I first got into music when i was about 5. When I discovered the Beatles aged 10 is when I first fell in love with music.I collected all their albums on vinyl. It wasn't until I was about 15 or 16 that I listened to anything current. I got very into the baggy indie scene and in particular the Happy Mondays. Aged 18 i went to my first rave at Labrynth in Dalston and was converted to dance music instantly. It was also around this time that I took an interest in hip hop. American groups like Public Enemy and NWA and artists such as 2Pac and Snoop Dogg were my first taste of hip hop aside from the UK's Silver Bullet and Stereo MCs. My record collecting really took off when I started trailing 2nd hand records shops for rare dance records every place I visited. I started mixing when I was 19 and took the name DJ Disturbance. Named after the Hyper-On-Experience track on Moving Shadow in my opinion one of the greatest drum and bass tunes ever made. Always mixing at home and at chill outs and some times out. Before forming DSK Productions with The Wizard and Phil Good when we started putting on our own events. Although still really enjoying mixing breakbeat at home in the first few years of the new millenium i pretty much retired from playing out. My interest in dance music faded as I grew more and more drawn to UK hip hop. In particular Plan B. US hip hop was far detached from the original roots of rhyming on street corners as the charts were dominated by millionare RnB pop stars. UK hip hop was raw, from the streets and talked about the place where i live and the things that effect my life. UK rappers like Skinnyman, Klashnekoff, Chester P, Braintax, Rodney P, Dr Syntax and Jehst confirmed to me that UK hip hop was were my heart lies. Although I had the desire to write lyrics all along I never picked up a pen until 2010/11. I started with the intention of writing songs but was appoached by DJ Narky and asked to MC while he mixed breaks. This form of lyric writing was a lot easier than writing songs cos as long as you kept the crowd motivated the lyrics didn't need to be complex. In the first few months of 2014 after an extended period of writers block I started writing whole songs again. By the end of Feb I had 5 completed songs that were to a high enough standard, with good length, intellegent lyrical content, a strong storyline and message that I felt it was time to share. I feel I still I have a lot to learn and I am improving every time i write. So, onwards and upwards. I haven't written my masterpiece yet, so watch this space...

No other producer packs a punch like AUDIO. From his tattooed drum & bass knuckles to his ruthlessly hard-hitting productions, Gareth Greenall embodies the spirit of D&B. Uncompromising, inherently underground and refusing to play games, the South London artist’s diligence, creativity and lack of complacency has inspired mass respect from every possible corner of the scene.

Four albums, countless 12”s and over 15 years deep into his limit-pushing adventures, Gareth continues to surge at the very forefront of the sound he’d first experienced as young Londoner tuning in to Colin Dale’s eminent Abstract Dance Kiss FM sermons. Instant jungle entrenchment: he hurled himself into the fray. Vinyls, Reason, illegal raves… The boy – whose mum brought him up on a strict diet of ABBA and Queen – grabbed any angle and any opportunity to get involved.
From ringing up and booking Ed Rush for a party above a pub in Croydon off the back of mobile number on a test press … To scoring a job as in-house studio engineer at legendary rave distributors Alphamagic where he studied the dark art of dynamics at a masters level: Audio wouldn’t – and still won’t – settle for anything less than full immersion.

His own production stripes stretch back to just after the turn of the century when he found himself at the helm of Resonant Evil. Demonstrating their power with a debut on the genre-defining Renegade Hardware, over the course of two years they scorched the repertoires of Moving Shadow, G2 and Outbreak. As Resonant Evil’s brutal bulletins wound down, Audio was winding up. Carving his own path with his own rules, he was soon snapped up by early neuro pioneers Tech Freak Recordings who gave him the opportunity to stretch himself creatively and broadcast his first long playing message. Audio’s debut album ‘To The Edge Of Reason’ showed the world he could cater for experiences beyond the dancefloor yet convey the same attitude and defiant dynamic he’d become synonymous with as a DJ and on 12”s. It was so well received; within a year he was signed by Ed Rush and Optical and for five years became an intrinsic member of the Virus family.

Audio’s work on Virus is where he really developed momentum. Already an established headliner across Europe, his productions and reputation became a global phenomenon, leading to tours in every territory. This reputation was compounded by albums such as ‘Genesis Device’ and ‘Soul Magnet’ which spawned the mighty ‘Headroom’. One of the most influential and successful tracks of its time, it knocked chart-topping EDM star Avicii off the Beatport top spot, dominating the chart for a total of 13 weeks and setting the foundation for his final Virus album ‘Force Of Nature’. Released in October 2013, it threw the scene completely off-guard… No other producer has conjured two albums of such strong-armed quality within less than a year. Just as his debut album had pricked the ears of Virus, ‘Force Of Nature’ attracted Andy C’s Ram Records.

Kindred spirits, Audio and Ram Records are a natural fit: both D&B lifers, both as emphatic and enthusiastic about the scene as they were at inception, both dedicated to pushing drum & bass to its furthest limits creatively and sonically, Audio’s decorated career has leveled up once more. To Gareth, though, it’s business as usual; still immersed in production science (now using the unique Studio One set up) and still just as buzzed about slapping a dancefloor into submission with deadly double drops as he was when he kicked off, Audio’s unique punch is harder than it’s ever been.

Think Croydon and a few things come to mind; Kate Moss, punk band The Damned, Crystal Palace football club, Peep Show  and of course Dubstep, the now world conquering music genre that will forever be linked to the south London suburb. What you never hear though, is any mention of Tech House, another world conquering music genre. And to be honest we’re a little bit peeved about that. Because if Tech House has a spiritual home it’s Croydon, and that is due mainly to Swag Records and the people that gravitated towards the humble West Croydon record shop and studio.
Swag began in late 1992 and within a year it has positioned itself as the leading store to buy the strange new, stripped down, trippy, driving brand of house music being played at underground parties in and around south east London. On any given day you could walk in and find Terry Francis, Dave Mothersole, Grant Dell or Richard Grey serving behind the counter, Eddie Richards, Colin Dale or Mr C buying records and Matthew B, Gideon Jackson or Affie Yusuf at the helm in the studio upstairs. The building shook night and day with the throbbing, bass heavy grooves and the beat never stopped – or so it seemed. And now all these years later some of those records made in that little room at the top of the old Victorian building that housed the Swag headquarters are finally starting to get the recognition they deserve. Back when those tunes were cut, in the late 90’s and early 00’, pretty much the sole intention was to have something new and exciting to play at parties like Wiggle, Heart & Soul, Whoop Whoop and Kerfuffle. Now they’ve become highly collectable for those who recognise the huge part they had to play in defining the tech house sound.  None more so perhaps than Sound Of The Suburbs ‘I Won’t Stop’, which is now fetching up to £100 on Discogs. And that’s why we’ve decided to release that as the lead track on Swag Classics – so people can buy it again, on vinyl, at a fair price.
Produced by Pete Hurst and Paul Stubbs under their Sound Of The Suburbs moniker, it sounds as fresh today as it did back in the day, more so perhaps. Meanwhile on the flip side there’s a previously unreleased track from Pete aka Sloth UK titled Mr Eko
Hope you enjoy it. This is the first of many vinyl only releases, which will come from the hallowed Swag vaults. All compiled and selected by Liz Edwards who dedicated around 14 years to Swag Records behind the scenes and financially.
Hand-stamped and Limited to 200 copies only, now sold out. Repress later this year 2018
The next 3 releases are forthcoming this Spring 2018, and will be distributed by Eds Vinyl, then available worldwide.
Your feedback is most welcome; liz@edsvinyl.co.uk
Viva Croydon!
Words by Dave Mothersole
Dj support so far from Alex Arnout, Craig Richards, Ralph Lawson, Adam Shelton, Archie Hamilton.........

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