Biography: Eats Everything

As you may or may not be aware, every time we release an artist's CD on either of our ongoing mix series (fabric/FABRICLIVE) there happens a lot of behind the scenes conversations that are all part of the preparation. One of these is a tailor constructed artist biography that's written to give the press extra background information on the artist in question: where they were born, where they grew up, how they got into music, etc etc. In truth, these biographies often become quite enlightening documents in their own right and from now on, in the week before we release the mixes to the public, we'll be publishing the biographies here to give you, our faithful readership, the exact same additional insight.

Eats Everything (fabric 86)

BORN: I was born in Southmead Hospital, Bristol in May 1980. I grew up in a small town in the Cotswolds, just outside of Bristol, called Wotton-Under-Edge. It was a good place to grow up, if a tad on the mundane side. FAMILY: I was a bit of a 'tearaway' and often referred to as 'the class clown' in my school days, and I like to think I have fully carried that baton through into adult life. I lived with my mum, dad and sister in a normal house, in a normal street, in a normal rural town. My parents didn’t really have an influence too much on my music career, other than supplying the tools (decks and mixer) and the love and support to do what I wanted. They are great parents and I like to think I am who I am and where I am because of them always encouraging me to do what I wanted. MUSICAL ROOTS: The first type of music that I was really properly into was electronic/dance/rave music. I got into the electronic music culture fairly early (12 years old) because a lot my mates’ older brothers were going to raves and had decks and whatnot. I got my first set of decks (JB Systems Disco 2000 belt drive turntables and a Kam Made2Fade 25 mixer) at Christmas in 1992/93 and was immediately hooked. A load of mates and I would get the bus into Bristol on a Saturday and go to Time Is Right and Replay Records and buy records on labels like Moving Shadow, Formation, Reinforced, Hectic, Slammin Vinyl etc. and then go back to our home town. I had my decks and system set up in my garage so we would always play records in there. My first rave experiences were parties like Death Row Techno @ The Depot in Bristol, Evolution which was a 14 and over rave at The Sanctuary in Milton Keynes and Dreamscape (also at The Sanctuary, ‘the original sweatbox’). My favourite DJs were Ellis Dee, Easygroove, Trevor Rockliffe, Carl Cox to name but a few and we used to get off our knackers and have a lovely time. Towards the end of 1994/early 1995, hardcore was getting cheesy and jungle was becoming drum & bass. Our allegiances switched to house and techno and the love affair with becoming a professional DJ really started then. We used to go to Lakota in Bristol every Friday and Saturday. Friday was techno (Daz Saund, Colin Dale, Carl Cox, Colin Faver, Tasha Killer Pussies, Mrs Wood etc.) and Saturday was house (Jon Pleased Wimmin, Farley Jackmaster Funk, John Kelly, Jon Da Silva etc.) - and it was the best place on the planet. It was the real beginning of my obsession with dance music and becoming a DJ. FIRST PROJECTS: My first ever DJ gig in a proper place was at a place called Bar 150 in 1996 where I entered a DJ competition run by DJ Easygroove. The prize was to become a resident at his night at Club Loco in Bristol. I won the competition and two weeks later I was DJing before one of my heroes in a club where I had raved a fair few times! From that I became resident at several parties around Bristol (InHouse, Ripsnorter, Heresy, The Maze) and was DJing every weekend somewhere. In 1999 I became resident at a massive night called Scream at a brand new ‘super club’ called The Rock in Bristol and that was when I became a DJ full time. Sadly, I was more interested in getting battered and having fun than furthering my career and using the position I was in to become more successful! Scream ended in about 2005 and I had to get a real job! In this time I had started music production with a Japanese guy called Mastake Toyota and that is where my second love affair started!

"I have to say that having the honour of doing my very own fabric mix is basically the stuff I couldn’t even dream up. It’s really a dream come true and I can’t thank everyone involved enough for entrusting me to undertake and be part of something which I believe is one of the truest and most important legacies in UK dance music."

LABELS & PRODUCTION: I got my major break with Pets Recordings (the label run by Catz ‘n Dogz) when they released ‘Entrance Song’ in 2011. That went pretty crazy and then I followed up with 2 releases on dirtybird. Those guys all really help make me who I am today and I am eternally grateful. Since then I have gone on to work with Hot Creations, Crosstown Rebels and Method, to name a few, and have lots of stuff in the pipeline including my own record label. FABRIC: fabric is pretty much my favourite club in the world. Everything about it, the vibe, the sound, the history, THE DJ BOOTHS! It’s the epitome of what a nightclub should be, music first, everything else follows suit. I can’t actually remember the first time I went to fabric but I have had many an evening on the dancefloor, looking at the booth and thinking 'one day I will be in that fucker' and now I am!!! It’s mental, absolutely mental. My first ever fabric gig was in Room One in November 2011, I think. I remember it well as about 50 mates travelled up and hired out apartments so we could all party. It’s not every day one of the gang is playing Room One at fabric! It was a bit of a nightmare though sadly, basically because I had the shits! I couldn’t believe it, my first gig at fabric, playing before Justin Martin and Claude VonStroke, all my mates and my wife in the crowd and I am shitting through the eye of a needle. Not good. Suffice to say, in Justin Martin’s eyes, from that day forward, my nickname was Shits Everything! THE MIX: Firstly, I have to say that having the honour of doing my very own fabric mix is basically the stuff I couldn’t even dream up. It’s really a dream come true and I can’t thank everyone involved enough for entrusting me to undertake and be part of something which I believe is one of the truest and most important legacies in UK dance music. I basically tackled the mix exactly as I tackle playing in fabric. I played a set of what I believe are 'fabric records'. Some are old, some are new, some are bangers, some are groovers, some are trippy, some are euphoric but they are all 'fabric records' and thats what I feel this mix is about. Condensing what I would do over four hours or so, into one 75-minute mix. Hopefully I’ve achieved what I set out to; I feel I have. I really enjoyed putting this together and I hope people enjoy it too. All the tracks have some kind of meaning to me and I have played every one of them at fabric. Most of the tracks are old, there are a few new ones including the amazing Lauren Lane ‘Diary Of A Madwoman’ which is out on my label Edible around the time of release of this mix and one made especially for this mix buy Cajmere called ‘Baby Talk’! I think the track that has most meaning to me is probably the last one, Moonman ‘Galaxia’. It’s from 1996 and was the last track on both a Friday and Saturday night at Lakota in Bristol, so it felt fitting to finish one of the most important milestones of my career with something that has been very important in the build-up of this becoming my career. THE FUTURE: For me as an artist, I have tracks coming out with Green Velvet and on his label, as well as releases on Pets. fabric 86: Eats Everything is out now. Order your copy from fabric here. Get this and every fabric release from just £5: http://bit.ly/fabric1st Photography: Khris Cowley