Inside The Vault – The Moog – Rush Hour – 1992

With cheeky narcotic references lifted straight from the ITV news mixed with MC Man Parris blasting down your eardrums, this powerhouse of a breakbeat belter tore down raves right across 1992. Released on Delirious Recordings, this thing stomps on and on and on. We caught up with Andrew Wright, one of the main people behind The Moog, to see how the track came about.

So Andrew, tell us a bit about yourself, and your early association with Chill Records.

I started out writing demo music using Soundtracker on the Commodore Amiga in the late 80s. After hearing an acid house party in a field near my house in 1989 I became obsessed, and my Amiga demo-scene music became heavily house and techno influenced. A chance meeting with Chill A&R guy Tim Raidl (Hardcore Rhythm Team, Sykosis 451) in his record shop lead me to Damon D’Cruz of Chill Records in Luton, England, who was looking for UK underground house and techno to follow on from his successes importing the US based “Jack Trax” releases. 

How did The Moog project came about?

After Chill, we’d started our own label, Delirious Recordings. I’d noticed the trend moving more towards breakbeats and faster tempos, and I’d recently got some new hardware that we’d used for “The Concrete Jungle EP” (RBRSAFE001) the “Blitz EP” (DELIS 1). I was excited to do something a bit different. “Rush Hour” was the first track on the EP that I wrote. It was the one I was most pleased with. “Jungle Muffin” followed, and although that was the more popular track, “Rush Hour” remains my favourite on that EP.

There are quite a few cheeky samples on this one. Tell us a bit about them?

The media hysteria at the time over MDMA use got me thinking about sampling the TV news on the subject. ITV news were running a lot of stories on raves and drug use back then, and I managed to catch a great report that had plenty of soundbites!

What was your method for sampling from TV back in those days?

I literally held a tape recorder up to the TV speaker. It was about as crusty a setup as you could imagine. It worked surprisingly well though. A bit of reverb can cover a multitude of sins!

MC Man Parris makes a guest appearance on Rush Hour. Did he know about it before it came out?

MC Conrad appears on “Jungle Muffin”, but the MC on “Rush Hour” is actually Man Parris. The sample is from the end of the Vibe Tribe PA that appears before Top Buzz at The Eclipse Highlander in Edinburgh in 1991. 

Neither of them knew about the samples before they were released. The MC Conrad samples are so instrumental to “Jungle Muffin” that he is now credited as one of the writers of the track. We’re still in touch to this day. He’s an absolute legend.

Rush Hour uses some rough old saw waves coupled with some off the chart phasing. How did that translate across a big rig at those early raves?

I never actually heard “Rush Hour” played out! I heard “Jungle Muffin” everywhere, but never “Rush Hour”, so I always assumed it was a flop. It was only in recent times I’ve discovered it was played out all over the place!

It also stands up incredibly well in terms of impact. You must be proud of it?

I love it so much it’s the only one of my old tracks I remixed in recent years. Even though the remix doesn’t have the news samples, I actually prefer the new remix!

It also features in the soundtrack of a feature film I directed. More on that later.

What equipment would you have been using at this time?

I’d recently got an Ensoniq EPS16+. It was a huge upgrade to the Amiga, as it sampled at 16-bit resolution. The built-in flanger, phaser and chorus effects were great for getting crazy wide basslines. I don’t recall which of the effects I used in “Rush Hour”, but there’s definitely a phaser in there. We recorded everything out to DAT tape, which was quite cutting edge for us at the time, and a big improvement on the old reel-to-reel tape we’d used for the Chill stuff.

Delirious went on to release several other tracks during 1992. What can you tell us about them?

The label lasted about another year and a bit after “Rush Hour”. The economy was suffering, and vinyl sales were dropping. Our distributor went bust, so we eventually called it a day. I think my favourite track on the other releases was “Kickin’ a Message” by The Moog on Delirious Prime Cuts Vol. 1 (DELIS 6). It was an absolute sample-fest though! I also loved “Mistery Tour” by Obviously High (DELIS 3). Sadly, none of the later releases matched the sales of the earlier stuff.

So what is happening for you know. Where did life lead after those heady days of ’92?

I moved from the UK to Toronto, Canada in 2006 and started a film production company and record label called Liquid Stairs. I co-produced, co-wrote and directed a feature film based on the rave scene called “Belushi’s Toilet” It was a monster production, and took several years, but I’m so pleased with it. Slipmatt even has a small cameo appearance in there!

I recently remastered and re-released some of my old Amiga tunes from 1991. I’m amazed how many people still love that old stuff. “Kaleidscope” by Rotor, which was originally released on Chill, continues to be a hit after all this time.

I still have all the old EPS disks as file images, but I no longer have the EPS hardware. Fortunately, a friend does, so we’re thinking of remastering the rest of the old EPS tunes next year. I’m sure the original mix of “Rush Hour” will be top priority to remaster and finally get a digital release!

Thank you so much for your time Andrew. The history embedded in that era of the scene, when DNB was in its infancy really, is so important. Thank you for sharing and good luck with all of your future ventures.