A SIDES​

A Sides Bio 2020

A true veteran DJ, producer and engineer, A Sides has an epic collection of releases to his name making him one of the most prolific and versatile artists in drum & bass. Over the course of his extensive career, A Sides has never limited himself to a single style and has proved to be a highly capable selector whatever style he is drawing for. 

Reaching out with a sound that has truly global appeal, A Sides continues to tour the world over and has graced the turntables in places like Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, South Korea, Hungary, Iceland, South Africa, Israel, Japan, China, Brazil, Italy, Germany, USA, Canada, Austria, Dubai, Russia, Holland, Ireland and Sardinia as well as Fabric, Lightbox, Ministry Of Sound and Plan B in London.

A Sides has been producing music since 1990 and has released well over 500 tracks to date across many of the scene’s biggest labels such as Metalheadz, Valve, True Playaz, Bingo, Innerground, Reinforced, Advanced, Liqweed Ganja, Spearhead and Hospital to name but a few. A Sides has a discography of truly epic proportions. 

He established his own label Eastside Records in 1996 and has since put out over 100 releases, including two compilation albums (Eastside Jamz Volumes 1 & 2) as well as A Sides solo albums ‘Follow The Groove’ (2003) ‘Worldwide’ (2010) ‘Mysterious Vibes’ (2011) ‘Based Upon Bass’ (2013) ‘Revisited’ (2014) ‘Quart’ (2016) and ’50 Shades Of A’ (2020)

A highly accomplished engineer as well as an artist in his own right, A Sides has collaborated with the likes of Calibre, Makoto, DJ Marky, Break, Jo-S, Kemo, Deeizm, Mc Mc, Randall, Jenna G, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Omar, Sheila E, Vanessa Freeman, Goldie, Spikey Tee, Mayday, Kevin Field, Lady Leshurr and Nathan Haines (under the guise of Sci- Clone) 

His long-standing partnership with MC Fats has borne some of his biggest tracks to date, including the massive hit What U Don’t Know which featured on A Sides’ debut long- player in 2003. For most of 2013 and 2014 he was the figurehead behind ‘We Gotcha’ a fundraising album for MC Fats who has been suffering with health problems related to diabetes. He managed to put together an album with over 40 tracks from many high profile artists. 

Those involved the We Gotcha project are S.P.Y, Makoto, Command Strange, Bailey, Serum & Bladerunner, D-Bridge, DJ Zinc, DJ Hype, Potential Bad Boy, Will Miles, Random Movement, Brother, DJ S.I.N, Crix, Cleveland Watkiss, Total Science, Calibre, Need For Mirrors, HLZ, Chef, Quadrant , Iris & Kid Hops, TC, Cabin Fever, Break & Die, Basher, Emery, Alix Perez, Emtek, LAOS, Mackadena, MC Random, XRS, Regina, Ego Trippin, Dom & Roland, Callide, Eveson, MR Joseph, R1 Productions, Marvell, John B & Mr Explicit.

A veteran of the scene from the early days, through hardcore to jungle to drum & bass, his influence has been immense. Over the years he’s taken on the role A&R for many labels, including of course his own imprints Fuze and Eastside, and was among the first to recognise and nurture the talent of producers such as Break. 

In mid 2014 after hearing the track Teardown 2K14 from A Sides last album ‘Revisited’ on pirate radio station Kool FM A Sides was approached by the legendary musical tastemaker Gilles Peterson who invited him to record a special Worldwide Mix which was aired on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide network in September 2014.

Previous projects include a 15 track collaboration album with Japanese producer Makoto which they worked on for over the 3 years. This highly anticipated album ‘Aquarian Dreams’ was released in July 2015 on there own label Eastern Elements and featured collaborations with Riya, MC Tali, Spikey Tee, Robert Manos and DJ Marky.

2016 was also a busy year. Following the success of the ‘We Gotcha’ project for MC Fats in 2014 A Sides has masterminded the ‘624EP’ for MC Fats Collective which brings together artists Serum, Brother, Mini M, Philth, DRS, Squarewave and Alibi for the good cause. The EP is another fundraising project with all proceeds going to the man himself MC Fats.

To add icing on the cake another major landmark came into play for A Sides when he celebrated 25 years since his first vinyl release. To mark this event he released a new 25 track LP ‘Quart’ which was released monthly from August to December 2016 as 5 Sectors  each containing 5 tracks. ‘Quart’ included collaborations with MC Fats, Vanessa Freeman, Makoto, Daz, Cool Hand Flex, Aletta, Spikey Tee and T.R.A.C with remixes coming courtesy of Spirit, Serum, Voltage and Break and a few more special treats. 

2018 also turned out be a productive year for A Sides focusing on music library productions alongside relaunching his Eastside Records imprint with a run of 3 solo single releases followed by another solo album ’50 Shades Of A’ which saw release in Jan 2020 on A Sides 50th Birthday. This was quickly followed by his ‘Fours EP’ which saw release on Sun And Bass Recordings in Mar 2020. 

2020 has been an interesting year so for which has seen A Sides based in Auckland, New Zealand since finishing the Sun And Bass New Zealand and Australia tour. For the duration of his stay he has produced 2 sample packs and has been writing new solo material. Too add to this a reunion has taken place  with Auckland based Jazz Artist Nathan Haines to collaborate on there Sci-Clone  project where they have now completed a full album ‘Radio Therapy’ The album features 10 new Sci-Clone tracks plus back catalogue and will see a full release in 2021.