phantasy

After many years of releasing superb tracks on a multitude of different record labels Phantasy felt it high time to introduce his own imprint. Easy Records was born in 1995 mainly to help ensure his releases were now consistent and also to bring new artists he was looking out for to the fore. If you've met Phantasy you'll know that 'Easy' was his favoured greeting gesture and became an obvious choice for the name of his new imprint. Artists that have appeared on Easy from then to now include: DJ Hype, Pascal, Alex Reece, Ray Keith, Hopa & Bones, DJ Probe, MC Fats, DJ Gemini, Disruptaz, Stakka & Skynet, DJ Reality, Mikee B (Dreem Teem), Jack Smooth and Sonia Red.

Back in March he re-released the first in a series of 'Easy Classics'. The monster old skool tune (circa 1991) 'Hippodrome' / 'Take My Soul' co-produced by long time friend and cohort DJ Gemini and himself was hotly followed by 'Ruff Beats' / 'Under The Influence'. These re-releases were intended as a reminder of his past pedigree and a taster for the new seismic tunes that are about to drop on the revitalised Easy. I could have filled the start of this feature by running through all the landmark hardcore tunes that Phantasy has produced but he's got so much news to talk about that I'm going to refrain. So if you're not familiar with his past go forth, whether it be via the internet or otherwise, and track down his previous works of art - also use your best detective work to trace his sundry production aliases. But first, a little reminder of some of the good ol’ days...

Having deejayed, weekend in, weekend out, on the main stage since the late eighties Phantasy is one person who has witnessed the metamorphosis of parties. I was curious to know what he saw as the most exciting times in terms of parties. “Each era was good for its own reasons like ‘88/’89 because of the way it united the youth of that generation at all night parties. 1990 to 1991 because it had become more wide spread and had become the biggest music upheaval in years. Back in ’91 when people like myself, Mickey Finn and Top Buzz were playing breakbeat – what we then called jungle-techno – we didn’t realise that it would turn into a whole new scene that would still be around today.”

So it may come as little surprise that the golden era of raving is what Phantasy cites as the most poignant in his memory. Another big change was the unforgettable atmosphere of the raves - a chord of unity struck hard along with no doubt a certain amount of chemical induced empathy! Phantasy conveys how the music from that time opened up doors to a whole myriad of genres and sub-genres and now some are more commercial than others. And in turn some of the more recent people to have enjoyed success in this industry have this time period to thank.

Phantasy reminisces of one particular party that stood out for him - the infamous Fantazia ‘Takes You Into Summertime’ event - at Matchams Park Stadium, in Bournemouth. “When I went on the decks they turned the flood lights on. It looked like a football pitch and every hair on my body – and anyone who knows me knows I’ve got long hair – was standing up on end man! I hadn’t even played a record and there was 15-20,000 people screaming and going mad. Then I played ‘Hippodrome’ which was obviously new at the time and they just went off.” Subsequently other bookings had to be cancelled that night due to Fantazia sucking all the other parties dry. Phantasy ended up staying for the duration of this landmark party.

Phantasy is quick to make people realise that it was again these early foundations that paved the way for the likes of Homelands, Gatecrasher and Creamfields to essentially cash in on this. Whilst he’s enjoyed some of the recent summer festivals he cites some big differences including the air of control and regulation that has been enforced by the powers that be. The steepness of the ticket prices and knowing that back then you knew the promoters were doing it purely for the love of it instead of financial gain.

Back then you just went out for the sake of going out to meet people and party. Everything used to be played in the one room as well, you’d have Carl Cox come and play a technoey kind of set. Myself, Top Buzz and Mickey Finn would play breakbeat/early jungle-techno, then Ratpack would play the piano anthems. You would have all the different styles of that music under one roof. But now it’s pretty much specialised, if you want to hear house you go to a house club, if you want to hear drum & bass you go to a drum & bass club.”

As said you’ll have to check out for yourself Phantasy’s past releases but when you see some of the people he’s worked with (again a lot of them will be filed under various guises) it reads like a who’s who of UK dance music. “From each person I got a different vibe, when I did something with Carl Cox it was a very energetic vibe and when I do stuff with Pascal it’s more technical. Alex Reece was my engineer for two or three years before he branched out on his own and did ‘Pulp Fiction’ and tunes like that, he again brought a different vibe. I am a great believer in that you can learn off of different people and you can never stop learning.”

Phantasy has recorded tracks with Mikey B from the Dreem Team and was close friends with the Top Buzz members which lead to him sharing a house with Jason Kaye for a time (it’s amazing what you can find on the net). “Where did you read that (creasing with laughter)? Jason had the downstairs flat and I had the upstairs one, it was like a bachelor pad (lots more laughter). I had known Jason, Mikey B and Mad P since ’89, I met them all out at parties. I told Mikey B I was looking for somewhere to live because I was moving out and he said Jason’s got a flat you can rent. I had a good time spent there, a good laugh and I’m sure that if those walls could talk they would be telling some serious stories, ha ha!”

Phantasy runs the Devotion parties in London with Skibadee (more of that a little later on) and has been working on a whole load of projects with different emcees recently. First up is a tune that he has done incorporating the raps of IC3 together with vocalists Sonia Red (who is Shola Ama’s mother), Shanie and Beverley called ‘Ordinary Day’. By the time you read this other tunes with Skibadee and Shabba D should be complete as at the moment it’s just been a case of trying to find mutual lock-down time in the studio.

Phantasy is clearly encouraged by Shy’s ‘Shake Ur Body’ and other such tracks particularly as his own vocal orientated tunes have often been overlooked due to them not being in vogue at the time of release. On this note watch out for the superb re-release of ‘Music Is My Life’ featuring again Sonia Red. With remixes by Total Science, this smooth vocal number of great calibre first saw release in the turbulent tech-step times of ’97. “In the space of about a week I had about 20 different people, deejays, emcees and just people in general saying to me ‘you need to re-release that, that track was too ahead of its time’. I just sat back and laughed because I thought surely my music can’t be that ahead of its time!

It needed something like Shy FX’s tune to draw the ladies back into drum & bass and that’s when I can start getting all my vocal tracks ready. I think everything has its time, jungle had its run for three years, garage then come on and had its run and now drum & bass is back in the limelight for a good few years at least and then it’ll probably turn into something else. I think the most important thing is keeping the ladies in the scene, if you can keep the girls in the scene they will draw the men in. The men want to go where the girls are, it’s just a natural thing. Hopefully I’ll be able to do my bit to help it grow even more.”

Devotion team up with Pyrotechnic Radio for ‘The Carnival Back To Back Special’ on Friday 23rd August at Bagleys, Kings Cross. Thumb to ‘where’s the party @?’ for the details. Phantasy and Skibba have their very own Devotion clothing line coming very soon (you will be able to order this at www.easyrecords.net) as it’s currently being sported by industry heads gauging the feedback. For more information on the Easy tour or to book DJ Phantasy you can contact either Tania or Jo @ UMC – 0116 299 6293 / umcinfo@aol.com.