Crissy Cris - 1Xtra - BBC Radio One - London UK - Aug 2008

Biography of Crissy Cris

Crissy Criss aka Chris Williamson was born May 1987 at Newmarket Hospital, Suffolk. Child to former Dubai & Greece international Champion Jockey ‘Kevin Williamson’, best known for working for the King of Greece as a race horse Jockey in the late 1980's to early 90's. Crissy was raised in Leytonstone in the East of London after growing up in area's such as Newmarket, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk around the age of 2-3 years old when mother 'Tracey' met Kenny Ken, who was at the time playing Acid House & Jungle Techno. It was then Crissy was introduced to a set of decks at the age of 5. Tracey, Kenny and Chris shortly settled down after moving to East London when mother Tracey got involved in the music scene by becoming Kenny's agent and starting her own agency called ‘Ton Promotions’ then later changed to ‘Ton Management’.

Crissy Criss first got in to DJing at the age of 9, when music started to take a part in Crissy's life, any chance to jump to the decks while step dad Kenny was not in would be frequent, Needles would be broke and Records would be missed placed. It was time that Crissy had to invest in his own pair of decks & equipment if this is what he wanted to do as a hobby. Crissy's hobby then changed in to something serious when he landed a spot on London’s Kool FM at the age of 11 in 1998 with Micky Finn's prodigy 'Logan D' who was also 15 years old at the time. Doing a weekly show on Kool FM gave Crissy the exposure that he needed to move forward in his DJ Career.

Crissy's first gig was at a Festival at The Essex Show Ground, covering for Kenny Ken at the last minute along side Mickey Finn, Andy C and GQ to name a few on the bill. A a year later came Crissy's first ever DJ booking in 2000 at The End club, a club notoriously known for its loud sound system, Drum&Bass veteran 'DJ Zinc' had requested for Crissy to play on the night as a warm up DJ along side Mampi Swift, Bad Company, Andy C, Zinc to some that was on the line up. Not long after establishing himself as a small name on the Drum&Bass circuit as the youngest DJ out there, Bookings started to pile in after mother 'Tracey', who was booking agent for EZ Rollers, Kenny Ken, Peshay, Moose, Nicky Blackmarket and a load more at the time. Crissys first abroad gig was in Germany at 'One Love' alongside Bryan G, Foxy, Kenny Ken, Ray Keith, Navigator to name some. Since the early years of DJ bookings in 2000 to 2004, gigs have pored in from everywhere, taking Crissy Criss across the world to places like Canada, USA, Germany, Estonia, France, Norway, Spain and many more places to play in front of thousand's and thousand's of people while still attending school weekly.

Crissy's radio career started in 1998-1999 when landing a weekly show on London’s premier D&B station 'Kool FM' along with Logan D for a number of years. The youngsters then got there own shows in late 2003 which gained them more support and promotion in there own fields. In early 2004, Crissy thought it was time for a change by stepping off his long run at Kool FM and moving on, While in the move, Crissy was approached by Radio One's production team 'Somethin Else' after seeing a full page spread on Crissy in 'Knowledge Magazine'. 'Somethin Else' who produces such other radio program's as 'The Essential Mix' & 'Fergie' brought Crissy in to the Studio offices in Central London to record a pilot show for a brand new radio show for the BBC's notorious national 'Radio 1'. Radio 1 was very pleased what Crissy had to offer and signed the 17 year old straight away along with 5 other DJ's; Eddie Halliwell, Nic Fanchuli, Jon O Bir, Kutski and The Trophy Twins to take the airwaves with there new show 'The Residency'.

'The Residency' speaks for it self, giving one show to 6 DJ's for 6 Months then changing the line-up of DJs after the 6 months is up. The show was promoted throughout the station by Pete Tong and in all major music magazines across the land. After the 6 Months was up, the line-up was recreated, 2 of the other DJs we're dropped and then show went on another 6 months and changed again, this time Trophy Twins gaining there own weekend morning show and new signings Tayo and Plastician hit the decks on the show bringing personal Dubstep and Breakbeat shows on to Radio1. Crissy had been with BBC Radio 1 for two years after being dropped from the line-up to bringing two new Presenters for the show which also changed name from 'The Residency' to 'In New DJ's We Trust' & broadcast slot in mid 2006. Before the last show on Radio One, Crissy was called for a meeting with one of BBC 1Xtra's head of programmes. It was there and then Crissy gained his own weekly 4 hour Drum&Bass radio show on the BBC's home for new black music 'BBC 1Xtra'

Randall - 1Xtra - BBC Radio One - London UK - Aug 2008

Biography of Randall

Randall is definitely a natural when it comes to mixing, saying that the basics took him only a week to learn back in the mid 80s. However, he still had to continue refining his skills by studying music and making tapes every week. One of these tapes landed him a small gig at a club called Delerium which, in turn, got him a regular slot on legendary pirate Centreforce FM in 1989. It was here his reputation really started growing. He began playing out at clubs more and, as times changed and music progressed, so did his style towards what we know and love today. Randall's style has always been fluid and probably always will, but changes in his selection have been noticeable in the past couple of years, with more emphasis on darkside flavas than before. This can be illustrated crudely by his transformation from AWOL resident to Metalheadz regular. Randall is simply refelecting what's going on around him and, even though some might say his sound has got 'darker', he inhabits that overlap between 'jump-up' jungle and 'darkside' drum & bass. He's always had broad tastes and, as long as those beats are running, there's easily enough room in his set to contrast a wide range of flavas. When you have nothing, your hunger can focus your mind to the task in hand, and sometimes it's a harder job remaining at the top once you've got there than getting there in the first place. This situation increases the longer you're there - how many DJs out would like to be in the position of someone like Randall? Whilst he doesn't guard against complacency consciously, a significant factor to his continuing success is his sheer passion for the music. You can sense it in his voice when he talks about particular tunes and believe him when he says it's a drug and he needs a fresh fix of tunes in his box every week. When it came to mixing the drum & bass third of the 'Dreamscape' album (which he also compiled), Randall was offered Pro Tools technology which basically would have done it all for him. However, he wasn't really with it, and as he had all the tunes on vinyl, said he would rather do it on decks. The only problem was finding the first tune, but once he settled on Dom & Optical's 'Quadrant 6', he rolled out the rest first time in true Randall style. The mix also features the vocal talents of his long time MC, Fats. Fats actually did his thing after Randall and, while his soulful style of MCing might not be everyone's cup of tea, it compliments the hard-edged music perfectly. Randall is better known as a DJ than a producer, but all this may change soon if he has his way. He's no stranger to the studio having co-produced 'Sound Control' with Andy C in '95, 'Flava's' with Tek 9 on Reinforced's 'Above The Law' album and 'Hard Noize' with Tee-Bone on his 'Strictly Business' compilation. As you can see, all have been collaborations, but Randall now has all the equipment necessary and has been learning it all so he can do everything himself. However, Randall is in no rush, probably because of everyone's high expectations through his DJing, and is under no illusions about his position in the production game. 'I'm at the starting post of making music, and all I'm getting from people that I know that are well in it, doing albums and what not, is 'take your time'. If you love it enough, it will come. I might not make a tune that hits top ten, but if I make a tune that satisfies my heart, that will be enough. It's quality not quantity that counts to me but, at the end of the day, I just want to make good tunes and be out there representing.' Check the results for yourselves on his own record label, Mac II.

Ragga Twins - 1Xtra - BBC Radio One - London UK - Aug 2008

Biography of Ragga Twins

From 1982 to 1990 Flinty Badman & Deman Rockers could be found ripping up the reggae dancefloor on sound system from around the NE London area,but it was on Unity sound that they made their name,playing all over England.Early recordings on Unity label includes Iron Lady by Deman Rockers which was videod for a documentry about Margaret Thatcher aka The Iron Lady,he also recorded Ugly Gal & Chuck It featuring Jack Wilson,Flinty recorded track like Gunman,Stush & Mi lover Gone featuring Richie Davis.

Between 1985 & 1990 Unity was the top sound in England,people all over the world still have Unity cassettes of various dances,sound systems came from Jamacia,where dancehall originated and found it very difficult to play against Unity because of the array of music and the style of lyrics and chatting that they would come up against,Deman Rockers & Flinty Badman were hailed kings of the dancehall in England.

In 1990 we stopped working on sound system & hooked up with SUAD(shut up and dance) two producers/rappers who was doing very well on the hardcore scene.They sample Deman's voice of a Unity cassette to use in one of their single's and approached deman to use it,he let them use it in return that they would record some vocals with us.When we went to see them to our suprise it was PJ who we went primary school with & Smiley who we knew through the sound system days.They wanted to mix the ragga with the hardcore,we recorded tracks like SPLIFFHEAD with the hook RAGGA TWINS DEH BOUT,HARD DRUGS,HOOLIGAN 69,ILLEGAL GUNSHOT,JUGGLING & thats when Ragga Twins was born & that is the beginning of what we call JUNGLE/DRUMnBASS today.We recorded an album called REGGAE OWES ME MONEY not because it actually owed us money but the fact the we put so much work into reggae music and was not getting our rewards for it,reggae will always be our first loved music.

The album Reggae owes me money reached number 26 in the national album charts,we toured the UK & Europe & performed at Limelights in Manhatten USA,we also supported SHABBA RANKS on his uk tour,we also performed Sliffhead on Dance Energy hosted by Normski,Ragga Twins also recorded another album for suad which was never released.

In 1993 the versitile Ragga Twins hooked up with US3,Mel & Jeff two Jazz producers.we recorded a Jazz album called RINSIN LYRICS which got signed to EMI records,We toured the UK with a band called Eusabi and then released the album in 1995.We done two videos,one in South Africa for a track called FREEDOM TRIAN & One in Las Vegas, for a track called Money.To cap of that era we supported James Brown at a show in Norway.

During all this time Ragga Twins never lefted the Jungle,Mcing at all the big Jungle raves,underground raves,festivals & clubs and still going up to this day.

Latest recordings include ALL IN CHECK,DEMNONOWE,COFFEE,READY FOR THIS with Aquasky (break beat),LORD AH MERCY & CALLIE with Dj Phantasy & Shodan,various features with the Rawhill crew and are in the middle of recording another album produced by MCD (silent eclipse) & ourselfs.