Biography
Controlled Change is Essex based DJ Jamie Smart (a former Empirion band member,The Prodigy tour DJ and creator of Wanted Records) , and his long term friend and talented producer Pete Crossman (Victory Pill). The duo are currently bringing a new sound dimension to Leeroy Thornhill's electric tastebuds label. Putting their talents together they create a pumping electronic style of breaks , full of fat synth lines, contagious energy and hard hitting beats.
The pair began the project in 2001, teaming up to do a remix for former prodigy member Leeroy thornhills Flightcrank single 'amazing' on copasetik records.
They met through a mutual friend in their hometown of Witham, Essex in 1995 when pete was an enthusiastic 16 year old would be musician and Jamie was at the height of his career with Empirion and as a Dj both in his own right and as a tour Dj for the Prodigy.
Jamie had some spare studio equipment which he agreed to lend to Pete so that he could learn the ropes of production and many nights were spent with their collective heads stuck inside ensoniq samplers and atari computers!
Pete continues, "I remember the first night we got the studio round my house, I was sat there looking at piles of cables and boxes and I had not a single idea on how it all worked, but over the next few years I learned more than I had ever done before, and I had Jamie to show me the ropes and with what he had done with Empirion it was something for me to aspire to. I was really in to the production side of things and trying to work out how other producers got their music sounding, so I really concentrated on that whole side of things rather than actually finishing tracks."
Jamies workload continued unabated with Empirion as they remixed for artists such as the Prodigy, Fluke, Front 242 and praga kahn whilst continuing work on the follow up to 'advanced technology.'
Jamie continued to Dj around the world and the band embarked on the big top tour of America alongside many of the biggest names in the world of electronic music.
After issues with their record company XL recordings the band left the label and tragically at the same time band member Bob Glennie was diagnosed with cancer. It was a crushing blow to the band and really spelt the beginning of the end
After Empirion wound up, Jamie took a long break from the world of music other than to occasionally Dj at reunion events for the Essex rave scene of the 1990's where he made his name playing at clubs like tootoos and oscars. His first foray back in to the studio was with Pete when the opportunity to remix for Leeroy came up in 2001.
At this time Pete had continued to hone his production skills and had started his own ccommercial studio in Braintree, Essex. This was where the Controlled Change project began it's life, but at the time it was deemed a remix project. It wasn't until nearly ten years later that the pair actually began writing original tracks together. The gap in time is filled with moves of studios, houses, births, deaths, marriages, and Petes main musical project 'Victory Pill' along with Jim Davies of Pitchshifter and the prodigy.
In 2009 longtime friend and associate Leeroy Thornhill started his Electric Tastebuds label and asked the duo if they would like to submit a few tracks for the labels first album release 'tasty-episode 1"
This resulted in the first 2 'proper' controlled change tracks, 'Machines' & 'Depression.'
The label is predominantly a breaks label but Controlled Changes music can't be labelled as simply breakbeat. They cross many styles of electronic music in to their tracks, with influences from the pretty much every artist that they have admired for the past 30 years. The results are an intense brand of breakbeat with hints of techno from Jamies Empirion days and a touch of the large sound which Pete has become known for with his work with Victory Pill.
With more tracks in the pipeline for 2010 and beyond, the duos aim is one thing only, write music they both like that is tough enough to blow the doors off wherever it's played.
This page will be updated with new info and some banging new tracks very soon !
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