1/ How did Co-Lab come about ?
Co-Lab is owned and run by Benny (part of West Midlands dj / artist duo Benny + The Goat) and Jim aka Heist (who is an artist / dj hailing from Essex).
It all started when a cd of Heist's material was passed to me by dnbforum's own Sam Caution early in 2002. I was very impressed with what I heard so hooked up with Jim to give him some feedback on the tunes and soon he was sending all his material up to me, a fair few of which got cut on plate and played out in our sets! It was obvious that he was special from the start and the feedback we were receiving was really encouraging. Over a few months we found ourselves speaking more and more on the phone and became friends. I had been thinking about starting a label for a while and knew that Jim was versatile enough to cover all styles of D+B in his production, which mirrored what I wanted my label to represent. I put the idea to him and agreed. It has been a slow process getting everything set up but we know that we have done things properly by laying solid foundations down from the start. Co-Lab is definitely a long term project for us both so when it finally lands you can expect a steady flow of releases that are guaranteed to be Drum + Bass of the highest quality.
2/ What is the current status of Co-Lab ?
Co-Lab001 "Company 7" b/w "Salsa Jive" has been supported over the past few months by a whole variety of dj's including Simon Bassline Smith, Peshay, High Contrast, Suv, Mace, Kenny Ken, Devize, Rascal + Klone & Greg Packer to name a few!!.
Its been doing the rounds on plate since late 2002 and is still doing the damage on the floor! we are really pleased with the response it has had, it has far exceeded our expectations for the first release!!
We are currently having a few problems with the pressings which has slowed down the release date somewhat but we hope that it will be out by June sometime at the very latest!
Co-Lab is being distributed by Nu-Urban Music who have been very supportive from the word go. Tobie is a long time spar of mine and has also signed material from Heist for his and Illusions label MEDIA.
3/ What can we expect from Co-Lab ?
Co-Lab002 is already locked down and we can confirm the tracks to be "Philly Styler" b/w "Samurai Showdown"
No release date at the moment but hopefully late summer time. They are both excellent tunes showing again the versatility of Heist and following our policy of having two completely different style tracks on each 12". We will be launching the website later in the year and events and tour nights will certainly follow once we are off the ground. At the moment its all about getting the first couple of releases out!!
4/ Are you looking for new artists to sign to the camp ?
The door is always open to any new artists that want to send us material. If we feel that it is suitable for Co-Lab then we will put it out. If we think there is potential in artists then we will help to nurture them.
We are looking for flava. The musical elements are so important to us and how we want our sound to be, whether it be a liquid or harder tune. We don't want to be releasing noisy music that has no feel to it.
We want to increase the people who are supporting Co-Lab music with every release. We have set the standards for the label from the very start so the quality is going to remain tight! Every release has to be on a par / stronger than the last one or we wont put it out, simple as that.
You can send demos to:
Co-Lab Recordings
47 Cornwall Road
Wollaston
Stourbridge
West Midlands
DY8 4TE
5/ any dedications and shouts ?
Where do I start ? there are so many people + I don't want to miss anyone out!! here goes then in no particular order......
Goat, Emma, Tera + Illusion, Bassline Smith, Drumsound, Solution, Kurtis, Dan, D-Kay, Johnny, Dj E, Dj Fader, Greg Packer, Peshay, High Contrast, Allen, Suv, Pace, Shaolin, Addict, all Stourbridge headz< u know who u are >, Sam Caution, Mace, Kenny Ken, Rascal + Klone, Digital Funk, Devize + Karen G, UHT Crew, Deep Bass Crew, Stelf, Mistify, D+B Arena Forum headz! that's all I can get off the top of my head... could be here all day... in a nutshell, big thanks to anyone who has supported us, helped us out, all our friends and associates etc etc
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