Sunday, September 19, 2010

Article on the early dance scene in the UK

Hi,

Here is a snippet from an article on the early dance scene in the UK. Full article is here http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/House_Of_God_Tony_Cummings_remembers_a_pioneering_dance_music_release/41444/p1/

Dave had a revolutionary idea - recording some Christian dance music. The UK music scene was awash with the sounds of rave and house music and as usual the British Church had completely failed to notice this musical revolution. There was absolutely no gospel dance music being recorded anywhere and the way Dave saw it we two impoverished journalists could do something about it, namely record some tracks which Kingsway could then press onto 12 inch vinyl. Dave knew that I had produced some records in the past and, equally important, might be able to scrounge a bit of studio time in the Walsall studio complex Big Feet Media that was also housing Network Eleven. There were snags - like finding a bunch of musicians prepared to play for nothing save maybe a train fare - but Dave knew I'd go for it, even with Dave's insistence that we adopt the rather silly pseudonyms of Levi (Roberts) and Top Cat ("TC", ie, me).

Dave was full of ideas for the project. One was that one of the tracks should be a rap version of Larry Norman's "Why Don't You Look Into Jesus". Another was that at least one other track should feature sampled extracts of preachers. Even the name House Of God was his idea.

And so it came to pass that one cold weekend in Walsall we gathered to make the three tracks we felt that at a push we could record and mix in a weekend. I'm no technician (if anything, I'm a technophobe) so essential to the mysterious world of samples and 16 track recording desks was Big Feet Media's Kevin Edwards, a talented engineer/producer who was later to produce Sammy Horner's successful 'Celtic Praise' album and become a member of the short-lived mainstream dance act Minds Of Men (Atlantic Records).

Thanks. God Bless.

Aaron.

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