Artist Profile – Beat Merchants (UK)
Beat Merchants do not run short in terms of achievement. MC Juiceman cut his teeth on the Mic back in 1989, forging a career that flourished across the 90s as he moved from local raves to huge warehouse events, eventually settling for a life both on the stage and behind the mixing desk.
Jubbz AKA Supply & Demand has a similar story, with family roots in the UK reggae band Matumbi, a chance meeting with Kenny Ken that extended into releases on Mix an Blen, and the establishment of Cold Steel Records back in 1996.
With two labels under their ownership (Killa Watts & Beats Galore), they are about to drop the fourth EP on the former, and we were keen to catch up with Juiceman himself to get the lowdown on a bit of history, the latest release and their plans for the future.
Juiceman! Welcome INSIDE!
Hi Peeps!
You started your MC’ing career with Debbie Malone who had the massive 1989 rave hit ‘Rescue Me’. This was potentially one of the first breakbeat driven rave tracks and a definite precursor to the hardcore movement as was. Tell us a bit about how that came about?
Yes, that’s correct. I was a rapper at the time working with artists in London, including Hijack’s Kamanchi Sly and the Demon Boyz. We used to hang around the 4 Star General shop with George, and also the Soul 2 Soul shop with Jazzy B. I was also playing at Dingwalls in Camden doing hip hop nights.
My friend Blakey was doing A&R for some labels and introduced me to Skip Sargent from Kool and The Gang and Debbie Malone. We came together to make a few tracks, with ‘Rescue Me’ being one of them, which helped start the rave seen back then. We did a tour doing PAs around the UK and so dance music came into my life from a young age.
‘Rescue Me’ was a massive dance track. I became the MC for the live PA’s and it all started from there really. I found a new hunger for the rave scene rather than doing hip hop events.
This in turn led to a residency at Milwaukee’s in Bedfordshire, which was one of the first clubs to gain an all-night license for raves in the UK and had a reputation as one of the best rave clubs in Britain during the early 90’s.
1991 was right on the cusp of the transition from Belgian techno & Italo house into UK hardcore, so that must have been an incredibly exciting time for you?
Oh yeah! I was going there on a Monday night for the hip hop events. The place was rammed for a Monday night, and we used to get on the Mic with Device and MC Blakey (RIP – he later became a legend of the garage MCs). It was a wicked venue and as I knew Murray Beetson from ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) and Dreamscape, he came up to me one night and asked if I could come to his event there on a Friday night and MC? I got on the Mic and smashed it up. I also met Dave Pratley from Helter Skelter there and he said the same, so I got involved with both promoters and it all went from there.
They both left Milwaukee’s in the end and went on to do the massive events that they became renowned for, and a new guy named Dez asked me to come back for him. That led to me becoming the resident MC and it was the best feeling ever. I got noticed quickly by a lot of promoters around the country and the world through that residency.
Milwaukee’s – probably an ESP event – 1991 – credit – Gidman’s Treasures And Nuggets (treasureandnuggets.blogspot.com)
The rise of the entity of the MC as we know it today really took place during those formative years. Hyping up a crowd and keeping it moving became an artform in its own right as hardcore morphed into jungle.
That essential combination of both delivery and wordplay was and still is essential, so what would you say you consciously did to create your own style in the early days? What were your key objectives?
Credit – www.tapesgalore.co.uk
Agreed. A lot of MCs were just hosting back then which is a massive part, but me and Mad P from Top Buzz were also spitting bars at the time and coming with a type of vibe that was a bit more lyrical. It just rolled so well with the jungle, rap and reggae combination and that style became our formula. We were coming with our own lyrics and the DJs were really feeling the vibes as well, but we never MCd over a DJ when they were mixing, we remembered those old skool ways and I still stick to that formula even now. DJ Phantasy showed me that (Big Ups Steve!).
Milwaukee’s before being knocked down – credit – Bedfordshire Live
By the mid 90s you were getting bookings further afield and by the late 90s you were rocking big parties like Helter Skelter, Dreamscape and One Nation. We remember you absolutely killing it at The Sanctuary.
Those days were just, wow, what can I say? They were some of the best raves anybody could ever have gone to and the vibes were just pure energy. Thousands of ravers dancing to us and making the most noise, it was the best time for vibes and the raves were smashing it up worldwide. It just blew up all over the planet and it was amazing to be a part of something like that. From that point onwards it became my life.
Ours too! 2001 saw you join forces with Milton Keynes based Zed Bias. This might be considered the golden era for UKG and speed garage. What prompted you to branch into that scene, and also move from MC’ing to vocal duties?
Well, I started working with Zed Bias then as I was (and always am) looking for something different to keep my inspiration moving. I met Zed at my friends record shop in Wolverton, Milton Keynes. He was playing some break beats and we got chatting and ended up making a track that that got signed by DMC. The result, ‘Freak Nasty’ ended up being a big break beat track.
Zed moved his studio to Northampton and we started working there. It was in Mark Lamberts shop who started the Sidewinder garage events. We made our first garage tune ‘Chemistry’ and then started Sidewinder Records alongside DJ Principal, Al Browne and Steve Gurly who are all legends in the game. We forged a new sound of garage, incorporating jungle bass lines and vocals and reggae vocals and sounds, basically coming with our own flavour, and it took off very quickly.
I was still doing raves as well when Mark Lambert started the Sidewinder nights, but it was MC Bassman who made the name and let me state this. Bassman and I became residents at the 1st Sidewinder events and they were iconic nights MCing for the Sidewinder clique, with myself, Champaign Bubblee, DJ Principal and Zed Bias all performing at the nights.
So, was it this partnership that enabled you to make your way around a studio, or had you produced prior to this?
Yes, it was indeed. I just watched Zed make tracks and took notice of how he produced and patterns a tune, and watched what he was using to bring out all the sounds and I was like “I’ve got to start making my own productions”. I also had a lot of input from EL-B (Groove Chronicles), and I went into production with EL-B forming the Ghost record label.
They say historically that we were the pioneers of dubstep, and we were forging a totally heavy dark genre of garage music. I’m really humbled by that. I was out doing my DNB sets and dubstep DJs were coming up to me and bowing, and I was like “what”??? But I was already friends with DJ Hatcha and Bunny Ill from Horsepower. Zed was also making music in that genre as well and were far from being one trick ponies. We’re just music heads and we’ll make whatever and just create vibes and big music.
Through the 00’s you were still performing at large DNB events, but the scene changed quite dramatically during that decade. What are your fondest DNB memories from the 2000’s?
The Global Gathering events! Wow! Now they were massive raves, absolutely energy and vibes and also they were run by the previously mentioned Mark Lambert and crew. Also, Accelerated Culture, those events were firing. One Nation too (Big Ups Terry Turbo!), there were always some iconic nights at these events alongside Andy C, Mampi Swift and Hazard alongside myself and Bassman. 2007 Global Gathering was pure fire! The place went mental when we played with Pendulum, and we were later told that it was their most downloaded set ever. Mad! 😁
That’s impressive! Tell us a bit about how you and Jubbz got together then. What’s the back story with that one?
I was actually doing a liquid DNB remix of a Zed Bias tune called ‘Time Machine’ and I put a snippet up on my Instagram page. Jubbz hit me up and we started chatting on there and we exchanged numbers, and soon after he asked me to do a mix of a tune called ‘Lockdown’ which ended up being one of our first releases on V Recordings (bless ups Bryan Gee). From there we started working together making tunes back and forth and we just said to each other one day, let’s come together as a crew. Beat Merchants was born, and we’ve been going ever since.
And this partnership obviously works well enough for you two to have started not one but two labels together!
Totally. We have so much music to give to the world, from house to afro house, garage and drum n bass and all styles in between. We don’t want to be known jus for one thing, but all styles. It’s music and we love all music so we started Killa Watts and then Beats Galore for the afro house sounding tracks. Our first release features a Zed Bias mix and a ELB mix that are sick, so we’re going to get some good mixes from some big producers in the music game and we have some fire DNB coming out on the Killa Watts label. Keep an eye out people.
We’re focusing on your label Killa Watts and the outfit Beat Merchants right now then. The label is purely a vehicle for your Beat Merchants releases then, right?
It is. We’ve got so much music that it’s just stacking up and we want to get it out there for the world. We have all different styles of DNB, including jungle and liquid forthcoming, and we just wanted to start our own thing because we can control it our selves and put out what we want to put out. We will be looking for new producers too though, and we have a few already and have also colabed with them, so watch out for future releases on Killa Watts!
And this next four track EP entitled VIP is absolutely killer. Can you shed a bit of light on the four tracks?
Yeah, sure. Lock It Off is a VIP of a track that Jubbz originally did for Chronic V Recordings, so this is a new fresh mix for the world.
Still Here is a skanker. A dark roller and a pure stepper.
Good Old Love is like a Wu Tang style production fused with drums and bass and is a fire tune. The intro is like golden era hip hop samples (and you can hear the INSIDE DNB Premiere via SoundCloud NOW!)
And then there’s Buss It Now, which is a proper dark roller.
The whole EP is vibes and we’re just trying to make different music. Beat Merchants music.
One thing I have noticed about your sound is the techno/trance/acid slant that a lot of the tracks have. There’s an underlying ripple of that running through your work. This is quite a niche but exciting genre?
We try to fuse together music from different genres, from old school reggae R’n’B, house, techno garage, everything really, and try to make our own DNB versions of these fusions, experimenting and trying to come with a sound of our own. Our own style and sound different to the norm.
To conclude then, what are the future plan for both Beat Merchants and Killa Watts?
Our future for Beat Merchants and Killa Watts is basically loads of big tunes coming. We’re also now going out as a DJ and MC combo, with Jubbz on decks and Juice on mic and we just want to push our brand and our sound and give some good music to the world. We have some new producers in the wings and they’re making some excellent music. We will be looking to bring them out on Killa Watts alongside our own music, so there are big plans for the label and Beat Merchants.
We want to be out there dropping our sound and vibe. We’ve already done a few bookings and peeps are coming up to us and saying, “what the hell is that?”, “who’s tunes are they” and “where can they get them”?
Cygnus Music is the answer. Big Ups my guys, Dan and Lewis. Watch out for future releases on Killa Watts and a big, massive love to all the producers starting up their own labels and production.
Always remember, when the music hits you, you should feel no pain.
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