Aquasky

Aquasky have been around for a while now, notching up many releases on some of dance music's most respected labels. The trio also known as Brent Newitt, Kieron Bailey and Dave Wallace started working on music together back in 1995 releasing their music via seminal drum and bass label Moving Shadow. This resulted in further releases on the Reinforced and R&S labels before they were snatched up by Polydor where they released their first album 'Orange Dust' in 1996 which featured Big Shug from the Gangstarr Foundation and the Scratch Perverts. In 1999 they returned to Moving Shadow and released two more long players titled 'Bodyshock' and 'Aftershock', the latter being a remix project of the first with remixes contributed by Adam Freeland, London Electricity, Rob Playford and many more. During the recording of 'Aftershock' Aquasky were coaxed into producing breakbeat by Adam Freeland who took the trio under his wing and gave them their early exposure to the scene. In 2000 an EP was released on Botchit and Scarper titled 'Sureshot' which was quickly followed by the '777' EP. This release was the first breaks record to have fused drum and bass, old school rave and breakbeat into one mould and subsequently kick-started the 'Bassline Breaks' genre. Whilst releasing these EP's with Botchit and Scarper, Aquasky re-launched their Passenger imprint as a breakbeat label, helping to promote the heavy bassline sound they had created. With acts ranging from Meat Katie, Backdraft, Noisia, The Breakfastaz and The Freestylers, Passenger has always retained a high standard of audio pleasures. During this period of artistic inspiration the boys also started another alias, Tenth and Parker for the Latin label Mr.Bongo/Disorient blending jazz, house, disco and a little techno together which was championed by Norman Jay and remixed by King Britt. The project featured Mark Murphy, an amazing jazz vocalist from the States, Snowboy the UK Latin percussionist, the horn section from Blur and the bassist from Fairground Attraction. A number of 12" singles were released from the album 'Twenty:Twelve' in 2001. In 2002 Aquasky released their 5th album for the Botchit and Scarper label called 'Beat The System' Heavily influenced by their years spent going to free parties and raves during the late 80's and early 90's, the trio updated the old school sound and managed to track down two of their biggest inspirations from this period, The Ragga Twins. Less than 10 months later they followed this album with their 6th LP for Moving Shadow which showed their progression and skill as producers to stay ahead of the pack and redefine themselves and their sound. The album was titled 'Stayfresh' which brought the funk back into breakbeat. Featuring their new buddies The Ragga Twins and old school Ragga champion Daddy Freddy, down in the Guinness Book of Records as the fastest vocalist on the planet, the record was a huge success with a number of collectable classic singles still being spun in clubs across the globe now. In 2004 a sister label to Passenger was created to ease the excessive output and tracks being offered to Aquasky. The label was named after one of the scene's biggest and most notorious tracks '777' and has released many acts and tracks over the past few years from acts like Tayo, The Breakfastaz, Baobinga, The Ragga Twins, JDS, Aquasky themselves and Control Z. With close ties and similarities to the Passenger label, 777 tried to incorporate more variation in it's output, a way for it's artists to experiment with their sound. In 2005 and as a celebration of 10 years of production, Aquasky collaborated with some of breakbeats biggest names to create their 7th long player 'Teamplayers' on their own Passenger label, a huge project which saw the trio collaborate with some of the scenes biggest and baddest names such as FreQ Nasty, Kool Keith, Phil Hartnol from Orbital, DJ Icey, The Autobots and Elhornet of ozzie d&b band Pendulum to name but a few. The project was an outstanding success and was licensed to many countries across the globe and a DJ tour that lasted three months! It also assisted giving Aquasky and the Passenger label a fresh identity and vibe, moving away from the tougher, heavier sounds championed over the previous 5 years and incorporating a variety of influences from electro house to rock. As well as global names in dance production, Aquasky also DJ the world over touring America, China, Japan, Russia, Eastern Europe, Asia, Canada and all the countries in Europe many times over during their 12 years together and to assist promoting themselves as DJ's they also run a series of mix albums on Passenger titled 'Breakbeat Bass'. These are retailed at a budget price as a tool to incorporate new fans of the label and of the sound of breakbeat. A formula that has so far being extremely successful. For 2007 Aquasky plan to drop their 8th album presently titled as 'Ultimate Breaks and Beats' and a new compilation series 'This Way Up' featuring talent from across the globe contributing exclusive tracks. The year also will see the labels growing with more artist albums from its roster including the debut album from Backdraft. Aquasky's music has appeared on many adverts, films and TV programs over the years bringing the trio a healthy revenue, most recently the title music to the recent Ali G in the USA series. As expected, their music is also very popular with computer gaming companies with numerous licenses achieved including the seminal Tony Hawk game. To assist dealing with the major companies and labels, Aquasky set up their own publishing company Skyhigh Music, administered by Bucks Music Group, the largest independent publishing company in the UK. With already more breakbeat tracks in the market place than any other producer, Aquasky intend to continue with their mission to rule the world, to bring fun to the dancefloor and a smile to your face. The story is entering it's second chapter...