Phats & Small

Producer/DJ/Artist/Writer Jason Phats is largely known as the writer, producer and founding member of Phats and Small. His career in music spans over two decades selling over 4 million records worldwide. He was bought his first guitar at 5 years old and started his first band when he was 14 in ’84. “We were a thrash Metal band called Jackal. We all went our separate ways. The drummer (Adam Pumfrey) and the bass player (Jon Golds) both have successful careers in the music industry. I purchased a computer (Commodore 64) and a four track (Yamaha MT44) and produced my own guitar based tracks for a few years until I started making guitar/sample/electronic based music in ’87. I would take influence from bands like New Order, Human League, Gary Numan, Heaven 17.” Through out the late 80’s he was heavily involved in the club scene and in 89, with the purchase of his Technics 1210’s he began DJing in various clubs in Brighton holding residencies along side Carl Cox, Colin Dale & Luke Slater. By 1990 he had a small studio setup comprising of an Akai S1100, Boss SE50, Atari ST running Cubase and an Ensoniq SQ1. It was the perfect DJ/Producer budget setup acting as the ‘core’ for what went on to produce his future hits. Through the early 90’s he recorded under various guises such as the The Delorme and Dharma bums for Zoom Records and Stress Records and did numerous remixes for DMC working on Fatboy Slim, James Brown, Booker T, Masters At Work, Todd Terry, Jocelyn Brown and The Peach Boys. He also began his label State Communications, with co Delorme/Bum Martin Tyrrell to release further Delorme/Dharma Bums material. He was also involved with other production projects with Polygram working alongside labelmates Pressure Drop and Skylab. In the late 90’s he started his solo label AFROCUTS which saw debut releases from DJ Phats and international support from DJ’s Stacey Pullen, Derrick May, Ashley Beedle, Ian Pooley, Daft Punk and Fatboy Slim. In August 98 he recorded ‘Turn Around’, the multi million selling Phats and Small debut. By then his studio still only consisted of the original ‘core’ setup with the addition of a Mackie 24/8, SE 70, Novation Bass Station and Roland JD990. He followed the success of Turn Around with 5 further top 20 hits, two of them Top 10 and numerous remixes for artists Earth Wind and Fire, Jean Michel Jarre, JCA, Moose T, Arther Baker, Danni Minogue and received many awards including two German Dance Awards, two Capital Southern Awards, TMF Award, RSH award, Muzik Award and Brit and MOBO Nominees for Best Newcomers and Best Single, performances and DJ slots from Hyde Park and the Royal Albert Hall to Ibiza, Asia and Australia. He wrote and produced three Albums….Now Phats What I Small Music, This Time Around and the Soundtrack To Our Lives. So what does the future hold? “In 2007 I introduced Ableton Live into my Live/DJ set up combining my studio experience with my DJ knowledge......its like unplugging the studio and taking it on the road. What I thought would add some versatility to Djing has opened the doors of endless possibilities. I am now creating Live remixes/edits and allowing the crowds mood to dictate the tempo and flow of the music that I play. The response has been fantastic! I have a live project in the pipeline, I have also been producing some new talented signings to my labels Afrocuts and Geek and Myself and Ben Ofoedu have been working on material for the new Phats and Small album.” " I have been also concentrating on my live/album project GEEK. This is a live audio, visual, album project that I have been creating over the last 18 months. I am currently mixing the debut album. Exciting stuff. Jason Phats uses Apple Pro G4/G5, Imac G5, Macbook, Logic Pro 7, Logic Studio Pro 8, UAD, SSL, Neve, Ableton Live 6, MOOG, Celemony, Mackie, Akai, Apple, GMedia, Ohmforce, FXPansions, Allen & Heath, Samson, Vestax, Novation, Focusrite, Lexicon, Boss, Sherman, Korg, Roland, Rhode, Shure, Pearl, Gibson, Fender, Yamaha, Marshall, Spacetek, Technics, Tannoy, Blueroom.