 Born
in Slough in 1982, James moved to Buckingham at
the age of 6, before finally settling in London
when he was 11. In his own words, he lead "a
pretty normal life," listening to a vast
range of music. "Everything from… [pauses]
everyone! Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, T Rex, Beethoven,
Bach, Chopin… NWA, Bob Marley… Tenor
Saw – he was ruff! – old sound system
tapes… everything, man! Portishead Live
in New York never leaves my stereo!" By the
age of 12, James was already making his first
forays into the world of music production. "My
cousin Leroy used to live down by Heathrow Airport,
and I used to travel down there every other Saturday
and stay there overnight making little shitty
tunes on his crappy computer! Well at the time
it was good; it was Fast Tracker 2, and you could
make music on this little blue and black program!
So big up Leroy!"
Before being introduced to the dnb scene by some
people he knew at school, James used to tamper
with breakbeats – as he puts it, "I
was some young 12, 13, 14 year old Prodigy wannabe,
and a hip hop wannabe. Then I started doing dnb."
Bursting onto the scene in 2001 with an explosive,
unofficial remix of Doc Scott’s classic
Here Come The Drums, which tore up many a dancefloor,
including the legendary Metalheadz Sunday Sessionz.
The remix picked up by Reinforced for release
on it’s legendary Enforcers series of picture
disks; the relationship with this label continued
with singles as Solar Motion (in collaboration
with Dsyfa), an EP with Threshold of Special Branch,
and two solo EPs. It was via Special Branch that
James made contact with the Inperspective family.
Forrester introduced James to Equinox, knowing
the two would hit it off. The rest is, as they
say, history. Inperspective signed Comatose and
Trance, and James went on to revisit Equinox’s
Acid Rain, a piece of Amen science that James
rates as one of his favourite pieces of dnb, alongside
such classics as Rufige Crew’s Kemistry
– "Probably the best dnb tune in the
world EVER!"
His ability to turn his hand to any style he
fancies is perhaps James’ strongest point.
From the dubby stylings of So Vain and Out of
Reach, through the liquid leanings of his collaborations
with Metalheadz resident DJ Flight as Alias, and
onto the pure breakbeat science he unleashes on
Inperspective, James excels at whatever he turns
his hand to. "I make all different kinds
of stuff, there’s no one style! My style
is unorthodox!" As with the other Inperspective
artists, though, James’ personal favourites
are signed to the I. "I’m so happy
with my Acid Rain VIP Final Chapter remix. That
and Drowning." In addition to his collaborations
with DJ Flight, James plans to work with Equinox
in the near future, and would love to work with
other artists such as Tangerine Dream and James
Lavelle.
‘This Too Shall Pass’ marks an important
turning point in the production career of Breakage,
a heavyweight producer cited by many of the premier
league as a firm fixture in their box. The album
contains many drum & bass gems and some surprises
too, as Breakage explores a range of bpms, as
well as the tempos we know & love. Released
on Bassbin in April 2006, Breakage’s album
is to be toured worldwide.
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