Formula Saturday 5th August @ The Key
Chris Lake, D.Ramirez, Paul Jackson, Phil Drummond, Cheshire Catz

As if it hasn’t been hot enough lately, gird your loins clubbers, because there’s one sizzling night coming to town in early August. The one-off party that’s got the club scene buzzing, Formula are throwing a shindig on the 5th of August at King’s Cross’s The Key that’s going to be completely different from anything that they’ve done before. Already a success story on the circuit, Formula’s trademark was funky house music in two rooms at venues carefully chosen for their great atmosphere and good facilities. But, Formula’s Paul Roche points out, “When we created Formula we took the traditional funky house night and gave it our own twist. The Formula twist was to keep the energy in the music, keep it vocal and keep it uplifting. Flat tunes were banned and if any dj played one the crowd would give them hell for it. This is why Formula has grown so quickly in such a short period of time and why the crowd are always so up for it. The energy in the crowd and music is very noticeable from the second you walk through the door. As we all know funky house music as we know it has dried up. The producers are not making the same amount or quality of tunes there have been over the last couple of years. This will be our attempt to show people our version of the way forward and to let everyone know that electronic house can be vocal and uplifting. I think the old funky crowd have an impression that this new style of music has to be repetitive and a bit flat. This of course will never be the case at a Formula event. We will always instil the same principals that we set out with no matter whether it is the more accessible or underground sound. Trust us. I’m really excited about this new fresh sound and I hope everyone comes down and takes a look at what we are trying to achieve. Mind you, the minimal room will be filth, I expect to see all the bad boys and girls in there stomping around. Can’t wait.”
With this in mind, Paul Roche and his partner Nathan Hedley have worked hard on the planning stages for this one-off event. Their major coup has been securing the services of an impressive line-up of DJs, including Chris Lake, D. Ramirez, Paul Jackson and Cheshire Catz.

So who or what is Formula? Two years ago, a conversation between two dedicated clubbers – Paul Roche and Stu Hinge – who both agreed they weren’t happy with what was on offer, decided they could do better and set up a night together. Thus Formula was born, a funky house night that took off like a rocket from the beginning. After building up a formidable following with residencies at the Egg, Canvas and Pacha, here we are, two years later, with Formula as the umbrella club night, and other club nights Formulate and Formula City also running in London and Brighton. It was after their superb “Dirty Vocal House” party in May at Pacha this year that Paul and Nathan decided to change the ‘formula’. Although it had been working well so far, they felt it was time to freshen up. “Clubbing in London has changed massively. Music’s gone more underground, it’s moved away from the Saturday night hands-in-the-air type of thing. We’re moving with the times.” Nathan continues enthusiastically, “Now we’re doing more exclusive parties. More elite, with an accessible electro sound. It’s more educated music. Formula sound is changing!”

However, they’ve kept one night traditional, with their Thursday night residency at the Tabernacle in Shoreditch staying funky house. Doors open between 8pm and 1am at the incredibly reasonable price of £3 for members, £5 on the door.
Formula Sundays are a weekly event where Paul and Nathan have poured all their energies into creating a non-stop-party all day. First off, there’s the after-hours Terrace Sessions at the Key, Goods Yard, off York Way in Kings Cross. Formulate starts at 5.30am, and costs £7 for members or a tenner on the door. The Terrace sessions are best described as London meets Ibiza with clubbers able to dance away the morning while getting a suntan at the same time! High energy funky house plays in the main room while driving electro house throbs in the foyer. With guest DJs like Tom Neville, MYNC Project, Paul Jackson, D.Ramirez, The Beginnerz, and Mutiny, it’s not surprising that it is already fast becoming the must attend event for London’s dedicated clubbers.

Then at lunchtime, if you fancy a change of pace, a short taxi ride away or a couple of tube stops to Liverpool Street will take you to Dia Y Noche – Spanish for Night and Day. This is Formula’s afternoon party, which alternates weekly between the Light Bar and the Papermill round the corner. At a mere fiver for entry, both venues have gorgeous outdoor areas, perfect for the summer months. Here the beat is minimal electro and the sound is cutting edge.
Formula are very particular about their music policy with a real emphasis on keeping the energy in the music. They put a lot of thought and effort into crafting a strong set of DJs who rip the roof off at every Formula event. They also run an intelligent door policy by keeping the male to female ratio fairly even. Best of all, they run a free membership scheme by signing up on their website, www.formulapromotions.com, offering a card that gives both discount and priority entrance.

Their website also gives relevant info on venues, dates, membership details etc. while also giving punters the opportunity to chat and exchange critiques of the night before. It is linked with www.dontstayin.com for more reviews, club chat, flyers and even photos and film of the previous events. One glance at the glowing endorsements on both these sites is recommendation enough. But don’t just take our word for it. Try out for size the one-off party on August 5th at the Key. Expect everything and the kitchen sink. Proof if ever it was needed that there is a Formula to having a good time!
DJ Profiles

Chris Lake:
Globally recognised as one of the most talented young producers and DJs to come out of the scene in recent years, Chris Lake has made the DJ elite sit up and take notice. His innovative productions backed by the likes of Sasha, Kleinenberg and Fanciulli, in addition to his dynamic and energetic DJ performances, have given Chris a major platform on which to proclaim his undoubted talents. 2005 was a landmark year for Chris. His collaborations with Rhythm Code under various guises including Ramsay and LAB music and remixes of artists such as Delacy, Stretch and Vern and Quivver received critical acclaim from both journalists and clubbers alike. However it was his solo productions which provided Lake mass exposure. His One Too Many production got tongues wagging and received two radio plays from Pete Tong, but it was his hit smash Changes that catapulted his name into the record boxes of DJs across the globe. Tong made the record Essential New Tune in December 2005 and was quick to proclaim Chris as the best thing to come from Scotland since Mylo. He has now broadcast the production eight times with this number going up on a weekly basis. Changes has also received airtime on Radio1 courtesy of Zane Lowe, Annie Mac and the Trophy Twins and is now licensed to Universal (Apollo) for worldwide release. In 2006 Lake has setup Rising Music to release his own material. Rising 001 & 002 have already been immense underground hits, with Rising 001 staying in the Top 3 of DJ Downloads chart for a month. And with Rising 003 titled Release and remixes of Stretch and Vern Guttersnipe (Monotype), Rene Amesz Fragile (LMR), Onionz Burnin (CR2) and his incredible rework of Lifelike and Kris Menace Discopolis (Defected) set to follow, its quite obvious that 2006 looms large for Chris Lake.

D.Ramirez:
In the last fifteen years, if you haven’t heard of at least one of Dean Marriott’s production aliases, then you haven’t really been listening to house music.

A bold statement, but one qualified by the fact that during his career Dean has had his records firmly placed in the boxes of the good and the great, whatever the genre and whatever the trend at the time.
Initially producing in his employers basement in Sheffield, Dean was quickly recognised a burgeoning talent by Sheffield’s greatest sons, Warp Records. This, along with a healthy appetite for nightclubs, and Dean’s interest in house music was cemented.

Dean’s first production, Cordial’s “Candlelight” began life as most early UK house tracks, a handful of white labels and a lot of hope. Not misplaced hope however, as instantly the track triggered a bidding war between FFRR (Tong was a huge supporter), Deconstruction and Liverpool’s 3 Beat Records. A gentleman’s agreement meant 3Beat was the choice, and Dean continued this relationship with seven releases under his “Masters of the Monotonal Groove” moniker.

A major milestone in Dean’s career came when his now legendary Lisa Marie Experience Project struck gold with the underground/overground hit, “Keep on Jumpin”. Following this UK Chart number 5 track and a Top Of The Pops appearance, Dean went on to become the UK’s most bankable remixer and one of the disco/funky house scene’s biggest crowd pulling DJs throughout the 1990’s (playing the world over).

The biggest development in Dean’s career came when he felt he had done all he could with funky/disco house (i.e. pioneering it!), and became enthused with the New York tribal sound that was re-emerging in the late nineties. The D.Ramirez moniker was born, and his initial outings for Alistair Whitehead’s Sporting label were huge for the likes of Xpress 2, Tom Stephan and Pete Tong, His friendship with the Choo Choo stable also led to some of the biggest underground hits to date. His collaboration with label boss Barry Gilbey under the Fingerfest Inc moniker forged the production of a track entitled "Auto Porno", no doubt one of the biggest underground tracks of that time which was quickly snapped up by Yoshitoshi, striaght off the back of the first ever CD being given to Ali from Deep Dish at his gig in Renaissance. Burning Up and Bounce Your DJ were other early D.Ramirez Productions on the Choo Choo label back in 2001 which proved integral to the rapid rise of the D.Ramirez sound.

Never one to rest on his laurels, Dean has built the D.Ramirez name to the point where it is synonymous with funked-up, twisted tribal and electro house. His remixes of Max Linen “The Soulshaker” have earned him “Essential New Tune” and countless buzz/hype/coolcuts number ones while also being an underground anthem. His own track Venus and Mars was a massive Seb Fontaine favourite and became his VIP tune of the week as well as his remix of Spoiled's "All I Know" for Intra records.

This is a pattern that has continued, and flourished, with labels such as Yoshitoshi, Choo Choo, Phonetic, Thrust, Junior, Whoop!, Lot 49, Four:Twenty and Toolroom clambering for D.Ramirez material and producers such as Tom Stephan (Superchumbo), Deepgroove, Mark Knight, Max Linen and Meat Katie all lining up to work with him while clubs also attempt to book him for his D.Ramirez DJ sets.
Dean has owned and successfully run two labels, the first being the prolific underground label Vudu which ran for seven releases between 2002 and 2003. It was collaborations with artists such as Tom Stephan (Superchumbo), Deepgroove and Mike Monday (as well as his own productions) which placed many Vudu records firmly in the boxes of DJ's such as Deep Dish, Eddie Amador, Pete Tong, Seb Fontaine and Erick Morrillo. Early in 2004 due to a split with his then partner in Vudu, Dean started his very own project Slave Recordings carrying on where Vudu left off. It was the first release; D.Ramirez feat. Pete Simpson- "Freaque On" which launched Slave into the stratosphere, quickly followed by Bobby Lorenz "1995" which gained no fewer than five consecutive Pete Tong plays on his Essential selection. Now up to the ninth release and with countless radio plays and DJ support, Slave has established itself as one of the most respected, Underground labels around. With tracks due from Tom Stephan and D.Ramirez ("Shake It Baby") another, big room floor shaker from Deepgroove and another electro tinged Freeze Frame production, this pattern is set to continue for many years to come.

Remixes for Roog and Greg ("Uber"-Toolroom), Bodyrox ("Yeah Yeah"- Eye Industries), Bobby Lorenz ("Think"-Slave), Katcha ("Touched By God"-Release) and Future Funk Squad ("Audio Damage"- Champion) are currently making waves for Dean, but no doubt his association with his own impeccable Slave Recordings as well as his deft touch with the breakbeat scene will eclipse his current status by next month. A pattern that sums up his production and djing career perfectly since the very beginning, each endeavour just gets better and better……………..

DJ wise, Dean plays the world over for many of the biggest clubs including; Arthrob @Pin Up, Ibiza, TLV Israel, The Import nights in Poland, The Ministry of Sound London and Singapore, Renaissance, Scandinavia, various clubs in Moscow, Russia, Siberia and The Ukraine, Festivals in South America and various night across the whole of Asia. Clubs such as Urban Gorilla in Sheffield, Kingpin and Play in Bristol, Technique in Leeds, Turnmills and The Ministry of Sound in London are all favourites of Deans with regular guest appearances. Dean recently started a monthly residency at Sheffield's newest superclub; The Plug, playing so far alongside Pete Tong, Steve Angello, Paul Jackson and Erick Prydz. You can catch him there every second Saturday of the month all through 2006.Recently, he has notched up a whole 12 years of experience making him truly a veteran amongst DJ's.

Paul Jackson:
Paul Jackson is one of those rare talents a DJ a Remixer a Producer and above all a bloody Nice Guy!
Darren Emerson signed Paul to Underwater Records back in January 2003 after Pete Tong made The Push - a moody, ethnic influenced epic and Pauls second solo production effort (the first being Bulldozer on Fluential Records) - Essential New Tune. It was released in April 2003 and gained great critical acclaim from both DJs (Jon Carter, Steve Lawler, Sasha & Annie Nightingale) and the press. In October Jackson dropped Rock and Roll/The Way We Do It a dark and heavy, yet beautiful and melodic composition on the label, the double A-side again moved Jackson further up the scale.

In January 2004 Jackson re-released The Push (Far From Here), with an haunting vocal from Dirty Vegas Steve Smith. The track, complete with Steves vocal sold over 20,000 copies, and had crowds electrified.

Paul's has a unique style that exudes in all he creates, be it his DJ sets, his remixes and his own solo productions. After djing for over 15 years all over the World, Paul still performs each set as if it were his first with passion, excitement and for the sheer love of the music. If you are lucky to witness one of his sets, you can be assured that you will not be able to stop moving until he does. His ability to connect with the crowd have won him numerous residencies over the years from Amnesia (Ibiza) The Cross (London), Ministry of Sound (London), Madrid, and of course Underwater.

Paul has also played regularly in all of the UKs leading clubs as well as tours for dance musics leading labels and media outlets - including Subliminal, Defected, Radio 1 and MTV.

Therefore, Paul is no stranger to airport lounges; he has seen most of them around the World from Argentina, Australia, Prague, Asia, Greece, Scandinavia, Spain, USA, Dubai, Russia, and Wales. Alas, Almaty airport lounge in Kazakhstan remains to be seen, with its infamous huge painting of an old Hindenberg Airship crashing! Damn!

An ability to infuse dark melodic pieces into driving beats has scored remixes for Dido with Stoned for BMG, Gus Gus Call of the Wild for Underwater, The Donatella movements Get Ready , Starbeach Get Naked for SuSu and most recently has added his remixing abilities to Faithless Weapon of Mass Destruction a huge player for DJs around the globe. I must not forget to mention the awesome remixes for Bob Sinclair and TLC.

Paul is currently in the midst of writing his first solo album, it features some interesting collaborations, and some painfully beautiful orchestral pieces do not expect just another dance album if you do, you will be sorely disappointed.

Phil Drummond:
PHIL DRUMMOND BIOGRAPHY In the early 90s Phil was brought up on a diet of top London clubs. He was a regular at parties such as Dungeons, The Gas, Legends, Orange and its here he met up with Richie Malone. Richie had just recorded ‘Xpansions’ which went on to be a huge hit & he invited Phil to join him touring the country, DJ’ing at such infamous clubs/raves as: Up Yer Ronson, Love2be & Raindance. Richie also ran a Sunday night party called “The Vibe” at Chans (London) and in 1993 he offered Phil his first major DJ residency. Chans went on to be a massive underground success & is credited for giving Eric Morrillo his first ever UK gig as Reel2Reel. The night was also frequented by the likes of Sasha ect. Phil then took the next step and joined Richie in the studio where they recorded tracks under the name“5 Min of Funk”, this then progressed to them producing the critically acclaimed “Going Out Of My Head” under the name “Maradonna”. “Going out of my head” was immediately snapped up by the world’s biggest dance label “PWL” (run by Pete Waterman) and gave Phil his first UK top 20. The international success of “Maradonna” took Phil touring around the world, especially Ibiza where he DJ’ed at events including Black & White, Mad Mondays & Divine at famous venues such as Es Pardise, Space, Ku (Privilege) & Amnesia. The duo teamed up again, this time to remix “Xpansions” and this gave Phil his second chart hit, this time a UK top 10. Phil then quickly established himself as a regular on the London DJ scene, playing at top venues such as: Ministry of Sound, Legends, The Cross, Café de Paris, Browns, Emporium & Hanover Grand on a regular basis. He also continued to cement his reputation as a solo producer with club hits such as “The Dealer” (Inferno), Chace ”Take my time”(DTPM), “Again & Again”(DTPM) and “Dark & Lovely”(Kidology) this then led to more and more high profile gigs including a bi-monthly residentcy at the infamous ‘subliminal sessions’ at the Mint club in Leeds as well as various celebrity ‘end of tour’ parties (including Robbie William’s Knebworth and The Rolling Stones) and also The Brits. 2004 sees the start of Phil’s project at the Crobar in Swansea. ‘London Live’ proves to be a massive success and is still going strong into 2005. With Phil the main resident he has brought such international luminaries as Mark Knight, Dirty Vegas’ Paul Harris, The Beginerz, Paul Jackson, Axwell and Mutiny, Seamus Haji 2005 has also seen the resumption of Phil’s studio collaborations. He has ‘soon to be released’ tracks with both Paul Jackson and The Beginerz as well as under his new guise “The Polyphonic Prostitutes” and has two residencies, “Inner-State” at “Wish” in Cardiff (The sister club of The Crobar) where Phil has recived big support from Radio 1 and bought in all the guest DJs from The Crobar plus:X-press 2, Steve Mac, Jose Nunez, Seb Fontaine, Chris Lake, D.Ramirez, Tim Sheridan to name a few & “Jaded” at Egg in London. 2006 and its looking like his best solo year to date, having already appeared in over 9 different countries “Inner-State” is still going strong with forthcoming parties in London & Brighton. Phil is now working with the Formula promotions team, mainly at the “Fromulate” events every Sunday morning at the Key & Canvas in Kings Cross, plus “Dia Y Noche” events at The Light and Papermill on Sunday Afternoons bringing in his extensive contacts to the uber cool Sunday scene that’s sweeping the capital right now.

Cheshire Catz:
'Former choirboys and East End heroes the Cheshire Catz crank it a notch. BRILLIANT' The Guardian

How on earth did we get here?!

Late 2002: Dan started to put on free parties in the East End of London (Cheshire St) after narrowly escaping an early retirement to the country. He had always been a music obsessive, and played the drums and guitar at school. Back in 2002, he is still running a successful software company - his musician father is not proud of him at all (he'd been in a rock band in the '70s.) Dan DJed badly, but had great tunes, and people started to come in their hundreds. He got the bug.

2003: Jon heard about the Cheshire Street Sessions and came down to check what all the fuss was about. He had been a local DJ hero at uni in Coventry - playing up to 6 sets a week - a very talented DJ. Dan was in awe. They started to play together by accident. The Cheshire Catz were born.

2004: The Catz start to put on ambitious warehouse parties (called 'At Night') with Matthew Duffield from Sedition DJs and Tom Real of the then Ignition crew (the other members were Tom Neville, Martin Dawson - who is now King Roc, and Matt Williams.) The first one sells out the 700 capacity venue. Dan's DJing getting slightly better. The Catz are asked to DJ at some clubs.

...Still 2004: The Catz invite Gavin Herlihy from Mixmag to play at Cheshire Street Session 8. The Catz are made Mixmag Future Heroes a month later. read the full Mixmag article here

...Still 2004: They started to make tunes in the Turnmills studio after blaggin their way in (it was standing empty) and on a computer at home. Dan shaves back on his working hours (no-one at his company noptices much!) and invests every spare hour in learning how to use a studio, basic sound principles and making house music.

2005: Invited to play in main rooms of better clubs - Ministry, Turnmills, The End, Egg. More warehouse parties, with Tim Sheridan and Mike Monday guesting: because they are ace. Sign first few tracks to Whoop! after they heard we were sat on some. We were unsure of ourselves...

...still 2005: First tune on Whoop!, 'Powercutz/Doctoracid' receives DJ Mag Sureplayer award. Receive Essential New Tune accolade on Radio 1 for 'Discotech', a collaboration with Timo Garcia, for his Berwick St Label. Cat tunes receiving support from Steve Lawler, Fergie, Hernan Catteneo, Seb Fontaine, Tim Sheridan, Paul van Dyk, Tom Stephan + more.

Foolishly, the clubs let the Catz play alongside some very hip dudes... like Hernan Cattaneo, Satoshie Tomiie, Eric Prydz, Tom Stephan, Dan Ghenacia, Mike Monday, & Tim Sheridan (again.)

...Still 2005: Dan resigns from the software company that he had started with friends. He sells his share of the company back to fellow directors Simon Talbot and Cliff Bryant for 1, after finally coming to terms with the fact that he had done about 2 weeks work in the previous 18 months. They had sponsored his new career. He will forever be indebted to them. Dan calls his dad, who now lives in Bangkok, to ask to borrow money to help with his new career. His dad is very proud.

...Still 2005: The year culminates in their very own London marathon on New Year's Eve, taking in a midnight set at SE1, followed by the closing set in the bar at the last ever Nastydirtysexmusic at the Ministry of Sound, and then finally a 5 hour set at their own Cheshire Street Session... which ends at midday. Due to the London Underground strike, their planned 2pm NYD set at Fire is cancelled. What a relief that was for Dan and Jon!

Dan's DJing? Pretty fucking good thank you.

2006. Make own record label 'Fakt'. First release June 2006.

We don't really care what the people say...

'The Catz take acid, electro, techno and trancey influences and build it all together with a view to creating mass hysteria' DJ Mag (July 2005)

'The weekend's never over with the Cheshire Catz at the helm'
Time Out

'The Cheshire Catz have undoubtedly been causing quite a stir in clubland recently. Wicked young producers' Fergie (Radio 1)

'These guys are shit-hot' Phil Sales (Ministry of Sound)

'...the Cheshire Catz, two chaps I had heard something about, but yet to experience and I wasnt let down by their rep. There was a great unity of sound but the genres were diverse. Sound familiar? Been my modus operandi for decades. The catz were a joy to groove to... and I was saved 12 hours later by Dan Cheshire Cat and his after-hours tunes, revived enough to stumble to a cab but not before yoinking his CD'
Tim Sheridan, review of Playtime at Egg

The end……