I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4" For those of you who came in late, ladies and gentlemen,
we are now having a cooking session with DI-Sound
so as the message being delivered, ladies and gentlemen,
you may pat you feet and have a ball. "
- Introduction to 'Instantly'
"D-Influence mix sweet strings, dirty brass and words of love. They know about the past while sounding totally contemporary" - Tony Parsons, The Daily Telegraph
The first thing D-Influence ask you to do is to clear your minds of pre-conceptions. Central Line, Loose Ends, Soul II Soul, The Brand New Heavies - D-Influence pay respect to those UK artists, who have won recognition in America, But they are not just the next wave of the British Invasion. Theirs is a universal music.
D-Influence look to their roots in the UK, Africa and Jamaica. And they acknowledge the influences of their US funk, R&B, jazz and disco forerunners. As guitarist, keyboardist, percussionist and sampledelic programmer Ed Baden-Powell remarks, the names of classic groups such as D-Train and T-Connection are a "soul symbol. We thought to D-Influence you music meant to draw on your influences to create something new."
But the D could just as easily stand of D-Iversity. D-Influence are not about one category. Just like their music and visual style, the band members are as at home in a ragga dance hall or hip hop jam as in a jazz club or after hours house party. From acid jazz to jazz hip hop, hip house to acid house: forget the labels. It's all about expression.D-Influence came together on London's live and club circuit two-and-a-half years ago. Sax, flute, percussion and keyboards player Steve Marston had sessioned for some of the UK's leading soul acts. Bassist, keyboardist, sampledelicist and vocalist Kwame Amankwa Kwaten learnt his trade playing live at some of the early UK house music raves. Ed Baden-Powell, master of the beaten-up Fender Rhodes that weaves in and out of the band's sound, had played in groups for years.Having met to jam a few grooves with friends, a vocalist was needed. Kwame remembered hearing a singer, lyricist and groove affirmer Sarah Anne Webb, then a 17-year-old part time chambermaid/full time party freak, singing backing vocals in a club. "Her mike was down so low you couldn't hear her, but she was the one with the most fires," he remembers.
A curious Sarah was invited to hear a demo lick in a dark basement studio in West London. A day-and-a-half later 'I'm the One', the groups first single and an immediate underground classic, was complete.
'I'm The One, backed with slamming instrumental The Classic, appeared as a limited edition in early 1990. London's leading rap DJ Tim Westwood was given one of the first copies on the way to his radio show and found himself paying respect to the "pure vibes" of D-Influence on air that very night.
London's Acid Jazz label recognised the power of the in-demand tunes and picked them up for worldwide release. D-Influence were an international property. After hearing just three other songs on demo, East West America offered a deal on the spot.
Over the two years that their album 'Good 4 We' , took to make, the group's raw phunk blossomed into something altogether more sophisticated - just compare the rough-diamond power of "The Classic" with the haunting key changes of future hit "For You I Sing This Song". But D-Influence never lost sight of the vibe and principles that guided them.
The album notes preach the "power of the stripdown sound." As Kwame explains: "The stripdown sound means having less. It can blow your vision of the music, the meaning , the meaning and the groove. Ours is the 'back to basics' approach - less is more.
Another central strand in the band's vision is the sharing of duties. Everyone contributes ideas, writes, arranges and produces. Sometimes Sarah arrives in the studio with a lyric already written; sometimes it is the groove that fertilies the lyrical seed. When, one day last year, the mixing desk broke down, a spontaneous acoustic groove broke out - minutes later 'For You I Sing This Song' had been born.The group then went on to record their 2nd album for East West "Prayer For Unity which featured Maurice White from Earth Wind and Fire Lynton kweisi Johnstone and Bluey from legendary funk group Incognito.This Album also broke the mould for british funk in the 90's and again received critical acclaim .As well as being shortlisted for the mercury prize for the 1st album the group were now becoming in demand producers and owners of a production company Freakstreet .There they took the lessons learned from their time at Acid jazz and built an empire of their own in East Londons Jamestown studios.The 1st signing was Elisabeth Troy ,the 2nd was Sean Escoffery but it was the 3rd Shola Ama that truly blew the lid off the pot! The D-influence produced single "You Might Need Somebody" broke radio records and the Much love album went on to sell over a million singles worldwide and the album did the same across Europe.Word was now well and truly out.These guys and a girl from their East London Studios could a) find and act b)produce/A and R and set a direction for an artist c)See the act though to album release - a feat normally associated with moghuls from America .It wasnt long before the big acts came to East londons D-lab studios to see what all the fuss was about.Full Productions and production work followed for Seal/Jay Z/Mick Jagger/Mark Morrison/Lighthouse family/Changing faces/Tom Jones (Reload)/Heather Headley/Ultra nate/Diana Ross to name but a few as well as Sholas next Album which went on to sell close to 400 Thousand . The next 6 years were near enough spent in and out of studios...The band remembered "We had 3 studios on the go at any one time with either Steve Ed or kwame having to finish or start a mix.It became like a military operation such was the intensity of it all but hey....thats how it is when you change gear!"With Shola Amas album still picking up awards left right and centre(1 Brit Award and 3 MOBOS) the group set to work on their 3rd album London which was with the ECHO record label the album spawned 2 hits Magic and Rock with You (their cover of the Michael jackson classic)Equally important is the band's hunger for live performance.
D-Influence knows how to kick it live - whether to 70 people people in a backstreet dive or to 70,000 at Wembley Stadium. And the people respond: just ask Steve what it's like to hear 50,000 Jackson fans chanting D-Influence ("It was loud," is all he remembers.)Later the same year they were asked (on the strength of their Jackson performance) to support Prince a show that they felt they got totally right."it was bananas! you just didnt want to leave that day we looked out and watched 70 thousand Prince fans losing it to the D-I sound! Our feet did not touch the ground for a week and Prince watched our show from the side of the stage-we didnt dare tell Ed that Prince was standing on his left shoulder!"Prince himself then dedicated a section of his show to D-influence saying "D-influence youv'e influenced me".High accolade indeed.
Even though Multi platinum albums for the group themselves never came Kwame takes a philosophical view to it all saying"We really were a group of friends from totally different backgrounds that just made it all work and we achieved so much .Remember we were only making music for our mates to say -thats good!it just went a bit far thats all!."Above all D-Influence were not afraid to do what felt right. They know America might seek to file them in one category. But says Kwame, "It's dangerous to question whether your music acceptable to any one person. It means you are thinking about it. And once you start thinking about it, you question your sound, and then you're in trouble. You have nothing but your sound. "
D-Influence are on a journey, a perpetual search for IT. "Once we've found IT, we don't touch that song every again, " says Sarah. From the good groove boogie of 'No Illusions' to the jazz-funk of 'Journey'; from the mid-tempo moodiness of debut US single 'Good 4 We' to the phunk of UK club smash 'Good Lover' - this is it.
Give your ears, heart, mind and feet and let D-Influence take you on a journey. A journey into light
"Bristling with talent, desire and potential to become the most creative, most interesting British soul band ever" - Echoes.
"An album which can only be described as awesome" - Blues and Soul
"Timess vocal classicism" - I-d
"The most stylish British dance debut since Soul II Soul's Club Classics" - Music Week
"A scrawled message on the press release claims 'the best since Club Classic Volume One.' Wrong, D-Influence are far better than that" - EchoesSeptember 1992
