About Me
Robbie Long embarked on his DJ mission at a tender age of 11 after watching Breakdance The Movie and being inspired by Tim ‘The Glove’ Taylor on the Ice T track ‘Reckless’! He fell in love with the Electro scene and soon joined a local Breakdance crew. This, however, didn’t gain the support of his parents as he kept coming home with burn marks on his back where he’d been spinning on it! He was determined to get involved with Hip-Hop one way or another and found himself being drawn towards the DJ’ing / music side of things. After a few years of saving his paper round money Robbie persuaded older brother Dean to go halves on a pair of Technics and DJ Robbie Long was born!! This move was encouraged by his parents as it stopped Robbie from giving the record deck on their Hi-Fi the terrible treatment that it had become accustom to!
He practised cutting and scratching for hours and his friends quickly discovered that he had a natural talent on the wheels of steel. He supported the local record shops, ritually going to Portsmouth every Saturday to buy the latest Rap imports for himself - BDP, Eric B & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Tuff Crew, etc etc, and the noisy Rave music for his brother – Beltram, Todd Terry, Frank De Wulf etc etc. He still loves the music from this era today, but at the time it felt like America was so far away, and the rappers that he loved were rapping about issues that Robbie couldn’t relate to. This coupled with the serious lack of a good / strong Hip-Hop scene in the UK, it wasn’t long before he got bored and started looking for something else that he could get more involved with.
This moment came when his brother took him to his first Rave at Central Park in Portsmouth (1991). Dean had already been raving for a few years and waited until their parents were away to pop Robbie’s Raving Cherry! Blown away by the atmosphere in the Rave, Robbie couldn’t believe that something like this was happening right on his doorstep. After that night the Rap records went to one side and Deans Rave music took over the decks.
After a few months of honing his mixing skills and scratching at the quicker tempo of dance music, Robbie had his first demo entitled Robbie ‘All Night’ Long!! With his early Hip-Hop influences, Robbie took what he had learnt and added it to the mix to develop his own unique style. With this first demo in hand, showcasing his awesome technical ability as a DJ, Robbie and Dean harassed local promoters Empire and Interdance and, with a little help from a good friend in the local record shop (Jan at Jelly Jam), Robbie started to get booked at night clubs in 1992 - before he was legally old enough to get into them!!
To Robbie’s delight the Rave music started to take inspiration from Hip-Hop with Breakbeats, heavy basslines and rap samples filtering into the stuff coming out of the U.K. From 1992 – 1995 this style dominated Robbie’s sets, but towards the end of 1995, something big was happening to the music. The infamous 4/4 kick drum appeared in the ravier / uplifting side of the music and the pure Breakbeat style, which Robbie loved so much, was getting darker and darker, often killing the vibe in the Raves that first grabbed his attention. As Robbie was DJing up and down the country by this time, he could also see a North and South divide with the Ravers in the north of England preferring the happier, more banging style and the parties in the South, especially London, enjoying the pure / dark Breakbeat Jungle. Robbie decided to follow the rave vibe that he fell in love with at the beginning and started mixing 4/4 tracks with the ravier breakbeat tracks of the time. At the big Raves, the two styles were played side by side for a few years, but eventually the gap between Hardcore and Jungle became so big that the music was split into different arenas.
As Robbie grew he witnessed further splits in the music, with a new genre of Dance music being the ‘‘in’’ thing every year. He had countless opportunities to jump on a more popular, or some might say credible bandwagon, but he didn’t! He stuck to his guns through thick and thin. Even through the very bad years between 1999 and 2002, where the music was badly produced and uninspiring and there seemed to be a major promoter or DJ leave the scene every week, Robbie kept plugging away!
Inspired by his love for DJing and of the music, Robbie began work in the studio. In 1995, a chance meeting with Devastate led to an awesome studio partnership, lasting 6 years, where they helped to mould the early sounds of Brisk & Ham’s legendary Hardcore labels Blatant Beats & Next Generation Records.
After a few years in the making, Robbie Long started his own record label Thin-N-Crispy Recordings (TNC) in 2003 as an outlet for his creativity and over the last 4 years he has worked closely with producers A.M.S. and DJ Stormtrooper to develop a unique take on the genre. Tuff, bouncy, Rave infused Hardcore, with quirky ideas and devastating dance floor reaction is what epitomises the TNC sound and with an arsenal of exclusive artists including DJ D-Lyte, Injured Rezz, Druid, Breaks & Cruze, The MD, Kristy and Ben Fable, Robbie Long and the TNC crew are at the top of their game.
Major recognition for his efforts came in 2005 when Robbie was asked to mix a CD on the TV advertised Warner Dance / Nukleuz compilation Hardcore Nation. Volumes 2 and 3 followed and between them they have sold over 150,000 units in the U.K. Both Robbie Long & the TNC crew regularly appear on the other Hardcore compilations on the market including Bonkers, Hardcore Heaven and Hardcore Adrenaline, proving that the TNC style is very much in demand.
A true veteran on the decks, Robbie has now clocked up an impressive 15 years on the Rave / Hardcore circuit with highlights including guest spots at the legendary south coast club Sterns way back in Raves hey day (1992) , appearances at Stokes infamous Club Kinetic (1993-1996) and his first booking for Helter Skelter (1999). Since 2001 Robbie has enjoyed many international excursions to countries like Australia, America, Canada, Spain and Germany, showcasing the TNC sound.
In 2007 Robbie Long is busier than ever with a hectic DJ schedule that takes him all over the U.K. and beyond! Robbie hits the studio week in week out, forever pushing the music that he loves forward and giving new artists a platform to shine. He has countless original and remix recording projects in the pipeline as well as more compilation mix CD’s, making Robbie Long one of the worlds main Hardcores players.
