. I used to play all over the country at clubs, raves, dirty warehouses, and wet fields in the middle of nowhere. This entailed a lot of flying around at odd hours, as promoters would always buy us plane tickets coming in to their city at 7 pm and leaving the next morning at 9 am. Frequently I'd get stuck in some podunk, bumfuck airport for hours on end but at least there was always a bar nearby! Starting in 1996 with the formation of a crew called B.A.S.S. Kru and some other local crews, we pretty much started the DnB scene in San Francisco and helped blow it up to the eventual powerhouse that it was for a while.
I also used to have a record store called Compound Records with a location in San Francisco and another location in Seattle run by our friends. We were the first DnB store on the West coast and sold records worldwide through the mail order section of our web site. The San Francisco location closed down in January of 2003 due to declining sales, a stagnant economy, a slowdown in DnB overall, and the beginnings of a switch over to digital mediums from vinyl records.
In addition to Compound, I also had a wholesale CD/mixed tape distribution company called Red Tape Distribution. This company initially existed to get our crew's DnB mixed tapes and then CDs (we started in 1997) out to record stores nationwide, which translated into more gigs and fans for us. After its initial success, however, we started producing our friend's mixes and eventually expanded our catalog to over 30 titles sold at over 300 record stores nationwide. This company petered out around the same time as the record store, due to a lot of record stores starting to go out of business, the declining popularity of DnB, and people sharing CDs via downloads with their friends.
We also had two record labels: Compound Records and Obscene Records. Compound got up to 4 releases (most notably a remix from Usual Suspects) and Obscene was about to put out a release by Infiltrata from Los Angeles but it never got past the test press stage. In addition to that, we also put out a few white label releases, most notably the "Killa" series, which featured remixes by RAW, Vinyl Syndicate, and E-Sassin. Our records were distributed nationally and internationally.
As if all this wasn't enough, we also put on regular club nights that brought in world-class talent to San Francisco over a 6 or 7 year period. We can also take credit for throwing the first all-night DnB party in SF in 1995, called "New Dawn."
In addition to juggling this mind-boggling workload, I also found time to produce tracks and call England at 5 am looking to hook up the latest promos for my store and dubplates for myself. The whole thing was a beautiful experience and I wouldn't have traded it for anything, but at the same time I'm glad to not be involved with it anymore. I've been messing around with some minor side projects lately that you can hear on this page. I'll post more up as I get some done. Meanwhile, if you knew me then or liked (or didn't like) my music, please feel free to drop me a line or add me as a friend. I have some of my past tapes transferred over to CD master, so those might be available soon as well. Complete list coming soon!
Thanks!
Evan
