Dave Seamen at Spundae April 10, 2004

Renaissance Tour
Dave Seamen
Phil K
Brett King

Funky Houseroom:
2 Man Group
Isaiah Martin & Magik Fingarz
feat. Kourtney

There are many DJs who have enjoyed many column inches for shaping the phenomenon that is modern club culture. For some of these individuals, it was a question of right time, right place. Talented yes: opportunistic, definitely - and just a little bit lucky. Dave too, as he?d be first to admit, has had his fair share of lucky breaks. Yes, he effectively blagged the editorship of the fledging members? magazine Mixmag simply by being their youngest, hippest employee. But it was Dave who made the company fully aware of the impact of acid house and railroaded them into launching the magazine fully to the public. The rest, as they say, is history. Yes, he was equally lucky to bump into budding production genius Steve Anderson at DMC?s recording studios. But it was the pair?s respective talents gelling that led the turbo fuelled hit ?Such A Good Feeling?, followed up by a string of successive mixes leading to them becoming the U.K?s first superstar remixers to the likes of Michael Jackson and Sting, to writing and producing for the likes of Kylie Minogue The Pet Shop Boys and Take That. More recently they have lent their unmistakable sound to bands such as Garbage, Pulp, Placebo and Blur as well as consistently songwriting for various projects.

Yes, he was fortunate that DMC was happy to back his and partner Nick Gordon Brown?s Stress record label. But it takes talent to spot the likes of Sasha, John Digweed, Full Intention and Andy from Groove Armada, all of whom had early breaks on the label.

And yes it was a lucky twist when Mixmag photographer Gary McLarnen invited Dave to bring his DJ skills to a new night he was launching at the unlikely Shelleys venue in Stoke on Trent. It just happened to become one of the UK?s best ever house clubs. The fact that Dave?s DJing star is still in the ascendant some 10 years later says it all.

For years Dave has kept at it, feverishly yet successfully juggling more plates than most of us could imagine. Most recently he has focused on his first love, DJing. It has earned him a first class ticket round the world as the demand for his deck skills continues to rise. He?s probably traveled more than any of his peers covering every continent several times over, whilst in the UK, he has graced every super club you care to mention, including Cream, Gatecrasher and Renaissance.

2000 saw Dave and his team of trusted, like minded individuals mould their company, Therapy, into a highly respected home for DJ?s and artists including Timo Maas, Anthony Pappa, Slacker, Evolution and The Light. He continued to enjoy a fortnightly residency for Renaissance at their flagship venue Media whilst still managing a hectic international schedule and a summer season in Ibiza where he enjoyed events at Renaissance alongside such luminaries as All Saints, Moby, Kylie and Moloko.

Somehow he also managed to find time to compile another two perfectly crafted compilations in the guise of Renaissance Awakenings and his second outing for the highly revered Global Underground series, remix Placebo, Naimee Coleman and Human Movement under his Brothers in Rhythm Moniker, be photocopied in a life sized Zerox for a Levi?s advert in Japan and present a BBC TV documentary on clubbing in Australia...phewwww!!!!

Fast Forward to 2001 and there?s no respite. Dave has already ventured out on his first tour of the year taking in such exotic locations as Costa Rica (he?s still recovering from the hydraulic chair!), Punta del Este, Peru and has gained the accolade of being the first ever international DJ to perform in Columbia, by all accounts an experience not to be missed. Recently has also seen the launch of the Audio Therapy record label with its first two releases having strong links with BIR (the new outing for Brothers Love Dubs and a remix of Polaroid ?So Damn Beautiful?). And finally, work has begun on the long overdue BIR collaborations album whilst a leap into film soundtracks seems on the cards as a result of his critically acclaimed ?Back To Mine? CD.

He should be so lucky.

BROTHERS IN RHYTHM

Back in one of the most crucial development periods for what is now the mighty dance music industry, around 1990, Dave Seaman was working as a journalist on the clubbers bible Mixmag, whilst Steve Anderson was buried in the DMC studios below churning out remixes for the monthly subscription service. Occasionally Steve would contribute the sister magazine ?Update? and the pair would collaborate on the weekly gossip column ?Mmud?. However it was when David (at that time a DJ at the club ?Shelley?s? arguably the ?Cavern? of U.K. house music) wandered downstairs and walked into the studio with an idea for a track based on an acapella. This became ?Peace And Harmony? which was swiftly followed by ?Such A Good Feeling? and instant chart success.

One of the biggest fans of the records was Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys who engaged Brothers In Rhythm to remix a forthcoming single. From then on they co-produced ?DJ Culture? and ?Was It Worth It?? with The Pet Shop Boys and before they knew it Brothers In Rhythm had become the U.K?s first superstar remixers to such luminaries as David Bowie, Sting and were also the first ever to get their hands on, not one, but two Michael Jackson multitracks.

It was clear that the remixing angle was their forte and the idea of being a full blown act was not for them. In fact they only ever did one live show which was at an awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall! Aside from the cult Brothers Love Dubs singles, the emphasis was on the mixes, blending the club influences from David?s DJ set, the musicality and love of Orchestra?s from Steve?s CD collection and their combined admiration for huge influences such as Clivilles and Cole and Trevor Horn.

In 1993 Deconstruction Records signed Kylie Minogue. BIR had been keen to produce before and she seemed like the ideal act, so without any hesitation the label were contacted and asked for them to be considered. The first demo to be completed was their song ?Confide In Me? which went on not only to be a huge worldwide hit but was paramount in the relaunch of Kylie in Europe. They produced a large portion of the album as well as handling all the mixes which are still amongst the most adventurous and groundbreaking work they have ever done. This led to production duties on Take That?s 7 million selling ?Nobody Else? album and a string of remixes including M People, Seal and New Order as well as landmark mixes on Billie Ray Martin?s classic ?Your Loving Arms? and Horse ?Careful?.

Most of their work at this time was being done at Trevor Horn?s Sarm West studio?s in London often assisted by like minded Scot Alan Bremner. In fact they got on so well that when the time came to build their new studio at DMC, they offered Alan the job of head engineer, to which he agreed. In the months to come they worked on what was to be Kylie?s follow up album ?Impossible Princess?? and concentrated more on remixes of bands such as Garbage, Pulp and Blur. By this point Alan had turned into a fully fledged member of BIR due to his immaculate choice of sounds and programming/mixing skills. This new combination proved most effective on their outstanding version of Alanis Morrisette?s ?Uninvited? which to this day remains unreleased.

During 1998 BIR took a break as David took up residence in New York to spend more time Djing in America, Steve turned show producer for Kylie in Australia and Alan concentrated on his Freefall project with DJ Anthony Pappa resulting in the anthem ?Skyfive?.

By 1999 it was obvious that it was time to move on from DMC after 10 years, so the three members along with Stress records? Sara Rowley left to form Therapy, a management agency and studio complex which would soon also launch it?s own record label. Mixes for Art Of Noise and Placebo/David Bowie were completed along with new tracks under their Gloat alter-ego and demo?s for Kylie?s ?Light Years? album.

The year 2000 saw mixes for Naimee Coleman, Placebo as well as Polaroid, ?So Damn Beautiful? due to be the second release on Audiotherapy. Along with this they continued work on songs to be featured on a forthcoming BIR collaborations album. Brothers Love Dubs was signed to Telstar?s D Code label and Alan?s Loafer project was signed to Hope Recordings. Steve produced Kylie?s Olympic performances and the three spent time at Peter Gabriel?s Real World studio?s for BIR album pre-production.

So to 2001 and the future. More mixes, an album, a record label and with two members signed to Universal Music, an emphasis on songwriting for other artists and possibly a film soundtrack. All this from a Whitney Houston sample. Mustn?t grumble.