Tim Deluxe @ Cream
Published 1st Nov 2002 by Alison@c2

tim deluxe @ cream, brighton. sat 2nd nov

Double 99 Biography

How do you follow one of the biggest records of a decade? When Double 99 dropped 'RIP Groove' on an unsuspecting clubland in March 1997, they weren't to realise the kerfuffle its mix of reverbed ragga b-line, timpani garridge drums and re-rewinds would cause in a then stagnant clubland. It was, in a word, massive. You still hear it in clubs today, worked in between breaks or house or garage or whatever the DJ feels like: it doesn't matter, one size
fits all. EXTRA large. 'RIP Groove' might not have created the UK garage scene, but it exploded onto the scene at the precise same time the media and clubbing public at large were finally becoming aware of London's after hours underground phenomenon. It took a scene based around Sundays not Saturday, Todd Edwards not Jeremy Healy, and blew it overground. But, according to D99, it still wasn't a UK garage record. More of a garage record that happened to be made in the UK. "We're not about UK garage," explains Tim. "I'm not into two step. Listen to RIP Groove: it's not a speed garage tune. It's got one of the biggest kick drums ever on there." So how do you follow one of the biggest records of the 90s? And how do you follow the biggest UK garage anthem ever if you're not making, never were making, UK garage. If you're Double 99 you follow it with this album. '7th High' is not a garage album: it's an album that mashes up the dark US house sound of Todd Terry drums with 80s electro, breakbeats, jazz, and yes, still a whole lot of woofer-worrying sub-bass. "There's funky cuts," he explains," some electro, there ?s some really dark electronic stuff on there." And, from the future club classic 'Freakazoid', sounding not a little like the Rock Steady Crew unfurling their lino at Garage City, to the speaker-busting 'Scream', which should be renamed The Best Track Todd Terry Never Released Project, it booms its message of mashed up dancefloor unity right back at us. "These days," Tim groans, "The problem is it's not just house music. It's prog house, jacking house, my mate's house. We want to take house back to the way it was when you could play a vocal track, rewind to a darker sound, or a techno record." Tim is still only 23, and doesn't look at music the way the majority of house producers do. Him and Omar are not seasoned geezers with their Caister Weekender 1986 pass hanging from their bedroom doorknob. Tim didn't grow up with soul, funk, punk or reggae. He grew up in North London, listening to house music. "Centreforce and Sunrise FM," he recalls wistfully, "DJ Hype and the Ratpack. Back then they weren't playing jungle, they were playing house and techno and breakbeat and mixing it all up together, 'cos it wasn't about categories, it was about good music that made people move." By the time he was 14 he had a Saturday job in Time Is Right records, in Islington's Chapel Market: the one firmly jellied eels part of Tony Blair's manor that was never in the new Islington's ciabatta-munching gameplan. There Tim honed his mixing behind the counter and in the middle of the hardcore era sold US house records by the bucketload: "I met them all," he beams," Masters At Work, you name it." He also met a young graphic designer called Omar Amidora. Omar gave up his graphic design job ("and he was on good money too!") to set up Ice Cream Records with Tim and Andy Lysandrou, a hardcore record label owner chasing the next big thing. Andy still runs the label: he's now half of the Truesteppers production team. Omar, on the other hand, is your original classically-trained musician with esoteric tastes that run from tapes of Jazzy M's original house pirate the Jacking Zone to the freeform fusion of Chick Corea and Jeff Lorber. Together they set up "a factory" in Omar's kitchen, turning out booming bassline garage by the bucketload. After the success of 'RIP Groove', it was a veritable production line. So, after two years and the advent of two step thaat took garage away from its dark US roots, they went back underground to work on their new sound. Why? "I'd seen the whole other side of the producing game," Tim explains. "We were doing loads of remixes, but remixing is a mug's game. I respect people like Daft Punk and Basement Jaxx, who may have started out remixing, but now they keep their ideas exclusive to themselves."

So yes, RIP Groove was one of the biggest club records of the 90s, but it was also a lesson in becoming trapped in a scene. That isn't going to happen again. This time it's not about UK garage, it's all about Double 99. "RIP Groove came out at a unique time for house music," Tim enthuses, "House music used to be all about the Americans: Terry Hunter, Maurice Joshua, MAW." He reels off a trainspotter's litany of his old heroes. "When RIP
Groove came out they didn't know what hit them. It's English and French guys who are pushing the sound forwards, being progressive: people like Todd Terry are still using the same beats they were years ago. It's time for the godfathers to sit back and let the new school come through." Ding ding: break is over, take your seats for the next lesson. But this time it's Double 99 who are doing the teaching. Pay attention at the back there. Double 99's 'Freekazoid' single is released at the end of March 2001. The '7th High' album is released in June. Both on Satellite/Arista.

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